Part IV
A series of articled discussing the meaning and context of personal suffering in life, originally published in 1992-5752.
Sins Are the Source of All Suffering
The Ponovezher Rav addressed the closing session of the Knessia Gedola that took place in 1937 in Marienbad. His moving words were recorded in Lekach Tov:
"Fire once broke out in a home where a man lay sleeping. The flames raged all about, but he slept on. Neighbors attempted to remove him together with his bed, but failing in this, they took up axes and sledgehammers and began demolishing the doorposts to widen the exit. Along came a wise man and asked what was going on. When he understood what they were doing, he cried, `You fools! Instead of wasting precious time in widening the doorway, why don't you wake the man up! Tell him to get on his own feet and escape the burning house!'
"We are in a similar predicament," said R' Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman. "We have been spending the last few days at this convention, trying to find ways to save the Jewish people. Dear brothers! Our house is burning! We must fight the fire at its source. The source of all our troubles is our sins. If the Jewish people would only return and repent, we would not be beset by suffering and we would not need to take council. We must raise the cry," he shouted heatedly, "Yiddishe folk! Wake up!"
The Rambam writes in Hilchos Taanis:
"But if they will not cry out and raise a hue, but simply say that this is coincidence, they are being cruel to themselves, since they will only cling to their evil ways and bring even more suffering upon themselves. As it is written in the Torah: `If you walk with Me through happenstance, I will treat you with happenstance compounded.' If you say that your suffering is only coincidental, I will increase My wrath along the lines of that same `happenstance.'
"This is what Moshe said to Pharaoh: `How long will you persevere in defying Me? Release My people so that they may serve Me. For if you refuse to send My people, behold I shall bring...' Why did Moshe not suffice with the demand to release the Jews? Because he wished to teach Pharaoh that the plagues came for two reasons: that he refused to send the people and that he was rebellious in denying the source of the plagues. Pharaoh claimed that they were the product of sorcery. This stubbornness, alone, was reason enough for Hashem to punish him.
HaRav Shach writes:
"I know for a fact from the Chofetz Chaim that upon completing one of the sections of his Mishna Berurah, a granddaughter of his who had been about to be married died suddenly. He was prostrated with grief, but people later overheard him talking to himself in his private study and saying, `Satan, O Satan, I know clearly that you seek to confuse me and prevent me from continuing on with the Mishna Berurah. But it won't help. I shall strengthen myself and carry on with it!' This should be the reaction of every Jew overtaken by misfortune: he must fortify himself in Torah and piety."
Suffering Has A Mouth
In times of yore, whenever the Jewish people were threatened by danger, their sages delved and inquired to find its underlying cause. When they felt they had discovered the reason, they took the necessary measures to repent and amend the wrong. There are numerous examples to uphold this, both in the Biblical and Talmudic sources. The Ohr HaChaim commentary was created in an attempt to uncover the reasons for the Spanish Expulsion. In his commentary to Eichah, R' Yaakov of Lisa also writes that his purpose is not to lament the suffering of those times but to reveal the reasons why it came about so that we could be forewarned and prevent further suffering. His entire commentary follows along these lines: wherever he mentions a form of suffering, he exposes the sin that caused it, in order to teach us a lesson in prevention.
The cry of HaRav Shach still reverberates in our ears and hearts:
"The devastating Holocaust occurred," he wept, "as a result of a long, calculated accumulation that spans many centuries and culminates in a figure of six million Jews. This is what a Jew must believe. And if we refuse to accept this [tragedy] as a punishment, we are denying the very Providence of Hashem.
"In our days, when the spiritual atmosphere is so polluted and depraved... who can guarantee that the measure will not again reach its saturation point, G-d forbid, within a year or ten or even tomorrow... How, then, can one live a serene life? The only solution is to `Return unto Me and I shall return unto you.'"
His cry shook the very rafters!
