In a current world full of turmoil, the persistence of illness takes on a greater challenge to our trust in Divine guidance. Have we even the right to question, let alone complain? The Avner Institute presents, as part of new medical file letters of the Rebbe, an assuring response to personal crises, which should be viewed instead as tests of faith, and the emphasis on good deeds and thoughts to combat evil and turn calamity into triumph.
In loving memory of of Hadassah Lebovic A”h
By the Grace of G-d
10 Menachem Av, 5741
Brooklyn, N.Y.
L.G.
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Greeting and Blessing:
I am in receipt of your letter in which you write many complaints against Hashem.
Considering that your letter was written in the midst of the Nine Days, just three days before Tisha B’Av, it is surprising that there is no mention of the biggest complaint, that it is almost 2,000 years since the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed and our Jewish people was exiled and, yet we have not been redeemed, and are still in golus, etc.
At the conclusion of your letter, you stated that you need an answer to your questions. But surely you know that such questions as “Why must an innocent person suffer?” and the like, have been asked and also answered a long time ago and indeed, there is a whole book, the Book of Iyov (Job) that deals with all such questions and in greater depth. If you will study that book, especially with the commentary, you will find the answers, and in a much better way than can be given in a letter.
Inasmuch as everything is by Divine Providence and you have written to me in a matter you could more easily discuss with any knowledgeable Jew, and certainly with a Rabbi in your vicinity, I want to make use of this opportunity to call your attention to a matter which should also be self-evident, but because of its importance and timeliness, deserves to be mentioned here. Now that we are coming from the period of the Three Weeks and the Nine Days, connected with the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash and the golus [Exile], every Jew is expected to make a special effort in matters of Torah and mitzvoth.
Removing the Cause
In order to rectify the cause of the present golus which is, as we say in our prayers, “Because of our sins we have been exiled from our land.” And when everyone will do his and her share in the direction of removing the cause, as mentioned above, the Divine Promise of the geula [Redemption] will be immediately fulfilled and the present days of sadness will be transformed into days of gladness and rejoicing.
If anyone should ask himself or herself what can I personally do to contribute toward this end, and how can an action of mine be of any significance, etc., one need only remember the teaching of our Sages, which the Rambam, the Guide to the Perplexed in his time and in all subsequent generations, incorporated in his Code as a point of halachah [Jewish law] to the effect: A person should consider himself and the whole world, as equibalanced.
Therefore, by doing one more mitzvah or good deed, one tips the scale in favor of the positive, both for himself as well as for the world at large. (Hil. Teshuvah 3:4). Thus, it is clear that when a person has the opportunity to say a good word, think a good thought and do a good deed, it should not be treated lightly, for it might change the whole complex of the individual, the community and our whole Jewish people.
I trust you will be able to convey the above thought to the young people whom you and your organization are working with, to bring them closer to Torah Yiddishkeit in the everyday life and experience.
With blessing,
[signature]
“Into a better understanding”
By the Grace of G-d
3 Nissan, 5738
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mr.
Birmingham, Mich. 48010
Greeting and Blessing:
I am in receipt of your letter in which you write about happenings in the family and ask why such untoward happenings did occur, though you find nothing in your conduct and activities that would justify them.
I surely do not have to point out to you that the question of “why do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper?” is a very old one, and was already asked by Moshe Rabeinu, who received the Torah from G-d and handed it over to each and every Jew as an everlasting inheritance for all times. As you probably also know, the whole book of Iyov (Job) is devoted to this problem and it has been dealt with ever since.
Father & Child
The point of the answer given by our Sages, as it has often been explained at length, is by way of the example of a small child who does not understand why his father who is such a wise and kind person sometimes acts in a way which causes a child pain and tears. It would not surprise any person that the child is not in a position to understand the ways of his father although, be it noted, only a number of years separate them in age, and also in intelligence. At the same time, the child instinctively feels and knows that his father loves him and surely it is everything for his benefit, and not for the benefit of any other child or for his own benefit, since it would be unthinkable that a father who has a one and only son, cause pain to his child for the benefit of a stranger or for his own benefit.
If this is so in the case of a child and his father, where the distinction between them is only relative, in terms of age and intelligence, as mentioned above, how much more so in the case of a created being and the Creator, where the distinction is absolute and unbridgeable. Indeed, it would have been most surprising if a human being could understand the way of G-d, except to the extent that G-d Himself, in His kindness, has revealed some aspects of His Divine Providence and in a necessarily very limited way.
Moreover, our Torah, Toras Chayim and Toras Emes, assures us that when a Jew strengthens his bitochon [reliance] and trust in G-d, Whose benevolent Divine Providence extends to each and every one individually, and Who is the essence of Goodness, and it is the nature of the Good to do good – this in itself opens new insights into a better understanding of G-d’s ways and at the same time speeds G-d’s blessings in the kind of good that is revealed and evident. And, as mentioned earlier, the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu already pondered this question did not in the least affect his simple faith in G-d and did not in any way affect his observance of the Torah and mitzvoth in his daily life and conduct, and this is also what he bequeathed to each and every Jew in all future generations.
Question of Suffering
It is surely also unnecessary to point out that this question that might arise under certain circumstances in the life of an individual can just as well be asked in connection with the long-suffering history of our people in exile for the past 1900 years and more. Yet, here too, despite the persecutions, martyrdom and suffering, our people tenaciously clung to the Torah and mitzvoth as their only way of life and it has not weakened their belief in and confident hope of the ultimate true and complete Redemption through our righteous Moshiach, when it will become apparent that the whole long and dark Exile was a blessing in disguise.
Much more could be said in this subject, but I hope that the above will suffice to help you regain fully your true Jewish perspective, especially as what has been written above is not intended to answer the question once and for all, but merely to help minimize the doubts and questions which might distract a Jew from his innate simple faith in G-d and in His infinite loving kindness and justice, which is an integral part of every Jew’s heritage.
At this time before Pesach, the Festival of our Liberation, I send you and yours prayerful wishes for a kosher and inspiring Pesach and a fuller measure of liberation from all distractions, so as to be able to serve G-d wholeheartedly and with joy.
With blessing,
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P.S. It is customary in a situation where one is bothered by doubts and questions to have the tefillin checked to make sure they are kosher and to be careful in putting them on every weekday morning, since the mitzvah of tefillin, as put on the arm facing the heart and on the head, the seat of intelligence, is conducive to purifying the heart and the mind and making them more perceptive. It is also customary in such a situation to observe meticulously the laws of kashrus of all foods and beverages consumed.
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