It’s Not Your Fault

When misfortune befalls us some of us will introspect and search within our souls for the cause of this misfortune. We’ll ask ourselves what it is that we have done to deserve this.

We may assume that we went wrong somewhere. Perhaps we did something wrong to someone. Perhaps we have neglected some of God’s commandments.

The truth of the matter may be that it’s not your fault!

The Talmud of Eretz Yisrael teaches us that God closed Himself out from the Jewish People during the thirty years that they wandered in the Wilderness. During this time He would not even speak to Moses, the very man with which He was accustomed to speaking face to face. (Ta’anith 3:4)

Although Moses was righteous and meritorious, God still would not communicate with him because of His displeasure with the Jewish People as a whole.

The Lesson that the Talmud of Eretz Yisrael teaches us here is that meritorious minority shares the fate of the iniquitous majority. By the same token, the iniquitous minority shares the fate of the meritorious majority.

If things are not going your way it may not be your fault. If things are going your way it may not be because of your merit. It may we be because of the general state of the Jewish People.

May we improve ourselves if not for our own sake then for the sake of our fellow Jews!