One of the lessons we learn from Yitziat Mitzrayim is never to despair no matter how bad things seem to get. When Moshe Rabbenu first informed the Jewish People that they were going to be redeemed from their torturous slavery, things only got much worse. And even when the makot finally began, the Jewish People still had to wait an entire year to be freed. Sometimes the process of salvation takes time but we must consider the fact that the wheels may already be in motion to salvation and our emunah to keep going and do the best we can in our avodat Hashem will only hasten that process. Sometimes it is precisely our ability to move forward during the hard times that ultimately proves to be our merit to gaining salvation. There was an 8 th grade girl with exceptional middot but had very poor grades. And because her grades were so bad, she had a very hard time getting accepted into a high school. The high school that all her friends were going to rejected her and no matter how hard her parents tried to get the school to change its mind, they were adamant about their decision. When the new school year came around, this girl had nowhere to go. Her parents felt dejected and their spirits were broken, but the girl herself was still in good spirits. On the first day of school, she decided she wanted to be productive and so she volunteered at one of the local hospitals. She spent the day tending to a sick girl, a little younger than her, and was able to lift her spirits a lot. That afternoon when she was about to leave, a woman entered the room and was happily greeted by the patient. The woman was the patient's grandmother. She asked the other girl why she wasn't in school. The girl was a little embarrassed to admit the truth, but she told her it was because she couldn't get into high school. The woman said to her, "As of tomorrow, you will be in school." Turned out, this woman was the principal of the school which all her friends got accepted to. Now, seeing her superlative middot , she changed her decision and she accepted her despite her poor grades. This girl's ability to keep going happily, despite her rejection, was the catalyst to her salvation. On Erev Pesach of 2021, an avrech from Elad, who moved to Israel from France, was given a very large food package as a gift to help him for the holiday. In addition, he was given two pounds of hand made matzot with an excellent hechsher . He was very grateful to the generous donor who gave that to him, but he had already bought all of the matzot that he needed for the holiday and really didn't need these. He asked his friends and neighbors if they needed any and they replied they already had. That afternoon, his wife asked him to pick up something from the store. He was almost sure the store would be closed, being that it was already 1:45 in the afternoon, but he went anyway. When he arrived, he saw the store was closed and got back into his car, but before he pulled away, he noticed another man knocking on the store window, which caught his attention. He got out of his car and asked that man what he needed. The man replied, his boss made him stay at work extra and he didn't get a chance to buy matzot yet for the Seder. He said when he saw the store was closed, he didn't want to give up, he was hoping maybe someone would still be inside and would open the door for him, so he knocked. The avreich told him not to worry, to follow him to his house because he had two pounds of matzot there that he could give him. The avreich was so happy when he gave that man the matzot, he told his Rabbi the story that night in shul. The Rabbi told him, if that man would have just left the store without knocking, you would have never noticed him and you would have left and he wouldn't have gotten matzot. In truth, Hashem had matzot set aside for him in Elad. When he didn't give up, but rather knocked on the door making that extra effort, then he was able to access the gift that Hashem had waiting for him. Our ability to always be hopeful and do our jobs happily, despite going through difficulties will truly make us great. Shabbat Shalom.