Kasheh Zeh Tov!

A personal note.

When I was looking for a wife, I went out with two girls once each. I didn't like it - so I quit. [A pattern I developed in childhood...]

I decided that in a few years [when I would be 25] I would try again. In the meantime I'd marry my Gemara.

Romantic.

Anyway, about a year later I went out with a girl only because I felt guilty saying no to a Rebbe of mine who suggested it. Saying no has never been a strong point of mine. Plus, I wanted to go to the zoo and I wouldn't go alone. Well, as the Good Lord would have it - we got married. [Maybe because compared to the other creatures in the zoo, I seemed like a desirable partner.] Engaged after less than a month, married soon after. Smooth sailing all along.

But I really missed out on something. Anticipation. Disappointment after disappointment. When it happened it was "cool" but not the same as it would have been had I suffered for it more. Of course it was the will of Hashem that it happened this way but what is easy isn't always what is better. Since then, BARUCH HASHEM I have had the opportunity to go through some very challenging times . They have made me more sensitive, understanding and spiritual.

THAT is what life is about. The motto in my home that I learned from a friend who didn't move a limb for the last 42 years of his life [after being shot] is: KASHEH, ZEH TOV! - Difficult is good.

The Rebbe Shlita related that a holocaust survivor told him that people might think he is crazy, but there is something he misses about the concentration camp. One day he found a half of a page of gemara. He learned that page with such a bren, with such pining, with such desire, that he has never been able to replicate that blissful pleasure. What you achieve when you overcome adversity is truly priceless.

Keep my words in mind sweetest friends - no matter where you are in life.