Daily Bitachon

A Time to Cry


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Welcome to our daily bitachon class. As our community is reeling from the tragedies that occurred on Shabbat , I'd like to leave our Haggadah discussion for the day. There's a story that's told over that a skit or a play about a certain tragic event during the times of the Holocaust was shown, and people were extremely moved. They all cried and were very jarred from the play. Somebody asked the Brisker Rav , why it was that when people heard about the Holocaust, and how six million Jews died, they were not bawling and crying, but they were bawling and crying from this small skit of what happened. Rav Brisker answered that if you have a very large piano that you're trying to get it into the house, as much you turn and twist, the piano won't get in. But if you have something smaller, you can get it in. This is similar to our brains, which are made in such a way that it has a certain capacity to hold things, and certain things, it just can't hold. Something of with the magnitude of the Holocaust can't be held, but when a smaller snip of a larger tragedy comes by a person, they're able to hold it and process it and that causes the emotions to flow. And when a tragedy of the magnitude where a mother and two children are killed in such a sudden way, the term is used Alah Mavet beChaloneinu/Death has come through our window. The Rabbanim explain that when someone comes into a house, they usually knock on the door. That's the regular way of doing things. Coming through the window means you snuck in. So Alah mavet bechaloneinu/Death came through the window means there was no warning. There was no sickness. Someone was taking a walk on a Shabbat afternoon with their family, and this came out nowhere, and something like that is just too big to process. It's too big to figure out, especially in the early stages, when people are looking for answers. But there really is no answer. It's really just a time for emotion and crying. The Mishnah in Pirkei Avot , Perek 4 , Mishnah 18 tells us Rav Shimon ben Elazar says וְאַל תְּנַחֲמֶ נּוּ בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁמֵּתוֹ מֻטָּל לְפָנָיו / Al tenachamenu B'shaah shemeto mutal lefanav / Do not comfort someone when the dead is still lying there. Rabbenu Yonah explains that because at this point in time, trying to comfort the person is just going to cause anger, and cause the person to say things he doesn't want to say. The Sefer Midrash Shemuel says more than that, B'vadai yimna milhitnachem . He will for sure refuse to be comforted, to accept the will of God. If anything, the person might say improper statements. Nechama means comfort . But as we've said in the past, nechama also means to have a different look at things . Rashi says vayeinachem means God looked at it differently. Nachum Ish Gamzu , said Gamzu l'tova , and the root of his name is Nachum , which we call a reframe , But there are times when there's no place for a reframe. It's too raw and too big for a reframe, and at those times, there is nothing to be said. That's why, quite often Rabbis are put in the position to answer the question, What's going on here ? In other words, Rabbi , reframe this for me. And the answer is, Right now is not a time for that. It's not a time for looking for answers. It's a time to cry. It's a time to stay with this shock and the emotion of what happened and process it and see if it can somehow get inside of you. A lot of times when we're looking for those answers, we're trying to get rid of that uncomfortable feeling of sadness, of confusion, because it's too hard to deal with. So answer it for me. But it's not the time. The sefer Mili DeAvot on that same Mishnah in Pirkei Avot brings a proof from Hashem. He quoted the Yalkut Shimoni in Yeshayah , where it says in Yeshayah 22:12, Hashem calls out to the angels to cry, to bemoan that the Bet HaMikdash was destroyed. And it says Bikshu malachim l'nachamo , the angels wanted to comfort God, V'lo ratza lehitnachem / And God did not want to be comforted. And it goes on to say, Al ta'itzu l'nachameni / Do not try, don't push yourselves not to give Me comfort . It's not the time. That's my little thought for today. I don't feel it's the right time for people to start looking for answers or reframes or comfort. It's too early. It's too raw. It's a time to sit with that emotion of sadness. And although it may sound like it, I'm not coming from a therapeutic approach. This is a Mishnah in Pirkei Avot based on Rishonim . Now, if it sounds like it rings from the world of therapy, that's because Torah was here before therapy, and there's a time for mourning and there's a time for crying. And as uncomfortable it may be to sit with these emotions of sadness and questions, and whatever it may be, that's really what one is supposed to be doing right now. We don't like to cry, but it's a time to cry.
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Daily BitachonBy Rabbi David Sutton