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By the way, lightbrite, don’t worry about trying to accept everything with emuna all at once. But rather accept little things with emuna…most people get confused (I know I did), but many of the teachings in Rav Arush’s books are on a very high level & it’s not expected of a person to instantly be on those levels. Instead, it’s an overview of what emunah is & what can be achieved & what should be aimed for. However, a person has to work many years in order to achieve true emunah accepting that everything in life is for the best.
People can fake emunah, but Rav Shalom told me that the way you know you have true emunah is when you can get on a buses without any money & each time you have a miracle happen for you: such as someone bumps into you & remembers they owe you money, etc…each time, every time you get on the bus…and yes, I’ve personally witnessed Rav Arush walking out his door to go on a trip & someone was walking up to his house at the same time to gave him a few hundred shekels in tzedakah…another story was that I needed money for a bus ticket to Meron & I asked him if he had any money that I could use to buy a ticket. He told me to wait one minute & there was a hand that came out of the crowd that was gathered around him & the hand gave him a bunch of money. The Rav then gave the money to me & it was the exact amount for my ticket…I still laugh at how absurd it was that it was the exact amount I needed & how the hand just came out of the crowd. I’m laughing right now just thinking about it.
OP, I went through the thinking that you are saying you are in. I also was a student of Rav Shalom Arush for 3 years, so I know his teachings rather well.
The issue is that you are trying to figure out how things can be good. However, emunah is for when you CAN’T figure out how things are good.In other words, if you were to “know” how things were good, then that is knowledge. However, if you were to “believe” that things were good, then that is emunah.
By the way, as I mentioned, I know Rav Arush & his shita very well. And he constantly says that the only way to achieve emunah is through talking/praying/hitbodedut to H-shem every day. It’s not an option if you really want deep emunah…and trust me, he is someone that has amazing emunah. He does NOT have an easy life at all; he still goes through all the situations that normal people go through. But he always has a true smile no matter what happens & he has many miracles happen for him because of his emunah.
Either way, your questions are quite normal for anyone starting off in their journey of finding/understanding emunah. Also, I should add that I heard a huge tzaddik in Jerusalem saying that this generation is only “payback”. He said that all the problems one experiences in this life are just payback from previous generations so that a person doesn’t have to pay the price in the world to come. For instance, if someone steals from someone, then he was only stolen from because it’s mida k’neged mida & in this way, it is a benefit for the one that has been stolen from, since he doesn’t have to worry about the punishment later on.
I hope this all helps.
I remember playing with one as a kid. My mother always called it “hey, that’s my necklace you’re breaking”
Jews just don’t go to keverim in order to “get something”, they also go in order to “give” simcha to the tzaddik. It might sound weird to some, but there are many Jews in Israel that feel a strong connection to R’ Shimon as if he was their actual physically-living rebbe/rabbi.
Either way, I know of a huge Breslov rabbi of the previous generation that agreed with your last statement & so he stayed in Israel for Rosh Hashanah. However after witnessing so many miracles that kept taking place for those that went to Uman on R”H, he decided to start going himself.
Mentsch, I think what was being referred to was when they had an issue with men & women mixing in the crowds. The Baba Sali himself wouldn’t go for this reason. However, they have fixed this issue & many holy tzaddikim are known to go there.
Either way, I don’t agree with the “bitul torah”. Was it bitul torah when the Arizal also went to Kever Rashbi & danced on Lag B’omer?
I used to live at Kever Rashbi, so maybe I can speak about things that I’ve seen/heard/know.
It’s not a big deal for ALL frum Jews to go on Lag B’omer, but it’s a big deal for MANY here in Israel.
Most of the Jews that I’ve talked to, go simply because they WANT to go; it just so happens that their sect also is going. In other words, most people I talk to go to Kever Rashbi because they see it as a wonderful treat & not as a religious requirement that they must fulfill…many frum Israelis (ashkenazi & sephardi) love Rebbe Shimon intensely & they gladly will put up with the transportation issues in order to share in Rebbe Shimon’s simcha on his hillula.
As for how long have Israelis been going, I’m not sure. But in the time of the Arizal people were already making the trip. So, it’s been going on for a while.
By the way, I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Kever Rashbi, but their are massive crowds of people there every Shabbos & Chag. I point this out because some people think it’s only a yearly thing for Meron to have big crowds. But it’s not (okay, maybe not 400,000 or whatever people)….I also want to point out there are many other entire sects that come up there to daven, not just Breslov like some people think.