Keep Fighting, Rocky

Rebbe Nachman of Breslev, of blessed, saintly and holy memory teaches in Torah 6 of Likutei Moharan that in order to walk in the path of Teshuva (repentance) one must be an expert in both going up and going down.  Rav Shalom Arush Shlit”a explains in his commentary on Likutei Moharan, Shalom Malchut, that as a person falls Hashem is closer to him.  When Hashem hands us a situation that is bleak, Torah 6 teaches us that we must not despair and think that Hashem has abandoned us, rather the opposite, Hashem is ever closer.

Rabbi Shimshon Dovid Pincas, of blessed and saintly memory, once said that we observe some people who are in a difficult situation seemingly reacting by praying and coming closer to Hashem. However, it is more like a person who is traveling in a car or train who sees objects coming closer and is not sure if it is he who is moving closer to the object or the object that is moving closer to him.  In reality, at the moment of suffering, it is Hashem who is coming closer to the person experiencing the difficulty and it is that closeness to Hashem that engenders a desire in the suffering person to pray and follow a Torah path.

Rabbi David Ashear Shlit”a related a story told by Rav Shalom Schwadron, of blessed and saintly memory, that during the Holocaust the Nazis, may their name and memory be erased, would torture Jews in the camps for fun.  One of the ways they would do so would be to make Jews jump into a vat of acid.  One day they picked out seven Jews and decided to have their fun with them.  They made them strip and jump into the acid.  The first two jumped in and screamed horrific screams before jumping out.  The third Jew before jumping in, turned toward Heaven and said, “Master of the Universe, I lost my wife and my children and my clothing, and now I will lose my flesh. It is just me and You.”  He jumped in the acid and as he did, he felt a closeness to Hashem that he never could imagine.  His friends were yelling at him, “Jump out! Jump out!” But He received such pleasure from that feeling of closeness that he did not want to leave.

Dear friends, whenever you fall, whenever you suffer, know this . . . that Hashem comes closer and closer to you the further you fall.  In every suffering of a Jew, Hashem suffers.  Isaiah 63:9 states, “In all their suffering, He suffered.”   He allowed you to fall for your very best.  He wants to help you reach your full potential and in His Highest Wisdom He decided that this is the only and best way for that to happen.  Far from abandoning you, he comes closer to you and shares in your suffering.

You may recall the Hollywood portrayal of boxer “Rocky Balboa”.  The protagonist, Rocky, is not a hero for “knocking out” his opponent the second he steps into the boxing ring. Rather, he takes punches again and again and with will and stamina remains standing throughout all of the rounds of fighting, until the very end.  What would we think of a fighter who just gave up after a couple of punches?  We would not think highly of him.  You may even call him a “wimp”.  No one aspires to be a person who gives up easily!

Hashem loves us and knows exactly what we need for our personal correction, what will ultimately make us the best that we can be.  He sends us tests for our very best and gives us all of the abilities to pass those tests.  Even so, the Evil Inclination comes to us during the test and tries to mentally break us down.  “It’s just too hard!”  “You can’t do it!” “Why is Hashem torturing you like this?!?” Rebbe Nachman tells us in Torah 6 that we have to be an expert at falling.  At the very moment that the Evil Inclination is trying to drive us off the cliff, Hashem is coming ever closer.  He is right there. Turn to Him, pray to Him, ask Him for help to make it through the test.  Tell Him that you know he is right there with you and that it is hard for you to persevere.  You may be crying because it hurts but you are not crying because Hashem has done anything wrong.  In fact, all that is happening is for your very best.  With that knowledge, you wish that would be able to make it through the test with joy, but you are still human and it still hurts you.  He is your loving Father and is there for you.  Turn to Him for help and you will experience salvations!