Menachem Bluming discusses the Flu

So many people are feeling unwell with the flu. May they recover quickly!

How does this work from G-d’s viewpoint? This illness holds us back from doing so many good things and furthering our duties?

Who knows… here’s a telling story:

There was once a Jew who resided on a farm, at a great distance from any Jewish community. He was a devout and pious man, and united with his wife did their best to create a Jewish home for his children. But he yearned to be near Jews, with the chance to pray in a shul, study Torah with like-minded people and be part of a community. Day in and day out for many years he would learn and pray alone with his prayer book and his volume of Talmud, wishing he could share them with others.

After many years, his dream began to come true. Slowly, more Jews moved to his area. It took decades, but slowly he built a community. Forty years after his arrival, that remote country town boasted a shul with services every day, regular Torah classes, a mikvah and a warm community. No more was he praying alone.

But the Rebbe said something surprising about this.

This Jew definitely got more pleasure from the lively latter years than the lonely early ones. But we can’t know which G-d appreciated more. It’s a possibility that G-d took more pleasure from his lonely prayers of desire, all those years of wishing and pining, over than the communal satisfaction that came later.

A sincere desire to do good deeds is in and of itself a holy act. When you wish to help someone but circumstances don’t allow it, or when you truly would love to do a mitzvah but something beyond your control stops you from doing it, that pure intention is precious to G-d. And who knows, perhaps more precious than the times when you do a mitzvah with ease.

May you all get well quickly and get back to all your good deeds with full strength. And when times are good, don’t forget your precious loneliness.

Menachem Mendel Bluming, Rabbi Moss and Chabad.org

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