B"H
I want to wish you a happy Passover!
I will be in Estonia next week
G-d Willing, preparing Passover food & stories for the Jewish Estonians there.
Hopefully I'll get a chance to write next week's e-mail there, maybe at some seedy Eastern European internet cafe or something.
Nothing I wouldn't do for you guys! :)
~~~~~~~
There's a great Chassidic story that took place many years ago in a Ukrainian jail.
These 2 brothers had been walking the streets innocently when they were arrested and thrown into jail for no apparent reason.
Knowing that everything in life was orchestrated by G-d, the brothers accepted their fate with a good spirit.
But during the 1st day of imprisonment, Reb Elimelech noticed that his brother's face appeared downcast.
"What's the matter Zusia?" Eliemelch asked his brother.
"We can't pray to G-d here!" he answered, pointing to the communal toilet in the room used by the prisoners.
Jewish law states that one is forbidden to recite holy words of prayer next to such foul smelling secretion.
"How can I enjoy any moment of my day
when I can't be serving my G-d!"
"But my brother," Reb Elimelech replied gently,
"the same G-d that Desires your prayers, also Desires that you not pray in such a situation. You are serving Him."
Reb Zusia's frown slowly began to turn into a wide grin.
"You're completely right!"
Grabbing his brother by the arm, Reb Zusia began dancing around the room with him, singing with joy.
The other prisoners, attracted by the joyous dancing and singing, began to dance and sing themselves.
The vicious prison guards rushed to the scene and asked the first prisoner they saw the meaning of all of this joy.
The prisoner pointed to the toilet and told them it had "something to do with that."
"If that's the case, we'll get rid of their joy immediately!" The guards quickly grabbed the waste bucket and removed it from the room.
~~~~~~~~~~
Simcha poretz geder - "Joy breaks all barriers" - is a classic saying of our Sages. To "think good, and it will truly become good."
By approaching life with optimism and a joyful demeanor, in whatever situation is thrown at us, Kabbalah teaches us that we are able to cause above that G-d Wants to
Give us an openly favorable outcome! (We know that all G-d Does to us is good, but not always apparent good from our viewpoint down here).
As we leave the month of joy, Adar, and enter the month of redemption, Nissan, let's remember to always approach life and its
obstacles and challenges with a smile. And like Reb Zusia and Reb Elimelech, we may yet see the open and revealed good
that comes from our optimism.
Shabbat Shalom!
Daniel
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