The Secret of Waiting: A Person's Primary Work in the World

Lesson No. 14 | Friday, Parashas Bamidbar, 26 Iyar 5755 - At a Bris

An in-depth article explaining why a person's primary work in this world is waiting. Through the importance of daily Halachah study and the understanding that every delay in life is a tikkun (rectification) for the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, we learn how to deal with life's difficulties with emunah (faith).

The Importance of Daily Halachah Study

"Hashem loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob."

Our Sages, of blessed memory, said: Hashem loves the gates that are distinguished in Halachah more than synagogues and study halls. The "Prisha" (Yoreh Deah, Siman 246) brings down that every person must study practical Halachos every day. Through the study of Halachah, a path to the World to Come is opened for a person, as the Tanna D'vei Eliyahu says:

"Whoever studies Halachos every day is guaranteed to be a child of the World to Come."

In the Midrash Shocher Tov, Bar Kappara says: "If a person learns two Halachos in the morning and two in the evening, this fulfills 'and you shall meditate on His Torah day and night.'" The most important thing is to know the four sections of the Shulchan Aruch, and the first and most important section of all is 'Orach Chaim'. These are the daily Halachos – the laws of Shabbos and the laws of the festivals. There are Halachos that come up from time to time, but the Halachos that apply at every moment are found in Orach Chaim. Therefore, everyone must set a fixed study session of half an hour to an hour every day, and this study takes precedence over everything.

The Work of Life: The Secret of Waiting

When Rabbi Levi Yitzchak arrived in the Land of Israel, he said, "The air of the Land of Israel makes one wise." Before that, he was a great rabbi in Germany and saved many unfortunate women from becoming agunos (chained women unable to remarry). In his merit, they merited "Torah 6" in Likutey Moharan – the Torah of waiting.

Reb Noson explains that a person's primary work in this world is waiting. A person wants to get married and find a shidduch (marriage match) – he must wait. Because Adam HaRishon ate from the Tree of Knowledge in haste, a person is given one hundred and twenty years in this world to wait. He has to wait for his shidduch, wait for the wedding, and a person's entire life is just one long wait.

Everything is Calculated from Previous Reincarnations

A person wants to already be a Torah scholar, to be a genius. He sees that all his friends have already found shidduchim and gotten married, and he asks himself what will become of him. As Reb Noson says, whoever has sorrow – has great sorrow. He sees that everyone has already merited and he has not yet merited, and he is waiting. He has already passed the age of twenty and does not understand why: "What is my sin and what is my transgression?"

But he must know that everything is measure for measure and based on calculations from previous reincarnations. It could be that in a previous reincarnation, the situation was exactly the opposite – he was the first to get engaged at the age of fifteen, and Heaven did a kindness with him. Now, his work is to wait.

Rectifying the Sin of the Tree of Knowledge

This entire world is just waiting. We must constantly rectify the sin of Adam HaRishon, who sinned in the aspect of "he gazed and died" (the desire to attain everything immediately). The sin of Hevel was also in the aspect of "he gazed and died." Why did Adam HaRishon eat from the Tree of Knowledge? Because he did not wait. Every person has this aspect of wanting to attain things prematurely, and therefore his tikkun (rectification) is to wait and wait.

Throughout life, a person will be given endless tests of waiting. He will see that everyone around him has already gotten married, everyone is already rich, and everyone has children, and he will think: "Why am I always the most miserable?" But the truth is that you are not miserable! Avraham Avinu waited a hundred years until Yitzchak was born to him.

Hashem promises everyone that they will merit what they need. When? Everyone has their exact time according to the secret of reincarnations. Perhaps they want to give you a special soul? Special children are born after a long wait. Every moment of a person's life in the world is just waiting, and this is the work of our lives – to wait with complete emunah (faith).

Part 1 of 3 — Lesson No. 14

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