I was driving on a brief errand yesterday. Just before I passed a driveway, someone pulled out in front of me at the last moment. They then proceeded to drive excruciatingly slowly along the route I was taking. I missed two stoplights I would have otherwise made. It cost me time and frustration without any apparent upside.

The Rambam outlines that יסורין, loosely translated as trials or tribulations, can be an integral part of the Teshuva process.

משנה תורה להרמב"ם - ספר המדע - הלכות תשובה

א,יא עָבַר עַל כְּרֵתוֹת וּמִיתוֹת בֵּית דִּין, וְעָשָׂה תְּשׁוּבָה--תְּשׁוּבָה וְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים תּוֹלִין, וְיִסּוּרִין הַבָּאִין עָלָיו גּוֹמְרִין לוֹ הַכַּפָּרָה, וּלְעוֹלָם אֵין מִתְכַּפֵּר לוֹ כַּפָּרָה גְּמוּרָה, עַד שֶׁיָּבוֹאוּ עָלָיו יִסּוּרִין; וּבְאֵלּוּ נֶאֱמָר "וּפָקַדְתִּי בְשֵׁבֶט פִּשְׁעָם; וּבִנְגָעִים עֲוֹנָם" (תהילים פט,לג).

If a person violates [sins punishable by] karet or execution by the court and then returns [to the correct path], Teshuvah and Yom Kippur have a tentative effect, and the sufferings which he experiences complete the process of atonement. A person never achieves complete atonement without experiencing suffering. Regarding these it is said, “I count their transgressions with a stick, and their errors with stripes” (Psalms 89, 33).

If someone has completed the process of Teshuva, and observed Yom Kippur properly, why is something more necessary to achieve atonement. What is the definition of יסורין–yesurin, trials or tribulations and what is their role? The Talmud discusses the topic of yesurin:

תלמוד בבלי - מסכת ערכין - דף טז,ב

עד היכן תכלית יסורין? אמר רבי אלעזר: כל שארגו לו בגד ללבוש ואין מתקבל עליו. מתקיף לה רבא זעירא ואיתימא רבי שמואל בר נחמני: גדולה מזו! אמרו - אפילו נתכוונו למזוג בחמין ומזגו לו בצונן בצונן ומזגו לו בחמין, ואת אמרת כולי האי! מר בריה דרבינא אמר אפילו נהפך לו חלוקו רבא ואיתימא רב חסדא ואיתימא רבי יצחק ואמרי לה במתניתא תנא אפילו הושיט ידו לכיס ליטול שלש ועלו בידו שתים דווקא שלש ועלו בידו שתים אבל שתים ועלו בידו שלש לא דליכא טירחא למישדייהו וכל כך למה דתניא דבי רבי ישמעאל כל שעברו עליו ארבעים יום בלא יסורין קיבל עולמו במערבא אמרי {דף יז,א} פורענות מזדמנת לו.

What is the minimal functional definition of suffering? Rebbe Eliezer said: One who orders a shirt wear and it doesn’t fit. Rava Zeira objected (some say it was Rebbe Shmuel ben Nachmeini) and stated even further: Even if he ordered a hot drink and it was prepared for him iced, or he ordered iced and it was prepared for him hot; and you said all this (that the minimum is a garment not fitting!). Mar ben Ravina said: Even if he put his shirt on inside out. Rava said (and some it was Rav Chisda or Rebbe Yitzchak, or it was taught by a Tanna): Even if he pulled his hand from his bag to grab three coins and he ended up grabbing two coins. This is limited to the case where he wanted three and grabbed two, but if he wanted two and grabbed two, this would not apply, because it is not a bother to put coins back. And why do we need all this? For we learned in a Baraita, the house of Rebbe YIshmael: anyone for whom forty days pass without any frustration, is receiving his reward in this world. In the West they would say, he is ripe for suffering.

I might have expected the Talmud to list all sorts of serious troubles we experience as human beings. I did not think the barista getting my latte order wrong to be included. What is the basic definition of יסורין–yesurin? Why is it essential to the כפרה–atonement process? And what’s the problem with having a good 40 days?

Rav Soloveitchik explained that יסורין are frustrations and setbacks we experience in everyday life. They do not need to be grand hardships. The simple hassle of getting the wrong drink or not getting the right pocket change is sufficient. Even these minor trials and tribulations challenge a person’s default concept that they should get everything they want, that the world works according to how they want it to operate.

The Rav goes on to explain that we should treat these frustrations as מכפרין–a form of atonement. These haphazard and insignificant episodes that make a person uncomfortable and frustrated can serve a higher purpose. They are an opportunity to accept a divine will outside of ourselves. The Rav said "there is no תשובה without קרבן”, there is no change without sacrifice. Trials and tribulations provide an opportunity for authentic sacrificial action, to give up some of our desires that the world work according to our own will.

What’s the problem with going forty days without יסורין–yesurin/frustrations? That’s simply not the way the world operates. We all experience regular frustrations, it is part of the fabric of human life. The Sages noted that if someone does not experience frustration during an extended period of time, something must be amiss. Perhaps he is receiving an unseemly worldly reward, or he is blind to the world around him. We would expect such an attitude to have later consequences.

In summation, יסורין–yesurin/frustrations provide a lesson in how the world operates. They uproot a sense of selfishness which lies at the root of many of our erroneous actions and ways of thinking. They challenge a person to face their own attitudes, which may serve as a catalyst toward personal growth and development. These minor frustrations can be meaningless, or they can be infused with meaning.

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