Turning around
How does one deal with adversity? How do you move forward, keep going? How can you bounce back to happiness, to meaningful purpose? How, despite tremendous challenges, can people keep focussed on achieving good things and improving themselves and their environs?
After the Temple was destroyed, the Jewish people survived.
And in exile, they were a light to the nations.
After the Inquisition, Jews reestablished in other lands.
After the Holocaust, the Jewish nation rebuilt.
After numerous wars, Israel forged ahead.
And after the recent attack by Hamas, Israel is engaged in destroying evil.
But how have they done this? From where do they draw the strength and determination?
Years ago, four people including Kfar Chabad’s head Rabbi, passed away in a car accident, G-d forbid. They were coming from a wedding in Jerusalem. The mezuzas of their homes were checked, and they were all kosher. The Lubavitch community was in shock.
I remember the Lubavitcher Rebbe saying something like this: What happened is beyond our comprehension. Therefore, measure to measure, we need to serve G-d in a way that is higher than comprehension.
Now too, Israeli unity and determination emanates from a place that is deep and beyond comprehension — from the ‘Pintele Yid,’ the Jewish essence that is a part of G-d.
I once heard that the Rebbe told President Zalman Shazar, concerning Russian Jews who were coming to Israel (and many knew very little about their heritage), that “Di pshitus fun a Yid dergreicht di pshitus fun Atzmus” — the simplicity of a Jew reaches the simplicity of G-d’s Essence.
So how do we do it? We just do. It’s in us.