“We Want to Succeed Fast and Immediately”: That Is Our Great Affliction

Video: The remarks of the Admor Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto / Photo: PR

At the center of the series of classes that Admor Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto has been giving across the country over the past week, one point stood out and returned again and again, almost like a refrain, the human tendency to look for shortcuts. The rabbi described it as “the disease of the generation,” and said the desire to see immediate results is not only a mistaken way of thinking, but a real injury to the human soul.

At the opening of the lesson, Rabbi Pinto stressed, “Do not look short term, one of the bad afflictions in this world and in this generation is that they want to see everything short and fast.” He elaborated that in our generation, a person is often judged by speed, immediacy, and the feeling of satisfaction that comes without delay. “If it is not short and fast, it is not good,” he defined as the common mindset.

According to him, this habit also seeps into spiritual matters and into the way a person views his life. He noted that the human concept of time is completely different from the divine one. “With the Holy One, blessed be He, there is no clock, there is no time,” he said, and recalled the story of Jacob our forefather. “Jacob our forefather suffers for 63 years, great suffering, and in the end what happened, everything collapsed for Esau, Esau got nothing and Jacob our forefather got everything.”

Rabbi Pinto used this example to clarify that not everything that appears to be a failure or a delay is truly such. There are processes that a person cannot decipher in real time. He emphasized that the time of the Holy One, blessed be He, is not the same as the time a person wants for himself. “Even if you see that you are not succeeding, and things are not working out the way you want, wait.” According to him, this waiting is not passivity, but steadiness. “Every person has his hour, everyone has his own time.”

At this point, Rabbi Pinto turned to one of the questions that occupies every believer, the success of the wicked. “Even if you see that the wicked prosper, you see that the wicked succeed and the wicked are well off,” he said. He described the difficult feeling of a person who walks in integrity and sees before him people who act dishonestly, and it seems that they are the ones flourishing. “And why do the ways of the wicked prosper, and how and what, and I walked uprightly and I did good and the wicked took from me.”

He gave the explanation through a simple statement, remain where the truth is. “Wait, wait, stay in your truth, stay in your faith and you will see how the Holy One, blessed be He, gives you all the things.” The rabbi spoke about an inner movement of the soul that refuses to get confused, that refuses to seek the quick or calculating side of life. According to him, true faith is measured דווקא in the ability to remain steady even when reality does not align with human desire.

During the lesson, Rabbi Pinto said that struggle is not a sign of weakness, but a sign that a person has a destiny. “Sometimes the Holy One, blessed be He, stretches the rope, not in order to break it, but in order to teach a person how much strength he has.” He emphasized that delays, difficulties and complications that appear throughout life are not a sign that a person is unworthy, but often are themselves part of divine precision, “a balance between our time and His time.” He said, “A person wants to see everything now. But his soul knows that sometimes time is needed. A person’s soul understands things that the heart is not always ready to understand.”

Later in the lesson, the rabbi repeated that “truth is not something that shouts. Truth stands quietly, waiting. Falsehood is what runs fast, shouts, makes noise, but truth stands, and in the end it is the one that wins.” He added that true fear of Heaven is not measured in moments when everything is going well, but דווקא in places where a person feels confusion or disappointment. “The time of the Holy One, blessed be He, is not always your time, but in the end you will see that everything was for the good. Sometimes you will see it after a day, sometimes after a month, sometimes after years, but you will see.”

As the lesson drew to a close, Rabbi Pinto said that a person who remains faithful to his values even in periods of confusion is a person who merits seeing the hand of God in his life. “Stay in a place of truth, and in the end you will receive everything. The Holy One, blessed be He, gives each person what he deserves at the precise time.” He concluded, “Faith is not only saying that I believe, faith is knowing how to wait. Knowing how to hold on, knowing how to stand under pressure, and knowing that the Holy One, blessed be He, has not forgotten you. If you build your life on truth and patience, you will see your salvation standing before you.”

Tomorrow, Thursday, the traditional lesson, which has been held for more than 30 years, will take place this week under the leadership of Admor Rabbi Pinto, alongside his son and successor Rabbi Yoel Pinto and his son Rabbi Meir Eliyahu Pinto. The lesson will begin at 9:00 p.m. at the Shuva Israel study hall in the city of Ashdod.