It's interesting to watch the current government. Both those that are in power and those that are in opposition.
You have Netanyahu who seems to be surrounded by corruption and political intrigue. You have Gallant who was supposed to be working FOR Netanyahu, yet always going against him. This same Gallant who warned that the protests against the Judicial Reform were giving our enemies motivation to attack us, is the same Gallant who has been encouraging people to protest against the government for the hostages, and somehow not giving motivation to our enemies. You have another former official publicly charging the government of "ethnic cleansing," because he doesn't like Netanyahu, and you have Gallant, who also doesn't like Netanyahu, going after him for making such charges. On the right, you have Ben Gvir who has no problem yapping everything that comes to his mind, making Israel look like maniacs in the public eye and causing damage to the county. On the left, you have Lapid attacking Netanyahu saying that he has no problem letting all the hostages die for his own political gain, or destroying the freedom of press because the government is cutting ties with Haaretz, which also is making the country look bad. The religious parties are not doing a great job of explaining why those in yeshiva should be exempt from the draft. And the anti-religious parties are busy attacking the religious so the focus should never go on the vast amounts of secular draft-dodgers. And then the newspapers, bless them, are busy writing who-knows-what to continue to stir up trouble.
In the end, those from the borders, both north and south, are suffering in many ways, soldiers, both wounded and healthy, and their families, are suffering in ways we cannot imagine, while the government does nothing to help them. The government won't say what it would like to do regarding Gaza, signed a ceasefire which could break down any second now in the north, have been bowing to pressure from the Biden administration for the past year …
All in all, there is approximately zero trust in any form of government. Both the right and the left are too busy politicking, trying to cut off each others' heads, than actually bringing the nation together.
I guess this is Hashem's way of telling us: Don't trust in man. I'm in charge.
"Yaakov worked for Rachel for seven years and they seemed to him like just a few days in his love of her" (Bereishis 29: 20).
I remember as a child that Halloween was one of the best "holidays" we had. For a week or two, the schools would be decorated, the nights were getting long, we lived in the suburbs that had big trees to make things extra scary at night. And going around with friends on the night of October 31st, with everybody dressed up. It was fun!
Yet, the hardest days were those ten days or so before hand. Everything was in place, schools and houses were decorated. Television specials played with a Halloween theme. The only thing you had to do was … wait. And boy, was that tough 😊
Yet, here we have Yaakov, working for Rochel to be his wife, working for seven-years(!), and to him, "they seemed like just a few days."
So, what's the difference between Yaakov working for Rochel and me waiting for Halloween.
Okay, besides all the obvious differences….
Why did seven years seem to go by so swiftly for Yaakov, yet, when we wait for things, they seem to take way too long?
Rav Kotler answers the question for us.
If a person who is in need of money is told that in 30 days, he will receive a million dollars, each of those 30 days is going to seem way too long for him. Why? Because each day is merely a barrier which is standing between him and his money. He needs to simply pass through time, and that time seems to be very long.
However, if he is told that for each of the 30 days, if he works eight hours a day, a fraction of that amount will be put into an account and at the end, he will receive it all, well, that's something different. Time will go much quicker for him. Instead of each day being a barrier, each day is now an opportunity to build his fortune.
We all have weeks that go quickly and weeks that go slowly. I'm sure if you looked into it, those that went quickly, went quickly, because you were busy doing things that were constructive in some way (fun or not, is not in the equation). And those that went slowly, went slowly because you were doing things that were not so constructive (like dealing with government bureaucracy, for example).
Hence, we see the importance of using each day in a constructive way as much as possible. When wasted, the days are long and will lead to depression. When used properly, we can look back and say, "look what I accomplished."