The Talmud tells a story of R'Akiva who was once traveling and brought along a candle for light, a rooster to wake him and a donkey to carry his belongings. It so happened that the city that he wanted to stay in did not allow him in, and so he was forced to spend the night out in the field. During the night a wind came and blew out his candle, a lion came and ate his donkey and a cat came and ate his rooster .R' Akiva said, "All that G-d does, He does for the good". Later on R'akiva discovered that that night the town had been attacked by bandits and had he been there, he too would have been robbed. And if the bandits would have seen the light from the candle or heard the sounds from the animals, they would have found him. Through him losing his belongings, his life was saved.
So even though R'Akiva did experience loss and pain, at the end it was revealed how it was all for the good.
A better level of good is when the negative experience itself turns out to be positive. Like in the story of Rabbi Nachum ish gam zu, called so, because he would always say, "This too is for the good".
One time, he was sent as a messenger to the king of Rome, to present a chest of precious gems as a gift on behalf of the Jewish people. During the night, the gems were stolen and replaced with dirt. When R'Nochum saw this he said, "This too is for the good" and he continued to present his gift to the king. When the king saw the dirt inside he wanted to punish R' Nochum. G-d though, sent Eliyahu Hanavi in the form of an officer, to suggest that perhaps this dirt is the same dirt that our forefather, Avraham had used to win wars.
They checked it out and indeed this dirt was found to be powerful ammunition.
We are now entering the time of the Redemption, a time when it will be crystal clear how every experience is only good - and not just the it will eventually bring to something good, but gam zu l'tova, this too is for the good.
May we experience this reality speedily in our days!
No comments:
Post a Comment