Break Out in Song | Rabbi Elchonon Jacobovitz

A mother told me that she passed by her daughter's room one morning, a few minutes after her daughter had gotten into a massive fight with her brother, and she hears her daughter saying Mizmor L’sodah. So she goes into the room and she says, Why Mizmor L’sodah? Didn't you just get into a massive fight? So her daughter tells her: Yeah, Ma. But I was thinking, you know, I have a friend who's an only child and she's dying to have a brother. And so I decided: You know what? I'm going to say Mizmor L’sodah. Thank you, Hashem, that I have a brother to fight with. Later that same week, I was driving somewhere and the car in front of me gets into a massive crash. I get out of my car, run over to help, and I help the driver get out. He's bloodied and bruised, but he seems okay. And we call Hatzalah and I invite him into my car to wait until Hatzalah comes. He goes into my car and as he sits down, I hear him saying Mizmor L’sodah. And I'm thinking to myself, Why Mizmor L’sodah? Didn't you just get into a massive crash? But then I hear him saying, Thank you, Hashem, it's just the car. Thank you, Hashem, it's just a bruise, just some blood. Thank you, Hashem, I'm basically all right. And at that moment, it hit me. You know, we have this massive fight going on with the Yetzer Hara, and sometimes we go down, we get bruised, we get bloodied. And at that moment, we have a choice. Do we kvetch about what went wrong or do we break out in song? The pasuk says, I sing to Hashem that I'm alive. I sing to Hashem בעודי, that I'm still here, I'm still able to fight another round. Because שיחי, the Mefarshim explain, could mean a struggle. יערב עליו שיחי To the Ribono shel Olam, my struggle is not bitter, it's sweet. And therefore, I'm going to make the choice to rejoice. Think for a moment about when President Trump got shot and he went down in a heap. And then think about the moment when he got up, and with blood streaking across his face, he pumped his fist in the air and said: Fight, fight, fight. Think about the rush of energy that went through the crowd at that moment. When you get up after you went down, that's you. So get up, say Mizmor L’sodah, pump your fist in the air and say: Fight, fight, fight. Mizmor L’sodah that I have who to fight, Mizmor L’sodah that I'm still all right.