The most challenging nisyonos in life are those which come with a feeling of distance from Hashem

“…And they arrived in Mitzrayim, Yaakov and all his children with him.” (Bereishis 46:6)

We’re all familiar with the ten nisyonos of Avraham Avinu. Yet Yaakov Avinu had at least as many nisyonos. Eisav, Lavan, Dinah, Yosef, Shimon, Eisav’s angel, the hunger, and now going down to Mitzrayim. Why don’t we count and mention the nisyonos of Yaakov? (Rabbi Yisrael Reisman)

IT

was an ordinary morning, until it was not. My friend’s daughter Chaya* was traveling to work with three other women. Suddenly a car from the opposite lane tried to pass another car and smashed head-on into their car. The collision was appalling, and their car was crushed. All four women were injured, but Chaya, sitting behind the driver, got the brunt of the injuries.

It took the police time to extricate the women. A helicopter was summoned, but as a paramedic carefully positioned Chaya on a stretcher, he wondered to himself, Why are we bothering? This woman is beyond help.

The Chasam Sofer at the end of parshas Vayeira tells us an extraordinary lesson that is applicable to each and every one of us. When is something a nisayon and when is it part of the mazal of life? When is something a particular challenge and when is it part of the “normal” challenges of life? Says the Chasam Sofer, a nisayon comes with a feeling of distance from Hashem — and absence of ruchniyus. When Avraham went to the Akeidah (22:4) it says that he saw HaMakom (Hashem) as if He were distant. Part of his nisayon was this feeling of distance from Hashem.

Yaakov Avinu had difficulties in life, but wherever he went, Hashem spoke to him. When he ran away from Eisav, Hashem said (28:15), “I am with you wherever you will go.” When Yaakov went down to Mitzrayim, Hashem says (46:3), “Don’t fear going down to Mitzrayim.”

Upon arrival at the hospital, the staff ran multiple tests. There are eight major parameters for brain death, and Chaya failed seven of them. Until suddenly, her eyelids fluttered; there was life! The medical team sprang into action.

There was severe damage to most of her internal organs as well as her back and brain. One of the first procedures done was an angioplasty to save her kidney, which had stopped functioning. While an invasive procedure, it was still better than a full surgery, and they hoped to recover up to ten percent of her kidney’s function. My friend gave the doctor a brachah that he should come out with good news.

The doctor emerged with his eyes shining. “Her kidney is functioning, one hundred percent functioning!” he cheered. “I’ve never seen such a thing in all my years as a doctor. There was a blockage to the kidney, but when we went in, we saw an open miracle. The kidney is fine!”

Life has two types of challenges: the everyday challenges that sometimes become quite severe, but are accompanied by a feeling of closeness to the Borei Olam within the challenge — the nisyonos of Yaakov Avinu. And the most challenging nisyonos in life; those which come with a feeling of distance from Hashem — the nisyonos of Avraham Avinu. When we feel Hashem “walking” with us through our nisyonos, those are the nisyonos of Yaakov Avinu.

This set the pace for Chaya’s slow but miraculous recovery. The doctors spoke of brain damage. Even if she woke up, she’d likely not be able to understand, speak, read, and move normally. The predictions were as dark as the prospect of living like that. Tefillos were sent Heavenward from all over the globe, and slowly, one by one, the doctors’ gloom-and-doom prophesies were disproved.

Eventually, Chaya was ready to move from the hospital to rehab. Before leaving, she went up to the ICU to say goodbye to the team who had worked so hard to save her life. She walked into the ICU slowly, yet on her own two feet, and jaws dropped. Everyone agreed that clinically speaking, this was an open miracle.

By now it’s been over two months since the accident, and Chaya continues to prove the doctors wrong, painstakingly pulling herself inch by inch toward full function.

In the darkest of moments, sometimes there’s the strongest light.

Name for tefillah can be accessed via Mishpacha.