Monday, April 18, 2005

Estimation of our Potential Final Part

Humility means that we realize that Hashem is infinite and we, as humans, are limited. Webster’s Dictionary defines jealousy as “hostile toward a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage.” It means that we feel that it is unfair that someone else has an advantage that we do not. We blatantly announce how unjust and unfair it is that someone else has something that we wish we could have. Why should my neighbor have more money that me. a nicer house, easier children, more friends or whatever. In essence we are proclaiming that G-d is not fair and that He does not know what is best for us. It also means, although sad to say, that we are so wrapped up in what we want and what we convince ourselves that we deserve, that it prevents us from being happy for the other person. When we feel like taking revenge, we are again proclaiming, chas-Veshalem, that Hashem does not administer judgment properly and therefore we need to takes matters into our own hands. We convince ourselves that only we can fairly punish the person for what they have done. Perhaps one might say that people believe that even someone who is vengeful believes that Hashem will exact punishment but they want to witness it. However there are 2 problems with that. Firstly, if we were confident that Hashem would exact punishment then we would not need to see the person being punished, knowing that the person will get exactly what they deserve would be enough. Secondly, it is quite egotistical of someone to feel as though they can justly punish another person. However, most likely, they wouldn’t mind if the “guilty” party received a little more punishment than they deserved and conversely, most people wouldn’t mind if they themselves received a little more reqrd than they deserved. Similarly, Anger comes from feeling slighted or ignored. {quote here} We get angry when we feel as though we have been treated unfairly. Something has happened to us that we do not deserve. If one looks hard enough, he will see that all middos have their root in a lack of humility. On the same token ,middos tovos such as Respecting others and their property ,talking nicely to others are rooted in humility.
If someone feels that he is limited and that he is no more important than the person next to him,( note: no less important either),then he will say to himself” who am I to talk not nicely to my neighbor for he is just as important as me. When we complain about a difficult situation and I am not saying that it isn’t natural to feel this way, we need to put it into the proper perspective. We need to say that Hashem has created this situation specifically for me and he knows what is best for me. I cannot understand why this is happening and it seems completely illogical that I will ultimately benefit and it hurts and makes me sad and I would be so much more productive as a person and as a Jew if I wasn’t in this situation. After all the logic and the proofs and the frustration and pain, we need to understand in our hearts that we must place ourselves in G-ds hands, confident that this is for our own good. And that is what makes difficult situations so much harder because we like to be in control. We like it when things make sense and they are easy to explain. In today’s society, we are so sophisticated that we feel foolish if we can’t explain the things that we do. There must be a logical reason for everything. We have a right to know why something is happening to us. How dare G-d put us in a tight spot without explaining it first. I do not mean to imply in any way that life is easy and I do not dare even imply that it is easy to feel confident that G-d knows best when we are put in tough situations. This is especially hard when it is amongst the pain and loneliness and fear and frustration and the hopelessness.
Life is so fickle that in moments our lives can be changed forever and that feeling that we are not in control is frightening. However we must overcome and transcend that which is so natural to us.
When we put our trust in G-ds hands during the tough times, against everything that we know in our minds And we allow our hearts to trust G-d like a baby trusts his mother, then we really are worthy of having been created.

Secondly, if we were never faced with hardship, probably this would be a world without challenge, without cheshbon hanefesh.
When we suffer, all of our capabilities are put to the test. It tests our faith, patience, self-control, compassion and the ability to rise above the situation, which tries to control us.
May Hashem give us strength to endure the tests that are placed before us.

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