Struggles of a President | Rabbi Joey Haber

I want to share with you something. In the summer, my brother, Rabbi David, is very close to R’ Binyamin HaTzaddik. R’ Binyamin HaTzaddik is the Mashgiach of the Mir Yeshiva, R’ Binyamin Finkel. And he came to Deal, New Jersey, for the summer, and my brother took him around, and asked him a question, What do you think about Donald Trump? And R’ Binyamin’s answer was, I don't have a thought necessarily about him, but I'm very inspired from him. My brother says: Why are you inspired? He says: I'm inspired because the energy and the strength that he has at this age to go through all that he went through to be able to become president is unbelievable. And the truth is, when you sit back and you think about it, the amount of struggle that it took, the amount of people that were against him over the last four years, is unreal. How he pushed through all of it, I have no idea. But that's what life is like. You want to become something, you need to be willing to struggle and willing to battle. And sometimes you walk around and you say: One second, there are challenges on the device in my pocket, there's challenges on the screen in my house, the computer in my house, there’s a challenge by images on the street, there's challenges in the office I go to, it's everywhere. Like, how am I supposed to do this? The answer is, that's how it works. You want to become something great, you have to be willing to struggle. You know, the word וימאן comes from the story of Yosef. Yosef was in Mitzrayim and he was almost pulled to Eshet Potiphar, And the טעמים on top of the word וימאן is a Shalshelet, a very unique טעם. Shalshelet comes from the word ‘chain’ and also the word ‘three’, שלוש. Says the Kedushat Levi, Why is Shalshelet on top of the word וימאן, when he abstained, when he held back? It's because he thought of three things before him, And that's what gave him the strength to be וימאן. He says another explanation, that he thought of three things that are going to happen in the future. One day, the Geulah, the redemption is going to happen. The redemption is going to have three parts to it. He says: I'm going to be one of those three. How can I sin right now? When you’re in the struggle, you need to think about what Yosef thought about when he was וימאן. You’re in a position, all of a sudden, something tempts you and you want to see it. Imagine for a second if your father saw you turning your head. Imagine if your grandfather saw you. And that might be embarrassing enough, but you might say: Oh, I don't know. My father knows... How about if your son saw you or your grandson saw you? Those people in the world that believe in you, they look up to you. Even if it's your future son and your future grandson, you'd be mortified if they saw you doing this. Their whole life is built on you, and that's what you do? So when you're in that struggle, you need to realize that that's how the world is made. No one ever became anything great without a struggle. What gives you the strength to be וימאן? Remember where you came from and remember where you're going to. You’re so much greater than the moment, and you’re so much more important than the struggle. And sometimes it's because of the struggle that you become what you become. So don't be scared from the struggle. Maybe even the president of the United States is a little bit of an inspiration. The struggle is what made him impressive. Your struggle is going to make you impressive, too.