Passing G-ds Tests - Parshat Shemot The Children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty. The land was filled with them. (Shemos 1:7) Kabbalah teaches that a person should never enter a test without permission from Heaven. It doesn’t mean a test at school, it means a spiritual test. That is, that someone should never put himself into a spiritually compromising situation unless that is where he ends up due to no negligence of his own. In the process of trying to do the right thing, he finds himself in a place that can easily test his spiritual mettle. The reason why is somewhat obvious. Who really knows himself so well that he can take his yetzer hara head on and withstand the test. Great people have succumbed to the machinations of their yetzer haras, so why should lesser people take similar risks? On the other hand, if God tests you by placing you in spiritually challenging situations, we are told, not only can we pass the test, but God will even help us to pass it if we turn to Him for assistance. A Divinely orchestrated spiritual test is designed to allow a person to pass, if he makes a reasonable effort to succeed. In this manner, God encourages people to grow spiritually and can likewise reward them for their successes. If so, then one might ask the question: Why did we fail the test in Egypt? We did not go down there of our own volition, but were sent there by God Himself. He even encouraged Ya’akov Avinu, who had serious doubts about entering the home of the yetzer hara in Creation at that time to go down there. That being the case, we should have been able to pass the test, and not have assimilated. There are a couple answers to this question, but one of them is that what we define as passing a test and what God calls passing a test is not always the same thing. It’s nice when we can get through a spiritual difficulty in the ideal way, but life doesn’t always allow for that, especially given the nature of some people’s souls. On the surface, all of us seem pretty much the same. Physically, we may all be different, and intelligence level varies from person to person, but overall, we’re all pretty much the same. That’s why we get so angry at people who break the law; we wouldn’t do it, so how can they? No question that there is a certain common denominator to all mankind. On the other hand, every soul is different, and it is the soul, in essence, that drives a person. And, depending upon which body a soul is paired up with, a person can be driven to do very good, or very bad, and God takes that into account when judging everyone. For example, a person may have a soul that can make stealing from others easy, and when such a person holds himself back from stealing large things and restricts himself to stealing small and trivial items, it can impress Heaven. He is doing the best he can to be the best he can be given the nature of his soul, and body. On the other hand, when a person with a high level soul does something nice, but with only half a heart, Heaven may not be impressed at all. The action may be well received by others, and earn the person some accolades, but Heaven might be saying, “You have such a good natured soul and that’s all you put into your mitzvos?” Then, of course, there are the circumstances. Sometime the circumstances in which we find ourselves bring out so much good in us that even we don’t recognize ourselves. The opposite is also true: sometimes the circumstances can bring out the worst in us, and we don’t want to recognize ourselves. God takes that into account as well when judging us.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 03:27:23 +0000
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