Gate to Glory

Translated by Rabbi Lazer Brody

Imagine that you're three years old and the government considers you public enemy number one. The entire kingdom is searching for you. You face capital punishment, and you're only three! Sounds like a horror fantasy? No, that's exactly what happened to our forefather Abraham. But Hashem sent the archangel Gabriel to feed the little toddler who refused to recognize idolatry and therefore had to hide in a cave. What's more, this wasn't even considered the beginning of Abraham's tribulations!
 
Our sages tell us that Abraham suffered ten emotionally excruciating tests. Imagine being thrown into a fiery furnace. Think how you'd feel if the person you love most in the world were kidnapped and taken away from you. Or what about having to go to war, with a handful of soldiers, against an alliance of the strongest armies in the world? Not so easy, eh? We're far from finished. Supposed you heed a Divine command to leave your homeland, yet there's a famine in the land that you're been promised; how's that for a test of emuna? And how about circumcising yourself at age 99? Not enough? And ultimately, you're asked to slaughter the son that you prayed all your life for. Phew…
 
Jacob didn't even have the luxury to wait until he was three. While in the womb, he had to struggle with his twin to stay alive. Jacob's own brother, the wicked Esau, tried to kill him. His father-in-law Laban cheated him scores of times. He suffered the anguish of a daughter being abducted and seduced, and the threat of having to fight a war against the entire Canaanite nation on his own. For twenty-two years, he mourned his beloved son Joseph who he thought was dead. He faced repeated physical struggles, including a life-or-death night-long battle with an angel. If that's not a formula for anxiety, what is?
 
Moses also suffered as a baby, cast into the Nile River. At eighteen, he was sentenced to death. Having fled Egypt, he spent sixty years of suffering. What did he do wrong? Why did he deserve this?
 
The Midrash tells us that King David killed a lion and a bear when he was only three years old. This happened while he was tending his family's flocks in the Judean wilderness. This bring's up a difficult question: what was a three-year old doing out in the wilderness on his own? The answer is that his father thought he was an illegitimate child, which he of course was not. His father wanted to dispose of him without embarrassing the family name.
 
David's life just kept getting progressively more difficult as he grew up. Confronting Goliath was relatively easy. His father in law King saul despised him and tried to kill him. He had marital troubles with his wife Michal. His sons Absalom and Adonijah revolted against him. His closest advisors betrayed him, and we're not even talking about the enemies on the borders. Did King David cry and complain? Did he succumb to self-pity and clinical depression. No, he wrote the Book of Psalms. That's what made him Hashem's anointed.
 
It wasn't by eating chocolate ice cream that our ancestors became the leaders  of the Jewish People. Hashem ingrained something into the pattern of creation – suffering brings out the greatness of a person. As such, tribulations are everyone's gate to glory.
 
Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and David would not have been through they are without suffering and tribulations. With no pain, there is no gain.
 
If your life goes smoothly, be happy. And, if you're suffering tribulations, be even happier! Hashem is opening the gate of glory for you – he wants you to be great.
 
Oh, you say that you don't want to be great and that you'll be happy to forego the tribulations? It doesn't work that way. We were sent down to this earth in order to work hard, perfect ourselves and make the world a better place.
 
There's only one way to weather tribulations: put your brain and logic aside, totally. Tell yourself over and over that there's no one but Hashem – ein od milvado – until it sinks into every fiber of your soul. Once you do, wait and see how the gate to glory opens for you too.