Strength in Weakness
A table set. Food prepared. The candles lit and feel calmness in the air. Someone enters and looks around.
She’s envious of the order, of the rich smelling food and well-dressed family. She enters the home and it’s Shabbat or Yom Tov. The candles are lit and yes, it’s all prepared.
She takes it all in. It all seems so easy and unfair.
She has no idea of all the hard work. The hours of shopping, cooking, and cleaning. How the house was flying in chaos hours or maybe it was moments before.
She has no idea how this woman worked on things that were completely against her nature. She has no idea how she fell and made mistakes and with the help of G-d got up once again.
It just all looks so easy. If only she knew that it was not.
You see this one is given a loud child and she’s the type of person who needs quiet and calm. The power house man marries a laid-back unorganized woman. One has trouble reading a book and one has trouble playing ball.
This one is given coordination and this one is not.
This one is given more intelligence and this one is not.
This one is given an easy-going personality and this one is not.
Yes, to the outsider, the other one looks so strong and put together. Like she’s got it all or knows a lot.
You look inside, the home, the heart, then you’ll see that her strengths are G-d given gifts compensating for challenges and weaknesses.
And to Zebulun he said: "Rejoice, Zebulun, in your departure, and Issachar, in your tents (Devarim 33:18).
And to Zebulun he said: These five tribes whom [Moses] blessed last, namely, Zebulun, Gad, Dan, Naftali and Asher, have their names repeated [e.g., “And of Zebulun he said: Rejoice, Zebulun…”], in order to instill them with strength and power, for they were the weakest of all the tribes. And indeed [for this reason,] they were the ones Joseph introduced to Pharaoh, as it is said, “And from among his brothers, he took five men” (Gen. 47:2). [Joseph took these brothers and not the others,] because they looked weak, so that Pharaoh should not appoint them as his war officers. — [B.K. 92a]- Rashi
That’s right, of the weakest it’s written…
Blessed is He Who grants expanse to Gad; he dwells like a lion, tearing the arm [of his prey, together] with the head…Naftali is favorably satisfied and full of the Lord's blessing…Your locks are iron and copper, and the days of your old age will be like the days of your youth. (ibid 20-25).
The weakest appeared to have such strength. If only the outsider knew! The strength, the blessing it’s all from Hashem to compensate for weakness- to instill strength and power in an area where challenged.
If only we knew.
That the area that is most difficult for us, where we feel the weakness and the most in need. That very area is where Hashem will give us the most amount of blessing and power to overcome and succeed.
If only we knew how nothing looks on the outside as it is on the inside and there’s no point to judge or compare.
If only we knew the blessing and strength that we are given.
May the end be a beautiful beginning with much blessing.
Shabbat Shalom! Chag Sameach,
Elana