Accepting the Challenge | Rabbi Motty Kesserman

I was talking to a Yid a little after Rosh Hashanah and the Yid tells me, Before Rosh Hashanah this year, he was talking to his wife and he told his wife, he's going through such tremendous Nisyonos Hachaim, such difficulties, difficulties in Parnassah, difficulties in Menuchas Hanefesh, in raising children. And he decided he's going to go to the Aron Kodesh and he's going to bring a bag to the Aron Kodesh and he's going to tell the Aibishter: Ribono shel Olam, איך קען נישט I can’t. Erev Rosh Hashanah, he’s going to stand by the Aron Kodesh and say: Ribono shel Olam, the Nisyonos You've given me are too difficult. His wife tells him, You could go, but how do you know what the Aibishter’s going to give you in return? And the Yid tells me the whole Erev Rosh Hashanah he was back and forth should he go, should he not go, he should go, he shouldn't go. He goes in Rosh Hashanah to Shul. He made a decision, he's not going to go. And the Yid says: Since then, he feels like a different person. The Or Hachaim Hakadosh writes, The medicine for Yisurim is to accept, to accept the difficulties. How many of us are suffering, going through Nisyonos Hachaim? Personal Nisyonos, Nisyonos, Vayimaen Nisyonos, Nisyonos in Yetzer Tov and Yetzer Hara, challenged with tremendous Nisyonos. A person, a Yid, to accept and say: The Aibishter wants me to have these Nisyonos and I'm going to grow from these Nisyonos. R’ Nachman writes, What's the difference between a broken heart and sadness? עצבות, a depressed person is angry. Angry at the circumstances. Lives his life ‘If only...’ If only... Why do I have these circumstances? A לב נשבר is a person who has a broken heart that davens to Hashem and is constantly trying to become greater and become better through the Nisyonos that he has. My Zeyde זכרונו לברכה was an ehrliche chasidishe Yid. The last years of his life, he had difficulties. He couldn't be in the place he wanted to be. He would always walk around, he would say, With the attitude: The Aibishter put me in this Matzav, the Aibishter put me in this דור. Accepting this is the Nisyonos the Aibishter wants me to have. The Aibishter should bentch each one of us with the Hakaras Hatov to Vayimaen, who helps each one of us realize and live through the challenges that we have. We should be Zoche Bekarov to Binyan Beis Hamikdash במהרה בימינו, אמן.