There is no doubt that a promise from God will be fulfilled. His blessings come to fruition at the right time, no earlier and no later. Often in the Torah we read of a promise that Hashem makes either to an individual or a nation; usually, a significant amount of time elapses before His blessing is materialized. This lack of immediacy implies that there must be a catalyst that triggers the manifestation of a blessing besides God’s promise that it will happen—the timing must be dependent on another factor.
A look at the journey of the Jewish nation, from its birth with Abraham to the institution of a monarchy in Jerusalem, shows that the distinguishing factor seems to be whether the recipient of the blessing has earned the right to see the promise come to life. It appears from the texts and our history that the seeds of blessing begin to bud after a time of struggle and uncertainty.
In parashat Vayishlach, Ya’akov grapples with an angel who blesses him with the words “Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from you.” (35:11) Ya’akov’s blessing is for the success of his family, yet the ensuing years render nothing but suffering with regard to his children. His only daughter is kidnapped and raped, two of his sons endanger their family by fighting a whole city, and his favorite son is thought to be dead for 22 years. At the end of his life, Ya’akov comes to Egypt where he sees his children, the fruit of his lifelong labor, united behind Yoseph and succeeding in all they do. The blessing is finally fulfilled and is made even sweeter by his previous suffering.
In the parshiot of Shemot, the concept is demonstrated on a national level, not just a personal one. After 210 years of slavery at the hands of Pharaoh, the Jews leave Egypt, only to wander 40 years in the desert. The suffering of the fledgling nation bridges the promise God gave to Abraham saying, “I will give your offspring this land” (Bereshit 12:7) and their entry into the promised land. In the intervening time, they prove their faith in God, accept his Torah, and subject themselves entirely to his control.
Yet even when they enter the land, they must endure a 400- year period of judgment before a Jewish monarchy can be established. God promised Abraham that “kings will emerge from your progeny” (Bereshit 35:11); yet the space between the promise and its manifestation is filled with uncertainty as the people of Israel are led by temporary judges even after laying down firm roots in the land. Again, their faith is tested through hardship until the monarchy is established and the promise is made a reality.
Even now, we await the fulfillment of a promise from God that the final redemption will come and Hashem “will give peace in the land” (Vayikra 26:6); and we endure yet another gap between the promise and its manifestation, which is almost by necessity filled with sorrow and uncertainty. We await anxiously the foretold blessings through varying degrees of suffering.
The thirty-day mourning period for Ezra Schwartz z”l recently ended. Ezra was an 18- year old recent graduate of Maimonides school in Boston who was tragically murdered in a terrorist attack while taking a year in Israel to study Torah. There are no words to describe the sorrow of hundreds of teenagers in mourning at Maimonides, and the tears of Ezra’s former classmates, many of whom had grown up with him and were spending their own gap year in Israel. Unfortunately, his story is not uncommon, and too often the faces of such innocent victims appear in the news. Each such tragedy is a blow to Am Yisrael, and we mourn as a family the loss of one of our own. We pray with renewed fervor for the promised peace and are often discouraged by its delay.
It is truly impossible to take comfort in the idea that there must be suffering before the blessing materializes. The tribulations of our biblical ancestors does not assuage our pain. Rather, we must cling to the assurance from the lessons of our Torah that the trials we face do not mean that the promise will be unfulfilled. For Ya’akov and his family, the fledgling nation on their way to Israel, and the leaderless inhabitants of the land, the blessing eventually appeared. We, too, have an assurance that the time of peace will come.
A world where there is a gap between a promise and its display demands patience. The patience called for is not inactivity and idleness. Rather, it is steeped in action, industry, and vigor. It takes into account the complexity of Hashem’s world and works towards easing the knots, one improvement at a time. While the unknown prerequisites to the fulfillment of the blessing unfold, we acknowledge that we remain on the path to redemption and must stride ahead with confidence that it will arrive in its due time. God willing we will merit to see it soon.
Rabbi Avinoam Durani is the Rabbi of The Sephardic Congregation of Newton-Beit Sasson and is a teacher at Maimonides School in Boston. He and his wife Chaya live in Newton and are proud parents of three sons and one married daughter.
