The most FORGOTTEN thing about FAITH

Of course, a person is saved from a dangerous situation. You say, "Wow, Hashem, you orchestrated and curated circumstances that things worked out well for me. Thank you." But what you've heard me say countless times, and what I'm opposed to is basing amuna on those stories. If we only base our amuna on the one direction, then when something happens in the other direction, we're going to walk away. We're going to give it up. It won't make sense. We won't see his guiding hand, and we're going to be filled with questions and doubt. If you'd know that who you're sitting next to, God forbid, would be murdered in cold blood for being a Jew, this, would you not look at them differently? If you knew who you were sitting next to was going to be a hero and save Claw Israel, would you not look at them differently where you're sitting? So, look at who you're sitting next to. So, I got the following email. Dear Gober, hope the email finds you well. I'm a longtime listener. Blah blah blah. Thank you for the kind words, blah blah blah. Today was my first day back at work after maternity leave. So, I put on your most recent amir and began driving. Traffic started building up and the ways suggested an alternative route. You were talking about taking ownership and responsibility over our own lives. There have been many times in the past where I listened to ways and I wish I didn't. So I decided to ignore the route that ways was saying was shorter and continue on my usual route. All in all, it took me three hours to get to work on my first day back. The rest of the drive there, I listened to your words. I did my best to embrace my place, not let this put a damper on my first day. I tried to internalize how can I recognize my mission for every moment. In this moment, who am I right now? I arrived two hours late, thinking I'd made the wrong decision, not listening to Ways, when my coworker told me there had been a terror attack at the remote junction, the exact route that Ways wanted me to take. I realized then that sitting in two hours of traffic is really where Hashem wanted me to be. I have a lot of for living with Amuna. Your words amir have guided me through different seasons of my life. Marriage and muim, miscarriages, and births. They guided me again today as I navigate returning to work and having my beautiful baby wishing you a meaningful el. So here she ignored ways and it turned out even though she regretted because it took her into more traffic. Ignoring ways and following her instinct and embracing her place in that traffic may have saved her life. What a miracle she wasn't at that remote junction when that when that those terrorists opened fire. And I want to be very clear that is a powerful email and I join and share in her gratitude to Hashem for guiding her or giving her that instinct to make a decision that may have saved her life. And no one is saying that living with amuna means to temper it or deny it or not say it. Of course you say it. Of course a person is saved from a dangerous situation. You say, "Wow, Hashem, you orchestrated and curated circumstances that things worked out well for me. Thank you." But what you've heard me say countless times and what I'm opposed to is basing Amuna on those stories. And I want to tell you exactly why Hashem worked as a maintenance worker at Shalim. He was standing at the bus stop with another staff member of the yeshiva. A man driving a car stopped and offered to take him to the yeshiva and both entered the car. At an unexpected moment, a person appeared and asked to join the ride. He needed urgent medical treatment at the hospital. Levi who was already sitting in the car got out to accommodate the request. Five minutes later the horrific attack occurred and he was murdered. 57year-old had worked for years at Colto Yeshiva. He was in that He was in that car. He gave up his seat for someone else and it cost him his life. He was murdered. If you believe that the first story of not listening to ways is from Hashem, then you have to believe that the second story of giving up his seat and giving up his life is also from Hashem. You can't only tell the stories in one direction. And you can't base your amuna on when it all works out. Yes, that's amuna. When it works out, of course, it's Hashem. Those who survived the Holocaust, those who survived 911 coming up, those who survived October 7th, those whom Hashem were cured from cancer and illness, of course should thank Hashem for his providence and his love and guiding them towards salvation, towards recovery, towards good things. Of course, a suda benching thanking of course it's from Hashem. But don't base ammun hearing only the story of the person who missed the flight. What about the person who was waiting on standby and got on the flight? On the person who missed the remote junction? What about the person who had a ride away from the remote junction but gave it up for someone else and ended up costing his life? It's all Hashem, the good and the painful. That which we see his hand and that which we don't understand why he orchestrated things in such a way. And if we only base our amuna on the one direction, then when something happens in the other direction, we're going to walk away. We're going to give it up. It won't make sense. We won't see his guiding hand and we're going to be filled with questions and doubt. So, we have to know going in. And that's why we try to learn together and grow together in the way in which we say. And I ask people, don't just send me the emails where it all works out wonderfully. in our family hashtka what's group we don't just put in and then the teacher didn't show up and I hadn't studied and it worked out perfectly and then I got the parking spot and then it turns out that the lunch was ser we I asked my kids and I try also to put ink we open the car door and it knocked off someone's mirror how is that I don't know but it was also it's also it's also practice.