Rejection Papers and Memory Loss

To make a long story short, the rabbi was devastated, deflated and generally disappointed.

And all for naught. It turned out that what he thought was a “no” was a “yes.” What he thought was rejection was a promotion.

He had been waiting expectantly and confidently for a few days for the zoning permits he’d been promised by the city councilwoman. He was trying to expand his Chabad House and she’d assured him everything was going smoothly.

And then the papers arrived. He gleefully opened them and couldn’t believe his eyes. Instead of a sweeping approval, he was roundly rejected on every count. Nothing doing!

He was overwhelmed with sudden weariness and a profound sense of despair. This was long, difficult months of work – down the drain.

He took a book of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s letters off the shelf and placed the sheaf of rejection papers inside. “I’m sorry Rebbe,” he said tiredly, “I’m too disappointed; you deal with this…” And out of sheer mental and emotional exhaustion, he collapsed on the sofa and fell into a deep sleep.

He awoke after a while and immediately remembered his dilemma. He opened the book he’d placed the papers in and glanced at the letter on the page he’d randomly placed the papers in. And this is what the Rebbe had written in that letter, years before, to some unknown rabbi. (Loose paraphrasing follows:)

“You write to me that you are broken-hearted from the discouraging news. Frankly, I am surprised at you. How many times in the past has the situation seemed hopeless and G-d has always been there for you and things have worked out! How short is your memory that you panic over seemingly bad news when your own experience has shown you that it’s never the disaster you think it is?

“Strengthen your trust in G-d, and you will see: not only is this not bad news, it’s actually good news.”

And you can imagine how his mood was transformed. As they say, from darkness to light, from sadness to great joy.

And sure enough, only a few months later, as a result of the appeal, they were granted far more than they would have gotten in the original plan that he had so badly hoped would materialize.

And the good rabbi promised himself and his dear Rebbe’s soul that he would try to have a longer memory from then on.

***

After 10 miraculous plagues, one eye-popping sea-splitting experience, food from the sky, water from a rock, and one enormously odds-defying exodus, the Jewish People are devastated and deflated by the discouraging report of the 10 evil spies who return from exploring the Promised Land with terrible predictions. We can’t do it, they insist, the natives are too mighty. We cannot conquer this land, and we’ll be slaughtered if we try.

One spy, Calev son of Yefune, cried out in shock (and I paraphrase): “How many times in the past has the situation seemed hopeless and G-d has always been there for you and things have worked out! How short is your memory that you panic over seemingly bad news when your own experience has shown you that it’s never the disaster you think it is? Strengthen your trust in G-d, and you will see: not only is this not bad news, it’s actually good news.”

***

After 66 consecutive miraculous years – 1948 war of independence victory over numerous cutting edge foes, 1963 public execution of Eichmann, 1967 eye-popping, enemy whopping six-day victory tripling Israel’s size, 1973 odds-defying victory in the frightening Yom Kippur War, 1976 thrilling miracle in Entebbe, 1981 utterly miraculous destruction of Iraq’s Osirak reactor, 1991 safety from threats of chemical-carrying Scud missiles, to name a few – Israel is light years ahead of where skeptics were predicting when she began.

So why would anyone panic now over “insurmountable” issues like demographics, international furor, Palestinian refugees, and yet another broken “peace” process?

One more time, let us paraphrase:

“How many times in the past has the situation seemed hopeless and G-d has always been there for you and things have worked out! How short is your memory that you panic over seemingly bad news when your own experience has shown you that it’s never the disaster you think it is? Strengthen your trust in G-d, and you will see: not only is this not bad news, it’s actually good news.”

Shabbat Shalom, Good Shabbos.