Three Things Every Jew Needs to Hear at the Seder This Year
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Since I was so insistent on asking why, I went full throttle and asked why about every part of my life.
Why?
It’s the question I find my mind asking again and again. Just plain “Why?”
Why is my life so hard? Why is my day filled with so many struggles? Why can’t I attain all those things I aspire for? Why don’t I have the special children that I see others have? Why don’t I have their money, and why don’t have their happiness? Why?
And I’ve heard the common answer to this question (after all, it really does boil down to one question): “You have the life that you’re meant to have. It’s the perfect life for you. The pleasure and joy that you see by others are good for them and only for them. Every day in your life is a day that is tailored just for you.”
While this answer to some degree counteracts the thoughts of “life is not fair,” it doesn’t give me a sense of happiness. I’m not feeling very grateful about “my tailored life”. As much as I believe that this life is perfect for me, I still wish that I had a life that was tailored just for me without pain and struggles. And as much as I know that the joy that I see by others is not meant for me, I still think: “If I was only them then a life of joy and happiness would be a life that was meant just for me.”
And as long as I’m not happy and grateful with my life, I still wake up every morning asking again: Why? This question seems to be here to stay.
And then it hit me. If I am so insistent on asking why, then go full throttle and ask why about every part of my life. I’m going to ask this question from morning to night!
As I open my eyes each morning and ask: Why did I wake up this morning? What did I do to deserve another day on this world?
As I sit up in my bed and stretch my hands I ask: Why was I given a body that can move so freely?
As I wash my hands I ask: Why was I given the privilege to be part of the chosen nation? Why was I given a healthy heart that beats on its own? Why was I given healthy lungs that allow me to breathe so freely? Why was I given healthy kidneys that forever clean all blood in my body? Why was I given a family to love? Why?
And as I started to ask the question “why” to all the facets of my life, I actually started to feel a newfound sense of happiness. I started to feel grateful. And most of all I started to feel so loved. Loved by my Creator. All the thousands of underserving gifts I experience each day feel like the deepest expressions of love from my loving Father.
I'm starting to realize that the life and love He gives me demonstrates that He really wants me in His world. And then I start to ask again: Why? Why would the Creator of the entire universe want me, small me, to be a part of His great world?
And the answer is startling in its simplicity: Because He believes in me.
And the least I can do is live life embracing every challenge and blessing, accepting every struggle and gift with pride and joy.
I love this! Reminds me of something my husband said years ago. He was telling someone that he had to go pick me up at the airport because I was returning from visiting our daughter and her family in Israel. He had an epiphany after her said it. He realized that the better way to look at it was, I GET to pick up my wife from the airport. The fact that I have a wife, that she was able to see her children, had the health to do it and we could afford her ticket are true blessings. This simple phrase can be used in practically every "have to" thing we do throughout our day. Even taking out the garbage is a "get to". Thank G-d I have food that generates this trash. Thank G-d there are people that will take the bags away for me. Really helps to refocus on the countless blessings we take for gran
Shalom Rabbi,
In your Aish article, Why, asking this simple question that changed your life, you asked, ‘ Why would the Creator want the small you to be a part of His great world?’ The answer is G-d’s prime reason for creating this universe and humanity. It may be understood why we are a part of this world in the story of Adam and Eve.
G-d formed humans in His likeness and image with free will to choose to follow His Torah commandments and laws or the path of evil. They violated His prime law and ate from the Tree of Life. And through time, the covenant people have violated His Torah laws, and we are now under attack by the nations after the Holocaust and antisemitism.
His failed purpose for us may be found in [Devarim 31:16-18] Your insight is appreciated.