A Hope In Hell!

I'm a reasonably shallow person, and one thing I don't enjoy is suffering. Many times in my life I've found myself wading into a river of excrement, and when it get's completely unbearable, I looked up to the good lord above, and say, 'c'mon big guy - give lo' Tzvi a break there'

And then when it seems it can't get any worse - it does!

This is a series of events that has always puzzled me - why do we need suffering? Yeah, I know all the star trek/pseudo spiritual ball crap - what is happiness without darkness.

I'll tell you what it is - IT'S FRAKKIN' HAPPINESS!

Disneyland is none the worse by not having a crappy ride!

So imaging my surprise this morning when I stumbled onto Rav Shimson Hircsh's commentary on this week's parsha talk at length about this - and it made sense at long last.

Last week it got pretty bad for the Jews, and then it got worse, and then worse and then worse.

The G*d comes to Moshe, and gives him the mission to redeem the Jews…

And waddya know - it gets worse once again!

At this point the Jewish people seem a bit miffed, and with good reason.

So what was the point of G*d squeezing and squeezing and squeezing and squeezing Am Yisroel.

Hirsch says it's like this - That the Jewish people need to live outside of the normal perceptions of reality or perform their function - they must understand the world is a facade and illusion. They must understand there is only G*d.

The only thing we have any control over is our desire. The outcome of that desire is completely out of our hands - no matter what that desire is. It could be turning on a light bulb or becoming president of the United States - any and all results in this world is dependent upon the blessing of Hashem.

G*d made it that there was no possible way the Jews in Egypt would survive - the situation went from bad to worse. It became untenable and should have been our annihilation.

And then the pain turned to smoke and wafted away as if it was never there.

G*d saved us, like he always does.

The Jewish people needs to understand that there is nothing but G*d, and that can only happen if everything is removed - even hope!

But the paradox is that one can always have hope in G*d - and assurance that is all is as it should it be. All is right, even in the worst of times.

Now, I hope to NEVER see the worst of times again. I hope I got the message.

But all I have is hope.