#1066
Coping With Adversity
While you should try ot protect yourself from harm, if you do
suffer, the best tool is acceptance. Accepting your situation greatly
minimizes the amount you actually suffer. The most unfortunate person in
the world is one who has not learned how to accept setbacks and
misfortunes. Either this day or the next he, like everyone else in the
world, will inevitably drink from the cup of suffering, which is either a
test or an atonement. By failing to accept suffering, the pain you feel
will be much more acute and harsh than necessary.
(Chesbon Hanefesh, nos. 76-7; Rabbi Pliskin's Gateway to Happiness, p.233)
21 Kislev
According to Megillat Taanit,
in the 4th century BCE, Alexander the Great met Shimon HaTzaddik, the
High Priest of the Holy Temple. Shimon feared that Alexander would
destroy Jerusalem, so went out to meet him before he arrived at the
city. Upon seeing the High Priest, Alexander made the rare move of
dismounting and bowing. When asked to explain his actions, Alexander
said that he'd previously seen the High Priest in a dream. Alexander
interpreted this vision as a good omen and thus spared Jerusalem,
peacefully absorbing Israel into his growing empire. In gratitude, the
Sages decreed that the Jewish firstborn of that time be named Alexander
-- which remains a Jewish name to this very day.
21 Kislev
And God spoke to Moses face to face, just as a person would speak to a friend (Exodus 33:11).
Moses was the only prophet to whom God spoke directly, just as a
person would converse with a friend. However, this uniqueness went only
one way; every single human being has the ability to speak to God
directly, "as a person would speak to a friend." Indeed, we should do
so.
In this way, we can fully express our innermost feelings. True, we
address God as the King of the Universe, which He is. We also plead with
Him as a child does with a parent, which He is. But we certainly would
never tell a king everything about ourselves, and we all have things
which we would never want our parents to know. With a friend, however,
we have fewer restrictions and less resistance. We can reveal everything
to a friend, even things that we would be too embarrassed or otherwise
reluctant to tell anyone else.
The Torah refers to God as "a friend" (e.g. Proverbs 27:10), because it
wishes us to have this relationship with God, as well as that of subject
to sovereign and child to father.
One might ask, "Since God knows our thoughts, why should we reveal them
to Him verbally in prayer?" The answer is that by doing so, we reinforce
our relationship to Him as a friend.
When you complete your formal prayers, add some of your own composition, and speak to God as a friend.
Today I shall ...
... try to enhance the quality of my prayer by revealing to God
everything that is on my mind, just as I would with a trusted friend.
