The wonderful blessing of war

[Music] contains in it the epic showdown between Yakov and the angel of ASV it would go on to be the most famous boxing match in the history of humanity but if you look closely the fight seems a little strange why did the angel start up with Yakov right as he was on his way to make peace with ASV like why then specifically yakob was off to make peace why was the angel stopping him secondly thear says that the dust created by this fight Rose all the way up to hashem's throne in heaven why is that what was it about this fight that was so precious that Hashem literally scooped up the dust and adorned his throne with it thirdly when the fight is finally over yakob turns to his opponent and asks for a Braha now think about that for a moment why would he ask his opponent whom he just battled to bless him shouldn't he punch him in the face moments prior the angel had SE severely wounded Yakov why did he ask him for a farewell blessing so perhaps the answer lies in the following I was once walking in Lakewood New Jersey and across the street I spotted rdav the rashash of Baya and he was walking alone so I decided I would ask him something so I go over to him and I say in a few days it's going to be Kaneka I said why is it that on Kaneka we thank Hashem for The Mamas for the wars we thank Hashem and Alim for the Nim and the and the yeshu the Salvation the Miracles and the strength he displayed for us and then we go on to say and we thank hashm for the war itself why are we doing that what are we thanking him for wouldn't we have been a lot better off if we didn't go out and battle the notorious Greeks wouldn't it be better we didn't have to do that it's like after The Six Day War thanking Hashem for the Miracles and the salvation and then also thanking him for bringing upon us the war itself why would we do that isn't War inherently bad so he looked at me and he said that's a great question but I have an even better answer he said theer teaches a powerful concept he says each and every Jew in this world has a tremendously large Storehouse of blessing and shefa waiting for him in heaven and the only way to access it is by going through some sort of test or hurdle proving to Hashem that you care proving to hashm that you are on his team you need to First prove that you're loyal to his Tyra pass that test and get the blessings don't and the blessings remain locked and isolated in heaven and RAV continued he said before AB got the bras he went through a and an aada before there was a there were years and years of sah being Barren before yakob was born there were years and years of Rifka being Barren before y was born there were years and years of R being Barren before we received the T we went through the travails of Egypt before we got the land of we had to go through aik before the first were the for the there was so on and so forth when we thank hasem for the of we are thanking him for the test he gave us to deem us worthy of the blessings he then bestowed upon us yeah yov wasn't merely on his way to say hello to ASV to ensure that ASV didn't slice off yakov's head Yakov was going to appease ASV and retain the firstborn status ensuring that the power of spirituality remained in yakov's hands can you imagine if ASA was in charge of spiritual matters can you imagine if Hamas was in charge of spirituality in the world this was a pivotal moment where Yakov would retain full ownership of spirit matters for mankind he would become the official Paradigm of what morality and peace and Purity is to look like he was about to embark on a journey with his TW sons that would lead to a nation that would bring more light to the world than any other Nation combined you better believe there would be an angel there trying to stop him you better believe an angel would be there to give him a test not because the angel wanted him to fail but because the angel wanted him to succeed because the angel knew that in order to receive all this yako first had to go through a test he needed to show Hashem that he was willing to fight for it literally so precious was this fight to Hashem that he collected the dust of the fight and adorned his throne with it and when the fight was finally over Yakov asked the angel for abraa for there was no ill will there was no animosity this wasn't his enemy his opponent Yakov knew this was for his own good and what did the Malik say he said to Yakov your name will now be Israel the word Israel means you fought with an angel of Hashem you and your people are warriors and no matter how many tests hashm will throw at you you will pass them and thus be worthy of unimaginable blessing how encouraging this is to us how many times do we seem to go through rough patches in our life and we wonder why is this happening what is theem doing to me Hashem why do I have ADHD why am I from a home with divorced parents why did I have a four-year-old who died of leukemia why don't I have the ability to sit and learn for hours on end like the rest of my class why didn't I have the upbringing conducive to living a spiritual life the answer is he is giving you lovingly the gift of opportunity he has given you the key to unlock the blessings waiting up above the Jewish people are the only group of people on Earth that begin their day with the night that's because our secret is our ability to smile at night which enables us to dance during the day I was once walking on a rainy day in downtown Atlanta and I came across a man with a guitar sitting on the side of the road and he was completely drenched and he looked at me with a wide smile and he said listen here son from the showers come the flowers from rain comes champagne how right he was [Music]