Circles of hope and faith

The Parasha in our everyday life - Vayigash – Tenth of Tevet and the *Yom HaKadish HaKlali 5782

Rabbi Eliezer Shenvald - Rosh Yeshivat Hesder 'Meir Harel' Modi'in

Life summons a person to different situations, some successful in which the person experiences 'enlightenment' and they bring the person joy and happiness and give him strength and spiritual greatness to continue, and some unsuccessful and challenging which infuse the person sadness and frustration and sometimes even despair and depression that may cause him to sink into apathy and lose hope, strength and spiritual greatness to cope and progress. In such situations the person can draw strength from hope and faith, expecting that in the future the situation will change. Hope and faith also restore the power to do and act spiritually and practically, to change the situation and not sink into the darkness of despair.

לְהַגִּ֣יד בַּבֹּ֣קֶר חַסְדֶּ֑ךָ וֶ֝אֱמ֥וּנָתְךָ֗ בַּלֵּילֽוֹת׃

"To proclaim Your steadfast love at daybreak, Your faithfulness each night" (Psalm 92:3) - When the darkness of trouble increases, faith and hope illuminate the darkness with a strengthening and empowering light.

Sometimes when a person creates false hopes, it may indeed encourage and give him strength, but it may later turn out to be fictitious and even more despairing. True hope depends on believing in G-d who can bring about change:

ולא יתיאש מלקוות אל ה׳ בכל מעשיו ליראת עונותיו, כי השגחת ה׳ תמשך תמיד על המיחלים אליו

"And he must not despair of hoping in Hashem in all his doings on account of fear of his sins, for Hashem’s providence always comes to those who hope for mercy" (Sefer HaIkkarim Maamar 4:48)

And if the person merits to fulfill his hopes, then he might have come full circle.

In time of need, a person's healthy soul hopes for good and change and encourages the person to do as much as they can. Yet there might be despair overpowering and suppressing this hope.

When speaking about the nation, there are successful periods of 'enlightenment' where there are successes, prosperity and peace, and there are also periods of failure, destruction, exile, trouble, persecution and 'concealment'. During these periods the nation needed hope and faith and a 'Salvation expectancy' (Shabbat 31a) that would encourage them to rise and act, spiritually and actively, to change the situation as much as they could.

לאחר שהוגלה העם מארצו בכוח הזרוע שמר לה אמונים בכל ארצות פזוריו, ולא חדל מתפילה ומתקוה לשוב לארצו ולחדש בתוכה את חירותו המדינית.

מתוך קשר היסטורי ומסורתי זה חתרו היהודים בכל דור לשוב ולהאחז במולדתם העתיקה...

"After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom. Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland..." (Declaration of Independence)

It is not for nothing that at the revival of the State, 'Hatikva' was chosen as the anthem –

עוד לֹא אָבְדָה תִּקְוָתֵנוּ, הַתִּקְוָה בַּת שְׁנוֹת אַלְפַּיִם

"Our hope is not yet lost, The hope of two thousand years..."

(Although the late Rabbi Kook Z'L preferred the "faith" anthem he wrote:

“Forever lives in our hearts the faithful faith to return to the Holy Land, the city where David camped"), and the pioneers sang:

פֹּה בְּאֶרֶץ חֶמְדַּת אָבוֹת תִּתְגַּשֵּׁמְנָה כָּל הַתִּקְווֹת

"Here in the land that our ancestors desired, all hopes will be fulfilled".

After the long exile and the Holocaust’s terrible destruction, we are privileged to see the beginning of that full circle; קִיבּוּץ גָּלִיּוֹת, (The ingathering of the exiles) the establishment of the State and independence, the establishment of the IDF and miraculous victories in wars, the renewal of the Torah world on a huge scale, world leadership and unprecedented achievements in all fields.

In our Parasha we read about the closing of several circles of hope: When Yehuda approaches and stands before Yosef, hoping he will succeed in freeing Binyamin, to keep the promise he made to Yaacov, to bring him home. The hope came through, Binyamin was released, and the circle was closed.

Yosef's hope to see his dreams come true. Thanks to his hope and faith he survived the difficult struggle he had in the darkness of the Egyptian prison pit (13 years) where there were no glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel but only the light of hope. Hope was fulfilled. Yosef is king in Egypt; his brothers bow down to him and his father came as well after him to Egypt. And the circle closes.

אבל היה רואה כי השתחויית אחיו לו וגם אביו וכל זרעו אתו אי אפשר להיות בארצם והיה מקוה להיותו שם במצרים בראותו הצלחתו הגדולה שם וכל שכן אחרי ששמע חלום פרעה שנתברר לו כי יבאו כלם שמה ויתקיימו כל חלומותיו

“But it was because Yosef saw that the bowing down of his brothers, as well as his father and all his family, could not possibly be accomplished in their homeland, and he was hoping that it would be effected in Egypt when he saw his great success there. This was all the more so after he heard Pharaoh’s dream, from which it became clear to him that all of them were destined to come there, and all his dreams would be fulfilled.” (Ramban Bereshit 42:9)

And Yaacov's hope; after many years of bereavement, longing and hope, he finally meets his beloved son Yosef. And he comes to a full circle.

ועוד הוציאו רז"ל מלת שבר לענין אחר. והוא מלשון שבר ותקוה. וזהו שדרשו וירא יעקב מהו וירא ראה באספקלריא של קדש שיש לו עוד שבר במצרים תקוה. ולא היתה נבואה ממש שיודיענו בפירוש שהוא יוסף.

“Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 91,6 had still another interpretation for the word שבר. They saw it as if it had been spelled with the dot on the left side of the letter ש, so that we would read it as סבר, “hope.” If we accept this interpretation, we could read the verse as: “Yaakov saw in his mind’s eye that there was hope in Egypt for his descendants.” Although the “hope” referred to the exalted position of Yosef in Egypt, Yaakov had lost the power to have clear visions ever since he had been parted from Yosef, so that this was only a very nebulous kind of vision”. (Rabbeinu Bahya Bereshit 42:1)

The days of Chanukah, which just ended, also emphasize to us the legacy of the victory of the hope light and the darkness of despair. The Hasmoneans’ power of hope to defeat the Greeks and the Hellenization despite their considerable advantage. Again, it became a full circle.

Therefore, even when in great trouble, it is forbidden to lose hope:

וכי תמצאן אותו צרות רבות ורעות יחזיק בתומתו ויוסיף אומץ לקוות אל השם, ויחשוב בלבו וידע וישכיל כי אין מעכב ביד השם מלתת את שאלתו ולעשות את בקשתו, כי יכלתו בלתי בעל תכלית ויש לאל ידו להוציאו מצרה לרוחה כרחמיו וכרוב חסדיו שהם בלתי בעלי תכלית, ובזה יוסיף לקוות אל השם.

“And when great and severe afflictions come upon him, he retains his integrity, strengthens his hope in G-d, and thinks and knows and understands that there is no one who can prevent G-d from granting his request, for His power is infinite and He can give him relief from trouble in His compassion and great mercy, which are infinite. Thus, he continues to hope in G-d”. (Sefer HaIkkarim Maamar 4:48)

ואל זה רמז המשורר באמרו קוה אל ה׳ חזק ויאמץ לבך וגו׳, הנה באר שהתקוה סבת החוזק והחוזק סבה לקוות יותר

“The Psalmist alludes to this when he says:

קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל ה' חֲ֭זַק וְיַאֲמֵ֣ץ לִבֶּ֑ךָ וְ֝קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל ה'׃

“Wait for Hashem; be strong, and let thy heart take courage; yea, wait thou for Hashem.” This shows that hope is the cause of strength, and that strength in turn is a cause for more hope”. (Sefer HaIkkarim Maamar 4:49)

* Yom HaKadish HaKlali - General Day of Kaddish (a Yartzeit day for victims of the Holocaust whose date of death is unknown).