The Track to Greatness

Translated by Rabbi Lazer Brody
 
 
Today, we'll learn some really important lessons for success in life and personal growth. You are my favorite people, so I'm going to share with you some wonderful secrets about how to become truly successful.
 
First, you need to know that everyone has their own custom-designed career track. Hashem wants you to become great, but becoming great requires rigorous training and learning to cope with challenges. It's not easy, but no one ever became great from sitting in front of a TV.
 
Imagine that I have this catalog of great people and a guaranteed career track to enable you to be just like them. Who would you like to be? Would you like to be a Moses? No problem…
 
Moses was so holy that his entire countenance reflected Divine light. The light was so strong that people couldn't look him in the face. We ask ourselves, how did he attain such a lofty spiritual level? He grew up in Egypt and in Pharaoh's palace, right smack in the middle of the world's worst spiritual environment, surrounded by immorality and idolatry.
 
When he was twenty years old, Moses went out to see the Hebrew slaves toiling, and one day, he saw an Egyptian slave-master whip a Hebrew slave. Moses killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. The next day, he saw two Hebrew slaves hit each other and chastised them for it. They said, "Will you now kill us like you killed the Egyptian?" Moses knew that he was now a wanted man, so he fled Egypt. The Torah tells nothing about the next sixty years of his life. All of a sudden, sixty years later, we see that Hashem reveals Himself to Moses in the burning bush. What happened to all the 60 years? Why doesn't the Torah tell us anything about them? Where did they disappear to?
 
During those 60 years, Moses underwent excruciating tribulations. The Midrash says that for ten years, Moses was incarcerated in a dark pit, with no trial, no defense attorney and no release date. His captivity was indefinite – he didn't know if he'd ever be released. Someone else would lose their mind after a mere week of solitary confinement in total darkness. Moses had sixty years of such tribulations. The reason that the Torah doesn't talk about them is that people would likely lose their emuna, saying, "Is that fair? Is that what the truly good people deserve? What did he do wrong to punished like that?" People would become confused and they'd have all kinds of questions about emuna. Hashem knows that they wouldn't be capable of understanding.
 
So why 60 years of tribulations? In order to be a Moses, a person must undergo sixty years of tribulations. Without learning to cope with such extreme challenges, a person can't become a Moses.
 
If you choose to be a Moses, you have to go down a track of sixty years of challenges and tribulations.
 
Maybe you'd prefer a different career track.
 
Would you like to be King of Israel? No problem, just follow the track of King David. When King David was a mere toddler, his own father thought that he was an illegitimate child. His father sent him out to the desert at age three, alone, hoping that a bear or a lion would devour him. Can you imagine the anguish of a three-year old, sleeping alone at night in the Judean desert, listening to the wolves and the jackals howling all night long? What toddler wouldn't lose his mind? Even worse, King David was born with bright red hair. His family called him little Esau, for Esau too had red hair. They said that David was a shame to the family so they derided him and humiliated him all day long. Just imagine the emotional damage that someone else would suffer in a similar situation. David himself said that no amount of ink or parchment could suffice for writing down all of David's suffering. We haven't even gone past his childhood yet. What about facing Goliath? Imagine how traumatic that must have been. And how about being betrayed by your own sons, or your father-in-law trying to kill you? Or how about your wife and your closest advisors going against you? We're not even talking about all the wars and all the enemies on the outside. So, if you'd like to be King of Israel, no problem – just follow the career track of King David. It was even harder than that of Moses.
 
How would you like to be like our forefather Jacob? His career track was even more difficult than that of David and Moses. Jacob had to fight even before he was born, as an embryo in the womb. His own brother tried to kill him constantly. It wasn't enough that he had conflicts with his father in-law and with all the Canaanite nation. At least they're mortals. Jacob had to fight an angel! Imagine what that felt like. If you could imitate the career training path of the world's toughest commando unit, it doesn't reach the level of difficulty of Jacob's career path.
 
Would you like something easier? No problem; try the career path of Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai. He spent thirteen years neck-deep in sand inside a cave, drinking nothing but water and eating nothing but carobs. The Romans chased him too all over Israel trying to kill him. Rebbe Shimon didn't have gefilte fish and kugel on Shabbat. He didn't say Kiddush on grape juice or on fine wine.
 
What's the common denominator of all these great tzaddikim? Their tribulations made them great. They look advantage of life's difficulties to turn their pain into gain. How did they have the power to withstand so much suffering? They had emuna – real emuna. They knew that there is nothing but Hashem and that everything is from Him. They didn't blame anyone else for their difficulties. They knew that there's nothing but Hashem and that everything He does is for the best. "Hashem, do you want me to serve You from solitary confinement? Then I'll serve You from solitary confinement!" "Hashem, do you want me to stand up against the whole world? Then I'll stand up against the whole world.
 
Our sages, by way of their tremendous emuna, teach us an important lesson in life – don't ever forget this:
 
When things are going your way, be happy; when things are difficult, grow! Turn the pain of difficulties into self-strengthening and personal growth. In short, turn the pain into gain.
 
The key to living a good life is to rejoice when things go your way and to grow when they don't. Personal growth is impossible without life's challenges and difficulties. So if you encounter pain, turn it into gain. With the proper emuna outlook, all the hard times turn into priceless personal assets.
 
All the true tzaddikim withstood unbelievable trials. How did they hold on? They had emuna. Every person has his or her own path in life. With emuna, you walk that path safely and happily. There are no mistakes from Above – everything that occurs in your life is the product of precision Divine Providence.
 
Don't complain about your difficulties and challenges in life. Use them to grow and thank Hashem for them, and you'll become great too!