#Beshalach #תשפב

I walked into Shiur one morning this week, to be greeted by a question, or rather, a statement from one of the guys: “Rebbe, I really don't wanna learn today, Hashem hates me.”

We certainly can't begin learning with that in the air, so I followed up. “What makes you feel that way?” He continued to explain: “Nothing seems to be going great for me in my life.”

I this point, I am trying to be cognizant that there are two distinct possibilities here. This could either be a revelation that something truly horrible is happening, or that I'm talking to an honest, if disaffected and lethargic teen.

Thankfully, it turned out to be the latter, as he continued to explain: “Nothing bad is happening, just nothing great. It feels like Hashem hates me.” A number of other students joined in to express similar sentiments.

But the jump in logic seemed unjustified. Life is normal, boring, unspectacular. COVID is annoying, Yeshiva break is so close; and yet so far. But why does that mean Hashem hates you?