Hillel’s Challenge

Do not do unto others that which you do not want done unto you. The rest is commentary…
 
“I can’t stand these guys. I pray at this Shul every day. I see these people all the time. I have been a member for almost a year and a half. As I pray they are having this big party right in the Shul, it’s a Circumcision feast. I can recognize so many people here. This is such an extravagant affair. If I am such a “welcome” member, why wasn’t I invited? We are a small community. Why wasn’t my family even told?”
 
“When it’s my time to have a party, I am gonna stick it to them. I will throw an even more extravagant affair. I will invite fifty friends from outside the community and hire security guards to check for invites. Let’s see how they feel watching my party from the window.”
 
This is what our great sage Hillel may have heard people complain to him when he made this legendary statement.
 
The hardest part about Hillel’s challenge is that it demands that we are not allowed to do unto others that which has already been done onto us. We are confronted with this mitzvah right when we are salivating over how badly we will get the other guy back.
 
Hillel’s challenge is the ultimate test of Emuna.
 
At our most difficult moments, it is hard to remember that even this comes from Hashem. The moment we accept this, our frustration evaporates to a mist of peace. It wasn’t some ruthless person who hurt us, it was Hashem. It wasn’t some random act that happened – it was and event designed for a purpose. It was for us. The most important task is to recognize the G-dliness embedded within and discover what Hashem is encouraging us to do.
 
What happens when the test gets harder? What happens when not great things happen to us by way of people we know? What happens when our biggest disappointments have a face?
 
It becomes even harder to view this person as “G-d’s stick to get us going.”
 
When terrible things happen to us at the hands of the people closest to us, we cannot gain solace in the hopes of returning the favor. If we hit back then they hit back. If it all disintegrates into a constant tit for tat, we stand to lose a close friend, family member, or worse. . . For Hillel’s challenge the stakes are very high.
 
Meeting this challenge is a lot easier said than done. What happens when the full weight of life is bearing down on us? What happens when the tribulation really hurts? What happens if we were counting on something to happen so bad, not only do we not get it, it was because someone took it away?
 
Emuna demands that we acknowledge the world is good because G-d created it. There is complete justice in this world because Hashem runs it.
 
When we get that persistent feeling of embarrassment or humiliation because we trusted someone who stuck it to us – it’s time to dance for joy!
 
There can be no greater cleansing of our soul. There can be no greater act of repentance than to bear insult or embarrassment and let it go. The ultimate victory in the face of this challenge is to smile at the person who did this.
 
Rabbi Nachman teaches us in Likutey Moharan, “Humility is the most crucial element of repentance. In other words, a person must “let himself be trampled upon like a desert” (Eruvin 54a) and not pay the slightest attention to the opposition and insults he receives. Rather, he must hold on to the attribute of silence, and be “one of those who listen to their own disgrace and do not respond” (Shabbat 88b). Then he is truly called “wise” and merits repentance, which is the concept of Keter (authors note: change Keter to Kingship?). Through this, he merits true and eternal honor – which is “G-d’s honor” – and a good portion in the World to Come. This is his primary repentance and rectification for all of his transgressions” (Abridged Likutey Moharan 6:11).
 
Hashem is sending us this greatest of opportunities! He has so much faith in our spiritual progress He sent us this excruciating test. In not “doing unto others,” we are expressing our gratitude to Hashem for sending us such a quantum leap towards Heaven.
 
We can internalize these Truths, but the test will come when we are taking care of our families, learning Torah, performing errands, worrying about livelihood, career, kids, wife, finding our soulmate – and unable to focus on just one thing. We will be blindsided. It is during that one moment we are filled with rage at the current situation that the test takes place. Do we act on raw emotion or do we take a few breaths and look deep within ourselves for the answers? That’s exactly where we left them.
 
This is Hillel’s challenge.
 
As the world nears its completion these tests will get harder. The primary challenge for our generation is Emuna. The fate of the entire world depends on our patience.
 
May it be Hashem’s will that we all endure these trials so we can personally tell Rabbi Hillel that we made it.
 
 
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Dovber Halevi is the author of Sex, Religion, and the Middle East, a book about personal holiness and happiness. He lives in Israel with his wife and three children.