From minute to minute life seems to change and bring on different situations that make us behave in many ways that we might not have expected.
We try to predict all the events of our day and our life, and when change comes about we feel helpless and insecure.
The changes and challenges that our nation has been going through since the beginning of time, are always a guiding light to us in every generation.
There is the general population that have had their fair amount of challenges in their days, and then there are the special cases that seem to have challenges in their lives almost every moment of the day.
I like to compare these challenges to different types of vehicles. There are some cars that can seat only 2 people inside. And there are larger cars that can seat 5 or 7 passengers. There are busses and then there are trains that can carry many people at once.
These are the different types of people in the world. To some missing a bus is a great challenge, while to another having their child cry all night and getting to work a bit groggy is enough to change their day and their mood drastically. And then, there are people whose daily challenges are enormous like the amount of people one can find on a train with lots of carriages attached behind.
Earlier this week there was a terrible attack of Palestinian Arabs against a Jewish woman, Rivka Tittle, as she was on her way home, in the Shomron Mountains, with her children. A few terrorists blocked the road forcing her to slow down. As she slowed down, they threw heavy stones at her and her children.
Miraculously the children weren’t harmed, however, the mother suffered horrible head injuries. This amazing woman, Rivka, like so many other brave and righteous ladies, live on these hill tops of Judea and Samaria. They are settling the land and making sure that these properties stay in Jewish sovereignty and not in the enemies’ hand’s, heaven forbid.
Many times these families pay a heavy price, even with their lives, to defend our promised land. These families live daily, even every moment, with the thought of what can, and might, happen to them as a result of their presence in such hostile areas.
And yet it’s these woman and children who are the trains for all of the nation, carrying behind them lots and lots of carriages loaded with Jewish passengers, requesting to live in the holy land. Without these courageous souls living on the mountain tops, carrying us all behind them, we wouldn’t be able to sit so peacefully in our homes in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. The enemies would be so much closer.
When we sit on a train do we consciously think how wonderful and helpful the train conductor is? Or do we just think of the next stop and where we are headed? We must recognize that the challenges these settlers face daily and even hourly, are ensuring our stability each and every day.
May Rivka have a speedy recovery and her current situation change for the better immediately.
We are entering the Torah readings of the book of Exodus, which describes the exile and the exodus from Egypt. We read of the Jewish people’s journeys throughout their years in the desert on their way to the chosen land.
The changes our nation went through is beyond our understanding. Sometimes they would travel for one day in the desert, set up camp and have to move the very next day without any advanced warning. And other times the people of Israel would set up camp and stay put for months, even years. This uncertainty and the ability to adapt to change so quickly, with just a moment’s notice, is the gift of total belief in Hashem. We believe that everything that G-d does, is for the best.
We are living in times of great uncertainty; so many tragedies revolving around this terrible virus. So many people were laid off from their work. Many people lost money as a result of this difficult time the world has been going through this past year.
Let us take strength and courage, faith and belief, from our ancestors and from our great ‘train conductors,’ to keep our heads high and full of hope that Hashem is guiding us and calling the shots and we must follow him blindly to whatever changes He sees fit. And may we merit the final redemption peacefully, G-d willing, soon.