Hashem Feels Our Pain Chizuk from the Piaseczner Rebbe for Iron Sword from Rabbi Shimshon Nadel

hey so nice to see all of you I wish it was under better circumstances but I'd like to thank Ros Sam Shore for inviting me to share with you this evening a few words of kok and this evening's kuk session I've been asked to announce I'm not someone who is often at a loss for words you can ask my students you can ask my wife you can ask my kids but I have found myself like all of us silenced over the past two weeks finding it very difficult finding finding the words difficult hard to hard to find the words to describe what our people are going through I I think we are all experiencing that type of paralysis like Aron upon learning the news of the death of his sons or when is told by that his beloved bride the Bride of his youth is going to die and he is not permitted to mourn this of course is supposed to represent thean the destruction of the Holy Temple and the Exile which we can never truly mourn for never truly experience the the pain but he's told not to mourn and in fact we actually learn a number of the laws of mourning from whates is told not to do but he's told hanik don't be silent from your crying and you're groaning and like yahu following the in where he describes he wants to cry and scream out to Hashem but hasem has shut my prayer this is this such a a difficult time and it's so difficult to find the right words and whenever I'm struggling and whenever I need some supposed to be a session where we rabbis from the OU are supposed to provide whenever I need because I need myself I often turn to this saer here the saes the the Holy Fire the the sermons from the years of Wrath years of Fury these are the that the of Colonus cman shapir of Petna gave to to those Jews in the war so ghetto these are the Dr that he gave between the fall of 1939 and the spring of 1942 when the ghetto was being liquidated following the gross action the deportations to trinka and other camps and these the Dr that he gave on Shabbat atash surrounded by not only his from p which was a small cidic sect but as many described in their journal entries surrounded by hundreds Jews of all different backgrounds who would come and hear him Shabbat and he would try to give them and these which miraculously survived it's an incredible story but not for now how these drot survived the war and were buried underneath that that cursed soil of the warsa ghetto in Poland and miraculously and with tremendous tremendous divine intervention found their way to the Jewish people because we need this and I'd like to explore together with you a very powerful passage from a that the re gave in March of 1942 on shabbes so here I'll put on the screen for you all to see and we can learn this piece together because as I said it's such a power ful passage it gives me I hope it gives you it speaks to a theme that the returns to in many places the idea that Hashem is suffering along with us and that the Jews in the ghetto even amidst the the most terrible conditions they need to stay strong in their amuna in their faith in their be and their trust in God he was someone who was always giving Jews and encouraging a sense of normal see the continuity of religious observance even amidst all the challenges that the ghetto would impose so let's learn this powerful piece together I'll put it up on the screen I trust everyone can see he writes the following we can ask a very basic question how is it possible that prophecy n was revealed to mosu when prophecy requires Sim requires Joy by the way Joy is another theme that re returns to many places in his prophecy as the and as the rambam explains requires the prophet to be in a state of Joy the says that the divine presence rests not on someone who is sad or just sitting there not someone who's fooling around someone who's you know conversing the divine presence rests upon someone who is who is joyous and the r based on this passage the r amplifies this in his and explains that in order for a prophet to experience prophecy the prophet must be in a state of sim must be in a state of spiritual ecstasy and he gives examples of of how the prophets would in fact have musicians play music for them music was part of the prophetic experience the ram records in order to get the prophet in the right frame of mind he to quiet his mind it was a meditative experience he would meditate but if he wasn't in the proper frame of mind like we find by Alisha he's upset at the Mel is and he asks a musician to play for him and the navi says and it was when the musician play that the hand of God rested upon Elisha so you see that the divine presence only rests upon someone who is the so hereb asks how's it possible that mosu the greatest of all prophets received prophecy a prophet must be he continues aside from his own personal surus wanted to kill himu was in great pain because of pain that the Jewish people were going through Torah says that Moshe went out he went out to see the suffering of the Jewish people here The Prince of Egypt wanted to go down and feel his brother's pain according to midash he rolled up his own sleeves and and got involved in the brick and mortar building together with with his fellow Jews gets involved when he sees an is mitz beating in is I gets involved when he sees two Jews fighting when in midan he gets involved when he sees the women being harassed by the midianite men mosenu is the Paradigm of the leader is the archetype of the leader who feels thear which is so necessary so vital for a Jewish leader so the Poss re here asks how's it possible that Moshe Renu experiences prophecy when he is bitar he's got his own surus trying to kill him and he's feeling the of the nation of the people of is we know that was willing to be left out of the Torah he felt the SAR that burden of pain of CLA to such a degree where he said Hashem if you don't forgive the Jewish people for the erase me please from [Music] your so the re points out that it's interesting the first time that Hashem appears to Moshe he appears to him in a burning bush speaks to him through a burning Bush and what type of bush the Torah calls it a snap what type of bush is a snap it's a thorn bush you have this double metaphor where Rashi explains Hashem is expressing that even is experiencing pain Hashem is feeling the pain of the Jewish people and Rashi invokes the from which we will return to in a few moments Imo Hashem says I am with you I am together with you in distress I feel your pain and this is the theme Here of this D Hashem feels our pain and so he comes to Moshe in a bush that's burning but not just the burning bush in a thorn bush which is this double metaphor of pain it's burning it's on fire but it's a bush of thorns because Hashem feels our pain when CLA is in pain Hashem feels that pain it's shared and the explains that that is how mosu was able to experience prophecy which normally which typically requires the prophet to be to be in a state of joy and Ecstasy but at a time when cloud is in pain Hashem so to speak also is in pain he shares our pain and reveals himself in such a case to the prophet who's in pain be nak here he quotes a from which will come back to in a few moments um the says glory and Majesty is before Hashem owes strength and joy is his place meaning is so again how is it possible that a navi who is in pain can receive prophecy typically a n who's in pain cannot receive prophecy has to be in a state of Joy because is the implies that is so therefore the prophet can only experience prophecy when the prophet himself is except for when hasem too is in pain in such a case even thei who's in a state of pain can receive prophecy why because in such a case when the Jewish people are suffering and Hashem is suffering with them and hasem is in pain so then Hashem can reveal himself to the prophet who's in pain and he proves this based on just to give you a little context the is talking about when hasem so to speak hides his face and allows suffering to take place so the gar there asks gar first suggests that hasem cries asks is it possible that there is crying before the Holy One blessed he meaning does really cry comes along and says the following how's it possible we just said the in says that hasem is glory and Majesty before him and strength and joy in his place or is his place hashem's place is Joy so how's it possible that cries the answers it's not a question it's not a challenge in one case it's in his innermost chamber and in one case it is in its outermost chamber what the gamar is suggesting is that yes Hashem is K he's Joy that's sort of in his outermost chamber that's typically how he relates to this world and how he relates to naua therefore typically the prophet has to be in a state of ecstasy to receive prophecy the prophecy has to come through S and sometimes the prophet needs a little music to achieve that but then there is the gamar says the the innermost chambers that sometimes when the Jewish people are suffering Hashem suffers along with them and he cries in his innermost chamber now you could interpret the gar you know superficially like you see the big Brave Israeli soldier the nothing phases him right he's a g he's you know a typical tough guy and then he goes off his innermost chamber his he goes off to the corner and weeps like a little baby but the way the reads this gar is a little bit differently what he says is that when Hashem sees the Jewish people suffering the gar says he cries in his innermost chamber because it's then that we can access we can access Hashem in his innermost chamber we can experience the greatest intimacy with hasem that's something that we'll come back to in a moment so he says you have the gar I said the there says that in his outermost chamber how Hashem so to speak presents himself typically that's strength and joy strength and Joy are his place but his innermost chamber the re says that in his innermost chamber he cries together with the Jewish people he C the s Jewish people Hashem is crying together with us right now now seeing those horrific images that we've all seen that we shouldn't see but we've seen because the world needs to see them those terrifying images those terrible atrocities I I I teach every morning to a group of mostly retired men and I had to apologize today I said you know I'm not really not really presenting the gamar as clearly as I would like to as CL as they normally do teaching theor requires a lot of clarity right and Clarity of thought and and precision and I I I just felt like I wasn't I just and and I said you know I saw something saw something that that really shook me to my core this morning something very disturbing Hashem is crying along with us that's what the is saying therefore at a time ofer P when is hiding his face what is what does it mean that hides his face is saying is it's when Hashem is hiding in his innermost Chambers he's not really hiding at all but he's hiding so to speak in this space that we can access when we too are suffering along with him when he's suffering along with us a at the time when Hashem is hiding his face so to speak and found in that innermost chamber that most secret place that KES that s then the Jew the Jew who is experiencing the suffering hasem is suffering along with him each according to his level according to his station and it's there hasem reveals to that individual Torah and he says I've already explained how it's in the deepest depths of galute of Exile the dark Exile that is where the tor Al proliferates that's where the Torah Al is taught it's in the G it's theal if you think about Jewish history how much Torah has been taught how much Torah has been written how much Torah has been expounded and expanded on and explicated in the darkest depths of this long Exile and it's he says and so to there's a tradition that the Zohar was taught to R shimoni and his son Rab elzar razar elazar in the cave while they were hiding from the Romans and the Romans were murdering they killed re shimon's rebi re AKA for teaching Torah publicly and they were in fear and it's there the deepest depths of deepest depths of Exile in a cave that the great light of the Zohar this great work of Jewish mysticism of Jewish spirituality is taught is revealed to rebi Shimon and his son rebi elazar it's daa there and the re continues with something I think all of us have struggled with over the past weeks certainly I've struggled with over the past two weeks you know sometimes it's very difficult to focus to concentrate on one's learning maybe to have the proper cavana in doing we want to do of course for all those injured we want to doin for the hostages to be released we want to doin for our holy soldiers but it's difficult it's very difficult uh it's difficult to focus we're so distracted we're so as I said shaken um maybe I'm just speaking to myself here but the pet Reb is speaking to Jews in the war so ghetto who many of whom are finding it very difficult to have a to have to keep their faith intact to continue serving Hashem to continue learning Torah and so while he begins by talking about prophecy and how the prophet needed to be in a state of Joy or spiritual ecstasy when receiving prophecy except maybe in a state of suffering here when the Jewish people suffer Hashem suffers along with us and so Hashem will reveal himself through that suffering even to a prophet who's not in a state of Joy even to a prophet who's in a state of pain and so too he says that Hashem will so to speak reveal himself to the Jew who is in a state of pain to the Jew who's finding it difficult to learn Torah or to D or to perform MIT and he says an individual could ask himself I'm broken my heart is broken hell I'm finding myself constantly crying how can I learn Torah I'm so distraught speaking to Jews in the ghetto what can I do to you know maybe the re here is speaking to himself maybe he's getting personal mod so sometimes a person says okay you know despite the Heartbreak maybe I can strengthen myself to learn a little bit despite my pain and the pain that the Jewish people are going through and then he says I'm just too broken too how great are My Cries of my whole life it's just just pain and and darkness this individual is is confused he says but nevertheless it appears to me when the Jew is most broken is there with him Hashem is in his innermost chamber crying together with him someone who pushes himself and draws himself close to through Tor it's as if he is crying with Hashem he's crying with Hashem in that innermost chamber that when hem is hidden when there's is hidden way in that innermost place but we can access that when we are in pain and we push through our pain to try and learn and Dav and serve hasem now this is an incredible line not only does hasem so to speak cry together with us but the says is learning together with us when the Jew pushes through his pain to learn Torah Hashem is right there with him learning to go Torah together with him and this is the distinction we can make this is the distinction we can make between individual who is in so much pain but he burdens that pain all by himself he doesn't share that pain with a so that individual yes that pain breaks him he's broken he's broken he's fallen can't do anything for such an individual he's a lost cause he's given up all hope the individual who burdens the pain alone will ultimately break however the individual who cries together with Hashem who shares his pain with Hashem andem shares in that pain that individual is strengthened he cries and he's strengthened he is broken but he pushes himself to learn and to serve maybe the first or even second time it's difficult for him to to muster up the strength to pull himself up from Theus however when the individual draws the strength draws the strength and lifts up his head and he engages with Torah and the service of God such an individual accesses that inner most chamber that s where is to be found and there the individual cries and weeps and Hashem so to speak cries and weeps together with the individual together and this in itself will strengthen the individual to be able to learn Torah to serve very very powerful passage as I said I'm in need of I turn to the asesh and draw strength from his strength of spirit and draw Courage from his courage and so the theme of The Passage that we just learned together is theuk into says I am with you with your distress I am with you in pain I share your pain as the explains Hashem cries together with us very very powerful and so we'll end by reciting together which is actually a very special me more says that this me more is is a special me more is a special quality to be recited when the Jew is in distress when the Jew is in pain as I said it speaks of how Hashem shares in our pain feels our pain cries together with us but it also Begins by speaking of hashem's protection something certainly we need right now and so I'll put for those of you who don't have in front of you I'll put these more up here on on the screen for [Music] here it speaks of the annihilation of the wicked it's not only about hashem's protection but about the annihilation of the wicked something we're all praying for [Applause] for may we share the Soros toos