Perseverance under duress
Other posts on Bechukosai:
Fogiveness – Big deal? (Must see!)
וְכִי יָמוּךְ אָחִיךָ וּמָטָה יָדוֹ עִמָּךְ וְהֶחֱזַקְתָּ בּוֹ - If your brother becomes destitute and his hand falters beside you, you shall support him (25:35)
The interpretation of the words “וְהֶחֱזַקְתָּ בּוֹ - you shall support him”, although this is not reflected in English, in Hebrew it is in the present tense. This is taken to mean that no mater how may times someone needs help, we must continue to offer the guiding and helping hand. Our Yetzer Hara may tell us that this person is wasting our time, and we’re worse off for helping him, he’s getting in the way of your life etc, but the pasuk is telling us these aren’t legitimate excuses, we must persevere.
There is a story told about the Chafetz Chaim, who went to the first Aguda convention in Vienna in 1923, and he stayed in the house of one R’ Akiva Schreiber. Naturally there was a crowd permanently camped outside the house clamouring to get an audience with the holy tzaddik. An English Jew had travelled to Austria to get advice on an issue from him, and he told the the host about the urgency of the issue, so the host invited him for a meal, at which the Chafetz Chaim would be present, and they could meet afterwards.
During the meal, the Chafetz Chaim started singing “מזמור לדוד ה’ רועי לא אחסר“(Psalm 23), and when he got to the end, “אך טוב וחסד ירדפוני כל ימי חיי ” – “May only goodness and kindness pursue me all the days of my life…” , he paused to say a Dvar Torah that would expound the pasuk.
He asked: “Why does the pasuk say “ אך טוב וחסד ירדפוני - May only goodness and kindness pursue me” – surely “pursue” isn’t the correct terminology to use with regard to good and kindness? “Pursuit” is usually indicative of something negative…”
So he answered: “There are people who bury themselves in other people’s problems, assisting the community, acts of charity and kindness, and they are totally involved with other people. It is to these people that the pasuk is speaking, that “May only goodness and kindness pursue me”, and not, G-d forbid, anything bad. By doing the good they do, they protect themselves from bad, and only by persevering with their kindness will they be able to fulfil “ושבתי בבית ה’ לארך ימים – and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for length of days”.
The man got up and thanked the host very much, and didn’t bring up his issue with the Chafetz Chaim after the meal. The host asked why, as he had invited him for that very purpose. The English Jew answered, “I have a charitable foundation and a school, and I can’t balance the two, and I’m very time constrained as it is, and I wanted to ask the Chafetz Chaim which would be better to stop. But it was clear from what he said that both were tremendous opportunities, and that I should maintain my involvement in both, regardless of my personal feelings.”
There is another story that illustrates the point of וְהֶחֱזַקְתָּ בּוֹ – that we should persevere with kindness:
A person went to R’ Ahron Leib Shteinman with an issue -” Rebbi, I have a yshiva to run, and an orphanage to run, and a free loan fund, I can’t live my life! What should I do?
To which R’ Ahron Leib replied: “And if you stop, who says you’ll live?”
