Instead of Closing a Million-Dollar Deal – Saved from a Terrorist Attack

In which points of faith must we strengthen ourselves?

• To remember that our understanding is limited and we do not comprehend the ways of Heaven.

To realize that the limitations are ours, and not to make claims against Hashem, who is "a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He" (Deuteronomy 32:4).

And as the father of the Gross sisters who died in the poisoning disaster said: "This is the correction – the heavenly accounts that escape our understanding. We understand the limitation of our intellect, and we do not demand, critique, or blame. We understand there is a Master, and He knows well what He is doing. We did not make ourselves, someone made us..."

• Hashem's wide field of vision

As Rabbi Gross also said: "I do not complain, because who am I? With a vision of two or three centimeters – Hashem has a wide field of vision! He sees a field of three kilometers. What can I judge or decide? It hurts, surely it hurts. We cry, certainly we cry. It's good to cry, but it's without a sense of frustration..."

To believe that Hashem's deeds are true and righteous altogether. The kindness of Hashem is sometimes hidden, yet: "For Hashem is good; His mercy is everlasting" (Psalms 100:5) – Hashem always does kindness. Sometimes the kindness is concealed from us. We shall know that "from generation to generation is His faithfulness." With the power of faith, we reach the understanding that indeed it is Hashem's kindness with us.

We do not know what is bad and what is good. When the Twin Towers fell, a story was published about a person who was about to close a deal worth over ten million dollars but suddenly suffered from stomach troubles and could not attend. He felt so bad... but after the Twin Towers disaster, there was no trace of those who were supposed to meet him.

Sometimes we are fortunate to see the end of the story and easily understand that it was to our benefit, but the real wisdom is to believe even when we don't always see how it was for our good, and to strengthen from all the stories we have heard or seen with our own eyes, and to know it was the same Hashem who gave the trial, uplifted, saved, and sometimes brought us a test we did not see the entire end of. There begins true faith...

A young man and woman met, almost finalized an engagement. At the woman's home, they were already preparing for the engagement, when suddenly a message came from the man that he was calling off the engagement. What crying she cried, and what distress was there! It took her time to recover from the blow. In any case, life continued, and she found her own partner, and he found his, and they married. However, a year later, he died due to a bacterial infection. She was shocked and filled with regret over how she cried and fought against Hashem's will, understanding that Hashem spared her from the sorrow and suffering of being a young widow.

Good does not necessarily mean sweet! Good brings about good things. A surgery can be good but not sweet, while candies, in contrast, may be sweet but not good. And because our intellect is limited, and we do not see everything, we cannot know what is good and what is bad, and therefore we must believe that everything is for the best and rely on Hashem whose vision is expansive and everything is precisely for our benefit.

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