BS’D
Today, 26th of Nissan, is the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yonatan ben Uziel ztk’l and Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma ztk’l. R’ Yonatan ben Uziel was one of the 80 students who studied in the house of Hillel Hazaken ztk’l. In the Talmud Masechet Sukkah it is written that when birds flew over his head they burned due to the presence of the angels who came to hear Yonason Ben Uziel study Torah. He is best known for his translation of the Prophets, the “Targum, into Aramaic”.
Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma was a Jewish Tanna in the third generation. He lived and spread Torah in Caesarea. Once he rejected great wealth, preferring instead to remain in a city of sages. Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma was well respected by the Roman Government and was one of the Sages that ruled against any Jewish rebellion. When he passed away, his funeral was attended by many leading Roman officials. May the tzaddikim serve as holy advocates for Klal Yisrael, Amen.
A Jew who is tormented by his afflictions thinks that he suffers alone as if all his personal afflictions and those of all of B’nei Yisrael do not affect Hashem,c”v. Yeshaya the prophet said, ‘In all their troubles He was troubled,’ and Chazal tell us, ‘When a person suffers, what does the Shechina say? “My head is too heavy for Me, My arm is too heavy for Me.” When a Yid is afflicted Hashem suffers, as it were, much more than the person does. The reason being that since Hashem is not subject to any limitation, therefore His suffering from Israel’s troubles is also boundless.
Precisely because Hashem is infinite, ‘His suffering’ is infinite and beyond human conception. The rivers of tears shed by Ahm Yisrael who are in pain are like a mere trickle compared to the ocean that is Hashem’s suffering. He stands with us at every street crossing and knows our fears. There is a reason, and the questions do have answers. Hashem, so to speak, is in His inner chambers weeping, so that one who pushes in and comes close to Him by means of living in a Torah way weeps together with Him and lives Torah with Him. Only this makes the difference, for the weeping and pain a person undergoes by himself, alone, may have the effect of breaking him and bringing him down so that he becomes incapable of doing anything.
But the weeping a person does together with Hashem strengthens him. He weeps, and is strengthened; he is broken, but finds courage to study and teach. It is hard to raise one’s self up, time and again, from the tribulations, but when one is determined, stretching his mind to connect with Hashem, then he enters the inner chambers where the blessed Holy One is to be found; he weeps and wails together with Him, as it were, and finds the strength to study and serve Him.
Today’s Daily Dose of Emuna is dedicated to Tinok ben Nechama a 10 day old baby born with cancer who is now undergoing chemo treatment. Our hearts are tormented over the difficulties that our brethren and us are coping with. Please Hashem shine Your revealed goodness onto us and help us come close to You without tragedies, suffering and pain. May Hashem send a complete healing to Tinok ben Nechama amongst all of Klal Yisrael who are sick and suffering in Klal Yisrael, b’karov, b’rachamim, Amen.
