Running After Hashem

Harav Hagaon Ahron David Shlita

A fundamental lesson for this time can be learned from the passuk in Eichah that says: כָּל רֹדְפֶיהָ הִשִּׂיגוּהָ בֵּין הַמְּצָרִים. Simply understood, this means that people who chase after Klal Yisrael will overtake them during Bein Hametzarim, which is a dark time. But R' Chaim Brim explains that the word רֹדְפֶיהָ can be split into two words — rodfei Kah — and understood to mean “those who pursue Hashem.” Those people will get to Hashem during Bein Hametzarim.  What does that mean?

All year Hashem is in His palace, kivyachol — a big palace in Heaven that has many rooms, and many guards, so it is difficult to get to the king. During these weeks, however, we are in galus and Hashem is with us, so we can get to Him more easily. In that sense, this is the highest time of the year.  But how do you run after Hashem?

We say in Hodu: הוֹדוּ לַה' קִרְאוּ בִּשְׁמוֹ הוֹדִיעוּ בָעַמִּים עֲלִילוֹתָיו שִׁירוּ לוֹ זַמְּרוּ לוֹ שִׂיחוּ הִתְהַלְלוּ בְּשֵׁם קָדְשׁוֹ יִשְׂמַח לֵב מְבַקְשֵׁי ה' בְּכָל נִפְלְאוֹתָיו. This is how you seek Hashem: by singing to Him, and by looking at all the chessed that He does for us. Every Yid in the world experiences Hashem’s chessed day and night, as the Mesillas Yesharim teaches (ch. 8) that there is no person — poor or rich, healthy or sick — who does not see nifla’os in his life. If you open your eyes you’ll see nissim and nifla’os around you, everywhere in the world. To seek Hashem, then, you need to praise Him: שִׁירוּ לוֹ, זַמְּרוּ לוֹ, שִׂיחוּ.

In this vein, R' Wolbe offered a beautiful explanation of the slight divergence between two phrases in Kiddush of leil Shabbos. First, we say: וְשַׁבַּת קָדְשׁוֹ בְּאַהֲבָה וּבְרָצוֹן הִנְחִילָנוּ, referring to Hashem in third person, and then we say: וְשַׁבַּת קָדְשְׁךָ בְּאַהֲבָה וּבְרָצוֹן הִנְחַלְתָּנוּ, switching to second person. R' Wolbe explained that if we praise Hashem, He becomes near to us, so after praising Him we can address Him directly. This is based on Rashi’s statement (Berachos 4b) that when you praise Hashem, you’re bringing Him close.  Perhaps this is what it means to be rodfei Kah: Praise Hashem during these Three Weeks, and thank Him for all His chessed, no matter what situation you’re in, and you’ll bring Him close to you. Similarly, we can ask Hashem for the yeshuos we need.

R' Shimshon Pincus writes, in She’arim B’Tefillah (Shaar Harinah), that a certain city experienced a severe famine, when rain did not fall for a lengthy period. They declared fast days, but nothing happened. Then, they declared a day of Yom Tov, with singing and praising Hashem, and it started raining. That’s because rinah opens the gates of Heaven. There is no greater segulah, says R' Pincus, than praising Hashem and singing to Him. Indeed, the passuk in Eichah states, about the churban: קוּמִי רֹנִּי בַלַּיְלָה, implying that rinah opens the gates of Heaven.

A mohel named R' Lang related that R' Abramsky said that in his youth, he once stayed in a small hotel. There was an old man next door, and in the middle of the night the man started screaming, so R' Abramsky told the owner of the hotel that the man must be very sick. “No, don’t worry,” he replied. “It’s the Chofetz Chaim. There’s nothing wrong with him.” R' Abramsky was excited to meet the Chofetz Chaim, whom he had never met, so he entered his room without knocking and saw the Chofetz Chaim sitting on the floor, in the middle of the week, saying Nishmas with great fervor, while waving and crying, and he was enveloped in light.

Saying Nishmas opens the shaarei Shomayim, so say Nishmas with your whole heart. Sing to Hashem, praise Him, thank Him for the nissim and nifla’os, and then Hashem will bring nissim and nifla’os into your life, every day. Every Shemoneh Esrei, in Modim, we should thank Hashem for His nissim — and between each tefillah, many nissim happen as well, so we can sing in between these tefillos, too; maybe not with music, but with our mouth.

There are two brothers in the Mir, chashuveh avreichim whose father was in the camps during the war, and after the war he married and had three children, all talmidei chachamim. They told me that their father related that when he was in the camps, in terrible conditions, he sang whenever he could, all day, the passuk: חַסְדֵי ה' כִּי לֹא תָמְנוּ כִּי לֹא כָלוּ רַחֲמָיו. He and others around him sang this for hours and hours and hours, and they were saved, and they married and built families.

May Hashem help us to sing all day and all night, חַסְדֵי ה' כִּי לֹא תָמְנוּ כִּי לֹא כָלוּ רַחֲמָיו, and to extol His nifla’os, so that we can be rodfei Kah during Bein Hametzarim. Everyone in Klal Yisrael, wherever they are, should have hatzlachah and yeshuos — in shidduchim, health, parnassah, and chinuch — and Hashem should bring a hatzalah to all of Klal Yisrael.