The Gift Hidden Inside Every Test

ArtScroll will be offering many books at 50% off in the upcoming weeks including some volumes of Living Emunah. Click the link to view the selection. artscroll.com/categories/wk1.html Life is filled with tests. The greatness of a person is determined by how he overcomes the tests that Hashem gives him. Everybody gets tested according to the level they are on. I was in a taxi the other day, and the driver asked me a question that made it obvious he was Jewish. We got into a conversation, and he told me about a major test that he once faced. Although he doesn't keep the mitzvot, including Shabbat, he understands the value of Torah and mitzvot. He told me that in 2002 he had bought tickets to the U.S. Open Finals and couldn't wait to go. Then his wife reminded him that the match fell on Rosh Hashanah, the one time each year that they go to synagogue. He struggled tremendously because he had been anticipating that match for so long. But in the end, he heroically sold the tickets and went to shul. Everybody gets tested. Naturally, we don't like to be tested. We even pray not to be tested. But we have to know that when tests do come, they present us with golden opportunities. Many times we pray fervently for things that we want, and when the answer doesn't seem to come, we begin to wonder if Hashem values our tefillot. The Or HaChaim in Parashat Vayera teaches us a remarkable lesson. When Hashem wants to give a person a blessing, one of the ways He does it is by presenting him with an opportunity to perform a mitzvah or a heroic deed whose segulah is the very blessing that he needs. Every nisayon that we overcome contains a hidden blessing, besides the eternal reward awaiting us in the Next World. When Hashem gives a person this type of opportunity, it is truly a gift. If he knew what was at stake, he would beg Hashem to give him that test. At the beginning of Parashat Pinchas, Hashem gave Pinchas the greatest gift—an eternal kehunah that would never be disputed. Pinchas was the only one in his family who was not a Kohen, and he had long yearned to become one. Without his realizing it, Hashem placed before him a mitzvah opportunity whose reward would be the very blessing he had been longing for. Pinchas witnessed the terrible chillul Hashem when Zimri ben Salu brought Kozbi into the tent to commit an aveirah. He had an enormous nisayon. Zimri was over 250 years old and was considered one of the great leaders of the generation. If Pinchas acted, he would be risking his life. He had to be acting with completely pure intentions, l'shem Shamayim, or his act would be considered murder. He also had to be prepared to face criticism and ridicule from the rest of Klal Yisrael for what he was about to do. Yet he rose to the challenge. He acted solely for the honor of Hashem, stopped the plague, and prevented countless more deaths. There was someone else in Klal Yisrael who also yearned to be a Kohen. Originally, Moshe Rabbeinu himself had the kehunah. However, because he repeatedly declined Hashem's mission to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt, the kehunah was taken from him. We know how desperately Moshe wanted every opportunity to serve Hashem. That is why he pleaded so much to enter Eretz Yisrael—to perform the mitzvot that could only be fulfilled there. Now another opportunity to attain the kehunah had been placed before Klal Yisrael, and Moshe Rabbeinu was there. Moshe Rabbeinu, the Rabban Shel Kol Yisrael, certainly knew this halachah. He was the one who had taught it to everyone else. Yet at that moment, Hashem caused him to forget it, and therefore he did not perform the mitzvah. Instead, Pinchas remembered the halachah and carried it out. We see from here that a person needs merits not only to pass a test, but even to be given the opportunity to face the test. Because Moshe had lost the kehunah through his earlier actions, Hashem did not give him this opportunity to regain it. Instead, that opportunity was reserved for Pinchas. When a person is confronted with a difficult nisayon, he naturally wonders, "Why is Hashem doing th