The Kappara Before The Yeshuah

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

Sometimes in order for a person to receive a yeshua , he first has to go through a period of kapara and then, from that difficulty, Hashem sends the salvation. If a person knows that perhaps the difficulty he is going through is preparing him to receive a blessing, it will be easier to handle. In fact, the Gemara says in Masechet Taanit , daf 20, if someone accepts his difficulties with joy, it brings salvation to the entire world. A man told, he has a child who suffers from kidney problems. He needs constant medication and various treatments. One of the side effects of this illness is severe lack of appetite and vomiting. At one point, the child stopped eating completely, agreeing only to drink water. He then needed to be hooked up to a feeding tube, but even with that, he continued vomiting. If he would ever be tempted to taste anything, he would later vomit whatever entered his body in the previous few hours. This past year, his wife was with the child in the hospital because he got pneumonia. On the day they were being discharged, as they were walking in the hallway, the child suddenly began vomiting. Generally, when this child is vomiting, there is nothing to do. They have to just wait until he finishes and then they clean him up and change his clothing. So he vomited and vomited and his mother simply stood there, waiting for him to finish. Among the people sitting in the waiting room nearby was a woman who made it clear to everyone that she was appalled by this site. This woman saw a little child vomiting who seemed to be in pain and his mother just standing idly by, not knowing that this was standard procedure. She got up in front of everyone and yelled, "What a neglectful mother you are. Why don't you help your son?" The woman wanted to bury herself in shame, but then she remembered hearing when a person gets shamed, it's a huge kapara . The person becomes purified and has a great power of tefila . So, she utilized the opportunity and asked Hashem to bring healing to her son. That Sunday, this boy asked to eat and hours passed without him vomiting. He ate again later that day and again did not vomit. This was a major breakthrough for them. Although the child still has kidney issues, he is able to eat and keep the food down. Instead of lashing back at that woman or feeling sorry for herself, this woman chose to utilize the difficulty to bring salvation closer. Recently, another boy had been practicing for his bar mitzvah parasha for months and he got an appendicitis a few days before he was supposed to read. The appendicitis happened on a Wednesday and he was scheduled to read the Torah that Shabbat. They were also going to have a big seuda to celebrate afterward. But instead, the boy had to be in the hospital and he missed the reading and the seuda . They notified all the guests on Friday not to attend the celebration. It was a somber time. After the doctors studied the appendix, they found a cancerous tumor growing inside of it. Baruch Hashem, it did not spread and the boy is totally fine now. He needed a big yeshua that he didn't even know about. Hashem brought about a very difficult situation that perhaps was the kapara that they needed to receive this yeshua . Hashem is always helping us, whether it seems that way or not. Our best response is to always thank Hashem for what happens and continue living life happily, knowing that we are always in His hands.