THE ART OF PASSING YOUR TEST
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THE ART OF PASSING YOUR TEST
“Abraham was tested with ten tests, and he stood in them all — to show how beloved Abraham was before G-d.” (Avot 5:3) But why ten? If a person can withstand one test, isn’t that proof that he can overcome them all?
Rav Yerucham Levovitz, the Mashgiach of Mir, explained that this question misunderstands the nature of human struggle. A person can be great in one area , and yet small and broken in another. One man may be calm and never get angry, yet find it almost impossible to give tzeddakah. Another may be generous but prideful; humble but lazy. That is how Hashem created us — each with a unique constellation of strengths and flaws.
The true measure of greatness is not perfection across the board, but how a person confronts his own point of resistance. For that reason, Abraham needed not one test but ten. Every test touches a different layer of self, a different level of resistance to Avraham’s nature. The question is never, “Can I be great?” but rather, “Can I be great here, now — in this area where I am usually weak?”
The Gemara (Menachot 37a) teaches: וְהָיָ֤ה לְאוֹת֙ עַל־יָ֣דְכָ֔ה Upon your hand — this means the Tefillin need to be on the weaker hand, not the right. Why should such a holy mitzvah, tefillin, be placed on the weaker hand? The Zohar (Terumah 152b) and later masters explain, that each person must serve Hashem through the side that needs refinement. To transform weakness into holiness. Serving Hashem means not only using our natural gifts, but also elevating our opposing side — the side that resists, the side that struggles.
“And G-d remembered Abraham and sent Lot out from the midst of the destruction” (Bereishit 19:29).
Rashi explains that G-d remembered that Lot once kept silent in Egypt when Abraham said that Sarah was his sister. Lot could have exposed the truth and gained wealth and power, as Pharoah, who was Nimrod’s son, would have killed Avraham to take Sarah as a wife. Lot, who revealed his nature of greed from how he allowed his sheep to pasture and how he left Avraham to go to Sedom, had a chance then in Egypt to inherit all that would be received as Sarah his sister becoming Pharoah’s queen. But against Lot’s nature of greed, he held his tongue. In that past merit, Lot was saved from Sodom.
But this raises a powerful question. Lot risked his life for guests in Sedom — he even watched his own daughter die a cruel death for giving bread to the poor, yet still continued his acts of kindness. Why was that alone, not something that would stand for his merit?
Here is the full story: In Sedom, it was a crime to show mercy. The people had passed decrees forbidding acts of charity. “Whoever feeds the poor or the stranger, shall be burned in fire.” They prided themselves on their wealth and feared that kindness would attract beggars to their city.
Yet one girl — Lot’s daughter — could not bear to see a starving man collapse in hunger. When she went out to draw water from the well, she would secretly place pieces of bread inside her pitcher. She would then offer the bread to the poor, in secret. The Sodomites began to wonder, “How is it that this beggar is still alive?” They spied on him and discovered her hidden kindness. They seized her and brought her to judgment. They stripped her from her clothing, smeared her body with honey, and set her upon the city wall. And all the bees came upon her and stung her until she died. Her screams rose to the heavens. The cry of this girl ascended before the Throne of Glory, and because of her, G-d said, ‘I will go down and see whether they have done according to the outcry that has come before Me’.
Her death symbolized the ultimate corruption of the city: a society where compassion itself was punished. When the Torah says, “Because the cry of Sedom and Amorrah is great” (Bereishit 18:20), the Midrash explains: “It was the cry of Lot’s daughter.”
We must ask, if after all that happened to Lot’s daughter, Lot is still risking his life and having guests over, why was he not saved in the merit of his kindness alone? Why only for his merit of years back, for his silence in Egypt?
The Alter of Slabodka answered: kindness was not Lot’s personal greatness. Inviting guests was imitation of Avraham, it was Lot’s second nature. Even his willingness to die for it was etched in his upbringing from Avraham and Sarah’s home, not an expression of his own inner battle. But back in Egypt, when Lot faced the temptation of greed — his own weak point — and still, Lot overcame it by keeping quiet about Sarah, that was his true greatness. That was his test. And only that inner victory could stand for him in Heaven, and be his merit to be saved from Sedom.
Real growth is not measured by how we perform where we are strong, but how we respond where we are naturally weak. The test that matters most is not the one that looks heroic to others — it’s the one that feels hardest to us. We are all here to grow, and we grow most when we are being challenged at the core. This is scientifically proven. Modern neuroscience confirms that our brains grow most when we do what feels uncomfortable. Each time we act against habit—whether resisting anger or giving when it’s hard—our neural pathways literally rewire.
The question of life is not “How many tests did you pass?”
It’s: “Did you pass your test?”
