What, Me Worry?

The saga of the Exodus from Egypt begs the question – why all the saga in the first place? G-d is all good, all kindness, all mercy. G-d is also All Powerful.  

By our logic, it seems that the best thing would be for Hashem to send Moshe Rabbeinu and immediately take out the Jewish people from Egypt, without  hardening  Pharoah’s heart, and without all the complications and difficulties related to that. 

But the Creator of the World – He knows what we don’t know, and He sees what we  don’t  see, and He has an exact, precise plan for how everything will work out for the very, very best.  Much, much better than what we think would be for the best! 

We must know, that in everything that is in the holy Torah, and in every story and subject, there is a message for each and every one of us – because the Torah isn’t a story book, or a history book, but an eternal and Divine document. 

When someone goes through whatever they go through, they immediately want to see their  salvation.  

Sometimes along the way, they have challenges from a certain person. Emuna says that there is nobody that can help a person, or hurt a person, in any way, without a specific decree from Hashem. A person that lives in emuna lives with the certainty that everything that happens to him, including anything that another person does to him, is all by decree of Hashem. 

Sometimes, the Creator hardens the heart of the other person, even though you already want to see your salvation from this situation. Accept this with emuna, and wait for your salvation from Hashem. 

So with the exodus from Egypt… There is a simple exodus from Egypt, of taking the physical body out of Egypt. And there is an aspect of the Exodus, that each of us needs to take out the Egypt from within ourself, to remove the darkness from within ourself, to go from the darkness to the light. 

If a person continues to think like an Egyptian, and act like an Egyptian, then even if he leaves Egypt with his physical body, deep inside himself he is still stuck deep, deep in Egypt. In the darkness. Because the Exodus is not as much of a physical Exodus, as much as it is a spiritual Exodus – for each and every one of us, now. 

If Egypt is primarily spiritual, what does it symbolize? Rebbe Nachman writes in a number of places that Egypt is the opposite of emuna, the opposite of Divine Guidance, and the opposite of miracles. Egypt is living by, and believing solely in, the laws of nature i.e. accepting the logic and limitations of the “real world.” Everything is a random coincidence, everything is ruled by odds and statistics.  

The truth is that someone who has daat, and knows the real Truth, doesn’t feel any suffering. But because people think that nature has power, or luck, or chance, so they go through a lot of suffering.  

And so, anyone really who wants to leave Egypt needs to leave all belief and trust in nature, luck, chance, or statistics – and start to live by emuna!  

For instance right now, people fall to the level of nature, and think that there is some kind of virus. They busy themselves with all kinds of trivialities, and they are holding onto a lot of intense fear….and this fear only continues to grow. This is only because they do not live with emuna! 

Someone who lives in emuna knows that we are in the hands of the Creator of the World, and that the Creator of the world loves us, and that the Creator has done only good for us, and will do only good for us. He protects us, takes care of us, and supervises us. And that absolute faith will never change. It doesn’t matter what happens in the world, that emuna will never change! Emuna is life, emuna is the light of the Redemption. Emuna means knowing that G-d Himself guides the world and our lives to the tiniest detail, with exacting precision, and all for the best of each and every one of His creations.  

And therefore, someone with emuna lives with serenity and joy, because he lives in the reality that everything is good! There is a Creator, the Creator is good, and so everything is good.  

You choose how you want to live! To live in emuna, or live a life of torment and suffering.  

In fact, I want you to not just believe that Hashem loves you – I want you to know that Hashem loves you. And wants so…so…so…so…so…so much that you will have all goodness! In physicality and in spirituality. “Open your mouth and I will fill it.” And does everything for your good! 

Hashem suffers because of us. What causes Him the most grief? That we don’t know how much Hashem loves us! 

Someone who knows that the Creator loves him, whatever happens to him he knows – who does all of this to me? Abba (my father in heaven)? Abba that loves me? Then certainly it’s for my good! Even if he doesn’t understand, he knows that it IS for his best, and therefore he continues to be happy and tries to understand what the Creator wants from him.  

But someone who does not know this, cannot accept his difficulties in life with love. And certainly, cannot say thank You for them! Instead, he becomes bitter, sad, depressed …. not content. 

Someone who lives with emuna is always calm, tranquil, joyful and relaxed. Happy! Worry… that’s the opposite of emuna. Worry is blasphemy! Heresy! What is there to worry about?! A person that is in good hands… does he worry? 

Have you ever seen a small child worry? No! He knows that he is in the hands of his mother and father who love him, and that’s it.  

Put yourself into His hands and He will take care of you! 

This is the purpose of the Torah. This is the whole point of the world, and this is the spiritual level of a person. “A righteous person lives by emuna”, everybody lives according to their level of emuna.  

You have 20% emuna? Then you have 20% life, and 80% depression. 

You have 50% emuna? Then you have 50% life, and 50% depression. 

You have 100% emuna? Then you have 100% life. 

And so, I am always singing, “Or emuna, or Gehinnom (Hell), because without emuna you’re living in Gehinnom.” There is no third option!!! 

Emuna and prayer are one and the same. The key is that you must be able to pray without reading. To be able to speak straight to the Creator from your heart, in your words. Anyone who has difficulty doing so has very weak emuna, even if he calls himself “religious” and otherwise keeps Torah and mitzvot. But the more you will do personal prayer, the more your emuna will grow! Because you start to live in a reality that the Creator is right here with you, wherever you are, and hears you and controls  everything  that happens in your life. Always. 

I bless everyone that we should merit that all of the Jewish people, and the whole world, should begin to live with emuna, live a life full of smiles, and only joy and more joy!