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You write that you suffer from an ailment, though without saying what it is, and that at any moment you are likely to undergo a serious heart attack, etc., G-d forbid. (It appears to me that this is not the case, and that — begging your pardon — this is an extreme exaggeration.) You write further that a partition of iron is separating [you from your Father in Heaven] and that your prayers and charitable contributions have had no effect, and so on. Without a doubt, you yourself also understand that all this is no more than fantasies. For even if there were a partition of iron, the Sages assure us in plain words that “even a partition of iron cannot separate the Children of Israel from their Father in Heaven.” The same applies to what you write about how your prayers and especially the tzedakah you distribute have had no effect. I saw in a little book — it’s called the Tanach — where it is written (Malachi 3:10) that the Holy One, blessed be He, says: “Test Me, please, in this,” in the mitzvah of tzedakah — that if only people will give tzedakah, “I will pour down blessings upon you,” and so on. The same applies to prayer, as is explained in many sources in the teachings of the Sages.
As I have written to a number of young men in a similar situation, their answer is provided in a number of places in Tanya. One of those places is ch. 27 and the following chapters. All in all: despairing, and seeking miracles especially for one’s battles with the [Evil] Inclination — these are simply the wiles and the incitement initiated by the [Evil] Inclination. As is the case with all the tactics it employs, the most effective strategy from the very outset is not to become involved in any debates or discussions with it. Instead, one should muster strength, extensively and energetically, with regard to “the three pillars [on which the world stands]” — Torah study, avodah (and the observance of mitzvos in general), and the practice of kindly deeds. If one acts in this way, he may rest assured that the darkness will be lessened and banished. What a pity that people waste time on discussing the issue! In addition, if you utilize the influence you have on people younger than yourself to bring them, too, close to the service of G-d, you yourself will be granted increased help from Heaven.
Accordingly, a Jew must place his trust in G-d and request that He provide all his needs with the kind of good that is plainly and recognizably good. Nevertheless, even if (G-d forbid) his prayer was not effective, he knows that “this matter has come from G-d,” and, without a doubt, “whatever the Merciful One does, He does for the good.” Moreover, “This, too, is for the good,” even though it is not the kind of good that can be discerned by fleshly eyes.
Related Study: (Part 1)
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“In God We Trust:” The U.S. National Motto and the Contested Concept of Civil Religion by Michael Lienesch
1. Introduction
2. Conceptualizing Civil Religion
3. Creating the Motto
4. Secularizing the Motto
5. Institutionalizing the Motto
Lienesch, M. “In God We Trust:” The U.S. National Motto and the Contested Concept of Civil Religion. Religions 2019, 10, 340. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10050340