Like a Loving Mother

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

The Shomer Emunim writes at the end of Perek 5 in his Ma'amar on Hashgacha Pratit that any afflictions which Hashem brings upon a person is only because of His endless chesed and love for the person, as it says in Mishleh Perek 13. Furthermore, any amount of suffering or inconvenience that a person experiences in this world, even something very small, wipes away potentially much worse suffering in the World to Come. If the person believes that whatever happened to him came about only because of Hashem, and he accepts it with love and doesn't question it or complain, then it wipes away infinite times more than it would have if he did not accept it with love. If the person who accepts with love would be able to see what he's accomplishing with his acceptance, he would get up and dance with joy for the chesed that Hashem just did for him. Just like when a loving mother cleanses her baby from a dirty diaper, the baby cries because he doesn't understand what his mother is doing for him. But if he would, he would kiss and thank her for it. So too, a person, if he understood what Hashem was doing for him with the yisurin , he wouldn't stop thanking Him. Then the Shomer Emunim writes further, if a person is not just passive, but rather he kicks back and complains when he receives affliction, then the afflictions do not wipe away anything, and he'll still have the stains on him that will need to be purged in the future world. That means the person will end up having to suffer twice, lo alenu . The choice here should be obvious. If a person can train himself to accept his afflictions with love, he'll feel better about them in this world, and will gain endless amounts of kapara for the Next World. But if the person complains and is bitter about his suffering, it is counterproductive, causing him to lose both in this world and the Next. There is one exception, however. If the person's afflictions are very severe, and because of his pain, he instinctively complains, similar to Iyov, then the Gemara says, אין אדם נתפס בצערו - a person will not be held accountable for those instinctive reactions, because the pain he was suffering was so difficult to deal with. However, that person should know, if he does have very difficult yisurin , and still manages to hold back his complaining, and rather accepts them from Hashem instead, then he would elevate himself to a status of the greats of all time. Rav Chanina bar Papa said, if Iyov wouldn't have complained about his suffering, then the same way we say אלוקי אברהם אלוקי יצחק ואלוקי יעקב , we would have added to that list, אלוקי איוב . Iyov would have been on par with the holy Avot , for accepting the very difficult afflictions that Hashem sent upon him. The Shomer Emunim writes further, according to the amount that the person accepts, that is how purified the yisurin will make him. And as well, acceptance is able to sweeten his judgments, and give him atonement for all his averot , and then he will not need any more affliction. Rabbi Yehoshua said, accepting suffering is so great, it has the power to bring salvation to the entire world. Therefore, a person should accustom himself to always accept every inconvenience with love. And if he is able to accept the small afflictions with love, he won't need anything bigger, because the zechut of his acceptance will accomplish what the additional yisurin would have been needed to accomplish. The Shomer Emunim then ends Perek 9 by saying, when a person accepts the small little inconveniences, it's considered as if he got much bigger yisurin , as brought down by many sefarim kedoshim . And therefore, we should always train ourselves with every little inconvenience to say, “Thank you Hashem for doing what's best for me.”