From Heaven They Decide for You—Admit You Were Wrong, Regret It

The Daily Chizuk from our teacher, the holy gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a – Shimshon: “Is there no one among the daughters of your brothers?”

“From the eater came forth food, and from the strong came forth sweetness.” (Shoftim 14:14)

“His father and mother said to him, ‘Is there no woman among the daughters of your brothers and among all my people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?’ And Shimshon said to his father, ‘Take her for me, for she is right in my eyes.’” (Shoftim 14:3)

Wednesday, 17 Shevat 5783 – They took out his eyes because he said, “She is right in my eyes!”

These are his holy words:

“From the eater came forth food, and from the strong came forth sweetness” (Shoftim 14:14)—like at a wedding. Shimshon’s parents say to him, “Tell us—is there no one among the daughters of your brothers?” (ibid. 14:3)

We don’t understand. Take a wife from Belz, take one from Karlin—why is he taking a Philistine? Why didn’t Shimshon learn from you? (The Rav is speaking to one of the listeners in the shiur.)

His father and mother ask him, “Tell us—Is there no one among the daughters of your brothers?” They go and they tell him, “Maybe you’ll regret it? Maybe you’ll grab hold of yourself? You’re taking a Philistine? How far have we come?”

Shimshon should have said: “I don’t know!” A person who does something baffling must say: “I don’t know!”

Why take such a woman from there?

I don’t know! I don’t know!

Shimshon said, “For she is right in my eyes” (ibid.)—and they took out his eyes! Why did they take out his eyes? Because he said, “She is right in my eyes!”

It is forbidden to say, “She is right in my eyes.” The moment you did something not good, say: “I don’t know how it happened; I don’t know how it came out.”

But if a person says, “I felt like it. I wanted it. I’m the one who decides; I’m the one who determines”—you don’t determine, and you don’t decide! From Heaven they decide for you. And the fact that you did something not good—this too is from Heaven.

Even the things that aren’t good are from Heaven—but admit that it is from Heaven, and regret it immediately. Because if you say, “I’m the one who decides. I decide. I did it. I chose it!”—

You decided?

Then woe to you! You’ll become sick with every illness in the world.

As long as you say, “I don’t know anything. Everything is from Hashem. I didn’t create the world. I didn’t create the yetzer hara. ‘I created the Torah as its antidote.’”

Even if a person stumbles in something, he must say: “I don’t know! I don’t know what; I don’t know why; I don’t know…”

Shimshon’s parents ask him, “Tell us—Is there no one among the daughters of your brothers? Is there no Jewish woman? Aren’t there daughters in Belz? Aren’t there daughters in Karlin? Aren’t there daughters in Ponevezh? In Slabodka? So why does he need to take a Philistine woman from Gaza, from Timnah?”

Because she was beautiful—no mother agrees to bring an Arab woman into the house. People speak about how David conquered Moav. David brought women from Moav; he brought from Geshur—and no mother agrees to bring an Arab woman into the house.