Parshat Vayechi: A Message for Life from Sefer Beraishit: Challenges Leads to Growth

As we conclude the book of Bereishit, I am struck by one reality: most of our Avot and Imahot did not have easy lives. They each had struggles and challenges, including family feuds and waiting many years for children. There is a famous Medrashic comment which states that our Imahot had to wait many years to have children because Hashem desired their tefillot. One common message we can take away from this is that Hashem wants us to daven; he wants us to develop a relationship with him and this is so important that He gives us challenges in life to bring us to daven.

I had the fortune of spending last week in Israel, visiting my son who is learning in Yeshiva for the year. Like many people when traveling to Israel, we often go with some apprehension and concern for safety. I found myself experiencing extreme emotions about this. On the one hand, my wife and I felt  the new security measures - walls on the highways, etc., gave us a greater sense of security than we had on previous trips. However, our trip ended this past Sunday, being only 10 minutes away from the terrible terrorist attack in Armon Hanatziv. Before I even had the chance to feel fear for my son, wife or myself, I was struck by what I saw happening around me. Despite the sadness and grief over the horrendous attack, Israeli’s did not let it bring them down, nor did it let them feel despair; they did not let it dampen their spirit for our country. Israelis continued on with their lives, as they walked the streets, malls, markets, shuks and centres with genuine feelings of safety and security. There was also a feeling in the air -  an ‘energy’, if you will - that our lives are all in the hands of Hashem. Even the non-religious taxi driver commented many times on how Hashem takes care of us, and that the strength of our country comes from our rallying together after events like these; that horrific acts such as what transpired that day can only serve to bring us closer together as a nation and a people, and reaffirm our commitment to our country. And all I could think of was ‘my goodness, what unbelievable people, what unbelievable strength of character, what a remarkable sense of purpose they have’ - מי כעמך ישראל!

To come full circle, my experience this past week helped me understand the words of Chazal, mentioned above in a different light. It is not just the tefillot that Hashem wants from us, but it is our struggle, it is our commitment to His Torah and His land which ultimately defines the way we choose to live our lives. It is not about having an “easy” life. “Easy” doesn’t mean better. The easy way doesn’t cause you to grow. Of course we should never know from such horrible tragedies, but perhaps we shouldn’t hope for everything to be easy. Perhaps we should look for times of struggle and challenges; those are what make us into great people!