Hoping Together    

Many of the event’s attendees have spent the last 40 consecutive days reciting Nishmas and have joined together on the final day, the yartzheit of Rabi Yonasan ben Uziel who is buried in Amukah, for an evening of inspiration, tefillah, and song, to be followed by a livestream of tefillos at Amukah itself.

Inside the building it’s dark, the ballroom lit up by only the tall LED pillars dotting the room and the stage lights at the front. But there’s a palpable warmth, achdus, and energy, and I soak it all in.

One of the earlier speakers, Rabbi Gavriel Friedman, or Rav Gav as he’s popularly known, shares an idea he’d heard from one of his Israeli neighbors about parshas Shelach. “ ‘Mah habaayah im hameraglim — What was the problem with what the meraglim did?’ my neighbor asked. ‘The problem was that they didn’t look at things positively.’ What does it mean that they didn’t look at things positively? People say it all the time, ‘Don’t worry, just look at things positively…’ as if that ever helps. I mean, like, thank you so much, now everything is great. But my neighbor went on to explain that positive isn’t really an English word, it’s a Hebrew word that’s an acronym for Poh Zeh Tov. This here, right now, is good! Think to yourself, is it possible that Hashem knows more than I do? He loves me more than I could imagine, and only wants the best for me… so, if this is happening, it must be that Poh Zeh Tov, that it’s good.”

He gives a mashal of a five-year-old boy who got on a bus and stood behind the bus driver. “The boy begged him, ‘Nahag, can you please crash the bus?’ ” says Rav Gav. “Of course, the driver said no. But as the boy persisted, the driver finally asked him, ‘Why would you want me to crash the bus?’