{"id":98365,"date":"2022-11-20T00:49:35","date_gmt":"2022-11-19T22:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/?p=98365"},"modified":"2022-11-20T00:49:35","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T22:49:35","slug":"conditioned-to-love-hashem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/conditioned-to-love-hashem\/","title":{"rendered":"Conditioned to Love Hashem"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Conditioned to Love Hashem<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A woman from France had an only child, whom she raised with excessive love. But she did not merit having more children, as she had wanted. In her sorrow, she turned to me for a blessing, which I offered wholeheartedly.<\/p>\n<p>Some time passed with no signs of another child. She came to me once again. And again. And again. Each time, she begged me to pray that she have another child.<\/p>\n<p>After praying for many years, but not seeing any fruit in her labor, this woman decided to move to Eretz Yisrael. She hoped that this move would arouse Heavenly mercy upon her, and she would finally merit her heart\u2019s desire.<\/p>\n<p>But also there her prayers went unanswered. She remained in the Holy Land, but she remained without another child.<\/p>\n<p>With the change of the seasons, there was a change in her thoughts. Despair crept into her heart, where hope had once reigned. With a sense of defeat, she decided to return to France.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy does Hashem do this to me?\u201d she asked. \u201cDoesn\u2019t He see my great efforts to have another child?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy speaking like that,\u201d I replied, \u201cyou are demonstrating that your love of Hashem is conditional. You love Him only if He will grant you another child. A Jew must love Hashem under all circumstances, no strings attached.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA Jew may never approach Hashem and, <em>chas v\u2019shalom<\/em>, say: \u2018I will do Your will only if You do what I ask.\u2019 Hashem is sustaining us every moment of our lives. We are not even aware of the tremendous kindnesses He does with us, every second. If not for His concern, we would not survive for an instant. Therefore, we must love Him unconditionally, in all situations, and despite all hardships.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cAfter you feel love toward Hashem in spite of your suffering, you will reach the next rung in the ladder of Ahavat Hashem. That is, loving Hashem due to your suffering. Tremendous reward awaits you on High for all the challenges you face in this world. Withstanding your tests will be the advocate which will stand by you in the World to Come.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Conditioned to Love Hashem A woman from France had an only child, whom she raised with excessive love. But she did not merit having more children, as she had wanted. In her sorrow, she turned to me for a blessing, which I offered wholeheartedly. Some time passed with no signs of another child. She came [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1067],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-children"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}