Suffering in the Eyes of Chassidus

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Dedicated in loving memory of Rabbi Lipa Schapiro, of blessed memory.

Topics: Everything is for the Good, Pain, Suffering & Tragedy

By Yehuda Leib Schapiro

Rabbi Leib Schapiro, a noted Talmudic scholar, is the dean of the Yeshiva Gedola Rabbinical College of Greater Miami, the rabbi of Congregation Beis Menachem, and a community leader in Miami Beach, Florida.

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February 27, 2011

I like this explanation

That the suffering is in a language that we don't understand - that's something I can better comprehend, how it is that "good" seems to us "bad".

Anon
Tzfat , Israel

June 1, 2008

Re:

That is an excellent question. In a sense, the same could be asked about praying on behalf of one that is sick or suffering financially. Who don't we just say that it is "meant to be" and that the pain is for their own good?

One of the explanations is as follows:

There is indeed, as discussed in the shiur, a system of hidden good disguised in the form of bad, suffering for this sake of removing a blemish, etc. However, when we pray, we ask of Hashem to bypass this system and give us open and revealed good. Hashem is infinite and therefore not even limited to this "setup." We know He can found a way of giving us incredible good without any disguise. And we believe that there are ways other than pain to remove the blemish of sin. This is what we ask for when we pray for on Rosh Hashana and year-round.

Yisroel Cotlar for Chabad.org

May 28, 2008

suffering

Wonderful class, I do have a question though: If Divine Providence decides and anticipates what we need to suffer in order to correct or get us ready to receive higher good, whether here or in the World to Come, how is it that every year prior to Yom Kippur, Hashem then decides our fate for the following year? I am also under the impression that this includes monies earned, health issues, everything.....If THAT is true, then our conduct during the year can tilt the scales so to speak and offer us a better year here, which implies we are "partnered" with Hashem in our own good as I've been told before, "Do good, give Tzedakah for example (which we are also allowed to test) and you will get good"
......BUT then what happens to the overall need of our Neshamah's need for earthly suffering to mitigate suffering later when we pass?
I really hope you can help me with this!

Rita I. Gindi
Pembroke Pines, Florida