Today I want to talk about… swings. Yes, swings—and no, we will not be returning to childhood.
When I picture myself on a swing, of course, that is far from reality (unless playground swings are built to support a weight of 60-120 kg). So if I really want to go for a swing, it usually happens on a weekend, at a rented vacation cabin with a wide “swing for adults” on the lawn. There I am sure that the swing could hold another couple of people like me.
But that is not what I am talking about today. Swings give me a certain sense of security. Let me explain why. When I was young, in Europe, we would go to an amusement park and ride the “roller coasters.” I was not frightened; I even enjoyed it—we squealed and let go. But I knew that I was firmly strapped in with safety belts and that, barring unforeseen circumstances, the structure could withstand that load—there was no chance of falling out, even when turned upside down.
But even now I picture myself on a swing, only a different kind. When certain events, certain trials, knock the ground out from under my feet, I feel myself starting to sway, as if on a swing. To keep from feeling insecure, I imagine threads attached to these “swings” from above. And these threads lead straight to the Almighty. So whatever is happening below, I am confident that I am being held very, very firmly from Above.
It is impossible to fall when the Almighty Himself is holding you.
In the Torah portion of Noach, the Midrash tells how our forefather Abraham was thrown into a fiery furnace. He refused to worship either fire or water, or to engage in any form of idolatry. When King Nimrod asked whom he worshipped, Abraham answered: the Almighty. And he was thrown into the furnace. Abraham's brother Haran was also with him, and Nimrod asked him the same question. Before answering, Haran wanted to see what would happen to Abraham. If Abraham burned, Haran would side with the idols; if he survived, Haran would side with the Almighty. Faith with a condition. When he saw Abraham strolling through the furnace as though through Alpine meadows, admiring nature, he decided he could do the same. Our sages say that when Haran declared that he too was ready for the trial, he was thrown toward the furnace, but burned before he even reached it. A Jew in this world must be connected to the Almighty without any conditions. “Conditional” faith cannot bring miraculous deliverance from a trial.
Through the trials in our lives, the Almighty, as it were, “taps” on a person. To be honest, I compare this to something I cannot understand despite all my university degrees. To find out whether a watermelon is good, sweet, and ripe enough, people tap on it and listen to the sound. This is somewhat like the way the Almighty taps on us through trials, testing how good we are.
I want to tell a story I once read. It concerns what happened at the Chabad House in Mumbai in 2008. The mother of one of the mashgichei kashrut (kashrut inspectors) killed in that terrorist attack was answering a question about how she remained faithful to the Almighty despite what had happened.
She said: “I want to point out that my son was not supposed to be at the Chabad House then at all. He and his friend were at a hotel, and their original plans did not include visiting the Chabad House. They were very tired and were going to bed, having planned to study on the plane. But then his friend said, ‘No, listen, it would be a shame to miss such an opportunity: there is a Chabad House here. Let's go there and study, and then catch up on our sleep on the plane.’ They changed the arrangement with the taxi driver so that he would pick them up at the Chabad House instead of the hotel. When he arrived at the appointed time, they were already dead. I don't understand,” says the mashgiach's mother, “could anything be more clearly directed from Heaven than these events?!”
Her words are that very ringing sound from the watermelon that shows it is ripe. This is the very resonance of faith that the Almighty wants to hear from us in every trial.
King David says in Tehillim (92: 2,3): “It is good to praise the L-rd and sing to Your name, O Most High, to proclaim Your kindness in the morning and Your faithfulness at night.” In the morning, when everything is clearly visible, we thank the Almighty for His kindness. But at night, when dangers lurk in the darkness, we feel uneasy. We cannot see or understand what is happening—then we need our faith that even in trials He wants what is good for us, that He is with us.
If we hold firmly to the threads of faith, no amount of swaying will knock the “swing” out from under our feet. Only then, along these threads, will we receive deliverance and the inner strength to cope with these trials.
We have already spoken about Noah. The Almighty tells Noah: enter the ark (teivah). The Baal Shem Tov comments on this passage as follows: teivah also means a word, a word of prayer. When things are hard, when you are in darkness, imagine that you are connected to the Almighty by strong threads, by ropes—you will not fall. But use words of prayer and supplication to receive inner strength from Him, to cope with the darkness, to cope with the trials.