Dr. Emuna – What You Believe In, You Get! Part 2

In Part 1, I discussed the concept of emuna as a way to take off Hashem’s mask, and let Him prove to you that He really can do whatever you believe He can. 

Let’s start the examples: 

I decided to move into the religious community for my senior year of college. Miraculously, I found a job, a religious roommate and a suitable apartment in a matter of days. Everything was set, except a big hole in my budget due to the extra expenses involved. I knew that this is what I needed to do in order to progress spiritually, and that Hashem would surely take care of me. I promised my parents I would take a special loan if need be. No need – as I was finishing packing my car to move into the apartment, a letter arrived from the University, saying that I had just won a scholarship for the exact amount I needed! 

I believed that Hashem would get me a gett (Jewish divorce) at exactly the moment He decided, and nothing in this world could delay it – I had one within 2 weeks, with big miracles. 

I believed that Hashem would send me the right guy without me giving up on myself or Jewish law and taking off my hair covering (despite many people warning me that if I didn’t take it off, I would never get married), and for that guy, somehow that would be a good point and not a big X on my head – I tell you, it felt utterly impossible, but it happened, exactly like that! My husband was impressed by my dedication to Hashem and His Torah in the face of major adversity, and the self-sacrifice and emuna involved in my decision. He said it was a big factor in his decision… 

I believed Hashem would surely take care of me in Israel even if it seemed impossible to make ends meet – and He did. 

I believed that if my soul told me I want to be in Israel because that’s where the emuna and holiness is in greatest quantities, then surely my soulmate must thinking the same thing – even though my “odds” of “finding a match” were better in NY (PS “Odds” don’t help when you’re searching for a needle in a haystack, and generally trying to “find a match” turns out to be “finding” a divorce. Trust me, I did that once already). Turns out he had moved 6 months before me, thinking the exact same way, and was from CANADA! 

Of course, I believed I would get married at exactly the moment Hashem wanted. Nothing I did could make that date come faster – and nothing could delay it. Turns out I married on Lag B’Omer, and my parents had bought tickets to come to Israel over that day, months before I even met my husband! 

OK, get this one. This is the real kicker! I believed Hashem would surely help me get back the furniture I had no choice but to sell in America, even though I loved them. One friend said to me on moving sale day, “Don’t worry, everything will come back to you!” It became my motto – “Somehow, Hashem is going to give me my furniture back!” Little did I know – my husband’s parents had had THE EXACT SAME FURNITURE in their house. He grew up with it. Everything had been in storage since their passing, specially wrapped for shipment, just waiting for my husband to get married. You can’t imagine my surprise when after the lift came in, I unwrapped the EXACT same china cabinet, the EXACT same dining room table and the EXACT same buffet as I had sold in America! Even more insane granted that I had found those pieces at three separate estate sales! Indeed, it all came back to me… with slightly nicer finishes. 

And the sob story – when I was going through my divorce, I felt like a lost cause. I thought that I had made such a major mistake not only in the marriage itself, but in the various choices I had made that brought me into the marriage, that I could never recover. How would I get married now to someone decent as a divorcee? How would I rebuild my life, now that I was forced to leave my city due to the circumstances around the divorce? Then I read in The Garden of Emuna that when someone does real teshuva, and they repent with their whole heart and soul and fix their ways – then Hashem turns their mistakes into necessary stops on the way to their true life’s purpose, and everything works out exactly as it should. I decided to believe it, even though it felt so utterly impossible at that moment. Now I live that truth, and I see how all those “mistakes” were used specifically to get me onto the right track in life. And I thank Hashem for all of it! 

Let’s move onto an example from someone else – in Your Soulmate – Guaranteed, Rabbi Arush discusses a not-so-young man who truly believed in his promise that someone who learns The Garden of Peace in depth will find his soul mate when he finishes the book. So much so, that people would ask how dating is going and he would answer, “50 more pages to go…” And indeed, he finished the book and found his soulmate. Because he believed in it! 

Let’s tell a story now about the Baba Sali zt”l. A group of young men came to the Baba Sali, asking for a blessing to get married. Indeed, in the coming weeks, one by one they got engaged. All, except – one. Brokenhearted, he came back to the Baba Sali and begged the Baba Sali, “Everyone, but not me? Why?” The Baba Sali answered him, “When I blessed you, you didn’t believe in my blessing with simplicity. So it couldn’t help you. I will bless you again now, but if you still don’t believe, then I won’t be able to help you further.” This time the man believed in the blessing, and indeed within a few weeks he was also engaged.  

On the flip side, every day a man came to the Baba Sali, asking for a blessing for children. Every day, the Baba Sali told him that it was a “lost case.” 200 days he came, rain or shine, every day the Baba Sali would see people, until the family finally begged the Baba Sali to tell the man something to make him stop coming. It was just too painful to endure any longer. When the man came that day, the Baba Sali asked him gently, “Why do you keep coming? I told you already that I cannot help you.” The man responded, “I believe in the power of prayer, and I believe you and your blessing is the only thing in this world that can help me. And therefore I keep coming, hoping maybe today will be the day you can bless me.” The Baba Sali stood up and said, “If that’s true, then go buy a stroller!” The man ran out of the room yelling, “I got a blessing!!!” He presented his wife that evening with a brand new stroller, and nine months later, she gave birth to a healthy child. 

Everything goes according to your emuna! As you see, that is also true for  your  emunat  chachamim – belief in the righteous sages. 

Really I could keep going, but I think this suffices. So go ahead – believe in Hashem! Believe that Hashem can do anything! Thank Hashem for your suffering until this moment, knowing it’s for your very best. But for the future – forget about odds, forget about nature, forget about what your mind says is and is not possible. 

Simply throw out your mind and believe that G-d is all powerful and can do anything – and surely, He will! 

*** 

Rachel Avrahami grew up in Los Angeles, CA, USA in a far-off valley where she was one of only a handful of Jews in a public high school of thousands. She found Hashem in the urban jungle of university. Rachel was privileged to read one of the first copies of The Garden of Emuna in English, and the rest, as they say, is history. She made Aliyah and immediately began working at Breslev Israel.  
 
Rachel is now the Editor of Breslev Israel’s English website. She welcomes questions, comments, articles, and personal  stories to her email: rachel.avrahami@breslev.co.il.