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“The stone which the builders initially scorned turned out to be the corner stone.” (Tehillim)

This was Dovid HaMelech.

At first he was overlooked because he was so small and perceived to be weak and insignificant. Later he was able to demonstrate who and what he really was.

Even the poor are not exempted from the mitzvah of giving tzedukah. So how much more so is a person obligated to give spiritual charity through encouragement and often by simply being and trying. (Rambam, Laws of Gifts to the Poor 7:5)

Torah law declares that every Jew can help someone else in some way.

You can try to exempt yourself by simply declaring that you don’t have enough strength to do so, however this is simply the Yetzer Hora (the Evil Inclination) seducing you.

If you have a baby and you are trying to find a way out of accepting the responsibility of caring for that baby by searching around for a way out then you are actively exempting yourself from your obligation to properly provide for this gift. This is you taking an active role in rejecting a gift given to you by Hashem.

Moshe Rabbeinu spoke with a speech impediment and Yaakov Avinu walked with a limp and Yitzchak Avinu was blind and yet they each still had something to offer Klal Yisroel.

We are taught of the many challenges and hardships of the Yidden in Mitzrayim. We learn how they met those challenges by hard work, and by maintaining their own unique way of dress and retaining the language of their people.

These are not tales of yore to be read once a year in the comfort of our air conditioned homes completely detached from the pain and suffering experienced by our brethren. Yet that is how it actually works until we are challenged as an individual and then we come to the realization of the totality of our true attachment to the community at large current and past.

We will then rely upon the community whether we accept or reject this newborn. Our search for comfort in the rabbinical, medical, and social work fabric will afford us many choices.

Running always sounds so comforting. Yet running does not diminish the pain or doubts and will not provide the opportunity for this child to grow up at home with a mommy and a daddy and siblings all their own.

“More than the calf wishes to suck does the cow wish to suckle.” (Pesachim 112b)

You have no feeling for this responsibility? It does not matter, so long as the mission is accomplished and accomplished properly.

“…for they have turned their back to Me, and not their face.” (Yermiyahu 2:27)

This means that one should never turn to Hashem with their back and not their face. One may turn with his back while the face is at least not turned elsewhere. The worst condition of this is when the “face” is involved in an opposite movement.

Everyone has value and if Hashem in His infinite wisdom chose to give you this gift trying to back out is simply not the answer. Your entire purpose for existence could be merely to accept this child and rear this child and not back out.

The easy path is not always the answer. Your dreams of a simple, easy, and comfortable life may not be fulfilled in this lifetime yet your expectations not being completed does not provide enough rationale to give up.

This child will grow to give tzedukah in some way. This child will however simultaneously be at the mercy of whomever you have chosen. Yet you will know every waking hour that you do not have any input into the life force of this perfect little neshamah.

Simply put our obligations are to approach the Holy One, Blessed be He, in sincere supplication that He grant us the strength to overpower our Yetzer Hora. We daven (pray) each day that we will be granted the strength to overcome the evil inclination who interferes with our acceptance of our own child and that when we are faced with a challenge that we will not listen to the other side but rather have the strength, courage, and conviction to succeed.

When we offer sincere prayers soliciting help from Hashem to guide us we will be answered as long as we stay the course. The truth will be revealed and our connection to G-d will be strengthened by facing the challenge and not backing away from the problem or Hashem.

May Hakadosh BaruchHu grant us to choose truth, to realize the simcha of helping another, and to have the ability to give tzedukah and may we all see the ultimate and true light immediately.