Inspirational Moment

The Medrash Rabbah (39:1) relates a parable with reference to the greatness of Avraham Avinu. A person traveling down an unfamiliar road noticed a magnificent palace in flames. He looked around, expecting to see the owner running with buckets of water to extinguish the fire. The palace appeared abandoned, however, and he wondered aloud, “Is it possible that a palace like this has no owner?” At that moment the owner of the palace looked out and declared, “I am the owner of the palace.”

The Medrash Rabbah (39:1) relates a parable with reference to the greatness of Avraham Avinu. A person traveling down an unfamiliar road noticed a magnificent palace in flames. He looked around, expecting to see the owner running with buckets of water to extinguish the fire. The palace appeared abandoned, however, and he wondered aloud, “Is it possible that a palace like this has no owner?” At that moment the owner of the palace looked out and declared, “I am the owner of the palace.”

The Maharzav comments, that upon looking at the world and seeing the fiery destruction of humanity during the Mabul and the Dor Haflogoh, Avrohom wondered, “Is it possible that the world has no leader?” In response to this, Hashem appeared to him and said , “I am the Creator of the world,” and Hashgacha Pratis governed all the events that Avrohom Avinu had witnessed.

We, unfortunately, are not on the spiritual level of Avraham Avinu and Hashem does not reveal Himself or His ways to us personally. However, with a little acuity and a bit of perception the obvious manifestations of His hand are presented daily in our lives.

The Talmud Yerushalmi (Horayos) relates a story about a very charitable person named Abba Yuhuda who contributed generously to the support of Torah study. He was a major benefactor whenever R’ Eliezer, R’ Yehoshua and R’ Akiva would need to raise money to support those who were learning Torah.

Once he suffered a reversal in his fortunes, and he was no longer able to proffer his generous support. He used to hide from the great chachamim because he had nothing to offer them. His wife, who was a great tzadekes, noted his deep distress and questioned him about it. When he explained the situation to her, she suggested that Abba Yuhuda should give the chachamim half of the field which remained in his possession. Abba Yuhuda proceeded to follow his wife’s advice.

With the single cow he still owned, Abba Yuhuda went out to plow the half of the field that still belonged to him. The animal, however, stumbled into a pit and broke her leg. Things seemed to have gone from bad to worse, and Abba Yuhuda climbed into the pit in order to pull out the cow. As he descended into the pit, Abba Yuhuda was amazed to discover a treasure of gold.

He then understood the operative Hashgacha Pratis that enabled him to come across this cache. This ostensible disaster with the cow was actually managed min hashamayim so that he could regain his wealth and once again become a great supporter of Torah.

We have to understand, similarly, that often Hashem’s blessings are hidden from our view, and we have to be able to discern the covert Hashgacha Pratis.