When Crisis Strikes, Remember These Five Things

Emotional resilience is something we have to struggle with throughout our lives. Just as we need to eat every day to keep our physical bodies going, we need to nourish ourselves spiritually on a daily basis, to keep ourselves connected and committed to Hashem and a spiritual life.

It’s a grave mistake to rely on whatever we managed to absorb from our childhood education. When crisis hits, we quickly discover that our reservoirs of faith had all but dried up and that we need to refill them urgently.

Throughout my life, I have kept certain teachings in mind which I return to again and again whenever times are hard. It’s always best to prepare when things are calm and running smoothly rather than waiting until events overwhelm us and our minds aren’t working clearly.

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What I came up with can be condensed into five powerful axioms:

First, Hashem is omnipotent, able to do whatever He desires, and no one can tell Him what to do or how to act.

Second, Hashem created the world to benefit His creations. The goal of creation is to have all creations recognize Hashem as the only power, a power of goodness.

Third, since Hashem is omnipotent, and since He created the world to benefit His creations, I can rely on Him to have my ultimate benefit in mind, as I, too, am one of His creations.

Fourth, since I believe all these things, this makes me a “believing Jew” — which also means that only Hashem can be relied upon, and no one and nothing else.

And fifth, strengthening my faith in Hashem is like widening the conduit between Hashem’s blessings and myself. The more I trust Hashem, the more He gives me reason to do so.

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I have drawn upon these five fundamental principles hundreds, or more likely, thousands of times throughout my life. Whenever I did so, I felt a sense of spiritual power far beyond what one might imagine.

Adapted from As Long As I Live by Rabbi Aharon Margalit