Peace and Tranquility

The outside world is a portrait of tension, stress, and anger. Modern man is always on the run and under the gun; he finds no relief from emotional unrest, financial insecurity, and cut-throat competition, the results of a society that lacks emuna, faith.

 

If the inhabitants of this earth had emuna, then they’d be relaxed and content. Knowing that their lives are in the hands of a loving Creator – anxiety, worry, and stress would become superfluous. A world with an emuna-oriented populace would become a heaven-on earth haven of peace, justice, and compassion. Essentially, this is the world we hope for in our anticipation of Geula and Moshiach, the redemption of our people and the coming of the messiah. War and strife among nations are impossible in a world of emuna, for each nation would realize that its own has a specific task in the global scheme of things. Just as a carpenter doesn’t compete with a butcher – on the contrary, each requires the services of the other – the nations of the world would cooperate in peace rather than bicker in constant conflict.

 

The prophet speaks about the messianic era’s world of emuna when he says (Isaiah 11:6-9), "The wolf will dwell with the sheep and the leopard will lie next to the kid goat…they will neither injure nor destroy in all of My sacred mountain, for the earth will be filled with

knowledge of God as water covers the ocean floor." Only emuna leads to the knowledge of God that will lead to a wonderful world of peace and tranquility.

 

Rebbe Nachman of Breslev writes (Likutey Moharan II: 8), "In the future, as the knowledge of God increases, there will be no more damage and cruelty. Mercy and compassion will spread, since they are the outcome of the knowledge of God."

 

 

Without emuna, one can likely ask, "Why should I be a goodygoody? Why can’t I have a good time? Why get married when I can take what I want whenever I want? Who needs ethics and morality? I’m going to die anyway, so why not go for the gusto while I’m here?"

 

Only the fear of getting caught and punished deters such a person from committing grand larceny, embezzlement, murder, and adultery. Emuna – the faith and knowledge that the Creator sees all, rewards and punishes – uplifts the human from the state of a vicious, wild monster.

 

Where there’s no emuna, there’s corruption and anarchy. Injustice becomes the norm and humans become heartless. A man with no emuna can covet his best friend’s wife with no qualms, or lie, kill, and steal for his own personal interests. Only emuna restrains and refines a person, by teaching him or her to be satisfied with their lot in life and not to covet what God gives their neighbor.

 

People without emuna develop weird, warped, and destructive ideologies. For example, the Nazis had strict laws against cruelty to animals, yet murdered millions of human beings with no remorse. Society even glorifies twisted thinking, such as making a hero out of the legendary thief Robin Hood, who robbed the rich to give to the poor. With emuna, they would have never idealized thievery in any shape or form. Why? Only God can decide who will rich and who will be poor, and no one has the right to invent laws that negate God’s commandments, such as the prohibition against stealing.

 

A world void of emuna is full of twisted notions and warped ideologies. A long list of false "truths" threatens the continued existence of the world. These "truths" – fascism, communism socialism, capitalism, or whatever "ism" a given society chooses – are simply different forms of lies. Even the revolutions and counterrevolutions are simply substitutions of one lie for another.

 

Emuna connects a person, a nation, or a society to God’s one and only absolute truth. Truth, like God, is eternal – it never changes. The world can ultimately continue only on the basis of truth; without truth, we can only see the bleakest prospects of a nuclear Armageddon and mass destruction.

 

Since truth prevents conflict and mass destruction, and one can obtain truth only by means of emuna, then emuna is the necessary requisite for the world’s continued existence.

 

 

Not only does emuna help us to understand the world around us, itis essentially our most powerful asset. Emuna girds us with phenomenal inner strength, enabling us to successfully weather any and all of life’s difficult tests and challenges, whatever they may be.

 

Ups and downs, life’s bumpy transitional periods, and times of turbulence are all smoothed and mellowed when a person relies on emuna.

 

If we look carefully, we’ll see that emuna is the only power that a person can depend on – always. Emuna stays faithfully by our side in every circumstance and every situation, not only in this world but in the next world as well. Without emuna, a person risks a dismal fate of despair and depression, for such a person is powerless to cope with many of life’s devastating tribulations.

 

Emotional breakdowns and despair all result from a lack of emuna. People suffer breakdowns when they lose hope. Life is unbearable when one loses hope. The dead end that a person reaches when he or she can’t believe that there’s a solution to their tribulations is no better than a foot in the grave – a living death.

 

With emuna, a person knows that there’s no situation on earth – no matter how seemingly dismal – where God can’t come to the rescue.

 

Isaiah the prophet informed King Hezekiah that the latter had been sentenced by heavenly edict to death. The king answered the prophet, "Ben Amotz – belay your prophecies and leave! I have a tradition from my great grandfather King David that even if a sharp sword comes to rest on a person’s throat, one should not lose hope in [God’s] mercy" (see Gemorra, tractate Berachot, 10a).

 

When we reinforce our emuna during tough times, in other words, when we strengthen our belief that our difficulties are rooted exclusively in Divine providence – and not in fate, fortune, or nature – we inherit an arsenal of power that enables us to withstand and overcome any situation. The three T’s – Tshuva, Tfilla, and Tzedakka (penitence, prayer, and charity) – are the super powerful weapons of the emuna arsenal, capable of rescuing an individual from peril.

 

Emuna and the three T’s not only rescue a person; they refine and enrich the soul, bringing a person closer to God. As we stressed earlier, proximity to God enhances getting to know God, the very reason that our souls were sent to this earth. In retrospect, we see that all of our difficulties and suffering were to bring us closer to God, and not to cast us away, heaven forbid.

 

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches, "One who has emuna is truly alive, and his days are always filled with good. When things go well, it is certainly good. But when one has troubles, it is also good, for one knows that God will eventually have mercy, and make the outcome good. Since everything comes from God, it’s definitely for the best. But, heaven forbid, a man without faith is not really alive.

 

Evil befalls him and he loses all hope. There is nothing to cheer or comfort him, for he has no emuna. He is outside of God’s providence, and has no good at all. But with emuna, life is good and pleasant" (Sichos HaRan, 53).

 

To be continued…