Escaping the Phantoms

by Rabbi Mordechai Rhine

The Torah promises tremendous blessing for the Jewish people when they observe the mitzvos. “Blessed shall you be in the city; blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall you be when you come in; blessed shall you be when you go out.” As you read the blessings, you will be notice a most unusual statement of benevolence. The Torah states that G-d’s blessing will “catch up with you.” It sounds as if there would be a case in which one is fleeing G-d’s blessing. What is this situation in which the blessing must catch up with a person?

A few years ago, a teenage girl in town- let’s call her Lisa- became very interested in observance, and she began coming frequently to our Shabbos services. The parents were cautious but respectful, and they assisted their daughter in observing kosher and a number of other mitzvos. When Lisa was ready to graduate high school, she asked her parents to allow her to join a summer program in Israel to study Torah. It was at that point that the mother paid me a visit.

The mother showed up at my home looking very agitated. She explained that spending the summer in Israel was just taking this religious thing too far. Suddenly she blurted out, “All my friends have normal problems like drugs and teen pregnancy. Why in heavens name did I have to get stuck with a problem like this?”

From my past encounters with the family I knew that I was dealing with very nice and understanding people. I knew that this wonderful family was blessed with a bright and spiritually motivated daughter. But, sometimes when things don’t go the way we anticipate, we react with frustration. We are tempted to flee from a blessing because we think it is bad for us. I decided to tell her a story that happened to me.

One of the significant purchases that my wife and I made when we moved to Cherry Hill, New Jersey, was a mini-van. It happened that the van came with an alarm. Within days of our purchase I began having problems with the alarm.

Although I was diligent in locking the van properly each time I parked, within seconds of my leaving the van the alarm started blaring. I jumped back to the van, opened the door, and reset the alarm. Again I carefully closed the doors, and headed to the house. As I closed the front door, the alarm went off again. After three times of this, I became very thoughtful as I realized that something was very wrong.

The problem of the alarm was getting on my nerves. I sat thoughtfully in the van and wondered what problem the alarm was warning me about.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that my three year old daughter was on the porch playing with my wife’s key chain. Apparently, she found it interesting to press the red button on my wife’s car clicker. It occurred to me that no matter how perfect things were with the van, if my daughter would press the panic button then the alarm would most certainly blare.

One of the most powerful statements in Jewish thought is the statement, “Gam Zu LiTovah-This too is for the good.” Although we pray and strive for what we think is best, nevertheless, we are aware that our vision is limited. It is possible for a human being to imagine dangerous enemies in things that are really great blessings. Sometimes we flee from G-d’s blessing because we are so sure of our perspective. We press the panic button even when things are going well. The ultimate blessing is that G-d won’t let us escape His benevolence. He causes it to pursue us, until it catches up with us.

I am gratified to say that today, Lisa and her mom get along well. Mom has developed a precious pride for her daughter, and Lisa has blossomed both in Torah knowledge and in appreciating her wonderful parents. All of that was almost lost in a conflict because of fear of a blessing.

The ultimate curse is described in the Torah as, “You flee, but there is no enemy pursuing you.” The ultimate blessing is described as “G-d’s kindness overcame us.” We tried to flee, as one flees an enemy, because we imagined a terrible evil. But G-d, in His kindness paid us no heed. He pursued us with blessing until we began to appreciate it. For that we are eternally grateful.

With best wishes for a wonderful Shabbos.

© 2016 by TEACH613™