When a person hears an amazing story about how Hashem saved someone from his problem, it's supposed to give him chizuk to realize how fortunate he is that he also has Hashem who could help him from his problem as well. People have said, however, that hearing these kinds of stories can have the opposite effect on them. It makes them feel worse that everyone else gets help for their problems, but those kinds of stories never happen to them. They want to feel encouraged, but it's hard for them. They are asking for advice on how to improve their attitudes. First of all, every Jew has a responsibility to believe in and hope that Hashem will save him from his problem. When a person knows he has an obligation to do something, it is easier to get himself to do it. But whether or not we hear a story about Hashem saving someone else with a similar predicament, we must strengthen ourselves to constantly hope and pray to Him to help us and believe that He can do it in an instant with ease, no matter how difficult things seem to be. When we hear of Him doing it for others, we should take the lesson that Hashem is capable of helping, and He does help, and it should encourage us to pray even more. Furthermore, when a person hears about a salvation from Hashem, he has an extraordinary opportunity to do a great avodah. The Tiferet Shlomo in Parashat Yitro writes, there is a special service in thanking and praising Hashem when He saves others. The pasuk tells us, when Yitro heard about what Hashem did to save the Jews from Mitzrayim and at Kriyat Yam Suf, he praised Hashem for saving them, even though He was not part of that salvation. This is a beautiful midda, to be able to appreciate what Hashem does, even though we are not the ones being saved. Our job in this world is to bring glory to Hashem, and this is one of the ways to accomplish that. To thank Hashem for salvations that He brings others is a pure praise, just appreciating Him without ulterior motives. Says the Tiferet Shlomo, this is why the Torah mentions these words of Yitro, to praise Him for doing such a beautiful avodah. Whenever a person praises Hashem, it brings glory to Him. The more difficult it is to praise, the more precious the praise becomes. To thank Hashem when we receive open good is very valuable. It shows that we recognize that the blessing came from Hashem. But to thank Him for someone else's salvation is much more difficult. And to thank Him when that person himself is going through hardship is even more difficult. Take for example somebody who was having difficulty getting married and hears a story about Hashem's Hashgacha Peratit in bringing someone else who was also having difficulty their zivug. To thank Hashem for that is worth so much more. There are people who are able to thank Hashem even during their most difficult times. I was recently visiting a mourner during his shiva, and he was telling a rabbi there about how thankful he was to Hashem for doing certain things to make the death easier on his relative. This was a very big tragedy of the relative passing at a young age, yet the mourner was finding ways to praise Hashem. The rabbi listening to this told the mourner, you can't imagine how much nachat ruach you are bringing Hashem at this moment. Instead of complaining and being bitter, you are praising Him. The more difficult it is to praise, the more valuable it becomes. So if someone has been feeling bad about hearing of others getting salvations, he should utilize the opportunity going forward to thank and praise Hashem for the salvations that He brings His children. And if it's hard to do, it's even more valuable.

When Hashem makes a decree upon a person, there are many ways in which it can be carried out, and our deeds can change things for the good. The Gemara says, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai had a dream on Rosh Hashana that his relative was destined to lose a certain amount of money. Over the course of the year, he advised his relative to give large sums of money to tzedaka. By year's end, the man had given to tzedaka everything he was destined to lose except six dinarim. The king levied a large tax upon everyone, but this man was only charged six dinarim. He was able to fulfill the decree by giving tzedaka instead of losing it a different way. He got the merit of helping people and gained eternal reward. A man said, This past Elul, his bet midrash was asking people to contribute money to buy air conditioners. The air conditioners would help them be able to concentrate more on their learning and have more kavana in tefila. The man wanted to contribute, but he wasn't sure how much he wanted to give, and eventually he forgot about it. A couple of weeks later, his very own home air conditioner stopped working. He called some people who knew about these things, and they all said it sounded like the problem was not fixable. He then called two different repairmen to come down, and they both said he needed to switch the circuit board inside the unit, which would cost at least eight hundred shekels. The man then realized, this was min hashamayim. They were collecting for air conditioners in the bet midrash, and he hadn't given anything yet. He immediately called the gabbai and said he wanted to donate one entire air conditioner. He was not surprised by the end of this story. He called another air conditioning technician, and he told him to try putting his finger on a certain button for a long time. He tried it, and the air conditioner started working again, as though nothing was ever wrong. It seems like this man was decreed to pay a certain amount of money for an air conditioner, and he fulfilled it by donating the money to tzedaka, and then no longer needed the trouble of fixing his own air conditioner. Another man told me he rented an apartment starting in September, and he received a phone call from someone saying he had been providing the sukka for the tenants of that apartment in the past, and offered it to him now. It was a very large and beautiful sukka, which would cost him fifteen hundred dollars to use, plus six hundred and fifty dollars to build. The man usually rented a sukka for twelve hundred, but it was not that nice. So he told this person he was willing to spend the extra money to do the mitzva in a more beautiful way. The next day the sukka came, and the following day the builder came. The builder asked him where the brackets were. The man didn't know what he was talking about. The builder said he needed at least twenty brackets to put the sukka together. The man immediately called the person who delivered the sukka to inquire about the brackets. He said the brackets should be stored in the apartment somewhere. The man searched the apartment, and there were no brackets. To buy new ones would cost another six hundred and fifty dollars. The man was livid. He wasn't told about the brackets, and now he wanted to back out of the whole thing. He was going to yell at this man for not telling him about the brackets in advance. But then he caught himself. Although he admits he does have a problem with his temper, he wanted to start the new year the right way. He told Hashem he was going to swallow it and go and buy the brackets. This also meant a lot of time with traffic and lines at the sukka store. But he overcame his nature and got in the car to go. When he was just two blocks away from his house, he saw his brother-in-law turning the corner and said hello, and then told him he was going to buy brackets for his sukka. His brother-in-law replied, "Oh, I forgot to tell you. Last week I was driving by your house, and I saw your housekeeper put out a whole bunch of good brackets by the garbage. I took them for you but forgot to tell you about it. Come to my house now, and I'll give you them." The man immediately thanked Hashem.He said to himself, Hashem was testing my anger. Once I passed the test, He gave me the brackets. What were the odds that on the way to buy the brackets, he would see his brother-in-law, the only person in the entire world, who had his brackets at that time? There are many ways things can play out. Our decisions will determine the outcome.

In this week's Parasha , Noach was commanded to bring into the Teva two of every kind of animal that existed in the world to keep it's species alive. The sefer Birkat David quotes from studies that were done investigating how many species exist in the world. It said there are 10 kosher animals, 5,300 non-kosher animals, 18,000 kinds of reptiles, 9,000 kinds of birds and hundreds of thousands of insects. As big as the teva was, it was mathematically impossible for all of those animals to have fit on it. Furthermore, Noah and his family were given the job of feeding those animals. Even if every one of them would have spent all of their 24 hour days feeding the animals, they still wouldn't even come close to reaching every animal each day. Moreover, where was all that food stored ?Just the elephant alone eats approximately 300 pounds of food a day. Obviously this must have been accomplished by way of a miracle from Hashem. If that's the case, the Ramban asks, why did Hashem instruct Noah to build such a big Teva ? Anyway, it wasn't going to fit everything. He answered, Hashem wanted the miracle to be minimized as much as possible. And then he added, this is the way of all miracles. Man has to do all he can. And then Hashem does the rest. This is how it is with everything we do in life. We go through the motions, doing what we can, and Hashem is the One who gets things done. With this knowledge, if a person ever runs into a situation where it doesn't seem possible for him to accomplish his goal, but he knows it's the right thing to do, his job is to proceed with it, and he can then leave the rest to Hashem. Rabbi Avraham Salem, a mohel in Israel, told the following story about himself. Some years back on a hot day in the month of Elul, he had many brit milas scheduled in Netanya and the surrounding areas. The second to last one of the day was scheduled for 7:00 PM in one location. And the last one was in a different location pretty far from there, with sunset being at 7:15. This meant the mohel would have less than ten minutes to get there and do that last brit milah . He had no other choice. That was the only possibility for him to get all of them done on that day. While he was driving to that last brit milah, he saw smoke coming from underneath his car, and he quickly pulled over. He saw one of his tires was completely flat. It was too late to first call a taxi. He made a tefila to Hashem, "Please help me get this Mila accomplished." It seemed impossible to get there and complete it before sunset. But this rabbi knew he had to put in the effort and Hashem would decide what happens. So he waved down the next car driving by and begged the driver to help him. The driver was apprehensive, not knowing who this man was. The rabbi already started thanking him and got into his car and told him, "Please just go. I assure you we are doing holy work. I'll explain on the road." It was about a five mile drive to the next place, and there was nine minutes to go until sunset. The rabbi told the driver who was not religious, "You are Hashem's messenger. I am trying to get a brit mila done by the end of the day. I'm going to say Tehilim now and you just drive" When they arrived at the address, the rabbi was afraid to look at his watch. The driver told him you still have more than four minutes to go. The rabbi ran into the shul and was able to finish the mila before sunset. When he came out, he told the driver, you have no idea how great of a mitzvah you just did. The driver then said, "My name is Shimon. And if I just did a great mitzvah and you are a rabbi, please give me a beracha that I should get married. I'm 45 and I'm still single. I'm so lonely." The rabbi then put his hands on Shimon's head and gave him a heartfelt beracha and concluded by saying, "B'ezrat Hashem, I will have the merit to circumcise your first born son." The rabbi concluded this story by saying it was just one year later when Shimon called him in tears telling him that he got married two months after that episode, and now they had their first baby boy and were hoping he could come do the brit milah. That day that the rabbi tried to do all of those brit milas it seemed like he hit a roadblock and wasn't going to be able to complete the mission. Yet he kept going, because he knew that he just had to make the efforts, and it will be Hashem who actually gets things done. Shabbat Shalom.

The pasuk says, שיר המעלות ממעמקים קראתיך ה . There are times when a person calls out to Hashem from the depths of his troubles. He recognizes that he doesn't deserve salvation. But, כי עם ה' החסד , Hashem has so much kindness, והרבה עמו פדות , and endless ways to save a person. So he calls out, no matter how hopeless the situation seems to be, and recognizes that Hashem could still help him. The value of that recognition is so great. It shows how much emunah the person has. This pasuk applied to Yonah, when he called out to Hashem from the depths of the ocean, in a place where salvation seemed unlikely. There, Hashem showed him, הרבה עמו פדות , He could always save and nothing is ever beyond him. Throughout the generations, people have called out to Hashem during their most trying times and have received salvations that they aren't even capable of describing. They say, "I don't know how it happened, but somehow, someway, Hashem saved me." Just a few weeks ago, right before Rosh Hashanah, a man said he went with his father-in-law and two brothers-in-law to the ocean to dip. The ocean looked suspicious, as there were four levels of waves breaking. The man, who we'll call Sol, went in first. He alerted the others that he didn't think they should go in, because he felt a strong pull, even though it was very shallow. They went in anyway, saying they would be careful. One of his brothers-in-law, who we'll call Al, started getting pulled in slowly. His other brother-in-law came out, saying, Al needs help. In a matter of seconds, Al got pulled thirty yards out. He was disappearing and reappearing, as the levels of waves were breaking. Then he got pulled out twenty yards more and was disappearing for twenty to thirty seconds at a time. Sol decided to go in and save him. He started swimming his hardest, making no progress, and then all of a sudden, the current got hold of him and pulled him to where Al was in a matter of seconds. He saw Al's pale white face and body failing. He looked lifeless. Sol grabbed his arm and took two strokes, but on the second stroke, they both got taken further out. At this point, Sol realized he could no longer help his brother-in-law. He felt he was going to die as well. He tried to swim to shore, but was getting pulled back further. He was thinking about his wife and children, as well as his in-laws. Thoughts of the upcoming holiday, along with funerals, were rushing through his mind. He was completely helpless. He kept trying to swim his hardest, but for the most part, he was blacking out. He doesn't know what happened next, but somehow, he managed to get back to shore alive. At this point, Hatzalah came on the scene, and Al was nowhere in sight. Al had been out there already for ten minutes at this point. All of a sudden, Al appeared a hundred yards away and looked like he was standing up straight. He stood there for a couple of minutes, gathered himself, and then came back to shore. They asked him how he survived. He said that he called out to Hashem with his last breaths, crying for help. That second, he felt sand under his feet and was able to stand out there. It was like a sandbar appeared out of nowhere. This was practically an open miracle. We call out to Hashem from the depths, sometimes figuratively and sometimes literally, because we know, כי עם ה' החסד , Hashem is so kind, והרבה עמו פדות , and can always save us, no matter how hopeless it seems.

The love that Hashem has for us is unfathomable. We may not always get what we want, but that's just because what we want is not good for us to have at the moment. Hashem wants us to be happy, and He cares about every last detail of our lives. Even things that may appear to be trivial, are very important to Him. Sometimes He shows us how much He cares even about the simplest pleasures of life. Rabbi Joey Haber related a story that was told to him by Jonathan Ghermezian, one of the owners of the Mall of America in Minnesota. He said his wife was in Israel, and he was home with his young daughter. She was bored, so he took her to the mall. They went to the kosher cafe there, and while they were eating, they saw a religious family who told them they were driving cross-country from L.A. to a wedding, and they had stopped off there at the mall. The head of the family was a rebbe in a school in L.A., and he made small talk with Mr. Ghermezian, not knowing he was the owner of the mall. The rebbe mentioned his last name, and only afterward did it click in Mr. Ghermezian's head that this rebbe may be related to another rebbe that he had when he was younger. He had been looking for this rebbe for a long time to ask mechila for something that he had done when he was younger. And so, after he had already left, he went back to the cafe and asked this rebbe if he knew the rebbe that he was looking for, but he did not know him. Now, Mr. Ghermezian started thinking more. This family couldn't even afford flights to the wedding they needed to go to, so he turned to the children and asked them if they wanted passes to the rides in the mall. They all said they wished they could have them. He told them he would take care of it. Since that day was a national holiday, the back offices were closed, and so he went and stood in line like everyone else to get tickets. When it was his turn, he asked to speak to a supervisor. When the supervisor came out, she recognized him and gave him what he asked for. He went back to where the family was waiting and put the passes in the mother's hand. The mother then said, "Wow, this is amazing." She explained, "for two weeks, we knew we were going to stop off here, and my children knew we weren't going to be able to afford to buy tickets to the rides. They have been talking about this for the past two weeks, how they wished that somehow they would be able to get onto the rides there." This mother, who learns bitachon every day, told her children, "If Hashem wants to put the tickets in my hands, He can put them in my hands." And here she was standing with the owner of the mall, who had just put the tickets right in her hands. When Mr. Ghermezian walked away, he was awed at the hashgacha of Hashem. Here he thought he was making decisions about what to do that day. Little did he know, he was just a pawn in the hands of Hashem to give this family the tickets that He wanted them to have. Hashem caused the man's wife to go to Israel, which left him home with their younger daughter. He made the daughter bored, so he would go to the mall on his off day with her. He made him go to the cafe at the same moment that this family who was traveling across the country would be there. He made him go back to find out the name of a person that this rebbe didn't even know. All just to give this family tickets to the rides. Hashem loves us more than we could ever imagine and is always looking out for our best. It may not always appear that way, but we must know it is the absolute truth.

The joy that we experienced on the Chag is supposed to carry us throughout the year. There is a big yetzer hara that can disturb a person's happiness, and we must not fall prey to it. The Gemara tells us that Adam and Chava had the most blissful life in Gan Eden. There were angels roasting meat for them and serving them wine. But then the nachash came along and told Chava that she was lacking. He made her feel that without that one fruit they weren't able to have she would be missing so much. Then she set her eye upon it, desired it, and ate it, and that ruined everything. They had it all, but the nachash who was the evil inclination made them feel lacking. They felt that they couldn't be happy without the one thing they didn't have. This yetzer hara plagues all of us until today. Hashem gives every person everything he needs to be happy but then he looks elsewhere and sees what others have and becomes envious and can no longer enjoy the wonderful blessings that he has. The secret to the happiness of the Jewish people in the desert was that the openings of their tents did not face each other, and thus no one was able to see what the other one had. Someone could have the most beautiful kitchen but then he looks through his window and sees that his neighbors are redoing their kitchen and all of a sudden his kitchen is not good anymore. Today this yetzer hara has found its way into apps that contain pictures of everyone else's lives. This is bringing the nachash into our homes and destroying them. Someone could have the greatest life but the eye fools him into thinking that everyone else has everything better than him until he can no longer enjoy anything that he has. Rabbi Menashe Reizman pointed out that today even a poor man lives better than the wealthiest people from 300 years ago. Someone from that time who had it all did not have running water in his house. He did not have a shower or a toilet. He did not have air conditioning or heating. His bed was not as comfortable and his kitchen was not as equipped, yet he enjoyed everything so much. Today when we have so much more we are unhappy just because someone else has something that we don't have. It doesn't make sense, but it's the yetzer hara, and it doesn't have to make sense. The best advice is not to look at what others have but rather focus on what Hashem has given us. The same thing applies in the spiritual realms. Some people become depressed because they aren't able to comprehend the Gemara like their peers or they aren't able to give tzedaka like their peers. They must realize that Hashem expects a different avodah from different people. Someone who wasn't blessed with the highest IQ is not expected to comprehend everything. Hashem does not reward for results. He rewards for efforts. There can be two people in the same shiur and one understands everything and the other understands only half of what is being taught. Yet the one who understands half may be better off than the one who understands everything if he invests more effort than him. Someone who gives a hundred dollars to tzedaka can be considered greater than someone who gives a thousand or ten thousand. It's all relative to how much Hashem gives each person. Hashem gives everyone the exact lives that they need to be happy and successful in this world: Their spouse, their children, their living conditions, their brain power, their background. They are all carefully planned out for their success. If we could learn to focus on what we have and what we are capable of doing, we will always be happy and be able to do the jobs that we were sent here to do with joy.

One of the greatest tools that we have to give us chizuk for difficult times are the real life stories that other people share. We are able to see the Yad Hashem very clearly and it helps us have hope even when things are looking very bleak. A woman sent me some details of what took place during her last pregnancy which will give us a tremendous amount of chizuk. She said when she was nine weeks pregnant she began to bleed and the doctor told her she needed to take it easy but most probably would miscarry. She quit her job and was confined to bed rest. At around sixteen weeks, the baby tested positive for down syndrome and spina bifida. The baby was also reading two weeks behind in development. The doctor said not to worry about all the problems because she was going to miscarry anyway. Confused and broken, she didn't know where to turn. She stood in the parking lot of the hospital and began strengthening her emunah that it was all in Hashem's hands and it was all for the best. She received a text from a Rebbetzin of hers asking how things were going. She then called the Rebbetzin and told her what was going on. The Rebbetzin connected her to Dr. Rebarber who confirmed her worst fears. He said the baby's spine was completely curved. The fetus was head to toe. The foot was backwards and would need surgery right after birth. It had heart issues that required them to get a fetal echo twice a week. It was so bad that the doctor told her, "I don't know what you would consider a worst case scenario, having the child or miscarrying." When Chanukkah came around she forced herself to pray by the candles for a completely healthy baby, although that did not seem at all possible. For the time being she was still seeing her doctor in New Jersey. The baby turned 20 weeks and she asked him a question. She forgot the question but will never forget his response. "I can't save your baby until 24 weeks, so do whatever you want." Those words hit her very hard. She had a moment of complete Emunah in Hashem. She said to herself about this doctor, you were never the one saving my baby. She left and never went back. She finally started praying the right way to the Doctor of all Doctors. In the meantime things were getting worse and worse, more appointments, more complications. She felt her prayers were making an impact, but each sonogram seemed to say otherwise. They were told to terminate the pregnancy once again but she encouraged her husband not to listen and to rather continue with the pregnancy and that's what they did. At 29 weeks the baby was only 22 weeks developed. It failed a breathing test. She was hospitalized because the placenta was failing. Things looked the worst they could possibly get. She knew she was in Hashem's hands and only He had the final say on what was going to happen. The NICU team told them a bunch of horrific scenarios, and at the end of their gruesome speech they said not to worry about any of this, because the baby is too small for the ventilator so it won't live anyway. They did a c-section and announced it's a girl. She was praying the entire time asking Hashem to let the baby live. Baruch Hashem the baby came out crying which meant it was breathing. Each team at the NICU slowly came up with their findings. Cardiology said, "I don't know what they were talking about with the heart issues. There are no holes. The heart is perfect." This woman kept a google docs sheet with every issue the baby was supposed to have. The ortho team came and said her foot and spine are perfect. Each team was astonished with their findings. Dr. Rebarber called to say he couldn't believe the baby was alive and healthy. The baby did need to be in the NICU for 188 days and did need to come home with a feeding tube but now she is turning three, completely healthy, Baruch Hashem, and going to school like everyone else. From every issue they were told the baby had, she had none of them. Hashem showed everyone that He is in charge and once again gave chizuk to all of us to know we can always hope to Him for the best results, no matter how bleak a situation seems to be.

We say in the Yom Tov Amida , אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים אהבת אותנו ורצית בנו – Hashem chose us from all of the other nations, He loved us and wanted us. In the siddur of the Gr"a, the question was asked, seemingly love is more powerful than ratzon . So if we already mentioned that Hashem chose us out of love, why do we also say that he chose us from ratzon ? The answer is that love is based on certain qualities that people possess, but ratzon implies desiring something without any specific cause. And thus we add ורצית בנו – Hashem yearned for us to be His Nation and still yearns for every single Jew to be close to Him, even if they don't possess the qualities that they should have. Hashem's desire for us is not dependent on our past performance of mitzvot, He yearns for everyone no matter what they have done in the past and wants more than anything for them to come close to Him. Sometimes, Hashem gives people extra siyata d'Shamaya to realize that there is nothing better for them than to come close to Him. A man who made a complete turnaround in religion was asked what prompted his big change. He replied, he had everything he could possibly want, money was no object, he had a great wife and great children. One night, while driving home, he looked up into the sky and asked Hashem if this was the pinnacle of what life could be, because if it was, he had nothing else to look forward to because he already reached it. The next day, he decided to go to shul and on the way out, he grabbed a CD to listen to in the car. The first words from the speaker on that CD were, "The purpose of life is," and then he quoted from Mesilat Yesharim . The man was floored. The very same night, his mother asked him to stop by because she got him a gift. When he got there, he couldn't believe his eyes. It was a Mesilat Yesharim . He said, "Hashem, I get the message." And since that day, he has grown leaps and bounds in religion and now knows the real purpose of life and couldn't be happier. A young woman emailed that her best friend recently got married and another close friend of hers is dating seriously. This meant, out of her large group of friends, she was going to be the only one left not married, which basically meant she was going to have no friends. She felt lost and alone and knew something needed to change. She had heard of a new program in her community where post high school girls would form groups and get together once a week to learn with a teacher. A girl on her block was hosting the classes for one group, so she decided to try it once. She was older than most girls in that group and they all seemed more religious than her. It was a little awkward in the beginning, but she loved the way that the learning made her feel, so she continued going weekly. Because of the age gap, she would just go to the class, sit there quietly, and leave right when it finished. As the weeks went on, she found herself changing, but the people in her life were making not such nice comments to her. For example, "Why are you wearing that skirt? You look like a grandma." Or, "You are going to class again? Didn't you just go last week?" One night, she got so fed up, she started to doubt what she was doing. She cried to Hashem saying she felt so alone and nobody understood her. She asked Hashem to please help her see that she was taking the right path. At the next class, she started zoning out a little towards the middle when, all of a sudden, the teacher said, "Hashem is telling us, 'I love you! Keep going! I'm so proud of you.'" She immediately zoned back in and felt as if Hashem was talking directly to her. She started crying tears of joy and felt like she got the biggest hug. Since then, she has been growing more and more each day and she couldn't be happier. She also became closer with all the girls in the class and she especially became close to that teacher. Hashem loves every one of us and He yearns for everyone to be closer to Him.

Those who are struggling with parnasa are constantly praying to Hashem to make things easier for them. It's so difficult for a person to always be behind on his bills. It's so stressful to have to rethink every purchase, even the basics. People love to hear of a segula they could do that will help improve their financial situation. Why does a God-fearing Jew want extra parnasa ? Just to take care of his family in a respectable way. There is definitely a segula that can help with that. Shulchan Aruch writes in the laws of Yom Tov that a person should give his wife and children something special to bring them joy on the holiday. And we also have to give food to the convert, the orphan, and the widow, as well as other poor people. The Mishnah Berurah there brings the pasuk in parashat Re'eh where this obligation to feed the needy is stated. And there, Rashi writes, there are four categories of poor people mentioned in the pasuk and four family members mentioned. Hashem tells us, you make my poor and destitute happy and I will make your family happy. This is a wonderful guarantee. Rabbi Tzvi Nakar told a story about a man who dealt with financial difficulties for years. No matter how much he earned, he always finished the month in the red. He tried to save, he tried taking on a second job, but me'et Hashem, he was always a bit short on covering his expenses. He did not sink into debt. He did not get into major financial trouble and never used his money irresponsibly. He and his family lived simply and bought just what they needed. He actually made a decent salary. It was just that with a large family, there were constant expenses to take care of. If he would ever manage to get out of the red, a child's glasses would suddenly break, an unexpected expense that put him back under. This continued for years and he never complained. Whatever Hashem gave them, they thanked Him for. It was not his goal to make it rich, but it did bother him. Why couldn't he just make a little more money to have some breathing room? A couple of years ago, something happened that changed his life. His good friend's brother-in-law suddenly passed away, leaving behind several young orphans. He didn't know them personally, but the whole episode affected him in a deep way. He heard from his friend about the distress of the widow and orphans and really wanted to help. When his friend made a collection for them, he made sure to contribute a monthly pledge that would automatically be debited from his account. Then, when Sukkot was approaching, he went with his wife to buy their children special toys in honor of Yom Tov. In a momentary flash of inspiration, he realized those orphans did not have a father who was going to buy them toys. At that moment, he and his wife decided whatever they buy for their children, they were going to get double of, to give to the orphans as well. It was quite expensive considering their financial situation, but they knew of the great virtue involved in helping widows and orphans and also knew that Hashem said, "You make mine happy and I'll make yours happy." Since then, he does this every single holiday. For the first time in fifteen years of marriage, he began seeing blessing in his money. He did not switch jobs, but his income grew unexpectedly. And more than that, the money he earned stretches and he's able to use it for good things. It's unbelievable. For years, he had been living with outdated furniture, barely getting by, and now his money is finally blessed. It is indeed a great segula to take care of orphans, widows, and the downtrodden. The pasuk in the Torah stating this obligation is actually written regarding the holiday of Shavuot. May we all be zocheh to help others and have Hashem help us.

One of the names that the Torah gives the holiday of Sukkot is Chag Ha'asif, the holiday of gathering. Seemingly, gathering describes the time period in which the holiday falls out in, being that this is the time of year that landowners would gather their crops from their fields. If that's the case, why would a description of the time period become so significant to become one of the names of the holiday? Obviously, there is more to it. The Be'er HaParasha quoted the Rashbam on the pasuk, למען ידעו דורותיכם כי בסוכות הושבתי , who says, by remembering how Hashem took care of all the Jewish people's needs for 40 years in the desert, they would continue thanking Him when they settled the land with beautiful homes filled with bounty. Then they would not think that it was their strength that enabled them to settle the land, and it was their craftsmanship that built their homes. This pasuk, which commands us to sit in the sukkah, is alluding to the fact that we have to remember that everything we have is only because Hashem gives it to us. This message is so important specifically at this time of year, when the landowner sees how much yield his fields produced, at a time when he is susceptible to feeling haughty over what he accomplished. The Torah reminds him that all of his blessing only comes from Hashem. This is one of the reasons why Sukkot is called the Chag HaAsif. It is not just describing the time period, but is rather helping us stay humble and appreciate Hashem during this time of gathering. It is obvious that Hashem gives us everything we have, but the Yetzer Hara makes it not so obvious. Something could be staring a person right in the face, but he doesn't realize it because he gets sidetracked. The Be'er HaParasha gave him a mashal to explain. There was a wealthy man transporting dirt over the border from a neighboring country. When the border patrol asked him about it, he said he was building a new home and needed dirt for it. They told him there was plenty of dirt in his country and didn't need dirt from a different country. He said that this dirt was much better. They didn't believe him. They thought he was smuggling valuables like gold and silver under the dirt and trying to avoid the taxes. So they ordered their inspectors to sift through all of the dirt. In the end they didn't find anything and let the truck load through. This repeated itself every single day for months. Every day he would transport dirt and every day the inspectors would search and find nothing. Finally the wealthy man said his house was completed and wasn't going to need any more dirt. The head of the border patrol asked this man what he was hiding for all these months. It couldn't be that he just needed dirt. The wealthy man told him, if you sign a letter saying I'll never have to pay tax for it, then I'll tell you. He signed the letter, and the wealthy man told him he was transporting brand new trucks every day but he sidetracked them with the dirt. So too, we work hard and we earn money and the Yeser Harah tells us it was our hard work that produced the money. But we must not get fooled. It's only Hashem. Baruch Hashem, another one of our enemies has been eliminated. It happened accidentally and reportedly accomplished by soldiers that were trainees. This is Hashem reminding us that He is in charge and when He decides an enemy will be eliminated, that's when it will happen. We pray that Hashem will decide to end the fighting with all of our enemies being eradicated and allow us to celebrate the coming of the Mashiach. Amen. Chag Sameach.

Living Emunah 2652 Sukkot: In Hashem's Hands The Sefer Ha'ikarim writes, there are three fundamentals of Emunah that every Jew must believe. Number one is the existence of Hashem. Number two is that the Torah was given to us from Shamayim. And number three, Hashem is involved in everything that happens in this world- hashgacha peratit. The Sefer Kometz Mincha suggests that each of the shalosh regalim corresponds to one of these three fundamentals. On Pesach, the world learned that Hashem exists. On Shavuot, we saw the Torah coming down from Shamayim. And on Sukkot, we saw how Hashem took care of the Jewish people's every need in the desert, surrounding them in His clouds of glory. Thus, we leave our homes and go to live in temporary structures to show that we know we are in Hashem's hands. He is the One who protects and watches over us at all times. This is one of the reasons why Sukkot is called "zemans simchatenu," the time of our greatest joy. Because when a person internalizes that he is in Hashem's hands, he can be happy in all situations in life, even during the trying times. A woman related how Emunah gave her the ultimate strength and joy to deal with a very difficult situation that she was experiencing. Last year, she had a miscarriage late in the pregnancy. It was a devastating blow, especially since they had been waiting to have a child. After the loss, she worked very hard on her Emunah. That is what enabled her to get through that very difficult time with sanity. She conceived shortly afterward. However, to her dismay, things went wrong right from the beginning. The pregnancy was filled with fear and panic. Every doctor's visit meant more fear. And every trimester brought its own challenges. She decided to start listening from the beginning of an Emunah hotline that she would regularly call. This hotline has over 2,000 5-minute clips. And she went back and started from number one. She drank every word thirstily and allowed the words to penetrate her soul and override her emotions. There were many times when she thought the pregnancy had ended. She kept repeatedly attempting to strengthen herself like a lion and kept listening to the classes aggressively. She would dial the number trembling and then hang up feeling much more relaxed and hopeful. There were many nights when panic would overtake her and the doctor's grim prognosis wouldn't let her sleep. She would then call the Emunah hotline and let the words of chizuk calm her nerves and enable her to fall asleep. There were times when she had questions like, if Hashem didn't want us to be parents yet, why did He have to pick up our hopes so high only to drop them down so low? But then the Emunah lessons answered that question for her too. Perhaps there was a harsh decree written for them and Hashem in His infinite mercy was giving them temporary challenges in exchange. Those thoughts gave her a lot of Chizuk. She felt like she entered the pregnancy on a premature theoretical level of Emunah and left it on an advanced level with a concrete connection to Hashem. She would not sell this connection for any money in the world. It's the most precious commodity that she possesses. By the end of the pregnancy she had already listened to 770 classes on the hotline. She especially connected with the lesson about imagining the yeshua of Hashem before it happens and relying on Him for it. As she holds her beautiful baby girl in her arms, she knows with certainty that the only thing that got her to this glorious moment was her Emunah and Bitachon. When we go outside and look up at the flimsy s'chach, we should internalize that it is only Hashem who protects, only Hashem who helps and only Hashem who takes care of us. The more we recognize this, the happier we will be.