Nishmas Day 38 - Rabbi Daniel Glatstien | Statistically Impossible
עַד הֵנָּה עֲזָרוּנוּ רַחֲמֶיךָ, וְלֹא עֲזָבוּנוּ חֲסָדֶיךָ, וְאַל תִּטְּשֵׁנוּ ה׳ אֱלֹקֵינוּ לָנֶצַח.
“Until this point, Your mercy has helped us, and Your kindness has never forsaken us.”
If you pause for a moment and think about the continued existence of the Jewish people, it’s absolutely mindblowing.
After everything we’ve endured — the destruction of the First and Second Batei Mikdash,
the Crusades, the Inquisition, the pogroms, the Holocaust — for a Jew to still be here today is not just unlikely.
It’s not even highly improbable.
It’s nothing short of impossible.
And yet, we are still here.
People sometimes say, “If G-d would show me a miracle, then I would believe.”
But what greater miracle is there than our nation's survival?
R’ Yaakov Emden, writing in the 18th century, said that when he reflected on the endurance of the Jewish people, it was, in his words:
גָּדְלָה אֶצְלִי יוֹתֵר מִכָּל הַנִּסִּים שֶׁעָשָׂה הַקָּבָּ״ה בְּמִצְרַיִם — greater to me than all the miracles Hashem performed in Mitzrayim.
And that was then. What would he say if he saw the continuity of the Jewish people today?
We’ve been through it all, and yet, we are still here, still holding on strong.
עַד הֵנָּה עֲזָרוּנוּ רַחֲמֶיךָ — Until now, Your mercy has carried us.
וְלֹא עֲזָבוּנוּ חֲסָדֶיךָ – Your kindness has never left us, even at the darkest points in our history.
And because of that, we can say with trust:
וְאַל תִּטְּשֵׁנוּ ה׳ אֱלֹקֵינוּ לָנֶצַח.
Hashem, You will not abandon us ever.
