Recently, I stumbled upon a sefer called Gaon Yisrael, about the life of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, a Gadol b’Yisrael. Of course, we don’t stumble on anything, but I didn’t know this sefer existed until I happened to walk into a Sefarim store.
In the sefer, he brings down a beautiful
thought based on Tehilim, pasuk 6
לַמְנַצֵּ֣חַ בִּ֭נְגִינוֹת עַֽל־הַשְּׁמִינִ֗ית מִזְמ֥וֹר לְדָוִֽד
A song on a certain type of instrument, on the eighth, a song for David..
Later in the pasuk, it says,
חׇנֵּ֥נִי ה׳ כִּ֤י אֻמְלַ֫ל־אָ֥נִי רְפָאֵ֥נִי יְהֹוָ֑ה כִּ֖י נִבְהֲל֣וּ עֲצָמָֽי
Have mercy on me Hashem,
Heal me God, because my bones are in panic…
יָגַ֤עְתִּי ׀ בְּֽאַנְחָתִ֗י
I am in great sorrow
אַשְׂחֶ֣ה בְכׇל־לַ֭יְלָה מִטָּתִ֑י בְּ֝דִמְעָתִ֗י עַרְשִׂ֥י אַמְסֶֽה
I cry on my bed and I’m melting on my mattress.
David Hamelech is singing a song, talking about how his bed is full of tears! How can one sing when his bed is full of tears? Sometimes you hear of horrible stories and people say that they cry themselves to sleep, Lo Alenu, like a lonely widow, a childless couple or any other tragic story of people suffering. They may cry themselves to sleep, but do they sing a song?
Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach explains that when a person is suffering through a difficult challenge, he’s really suffering from two things. The first thing that he is suffering from is the actual tragedy that he is going through- whether it is a difficult child, a sick child, lack of a job, or a difficult relationship.
But even more than that, the person is suffering when he thinks that God is punishing him, that God is distanced from him, that God is rejecting him. That pain is greater than all the pain and sorrow that he is going through.
These are very very powerful words. The pain is not the pain of the problem, it is the pain of the abandonment. And he says that at that moment of suffering, what a person should do is to think about the life of David Hamelech. He was known as Mashiach Hashem, the anointed one of God. We are looking forward to his kingdom! And look at the life of God’s chosen, anointed one! Obviously, God was not distanced from David Hamelech. Thus, a person has to realize that God is not distanced from him either.
That is why David Hamelech sang the song. And the song was sung in the Bet HaMikdash by the Mizbe’ach, in order to heal, to comfort, to uplift and give hizzuk to those that are suffering from difficulties- people suffering from pain, the poor of Israel, and those with broken hearts. David Hamelech instituted this song for all the broken-hearted people, for generations, to tell them that they are not distanced, and they are not abandoned, even when going through difficulties.
He then goes on and says that we should also look at Yaakov Avinu’s life. Yaakov Avinu was the forefather who went through much difficulty and tragedy. Yaakov was a Matmid who dedicated himself to Learning Torah. He sat in the tents of learning, and yet Yitzhak Avinu brought Esav closer. Yaakov felt that his father had more love for his brother.
And this was Yitzhak Avinu! He wanted to bless Yaakov’s brother, and Yaakov had to get the blessings through swindling, in fear of getting caught. This was completely opposite of the trait of Yaakov Avinu. And then, when it was a time for a shidduch, Yaakov was sent to the great trickster Lavan’s house, and his money was taken from him. He worked for 20+ years, and as Yaakov himself said, “In the daytime I was eating the heat, and the cold in the nights.” He looked back and thought of his father’s shidduch- he didn’t even have to leave the country. His wife came to him on camels with ten servants.
Then he goes through the problems of Dina, and Yosef.. Think about it! And who was this? Yaakov Avinu.
This is what a person should think about when he is going through difficulties. It is not at all an indication of what God thinks of him, of God’s appreciation of him, or anything else.
Yes, a tragedy is a tragedy and a difficulty is a difficulty. But the second part is within our ability to overcome, and it is probably the Yetzer Hara’s biggest effort, to bring us down in that area and make us feel like Hashem has abandoned us, when that is really not the case.
These are powerful words from a Gadol B’Yisrael, who himself had a life full of challenges.
Have a wonderful day.