My Rosh HaYeshiva, Rav Noach Weinberg, zt”l, discussed this in a series of talks he gave during Elul

Here we are, in the beginning of the month of Elul. The letters are Alef Lamed Vav Lamed. In Hebrew it’s Elul. And for the Jewish people, in Jewish consciousness, the name of the month states its opportunity. In Judaism, we say the Almighty is our Father in heaven. Whatever He gave us is instructions for living, opportunities for the major breakthroughs that we’re all looking for. Alef Lamed Vav Lamed, which corresponds to Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li — I am for my Beloved and my Beloved is for me. That’s what Elul is about — the time for courtship. An opportunity for the achievement of our ultimate longing.

And in Jewish consciousness, the first of Elul was a time for preparing to meet our beloved. At the same time, the first day of Elul, we blow the shofar. You heard the shofar? It strikes a stab of pain, of fear. It’s a warning cry. Fire! Danger! King, judgment, who will live and who will die? That’s what the shofar is about. That’s what it calls in us. And the Rabbis tell us, it’s to wake us up — “Uru yesheinim mishenatchem — Sleepers, wake up. “Nirdamim — you who are drowsy, hakitzu mitardematchem.” Drowsy people, straighten out.

A time of courtship, of pleasure. And wake up, sharp, alarm. Is it a contradiction or is it the same?

Even an atheist will admit that if I can come close to an Almighty, if He was there, and I can be with Him, that would be It. That’s all I would want out of life.

And perhaps we remember the last Yom Kippur and how we felt on Yom Kippur, and how close we were to our Father. And perhaps on Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Awe, maybe we felt it. You remember? Of course you would remember.

But the problem is that we were asleep the rest of the year. Is that right? So, the shofar says, alarm. Alarm. And you went back to sleep. How’d you go back to sleep? You took so much trouble. You got so far. You made such resolutions. You saw so clearly where you were off. You struggled to change. You knew where you were going. You knew what you accomplished. And now what happened?

So, the Mesillat Yesharim tells us in the beginning of his book, he says, look my friends, I didn’t come to teach you anything new. I didn’t come to teach human beings anything that they don’t already know, only to remind them of what they know and is absolutely mefursam, widespread knowledge. But inasmuch as it is true, we forget it. Because our nature is to forget. The nature of a human being is to forget, and we know it so well. We can see something so clearly, 100% that it’s true.

Mind-boggling. This is our nature, yeah. We were there — Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur. We knew once, and we forgot. Does that chill your bones?

I mean, are we going to climb this hill and keep doing this, like that myth, you know, the guy who rolls the ball up and it comes down, and then he rolls it up again? Is that what it’s about?

No, thank God, we have changed. You know you have changed. We’ve become aware of things. But is this what it has to be? You roll up, you get up to the King and the Father and you fly, you reach there and then, zing, it’s gone?

Is that what we are doomed to do? To constantly climb this hill and fall down to the bottom and start all over again? Maybe on a higher level? Maybe with a better appreciation. What’s going on?

So, the Rabbis say that the Almighty, Creator of this universe, doesn’t want you to go up and down the hill.

The Rabbis tell us that the Almighty says to all human beings — p’tach li k’petach shel machat — open up to Me, My loved ones. Open up to me just a little bit of a hole, like the eye of a needle, just a little bit of a hole, and I will open up to you like the pitcho shel ulam. I will open up the Beit HaMikdash, the widest door of all. Hey, that’s not so bad. Just a little bit of an opening — a little bit, right?

But the Baalei Mussar and the Chasidim say, you know, an eye of a needle means it’s got to be a hole, straight through. It’s a little hole, but it’s got to be a hole. It’s not a dent of the needle. But if you make a through and through hole, like the eye of a needle, the Almighty says, I’ll do the rest.

Now, what do we do about it? How do we make a hole of a needle for the Almighty? I mean, He doesn’t want you to bring Him a needle, right? Where do you make the hole? In the nose, in the head, in the heart, how do you do it? So, I’ll tell you how you do it. I’ll tell you very simple, very simple how you do it.

You see, focus your attention that even an atheist will say, if God can create this universe with all the stars and with all the beauty and the genius, if God Almighty would talk to any human being and give us instructions for living, and I would hear those instructions, we could not possibly fail.

The atheist says, if the Almighty gives you instructions how to put a world together, even an imbecile will be able to put the world together, right? If the Almighty tells you how to have pleasure, wow!

And there are quite a few of our young people who have been here for a while, who believe that God spoke to man. And we read His instructions every day? And I don’t see any supermen around here! What’s going wrong?

So, I would suggest that it is very obvious, that somehow, we are closing ourselves off with a curtain.

So, p’tach li k’petach shel machat. The Almighty says, open up like a little eye of a needle, just a little bit. One thing that I said that you know is true, consider it 100% true. That’s all. One thing.

G-d loves you. Is that true? We Jews believe that. Our Father. “Ahavah rabah ahavtanu — with a great love You have loved us.” If you believe in Torah, that’s the basic message of Torah. Our Father. He loves us more than your parents love you. G-d loves you. Do you believe it? Do you accept it?

Hear it. Open that opening, just a wee little bit. G-d loves you. He loves you. Just leave it open. What do you say? Is it true, 100% clear to the other end? Did you hear?

That’s the whole basic message of Judaism, the Torah, everything you’re learning. He loves you.

Ah, come on, let me sleep. The shofar — ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo. Courtship time. God loves you. Hear him. He loves you. Can you open it up? Can you let it through? Just that one little thing?

It’s not so easy? To open up the eye of a needle? Well, I suggest, you see, that Rosh Hashanah is coming. The day of judgment. Who will live and who will die? Who will be paralyzed? And who will be rich? Who will be poor? Who by fire? It’s coming.

You’re going to come to the Day of Judgment. Are you going to be able to tell the Almighty, “I know You love me”? When you come after you die, and you stand in front of God, are you going to be able to say, “I knew that You loved me”? “I heard it.” Or are you going to tell the Almighty, “Well, I couldn’t focus, I was learning Your Torah, I wanted to do the right thing. I really believed in You, but somehow, I heard that You need my sacrifices. Or somebody told me that You wanted my praise, and I — I didn’t feel up to it.” Is that what you’re going to tell the Almighty?

Wake up. You’ve got to break through. For yourself, for all of us, for humanity, for the meaning of our existence. We’ve got to be real. We can’t go on sleeping. Wake up. Whatever it’ll be, God loves you.

God loves you. Do you agree with that? Get it through to the other end. So, at least when you come upstairs, you can say, “One thing I heard. And I saw that God opened up the doors of the Temple,” because He will.

We are now one week closer to the Day of Judgment. We spoke about fear being necessary to make you real. It’s not the reason we do things. We want to be real. But when we look at the consequences, when we see the consequences, that you wasted, and you made a mistake, it’s forever.

Ani l’dodi v’dodi li. Whatever we prepare, we’ll have. If we get closer to the Almighty, then the Almighty will be with us. That’s what it means. Ani l’dodi, if I am for my Beloved, my Beloved is with me. The Almighty is always ready. He’s always ready for you. The Almighty loves you.

But unless you’re willing to come to Him, you will never see it. People can live a whole life with the Almighty loving them and still have nothing. A whole life. Meaningless, nothing.

So, we said, p’tach li k’petach shel machat. Be real. Does the Almighty love you? That’s why you’re here! Is that what He gave us in the Torah? Are we doing God a favor? Come. He created us for pleasure.

So, when you’re davening, who are you serving? Who are you helping? If you are close to the Almighty, it’s your pleasure. Putting on tefillin — it’s your pleasure. You love your fellow man — it’s your pleasure. You’re happy — it’s your pleasure.

But if you don’t know it, then fear, the blowing of the shofar, that will get you there. That makes you real. The consequences.

If you don’t live in reality, you’ve wasted a life. If you wasted a year, you’ve wasted forever. A year is a piece of life. Have we used it?

But at the same time, we know that fear makes us real.

But we can forget like this. You walk out the door, even if you heard me. You agree with me. You made a decision it’s true.

You should hear. If you mean that the Almighty loves you, if you know that there is no way you’re doing God a favor, all that He did was to have a beautiful world created for your pleasure, and all He wants from you and all your obligation is to have that pleasure.

You heard it, made a decision, and you walk out the door and we turn into zombies. We forget about it. We forget that it’s real. Somehow, we’re back, square one. If our society was there, we’d all be there. But we’re battling that insanity. Nobody’s there. How can it be true? You know it’s true. You made the decision.

So, the Almighty gave us 40 days until Yom Kippur. These 40 days are an eis ratzon (time of favor). It’s a time of teshuva. That’s what it’s for. Teshuva.

Why teshuva? There’s no other way. You have to come home. What’s teshuva? Remember, not repent. Don’t go into that insanity. Teshuva is coming home. Your father loves you. Where are you, my son? Your bed is ready. The meal is prepared. Come home.

Ani l’dodi v’dodi li. All that you have to know is that you love Me. Come home. Then you will know that I love you. Teshuva means to return. Return to what?

The Almighty, a powerful creator Who created a world for our pleasure, Who gave us instructions to teach us how to have pleasure, how to have self-respect, how to be tough, how to change the world, which is all your pleasure. How to understand what the world is about, which is your pleasure.

So, what are you going to do tomorrow morning? Are you going to say, there I go, I have to daven again, I have to get up again? I have to have pleasure again?

That’s what it’ll be. Tomorrow morning, you’re going to have the same struggle. Tomorrow afternoon, the same struggle. You’ll open up a Gemara, the same struggle. There you are again, fighting for the Almighty Lord. He needs your fight? Bringing him sacrifices. He needs your sacrifice? Crazy.

Is there any way out? Teshuva. Come home. Once you’re home, you’re home. You know who your Father is. You know that He loves you. You know that you love him. So, how do we do teshuva? We know how. But you’ve got to remember to do it.

Regret the insanity, the loss. Why in the world should you have spent the year struggling? How crazy can you be? A year struggling when it could have been a year of pleasure.

A year struggling to serve God, to help Him, to do His will, to support Him, to bring Him ice cubes. A year struggling for the Almighty. Does He appreciate it?

He gave you a beautiful world. He gave you eyes for your pleasure. That’s all that you can do for Him. Regret the insanity, the waste. The aggravation over nothing. The insanity, the waste. And be ashamed of the stupidity. How stupid can you get? The only reason you’re here is because you heard it. Because you know it’s true.

How stupid can you get? Buy the Brooklyn Bridge. Fine. Okay. Bought the Brooklyn Bridge. 365 days a year, you’re going to buy the Brooklyn Bridge? So, 365 days of the year you should say again, yes, the Almighty loves me. This is a world He created for my pleasure. That’s right. Yeah, I know that.

Oh, is this a pain in the neck. What’s with me? So, where the heck is the root of this insanity? For goodness sake, I know it’s true. I want the pleasure. I know that’s what He wants me to have. I know I’ve got to accomplish it. I know it makes sense, but somehow there’s something in me that keeps knocking me off.

First of all, just say it out loud in front of the Almighty, Chatati, aviti, poshati. Say it out loud, knowing I have made a mistake. Boshti v’nichlamti b’maasai. I am ashamed and I regret what I have done. That I don’t really live with the Almighty loving me. I don’t really focus on having the pleasure. It’s crazy. I’m ashamed. Then be ashamed. It will help.

But the Chovot HaLevavot says that in order to really say it and mean it, you have to know what the bribe is. Why is it that you bought the Brooklyn Bridge again and again and again? What is your bribe? What is your desire? Track it down. What’s making you blind? What do you imagine that you’re getting by saying, no. He loves us, but… But what? What is it that you’re getting out of this insanity, again and again and again? He doesn’t need your ritual, He doesn’t need you to read His book, He doesn’t need you to go through the Talmud. He doesn’t need you to suffer to give you all the beauties of existence. He doesn’t need it.

What is it that we’re always telling ourselves that constantly brings us back to square one where we’re suffering, instead of focusing on how to have the pleasure? What are you buying? You’re helping God? Isn’t that the way we like to think? God needs our help. We’ve got to do it all ourselves. I am the struggling servant. I am the servant of this unreasonable God. Is that what you get? That I don’t really need God, God needs me!

Is that it? Then I am God. Gaiva (arrogance). That’s what you’re buying. You don’t really need God. I am self-sufficient. I don’t need anyone else. The Almighty needs me. I can do without God. That’s the painful core of it all. That’s the bribe. That we’re self-sufficient without God.

We don’t need God. Do you see that that’s it? Gaiva. Me. Don’t see it? So let me focus your attention, my friends. If you thought, if you had the illusion that you were doing the right thing, if you were one of the Viet Cong, then you would be fighting and you’d be dying and you’d be the cause. It’s an illusion. But you’d be thrilled. We’re on the march. We’re fighting for truth, for justice, for God. Because then you don’t believe in God, so you can do it all for God. Is that true? You know that if you had the cause, any old cause — ban the nuclear bomb, any old cause — if it hit you, you’d be fighting and you’d be excited and you would never think of the sacrifices. Is that right? Because then you would take the real cause out of the picture and you would be the cause. Do you see that that’s the bribe?

If you got it, do teshuva on that. So stupid to waste your life, to buy that again and again. Again and again, you’re going to buy that nonsense that you’re God? That you don’t need Him? That you don’t need meaning? That you are meaning sufficient unto yourself? That somehow your success is sufficient? That God needs you? Because we believe in God, we can’t do away with him. So, God needs you? So now you are the center of it all? Be ashamed. Regret it and realize that what you’re getting is insanity, is quitting, is death. Is the opposite of reality, of existence.

We have the cause! And here we are, slogging all on our own. What is the cause? The cause is you’ve got to have pleasure. Huh? Is that something to fight for? Is that something that we should really bleed for? To have pleasure, the ultimate pleasure, the transcendental pleasure? And what are they fighting for? What are they bleeding for? The illusion of having the pleasure.

When we have the reality, there are no illusions anymore. Just the reality of the ultimate pleasure. Can we enjoy it? Ani l’dodi v’dodi li. That’s all that there is to enjoy. Get rid of your illusions. You’re going to waste your life.

In Judaism, we say that the Almighty is our Father in heaven. If He gave us commandments, He’s giving us instructions for living. He wants us to have pleasure. If He gave us holidays, He gave us opportunities for living. He created the seasons. There’s a season. And Elul is a season. It’s a time to hear Ani l’dodi v’dodi li. It’s a time that you can hear that if I am for my Lover, my Lover is for me. It’s a time that you can realize your ultimate longing. If you know that you love God, you know God loves you. If you think that God is your enemy, then you feel Him to be your enemy.

This is what you have to accomplish. That’s what teshuva is about. Teshuva is return; it’s not repent. It’s not that you’re guilty and you’re evil. It’s to know what you really want, what you were created for, who you are. You’re longing for the transcendent. Elul is a time for us to know that He loves us.

We who believe in God, who see the creation, who see the beauties of our hands and our feet and the very life-giving force that He has made — why can’t we accept that the Almighty loves us? For goodness sake, accept it! He loves us. He loves us. We want to hear it. It’s a pleasure. Why can’t we live with it? Why do we forget it? And I told you that the Chovot HaLevavot says that you have to see the bribe. There is something that’s making us blind. The Torah says, ha’shochad ye’aver einei chachamim — when you have a bribe, even the wisest of men becomes blind. He can’t see. You’re bribed, you got something, you’ll buy it. You’re bribed by your society, you’re bribed by some flattery, you’re bribed, you’ve got something, you get a payoff. You can’t be objective anymore. Why do we have to suffer every moment that we’re trying to do the will of God? He loves us. Let’s accept it. And we explained last week, the bribe is gaiva. I am God. If I have to accept that all my work is to know that He loves me, just to hear that, then what do I have to do? If all that there is, is pleasure, then who am I? What am I accomplishing?

Okay, so what can we do about it? How do we change? Do teshuva. We, who know that there is a Creator of this universe Who made your hands, Who gave you eyes, Whose power is unlimited, Who has carried you all of the time that you denied Him and brought you as far as He has brought you, with loving kindness and patience — we who know this, we who have accepted it, we who live with it, we who will try to fulfill His will, there’s one thing that He asks of you: realize you’re not doing Me any favors. Realize what you knew before you came here. God doesn’t need your sacrifices. He doesn’t need your good deeds. He doesn’t need your ritual. He came to give. He came to give you life. He came to give you pleasure. He came to teach you how to make it. Just that one thing.

You’ve done so much, you’ve gone so far with the help of the Almighty. You’ve left so much nonsense behind you, one more thing. Realize what you knew before you even started. God doesn’t need any sacrifice. God doesn’t need us to do His will. He doesn’t need us to keep kosher. Isn’t that what you knew before you started? You remember that? Even an atheist knows that. If there is a God, he doesn’t need your reassurance. He doesn’t need you to fulfill His commandments. Well, then what is it about? Instructions for living, for pleasure. And one thing it’s certainly about is Ani l’dodi v’dodi li.

All that I want is meaning, is pleasure, is love, is beauty. That’s all that you can do for the Almighty. Know that He’s helping you. Know that that’s what the mitzvot are about. You knew it before you came.

Come home to the Almighty. Ani l’dodi v’dodi li. I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me. The Almighty loves us. Ahavah rabbah ahavtanu. A great love have You loved us. We say it every day before we say the Shema. Before we accept ol malchut shamayim, the kingdom of the Almighty, the oneness of God, we have to remind ourselves — the Almighty loves us. He created man, He loves man, we are His children. The greatest pleasure of human beings are their children. The Almighty loves us.

I am for my Beloved, my Beloved is for me. He’s always for you. But unless you know that you love Him, you do not know that He loves you. If I am for my beloved, then I understand the Almighty loves me. If you love Him, you know that He loves you. The Day of Judgment is coming. They’re going to ask you on the Day of Judgment, how did you do? Were you having pleasure? Did you know He loves you? Or were you suffering for Him? Were you sticking it out? Were you struggling with your obligations? Trying to remember what you have to do? Trying to change, what a pain in the neck. Is that what you were doing? Or were you having pleasure? Did you know that the Almighty loves you? Did it get through to you?

On Rosh Hashanah, the day of judgment, it’s an opportunity for Melech, for the majesty of God. The day of awe, the shofar blows. We’re asking for judgment. We know His power, His might. He is King, majesty. Don’t be a Westerner. The majesty doesn’t mean that He needs His servants. He doesn’t need you to bring Him His coffee. He doesn’t need you to praise Him so that He feels great. It’s a Jewish king. Look up Hilchos Melachim. Look up the Jewish concept of king. He is our servant. The King, Almighty God, the King — He serves us. Nothing you can do for Him. Nothing that you can do for Him. Nothing. He doesn’t need you to protect Him. He protects you. He doesn’t need you to feed HHim. He feeds you. Then what is His majesty? What is the service we have to do for God?

We have to build these buildings. We have to make these streets. We have to, so that what? That you can enjoy living in them. That’s the work you’re doing for God. He’ll help you. But you have to build your home. The work of majesty, of the King, for the Jewish people is hakaras hatov. Recognize your debt of gratitude. Recognize how much pleasure you have. Recognize that fulfilling an obligation, doing the right thing, trying to understand the instructions is for your benefit. Thank you, God. What a pleasure. You’re building a home to live in. The highest mark of ingratitude is when a mighty king gives you a present for your pleasure because he loves you. He gives you a Rubik’s Cube for your pleasure. Gold-plated. And you say, “Darn it, now I’ve got to work at this.”

He gave it for your pleasure! This world is your pleasure! How ungrateful can you be? You’re going to come to the Almighty and say, “How hard I worked for you…”? It’s your pleasure! Oh, that’s such a tough job you’ve got to undertake to do… There’s no end to His demands… You’ve got to have pleasure! Wow. What an unfair Almighty… How are we going to break through this?

So, special for today, the surest instrument and the easiest to do. The surest and easiest way to finally understand the Almighty is: King — that He serves us, that He’s our father, and that His pleasure is that we have pleasure. The Mishnah in Pirkei Avot says, “Al shlosha devarim olam omed — the world stands on three things. Al haTorah, ve’al ha’avodah, ve’al gemilut chassadim.” The world cannot exist without some instructions for living, the world cannot exist without a relationship to the Almighty, and on the concept of helping your fellow man, of kindness, of giving people pleasure.

The world cannot stand without you giving people pleasure. Do you understand that [through giving people pleasure, you will end up being] like G-d? Make it your business. Give your friends pleasure. Give them a compliment, help them out. Do them a favor. You will then be like God. God has pleasure in giving you pleasure. Learn that it’s your pleasure. If you do it, then you know what will happen? You’ll understand Ani l’dodi v’dodi li. You’ll understand. You’ll understand that the Almighty loves you. You’ll understand that yeah, the Almighty created me to give me pleasure. It is pleasurable to give human beings pleasure. It will dawn on you.

Get out of yourself, understand that your pleasure is to give another human being pleasure, and you’ll appreciate that everything that the Almighty gave us is for our pleasure. That’s the whole point of existence. The pleasure of giving other people pleasure.

Now, if you’re smart, and you heard what I said, and you heard what the Almighty said, undertake it with pleasure. To have the pleasure of giving a beautiful human being some pleasure. And then you will understand that we have a Father, a King, Who loves us, Who created a world just for you. Just for what? For your pleasure. And we’ll be zocheh (we will merit) on Yom HaDin, on the day of judgment, to chaim, to real awareness, rather than being a bunch of zombies walking through the paces. We’ll have the pleasure of understanding what our purpose in creation is and who our mighty Father, the King is.

Why do we often have a difficult time appreciating that Hashem loves us?

After the Medrash (Tanchuma, Yitro) tells us not to abandon our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, it then says — “v’im azavtah, ten daatecha (and if one does abandon, place your mind to it).”

The Derech HaMelech (Shekalim 5690) explains:

The Medrash is not giving advice about what to do if one does abandon, chas v’shalom, Hakadosh Baruch Hu Who truly loves Yisrael. It simply says — v’im azavtah, ten daatecha — that if one does abandon, place your mind to it.

This is simple, because how would it even be possible for a Jew to distance [himself] from Hashem? [After all,] Hashem is so close to us and loves us until He calls us achim v’rei’im (brothers and friends). And this is not a new love but rather from ancient days and from the generations, stretching [back] all of the way from Avraham. So why would this person not feel it, and his soul not be burning with this great eternal love for Hashem? [It must be that] he has simply abandoned it…

He has not intentionally distanced himself but simply forgotten and abandoned it.

And even one who has descended so low, chas v’shalom, that he is actually transgressing, the beginning of his fall was also when he began to forget and abandon. The abandonment was in terms of the entire person… Perhaps from the complications of the world, one is mixed up initially, or [even] the permissible desires may confuse him. His thoughts are mixed up and he is scatterbrained, without thinking, then bit by bit he abandons Hashem and distances himself from Him. Until he no longer feels the love and the connection, and he is able to fall into a life of transgression, even willfully, Rachmana litzlan (G-d should save us).

And, therefore, the Medrash says…“al ta’azov (don’t abandon).” V’im azavtah, ten daatecha (and if one does abandon, place your mind to it).

If one merely puts their mind to it, not to forget and not to become scattered and disconnected, and not to be mired in nonsense and emptiness, then it will be impossible for the soul not to feel the love of [Hashem]…

The Medrash says — “ten daatach (place your mind).” Don’t only think with your mind, rather place your mind — an actual placing. A person thinks many thoughts in passing. Here, one needs to place one’s entire mind and invest one’s complete essence in this.

Moshe said to the Jews: (Devarim 1:27)

“And you complained in your tents and said, ‘B’sinat Hashem otanu (Because Hashem hated us) He brought us out of eretz Mitzrayim (the land of Egypt), to give us into the hands of the Emorites to destroy us.’”

Rashi explains, “He [really] loved you, but you hated Him. As the simple mashal (parable) says, ‘What you have in your heart towards your friend, [you imagine] is in his heart towards you.’”

Perhaps the most significant implication of Hashem loving us is our ability to accept difficult and painful yissurim (hardships and challenges) in our lives.

The possuk (Devarim 14:1–2) says, “Banim atem la’Hashem Elokeichem, lo titgod’du, v’lo tasimu karcha bein eineichem l’meit — You are children to G-d your L-rd, don’t cut yourself, and don’t make a bald spot on your head between your eyes for one who died.”

The Ibn Ezra points out a powerful insight on this comparison of Hashem to a parent — Once you know that you are banim La’Hashem (children to G-d), and He loves you more than a parent to a child, therefore al titgod’du (don’t gash yourselves) over anything that happens, because whatever occurs is for the good. [And that is just as true, even] if you don’t understand [what happened]. Just like young children who don’t [always] understand the actions of their parents, but they simply rely on them [even so], you should also do this. After all, you are a holy nation.

The sefer Chachma u’Mussar (1:122) says similarly:

The possuk “Banim atem la’Hashem Elokeichem” is very clear. [Once you are children to G-d your L-rd, then] you should not be [overly] pained by whatever Hashem does; it is certainly for your benefit.

 

This should be l’zechut ul’iluy nishmat Ruchama Rivka, a”h, bat Asher Zevulun 

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