Parshas Nitzavim 5785 & Rosh Hashana 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- Sep 18
- 4 min read
החיים והמות נתתי לפניך הברכה והקללה ובחרת בחיים למען תחיה אתה וזרעך ... (כח-כה)
The Ramchal (Mesilas Yesharim) writes that once a person has committed a sin, what’s done is done and what would his regret accomplish anyway? However, Hashem, in His great kindness has granted us an opportunity through teshuvah to undo - retroactively - the effects of an act committed previously. R’ Chaim Stein zt”l explains that Hashem in His kindness and desire to give a sinner a second chance, created this function of regret, thus enabling a Jew to do teshuvah.
A number of years ago, a young man from a non-religious family began to see the beauty of a Torah-true lifestyle and after a few months, became a baal teshuvah. His family was ambivalent about his new status but he explained to them that following the Torah and doing mitzvos was his calling in life. Unfortunately, a short while after he accepted the yoke of Torah and mitzvos, he was killed in a road accident. His non-religious family members were shocked. They were full of questions and accusations. How could this happen to their son now, when he had just embraced his new life, a Torah lifestyle?
A rabbi in the community where the family lived came to HaGaon R’ Chaim Kanievsky zt”l and said, “I am going to visit the family, and I am sure to be asked questions about how such a thing could have happened. What shall I tell them?”
R’ Chaim was quiet for a moment. Then, he said, “Tell them he was supposed to have died two years ago.”
The rabbi was confused at the answer and R’ Chaim did not elaborate, but he went to visit the family anyway. As expected, they began to ask the questions and challenge him at every step. At first he tried to lecture them about how man cannot fathom Hashem’s ways. When he saw that they could not accept his answers, he said, somewhat nervously, “I’ll tell you the truth. I went to R’ Chaim Kanievsky, and he said I should tell you that your son was supposed to have died two years ago.”
The room fell silent. The family members sat back in utter shock. Then, the young man’s father broke down and cried. “Yes, the Rav is correct! Two years ago, our son had a life-threatening illness. At the last moment he recovered. Clearly, he was granted another two years of life to allow him to do teshuvah and begin keeping the mitzvos!”
On another occasion, a man came to R’ Chaim during Elul and asked whether he should schedule a surgery for before Rosh Hashana or after Rosh Hashana. R’ Chaim replied that he should wait until after Rosh Hashana, since on the Yom Hadin we are judged anew and we then have the opportunity to ensure a favorable judgment through teshuvah and prayer.
A few days later, a different visitor told R’ Chaim that he had to undergo some medical testing and asked whether he should wait until after Rosh Hashana. R’ Chaim told him to do the tests as soon as possible.
“At least give me a blessing that the doctors shouldn’t find anything harmful,” the man asked.
“That is not what you should ask,” R’ Chaim pointed out. “It is not proper to ask that the tests don’t find anything. If there is something harmful, you must find it as soon as possible. This way, you can hopefully deal with the matter successfully and take care of quickly. Rather, let me give you a blessing that there should not be anything harmful to find!”
There were a number of people present and when one talmid chacham was asked why R’ Chaim gives such different and varied responses to different people, like the first man whom he told to wait till after Rosh Hashana and the second man whom he told not to delay, he pointed out what R’ Chaim wrote in his Sefer Orchos Yosher, about ruach hakodesh: “We find many times that when great people are asked questions, they give one response to one person and the opposite response to another person. This is because all these responses are Heavenly inspiration that are given to those great in Torah. They say what Heaven puts in their mouths to say. It is akin to a lesser level of prophecy. As for the fact that the blessings of a tzaddik are fulfilled, very often this is in the merit that the tzaddik acts wholly for the sake of Heaven. At other times, the blessings are fulfilled in the merit of the petitioner: in the merit that he relies completely on the tzaddik. Often, when a person relies on a tzaddik, the tzaddik is granted a special degree of siyata diShmaya to know what to say, and his advice is fulfilled .... Praiseworthy is a person who attaches himself to the true sages and listens to their words.”