BS"D
Shalom,
The Jewish People began this week with the tragic and shattering news of the cruel, evil, and cynical murder of 6 beloved, innocent Israeli hostages. How are we to respond? What shall we think and feel at this time of national suffering? My rebbe and mentor, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt”l, grappled with how to respond to the Holocaust, the founding of the State of Israel, and the continued anti-Semitism that continued afterwards. Composed in 1956, his epic essay Kol Dodi Dofek (Listen, My Beloved Knocks), provides an approach that I find relevant to our experience in 2024, and especially as we approach the Days of Awe. I would like to share with you a few excerpts that I found particularly meaningful to me this week. A link to the complete essay appears at the end.
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We too are living in troubled times, in days of anger and distress. We have been afflicted with violent pogroms and have become accustomed to suffering. In the past fifteen years [1941–56] we have undergone tortuous ordeals that are unparalleled in thousands of years of diaspora, degradation, and destruction. This chapter of suffering did not end with the establishment of the State of Israel. To this day the State is still in a condition of crisis and danger, and we all fear for its future. We are all eye-witnesses to the rising star of the iniquitous and to the corruption of international law by the Western nations out of indifference to the principles of justice and fairness. All try to curry favor with our enemies and bow and scrape before them with false humility and shameful hypocrisy. All are concerned with the welfare of our enemies, and remain indifferent to the suffering Jewish State.
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One of the deepest of mysteries, troubling Judaism from the dawn of its existence, is the problem of suffering.
…There is evil, I do not deny it,
… I am, however, interested in it from a halakhic point of view; and as a person who wants to know what action to take. I ask a single question: “What should the sufferer do to live with his suffering?”
...…The question of questions is: What does suffering obligate man to do? This problem was important to Judaism, which placed it at the center of its Weltanschauung. Halakhah is just as interested in this question, as in issues of issur and heter [forbidden and permitted] and hiyyuv and p’tur [obligation and exemption.] We do not wonder about the ineffable ways of the Holy One, but instead ponder the paths man must take when evil leaps up at him. We ask not about the reason for evil and its purpose, but rather about its rectification and uplifting. How should one react in a time of distress? What should a person do so as not to rot in his affliction?The halakhic answer to this question is very simple. Suffering comes to elevate man, to purify his spirit and sanctify him, to cleanse his mind and purify it from the chaff of superficiality and the dross of crudeness; to sensitize his soul and expand his horizons. In general, the purpose of suffering is to repair the imperfection in man’s persona.
The halakhah teaches us that an afflicted person commits a criminal act if he allows his pain to go for naught and to remain without meaning or purpose. Suffering appears in the world in order to contribute something to man, in order to atone for him, in order to redeem him from moral impurity, from crudeness and lowliness of spirit. The sufferer must arise therefrom, purified, refined, and cleansed. “An hour of distress it is for Jacob, and from it he should be saved” (Jeremiah 30:7). From the midst of suffering itself he will achieve lasting redemption and merit a self-actualization and exaltation that are unequaled in a world devoid of suffering. From negation sprouts affirmation; from antithesis, thesis emerges; and from a denial of existence, a new existence is revealed.
The Torah testifies to man’s mighty spiritual reaction to suffering inflicted upon him when it said, “In your distress when all these horrors shall come upon you …then you shall return to the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 4:30). Suffering requires man to repent and return to God. Distress is designated to arouse us to repentance, and what is repentance if not the renewal and supreme redemption of man?
How pitiful if man’s sufferings do not bring him to a spiritual crisis, and his soul remains frozen and bereft of forgiveness. How pitiful is the sufferer if his soul is not warmed by the flame of suffering, and if his wounds do not spark “the Candle of God” (Proverbs 20:27) within him. When pain wanders in the wide world as a blind force without purpose, a stinging indictment of the man who squanders his suffering issues forth.
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In man’s finite, limited view, the absolute good in creation is not apparent. The contrast is striking and undeniable. There is evil that is not susceptible to explanation and comprehension. Only by comprehending the world in its totality can man gain insight into the essence of suffering. However, as long as man’s perception is limited and fragmented, so that he sees only isolated portions of the cosmic drama and the mighty saga of history, he cannot delve into the recesses of evil and the mystery of suffering.
To what might this situation be compared? To a person who views a beautiful tapestry, the work of a fine artisan, which contains, woven into it on its front, a representation dazzling to the eye. To our great sorrow, we see this image [i.e., the world] from the obverse side. Can such a sight become a sublime esthetic experience? Thus, we are incapable of comprehending the panorama of reality without which one cannot uncover God’s master plan — the essence of the works of the Holy One. (Sefaria)
May HaShem bless you and all of Israel with a good year of life and shalom.United, with HaShem, we will triumph!
MosheP.S. Please continue your prayers! Psalms 20, 46, 83, 91, 120, 121, 124, 130, 142 and 144 are highly recommended.P.S. Please feel free to forward this message.
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