So we just heard that the topic tonight is the concept of suffering in the eyes of Chassidus. In other words, what does what the view of Chassidus when it comes to the concept of pain and suffering. Now we could talk about this subject from different angles, but we're going to choose only one angle to discuss. In other words, some people might think that the discussion really should be: how is there a possibility for the existence of suffering, which is bad, which is how could there be such an existence in the world of something that's bad? Since we know that כי ממך הכל, everything comes from Hashem, and Hashem is תכלית הטוב, He's truly good, there's nothing there but good, and everything comes from Him, so how could there be something that's not good that comes from Him when He is purely good? That's not the subject we're going to discuss. That subject is a subject that has an explanation in Chassidus also, and in Kabbalah, and it's a very deep subject, and I'll just tell you the words of the answer without going into the explanation. The words of the answer is that this is all because of the tzimtzum. Because there is a tzimtzum, which is the contraction of the godly light, therefore there is a possibility for something that seems to be bad to exist. Which is really the same answer to a similar question: if God, since He's infinite, בלי גבול, unlimited, so how is there a possibility for limited things to come out of Him? Or we know that Hashem is אחד, He's one, unity, so how is it possible that ריבוי, many different things will come from one? And the answer is because of the tzimtzum. And I'm not explaining it, I'm just saying what it says, because of the tzimtzum. The same question we would ask: we know that in the higher worlds there is אורות and כלים, there is the light and the vessels, and the vessels are the הגבלה, the limitation of the light. How could there be limitation? The answer is because of the tzimtzum. And the same way, how is there a possibility of pain and suffering, which seems to be things which are negative, no good? It's all because of the tzimtzum. As it says in Kabbalah, that the צמצום הראשון, the first tzimtzum, the original tzimtzum, the contraction of the light, caused that in a lower level of השתלשלות, it brought about the שבירת הכלים of תוהו, and the שבירת הכלים brought the מיעוט הירח, and the מיעוט הירח could cause all kinds of things. And that is the reason why there is such a thing as רע, as evil, as bad, as suffering in the world. But like I said, this is not our subject tonight. We're not going to discuss the existence of רע, of bad, or of some things which seem to be bad in the world. But we're going to discuss it this subject, this topic is from a different angle. The question is: why would Hashem make people suffer? Which means the question is based on hashgacha pratis. Since everything is b'hashgacha pratis, everything is by Divine Providence, which means that Hashem makes everything happen, so then when something bad happens to a person, and a person has pain, who gave him this pain? Hashem gave him this pain. Now how why or how how come Hashem will give a person pain? Which basically is based on the famous statement of the Chazal that אין רע יורד מן השמים, nothing bad comes from heaven. If nothing bad comes from heaven, how is it possible that bad things should happen? Things which are bad, they're pain, they're bad, how is it possible if it comes from Hashem, and Hashem is good, and nothing bad can come from Hashem, so how is it possible that Hashem makes, since it's b'hashgacha pratis, everything that happens He makes happen, how could He make bad things happen? And the question is not only as the famous expression, when people talk about this topic they have a famous expression that I avoided of using was, \"Why do bad things happen to good people?\" The question is not only about why do bad things happen to good people. The question is: why do bad things happen to bad people, too? In other words, why if it comes from Hashem, and Hashem makes everything happen, and Hashem is good, and nothing bad comes from Hashem, so how is it that Hashem makes bad things happen? Now if it happens to good people, the question is even greater, that it happens even to good people. Now the classical understanding of some people is that Hashem doesn't make it happen. In other words, if a person doesn't behave properly, then Hashem takes away his hashgachah pratit. Hashem takes away his hashgachah, Hashem takes away his taking care, there is no more Divine Providence, there's no more hashgachah pratit. פרטית means in detail, specifically to this person. And Hashem leaves this person to chance, to nature. And if you're left to nature, unfortunately, in nature you have good things and you have bad things. So it's possible that bad things should happen because it's not from Hashem. Now this, number one, would only answer when bad things happen to bad people. So you could say, well, Hashem didn't make it happen because Hashem doesn't make anything bad, He just leaves you up to nature because you were bad, so He stopped taking care of you, so now you're in the hands of nature, and sometimes bad things happen in nature. What happens about good people? Then we have the question, why do bad things happen to good people? There we don't say Hashem takes away his hashgachah pratit. So there we say Hashem does make everything happen. So Hashem takes care and makes this person suffer. There we have a question: why does Hashem do it, how does Hashem do it, or why does Hashem do it? But that's not really the main thing. The main thing is we can't accept that answer for a simple reason, because we do not accept the whole concept that there are people who are not under hashgachah pratit. This answer was that the people who don't behave properly, Hashem drops them and says now you're on your own, now you're under nature. That's not true. We know the Baal Shem Tov said that everything is behashgachah pratit, everything is with Divine Providence. So even if a person is bad, behaves not the way he should, it's still hashgachah pratit, still Hashem makes it happen. So the question is, if Hashem is good and we know nothing bad comes min hashamayim, from Hashem, so how is it that bad things happen to people, and certainly the question would be how come it happens to good people? Now, the emet is that this is a question that was asked, it's an ancient question, it's a question that was asked, the Gemara says, by Moshe Rabbeinu, he asked this question of Hashem, and Iyov asked this question of Hashem. The question is very, very old, and there is an answer that the Gemara gives to this question, an explanation, but the truth is, as we'll see in a moment, the explanation the Gemara says needs in itself an explanation. The Gemara answers like this: that we have two types of tzadikim. You have צדיק וטוב לו, צדיק ורע לו. Now, this is where Tanya gets the expression from, but the way he explains it in Tanya is not the simple peshat. Simple peshat in the Gemara is you have a צדיק ורע לו, that means a tzadik that bad things happen to him, ורע לו, צדיק ורע לו, bad things, he suffers, you have a צדיק that suffers. And then you have a צדיק וטוב לו, a צדיק that doesn't suffer, a צדיק that only has good. And the Gemara asks that question: why is it that you have a צדיק וטוב לו, some צדיקים it's good, and you have some צדיקים ורע לו, that they suffer, pain, they have pain, bad things happen to them? And the Gemara's answer is you have the צדיק ורע לו is צדיק שאינו גמור, צדיק וטוב לו צדיק גמור. The צדיק that bad things happen to him is not a complete צדיק. If he's not a complete צדיק, then Hashem says, since you're not completely a צדיק, there are still some things which are not so good with you, Hashem says I want to make you suffer in this world, so then the little bit of punishment that you do deserve for the little bit of not so good things that you did should, so I give you that little bit of punishment, so in this world I give you that punishment, so in the next world you'll only have עולם הבא, you'll only have good. So a צדיק that's not complete is צדיק ורע לו, bad things happen to him. צדיק גמור, if you're a complete צדיק, there is no reason for this person to have any type of punishment, so there is no reason for Hashem to make him suffer in this world. So he is a צדיק וטוב לו, so he's a צדיק that only good things happen to him. So in other words, the Gemara's answer is that when do bad things happen? If you're not a complete צדיק. That means there is still a little bit of evil. Now, we're still left with the question to understand that after all if everything comes from Hashem and this is no good, how is it that this thing which is no good, the רע, should come from Hashem? How does it come from Hashem if it's no good, or why would Hashem do it? But besides that, the question is, when we look around, it doesn't seem necessarily to be true that a צדיק גמור, a complete צדיק, doesn't suffer. I mean, throughout history, we found many צדיקים, great צדיקים, you find in the Gemara צדיקים from the Gemara, תנאים, אמוראים, that you can't imagine their great Is and the term צדיק גמור is even too low for them, that they're completely—and they suffered. So the question really is, where does this all come from? How is it possible there'd be such suffering? Because suffering is bad, and bad cannot come from Hashem. So again, we're not discussing the existence of of bad in the world, that's a separate question that we said before that's because of the צמצום. But what we're talking here now, how does Hashem make things bad when Hashem is good, and we know that nothing bad comes from Hashem? So how does it happen, what's the meaning of this bad or the suffering that happens? And the question is, even if the person is not good, certainly when it's a good person, so how do bad things or why do bad things happen to good people? Now in Chassidus, this is what we're getting to, in Chassidus we find basically three explanations to this question, three different ways of explaining it. But I must say that these three ways are not three different types of explanations or different ways of explaining it, but they are basically three levels. You can have a person who is in one level, and to him he will understand it one way, and you have a person in a higher level and he will understand it in another way, and you have a person a third level and he will understand it in another way. And based on the way the person understands, this is I'm going to explain, the result will be different. Each person understanding it in his level, the result, as I will explain, will be different. So you will have we have here three levels of understanding with three types of results concerning this question. And we'll start from the lower one and then we'll go to the higher one and then we'll go to the higher one.

The first explanation is that whenever Hashem does something bad to a person, whenever a person suffers, this is really a stepping stone for the good. In other words, even though it is bad, but it is to lead the person to something good. And therefore, even though it is in itself bad, but this will lead, this becomes a הכשר, a preparation to the good, and therefore the question cannot be asked: why does Hashem do it and how does this רע, this suffering, this bad comes down to this person? Because it's in order to lead the person to the good. And here you have many ways this could happen. One thing could be that when Hashem wants to give somebody something very good and He wants him to appreciate the good, in order to appreciate good you appreciate it more if it comes after bad. If somebody suffers and then things become very good, the good is even greater. So even though at the time when he suffered it was bad, but this was a stepping stone to have even greater good later on. So this is really a הכשר, a preparation for the good. Or, no, it's exact, exactly, but it's we'll see exact in a second. So this is to lead you to the good. Sometimes it's impossible to get to the good, not only to understand. See, what I just said now was in order to understand, to feel, to appreciate the good, to appreciate it even more, Hashem gives you bad. We can give an example to that. The Gemara says that when a king comes to town, you should run to see him. But the Gemara: when he's a Jewish king, you should run to see the kavod that a Jewish king has. What about a goyishe king? So says you should run to see him, because then you'll be able to see the difference and appreciate what greatness the Jewish king is going to have when Mashiach will come. So seeing a goyishe king with all his glory is not such a good thing for us. Nevertheless, it's going to lead you to good, that later on this will make you appreciate the Jewish king even greater. But it's only a preparation to the good, so that's why it's nothing that's why it could happen. Or sometimes, more than that, for certain reasons you cannot get to the good unless you get to the bad. Which the term in Chassidus would be used, it's a yeridah letzorech aliyah. Yeridah means that there is a descent, you go lower, it's not not good, but sometimes you can't go higher unless you go lower. Just like sometimes in order to get further, I mean closer to a place you want to go and you have to jump over something, so you have to go further away, and then that makes it possible for you to jump it over the obstacle and you'll get closer. So even though at the time you went further away, it is going further away, you are further away, but there is no problem with it because this is the way you're going to get closer. So sometimes, through the suffering you will get closer. Which this is the classical explanation to all the punishments of the Torah. We know that the Torah is referred to as תורת חסד, a Torah of kindness. How come we find in the Torah punishments of malkot, giving lashes and killing and all kinds of things? So it says this is this is the explanation, that since Hashem wants to cleanse the person, and it's very important for the person's neshama to be cleansed, the only way the neshama could be cleansed, in many cases, is by this punishment. So Hashem punishes the person in order to cleanse his neshama, so it's for the good, which explains why sometimes this punishment or the suffering is permanent, not even temporary. Because for this person, in order for him to reach the higher spiritual level, it's only if he has the suffering. So it's takeh a suffering and it's takeh bad, but it's all to get to the higher level, which is basically the explanation in Chassidus for the whole concept of Gehinnom. It says in Chassidus, why does a person's neshama go to Gehinnom? Because when you go to Gehinnom, even though it's pain and great pain, but that's the only way you could get to Gan Eden. So without Gehinnom, the neshama, because of certain things it did, is dirty, so to get to Gan Eden, it has to get clean, so it goes to Gehinnom, which is the famous story in Gemara that Acher, the famous person, Acher, who first was a Tanna and then he was from the very few people in Jewish history, great people, who turned away, and it says years later Rabbi Yochanan saw that his neshama had no rest. They couldn't put him to Gehinnom because he learned so much Torah. They couldn't put him to Gan Eden because of the things that he did, so he is nowhere. So Rabbi Yochanan davened to Hashem, and he said, \"Please, send him to Gehinnom. It's worse, worth to go to גיהנום כי היכי דאתי לעלמא דאתי, so eventually he'll get to Gan Eden.\" And that's what they did. The Gemara says that he took him to Gehinnom, and that he suffered in Gehinnom, but then he went to Gan Eden. So the whole concept of Gehinnom is only a stepping stone to get to Gan Eden. And the same is with suffering down here: it's a stepping stone for something better, for something good. So therefore you can't ask why would Hashem do something bad, because it's for a good reason, it's for a good purpose. Which is the reason, as I mentioned before, why we find that tzadikim in this world suffer, because even these people have something, some little bit, that they have to suffer for, so Hashem gives it to them in this world, so what will happen? So they will be cleansed completely, so they won't miss anything in Gan Eden. Because like this, if they'll have everything good in this world, they come to Gan Eden, they'll have to miss something there because of the things, the little bit that they didn't do enough. So Hashem says, \"I'm going to give you suffering, so it's for your benefit, so there you will have better.\" So this is the level, this is one explanation Chassidus gives: that it's suffering, it's bad, but it's for a good reason in order to get good. Which by the way reminds me of the story, the famous story with the Ruzhiner, that there was a person that had a lot of suffering. He suffered in everything, in his parnassah and with his children, all kinds of suffering. And he used to come to his Rebbe, Rebbe Yisrael Ruzhiner, and ask him for a bracha that he should stop suffering, and he wouldn't give him the bracha. Once, twice, ten times. Finally he nudged him and he, like, really pressured his Rebbe, \"I want a bracha, I want to get rid of this.\" So the Ruzhiner says, \"You know what? I'll tell you a story.\" And he tells him this story: \"There was a man who suffered a lot in this world. But he wasn't such a great tzadik, he didn't do everything the way he was supposed to, but he suffered a lot. Came to the world to come, and they had this trial, came to בית דין של מעלה, and they said, 'Let's weigh your mitzvot and aveirot.' So they weighed the mitzvot and they put it on the scale, and the aveirot side weighed down the scale all the way down. But then the judge in the בית דין של מעלה says, 'But you know, if a person suffers in this world, it takes away some of the aveirot. And in בית דין של מעלה it depends: if the mitzvot outweigh, you go to Gan Eden; if the aveirot outweigh, you go to Gehinnom.' So he says, 'Well, even though the aveirot outweigh, let's, I know this man, this judge said, I know he suffered a lot in this world. So bring it all, let's put it on the scale.' So they brought some of the suffering, they put it on the scale, and it started tipping slowly. Then he said, 'You have any more?' 'Yeah, he suffered this also.' They put it on, and it started tipping more. 'You have any more?' 'Yeah, more.' They put it on. And finally, almost, almost the good side tipped the scale. And then the judge says, 'Any more?' 'That's it, no more.' So this man turns around and says, 'Hashem, couldn't you give me a little bit more suffering?'\" So he told him this story, he says, \"You're still interested in the bracha?\" He says, \"Rebbe, no. No.\" But the pshat here is that suffering is a suffering, I mean it's bad. But if you understand this, you know that this is going to be for the good, then Hashem gives it to you. because it's for a good for a good purpose, it's for a benefit. And this explanation basically is based on the story in the Gemara with Rabbi Akiva. The famous story in Rabbi Akiva, that Rabbi Akiva came to a town and he used to always go around with a candle, so he should be able to learn at night, and he had a rooster to wake him up, to wake up to learn. Came to this town and he wanted to stay over in a hotel, and they didn't let him in, and he didn't know what to do. He had a problem. It was late at night, so he had no no choice but to go to the forest. And he felt that this is something terrible. I mean, he came to the forest, so he's going to learn in the forest. Came to the forest, he lit the candle to learn. A wind came and blew away the candle, and he couldn't light the candle again. Oy vey. Then came a dog or something and ate up the rooster, so he couldn't even wake him up in the morning. So he felt, \"Look what Look what kind of trouble I have.\" That night, robbers came to the town and robbed the whole town. And had he stayed in the town, he would have been robbed, too. Had he had his candle, robbers, the thieves, would have seen him from far. Had he had a rooster, it would make noise and they would come and get him, they would see him. So now he said, \"Now I see כל דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד. Whatever Hashem does is for the good.\" So here is a case what what expression did he use? \"Whatever Hashem does is for the good.\" This itself is not good. True, this is not good. Not having a place to sleep is not good. The candle, not having a candle is not good, you can't do what you want. Not having a rooster is not good. But it was for something good that came out of it later. So that's one way to look at suffering. That's one explanation Chassidut gives.

Then there's another explanation in Chassidut, a little bit deeper than this, that not only is the suffering a stepping stone to the good, but the suffering in itself is really really good. That is, a person with a higher level could see that when Hashem makes someone have pain, in essence, this is good. He feels it as pain. The difference between good and bad is only in the eyes of the beholder, of the person. He feels it as pain, but in truth, this is really good, just as the rest of the good. For instance, for example not for example, similar to if somebody would come and give you a blessing, but he uses a language that you don't understand, and in your language, it happens to be a curse. So you hear it as a curse, but in truth, it's a blessing, but you just don't know, you just don't understand the language. And even if it's not a curse, but if it's an expression that you don't understand, so as far as you're concerned, this is something bad. The guy's talking to me, he's wasting my time, there's nothing positive in it. But in truth, he's giving me a blessing. So the fact that I don't understand it, it's my problem. But in truth, this is something that is good. Which is the classical explanation to in Chassidut for the תוכחה. The תוכחה are the curses in the Torah that we have in פרשת בחוקתי and we have in פרשת כי תבוא, and Chassidut explains that these curses are really berachot. They're berachot in disguise, they're blessings in disguise. We just don't understand it. So they're really good, they're really berachot under disguise. The Gemara tells a story that there was once Rabbi' Yehuda ben Gerim, one of the great Tannaim, came to visit Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai. And when they left, Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai asked his son, \"Did We had here such great guests, Rabbi' Yehuda ben Gerim and another Tanna. Did you manage to get a berachah from them?\" So he said, \"No.\" So he says, \"Why didn't you? Well, you could still catch them. Run and catch up to them and ask them for a berachah.\" He ran, came back a while later, pale, scared. So they asked him, \"What happened?\" So Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai asked him, \"What happened?\" So he says, \"I asked them for a berachah and they cursed me instead of a berachah.\" So he said, \"A curse? How could it be? What did they say?\" And he told him everything they said, and then Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai explained to him how every word they said was really a berachah, but it was in a riddle form and a disguise. So that's really a berachah. So you have good which is disguised in bad. You have If you have clear eyes, a proper vision, you're able to see through it and see how this bad is really good. But you have to have clear eyes. That was the story of the Mitteler Rebbe, that the Mitteler Rebbe once, פרשת כי תבוא, when we read these curses, and it was a Shabbos that his father was out of town, the Alter Rebbe was out of town, and the Alter Rebbe always used to read the Torah, and that Shabbos he wasn't there so someone else read. And the Mitteler Rebbe, he was still a young man, he got fainted when he heard the curses, and he got so sick that this was פרשת כי תבוא is about two weeks before Rosh Hashanah, that when it came to Yom Kippur, which a few weeks later, there was a question whether he's allowed to fast, that's how sick he was. So when they asked him, \"This is not the first time you hear this פרשה. What happened this year?\" So he says, \"אַז דער טאַטע ליינט, הערט זיך נישט קיין קללות. When my father reads, I don't hear קללות, I hear brachot. So he had the proper eyes to see that these are brachot. If you don't have clear eyes, you don't see it. It sounds like curses. The same thing when something bad happens to a person. If you don't have the clear eyes, then you see it as something bad, as a pain. But if you have clear eyes, you could see that this is really, in truth, this is really good. To use a simple example, example is when a parent pressures a child to learn Torah, and the child feels he is suffering. He is definitely suffering. Look at his father his father or mother or the teacher are trying to make him צרות. This, to him, because he doesn't understand it yet, it's pain. In truth, this is a brachah, this is good. He just doesn't see it yet. He'll get a little bit older, he'll look back and he'll see, oh, that's the greatest, the best thing my parents did to me that day when they pressured me I have to learn, because they made me learn. When a little baby plays with a knife and the mother comes over and takes the knife away, the baby feels that the mother is being bad to the child, taking away the toy. But the mother is doing the best thing for the child. But you can't see it. So if the child would someone who has seichel sees the truth. Someone who's young and doesn't have seichel doesn't see the truth. The same thing is with sufferings, that really it is good. Now, this is not the same explanation as before. The explanation before was that really it is bad, but it's bad that will lead you to good. This explanation is a different explanation in Chassidus, that really every time something bad happens to a person, it's really, really good. You just don't see it. Now, this is based on the other story of the Gemara, the story with Nachum Ish Gamzu. And just in short, this famous story that once there was a time when the Jews wanted to send somebody, a messenger, to Rome, to the emperor, in order to ask him for to take off certain decrees, and they chose the great צדיק, Nachum Ish Gamzu, that he should go. And they sent along a box full of jewelry and gold and silver and diamonds as a present to the king. And on the way, he went to sleep in a hotel, and the hotel keeper stole opened the box and saw what is there, so he instead of what he did was, he emptied the box, stole the stuff inside, and took some sand from his backyard and put it into the box. When he woke up in the morning, he took the box and came to the king, and he told the king, we I'm coming here on behalf of the Jews, asking you to nullify this and this decree, and here they brought you a present. And the king opened the box, and lo and behold, it's full of sand. So he said that, \"What, did the Jews make me a joke of me?\" And Nachum Ish Gamzu said, \"gam zu letovah, this is for the good.\" What happened was Hashem made that Eliyahu HaNavi appeared in the disguise of a of a guard, and he says to the king, \"You know, I learned once that when Avraham Avinu had the war, we learn in Chumash, with the four kings, the whole story with the four kings and the five kings, and Avraham Avinu went to fight with כדרלעומר, so it says in I learned, says in, the Chazal tell us that they would the people would pick up sand, Avraham Avinu's side, and throw it, and it would turn into arrows, into spears.\" So he said, \"Maybe this is that type of sand.\" So the king says, \"Yeah? Oh, there's a war I'm fighting now that I can't win. Let's try it out.\" So they sent the sand to the front, and that's what happened. They took the sand and they threw it, and it that won them the war. So he said, \"You see, this is for the good.\" So they came back and they nullified the decree, and he told them, \"Come to my treasures, you can take whatever you want.\" You see, ברוך the king was so happy. Now, when he went on the way back, he stopped off in the same hotel. They were sure, the guy, the hotel manager were sure that they're going to kill the king is going to kill him. He saw him alive, he said, \"What happened?\" So he told him the story, \"I brought him, there was sand in there, and this is what kind of sand it was.\" So he says, \"Yeah?\" He knew that the sand came from his backyard. So he said, \"I have...\" So he took wagonloads of that sand and came to the king and said, \"Here, I have so much of that sand.\" They tried the sand, it didn't work, so they killed the guy, and he was saved. And what did he say? \"Gam zu letovah, this is for the good.\" Now, this is a different expression than Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva said, and I'll repeat again, \"כל דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד, whatever Hashem does is for the good.\" Because what happened was bad, but it's for the good. He said, נחום איש גם זו לטובה he said, \"This is good. What happened was good. It was a good thing. There was nothing bad in it, he just didn't know about it. When you look at the sand, you don't know this, but really, this sand is good sand, and what happened was, he exchanged something that we're not sure would have worked, because to bring a present of gold and silver to a king, maybe or it would have helped or not, because the king doesn't need it. So it was changed to something that did help, so that itself was good. Just the person who saw it looked at the sand, didn't know it. And the same thing is here with all suffering.\" It's not bad, just you just can't see it. So this is a second way Chassidus explains the concept of suffering.

Then there is a third way Chassidus explains the concept of suffering, that when a person suffers, not only is it a stepping stone, a preparation to something good, not only is it in itself good, but it's even a greater good than what we think is good. We are limited. The world is limited. When Hashem wants to give a person something that's so great and so strong, many times the person is not capable of receiving it. He is limited, so he has no vessel, he can't receive it. So what Hashem does, he brings it down in a disguised form. So it's even greater good, and it can't come down in this world in the form of good, so it comes down in a covered form. And we do find this many times, that Hashem brings down certain things in this world, and he wants to cover it up it shouldn't be seen. The expression some a mashal given that if you want to send somebody a diamond and you don't want that anybody should suspect that it's good, that it's something special to steal it, you would send it wrapped in garbage so no one will think. So you cover it because it's very good. Something that's very not special, so you don't have to hide it. But something that's very special, you hide it for whatever reason. This is the example given is from the story of Yehudah and Tamar, which doesn't seem such a nice story, and that's where David HaMelech came from. The same is with Moshe Rabbeinu, this week's פרשה. Moshe Rabbeinu was born from a marriage that had that marriage taken place after the Torah was given, the child would be a mamzer. Because Moshe Rabbeinu's father married his aunt. You're not allowed to marry your aunt. Nowadays if someone would marry his aunt, the child is a mamzer. This was before the Torah was given, so there's no problem. But nevertheless, it's not such a nice type of marriage if it's something that years later would have been forbidden by Hashem. But why did Hashem do this? Because this is something the neshamah of Moshe Rabbeinu is so holy that to come down, such a great thing had to be covered up. For different certain reasons, I don't want to go into it. Same thing with the neshamah of David and Mashiach has to come through cover-up. So we find that from time to time. So the same thing with an individual person. Hashem sometimes wants to give an individual person something that's very, very good, and he is not capable of receiving it because we have these limitations, so Hashem covers it up, covers the good, disguises it, hides it, so it's covered in what seems to be suffering, which seems to be bad, but really this is very good. In Chassidus, this is referred to as טוב from עלמא דאתכסיא, that when somebody something bad happens to a person, it's good from עלמא דאתכסיא, from the hidden world. Good that we see good, revealed good, is from עלמא דאתגליא, from the revealed world, so it's revealed. But עלמא דאתכסיא, and I'm not going to explain it, but in Kabbalah and חסידות, עלמא דאתכסיא is a higher level. It's a level that the light is so strong that you can't even see it. Just like when you look at the sun, when it's very, very strong, you're blind, you can't see it. So עלמא דאתכסיא it says that it's hidden because it's so high. So when it comes down here it's the same way. The light that's in this good is so strong that it's hidden and it looks like it's bad. This is the third way of explaining, which is interesting. The Chazal tell us on the pasuk that the Aibershter, Hashem created, at the end of the six days it says, וירא אלקים את כל אשר עשה, השם saw everything he did, והנה טוב מאד, it's very good. So listen, so the Chazal tell us like this: טוב, זה מלאך טוב. Good refers to the good מלאך. טוב מאד, very good, זה מלאך רע, that the bad angel. Then it says, טוב, זה מלאך חיים. Good is the מלאך of life. טוב מאד, very good, זה מלאך המות. The מלאך of death. The מלאך of death death is very good? Yes. What we're saying here is that when something bad happens, whether it's מות or things that are bad, in truth it's really טוב מאד, it's such great goodness that it has it comes down in this way. מאד. Very, very good. And this is the deeper peshat that Chassidus says in the pasuk, there's a famous pasuk that says like this, את אשר יאהב השם יוכיח. The one that Hashem loves, that's the one makes suffer. Now, the simple interpretation usually is, because if Hashem loves you, he wants to make sure that you're clean, so he makes you suffer, so you will cleanse your neshamah. But what we're saying now is a much deeper peshat. The one that השם loves, he wants to give him טוב מאוד, very good. He wants to give him tov, good from alma d'iskasya, and therefore יוכיח, he makes you suffer. So this is a third, third level. So again, the three levels are: the first one is that the bad, the suffering is bad, it's just for the sake of good. The second one is that it's in itself good, you just can't see it, like a child doesn't see why it's good to suffer by sitting over the book and learning, but it's really good. And the third one is not only is it good, but it's a higher level of good, a greater level of good than something that is a revealed good.

Now, these are three ways a person could look, based on Chassidus's explanation, could look on bad or suffering that happens to people. As the result of these three ways, there will be three different things a person will do. And let's go step-by-step. If a person is at the first level, and he's able to at least realize that anything that's bad that happens to him is only a stepping stone for the good, what will that cause? That will make him accept the bad, the suffering. The Gemara says, כשם שמברך על הטובה כך מברך על הרעה, just like you bless Hashem for the good, you have to bless him for the bad. You have to bless him for it, it means you can't complain. If something bad happens to a person, you can't complain because you know Hashem has a good reason and it's for something good. I feel bad, I suffer now, and the first the person on the first level feels the suffering, it is a suffering, but he can't complain, it's for the good. Like, for instance, a person who invests, person who invests $1,000, and he knows that in five years he'll makes his his money back. So, I can tell you the time when he gives the $1,000, he feels bad, \"I'm giving away $1,000. I can keep it in my pocket, I can buy something.\" But you won't complain, because you know that this will bring you an invest the investment will bring you you'll make $10,000 in five years from now, whatever it is. So, you don't complain. Now, you feel the loss, but you're mekabel it, you accept it. If a person is in the second level, not only will he accept it without complaining, but here comes the next step that the Gemara says, לקבולי בשמחה, you accept it with joy. See, the first one, the person is not happy that he suffers, he just doesn't complain because he knows, \"Eventually I'll get good.\" But if the second a person's in the second level, which means he realizes that really it's good, so just like a person is happy when you get good, you're happy when something bad happens to you because you know that it's really good. Now, there are levels here. A person who really has the eyes, the clear eyes that we said before, who sees it, is very happy. He sees how this bad is really good. The person who doesn't see it, but at least believes it, accepts it, also will be happy, because he knows that this is really something that's good, and therefore he is happy that this good thing happened, even though it seems like it's bad, but that's only a disguise. Like if a person will curse you, and in your language it's a curse, but you know that in his language it's a berachah, will you be upset, you'll be happy, you'll be feeling that this guy is giving you a berachah. You won't feel bad. See, if the other first level you say, \"Person is cursing you, but because of the curse, something good will happen later.\" So, at the moment it's a curse, you feel bad. But nevertheless, you accept it, you don't complain because, \"I know it will bring me to good.\" But the second way, you're happy, because you know you're getting a berachah, even though you don't see it. Some people see it, it's even better, if you don't see it, at least you believe it. So then, if a person is at the second level, what happens is, he's mekabel the suffering with simchah. A person who is at the third level, not only will accept it b'simchah like the good, he'll be happier. In other words, when something good happens then he'll be b'simchah. When something bad happens to him, he'll be even greater simchah, he accepts the suffering with a greater simchah. And the Gemara refers to the Gemara says, השמחים ביסורין, those that are happy specifically that they they suffer, עליהם הכתוב אומר the פסוק says, כצאת השמש בגבורתו, when Mashiach will come, these will be the first people that will get rewarded. Who? Not who accept suffering, not who say we're happy with suffering, but they are happy specifically because I suffered. Now, obviously this level is a very high level. To reach this level you have to be a person that gashmiyut doesn't mean much to you. Because if a person that gashmiyut means something to him, so he will feel the suffering, if he has pain, he will feel the suffering. But if a person is so great, and this is a very great tzadik, who really really doesn't care about gashmiyut, and he knows and he sees that when Hashem gives him good it's even better than— Hashem gives him bad, it's because it's even better than the good, and the gashmiyut aspect doesn't mean anything to him, this person will jump from joy for the fact that Hashem made him suffer. Because the gashmiyut, he won't even feel that he's suffering. See, the other, first two levels: the first one certainly feels he suffers; the second one feels, but in the suffering he sees how it's good. The third level is a person to him he doesn't suffer, which is similar, which is the famous story with Rav Zusha. We know that once like somebody came to the Mezritcher Maggid and asked the Mezritcher Maggid, \"How can a person be happy with suffering? Because you suffer, how is it possible?\" So the Mezritcher Maggid says to him, \"Don't ask me. There is a person sitting in the shul, one of my students, his name is Zusha from Anipoli. Go ask him, he'll explain it to you.\" Now, this Rav Zusha had such great suffering in his life, he had suffering from his family, from his health, he had only, only tzaros. This man walks out of the Maggid and goes into the shul and looks around and asks, \"Who is Zushia?\" They show him, \"See, this Jew there.\" So he walks over to Rav Zushia, he says, \"The Rebbe sent me to ask you something.\" \"Fine, what did he ask you?\" \"To explain to me how it's possible, what is the meaning that a person should be happy with suffering?\" So the Maggid says, \"I'm really surprised at our Rebbe. He should have sent you to somebody who suffered once in his life, so he'll be able to explain it to you. I never suffered, I don't know. So how could I...\" Now, like I said, he was full of suffering, but to him the the gashmiyus did not mean anything, and therefore, he didn't suffer. So to him it was good, and not just plain good, it was טוב of עלמא דאתכסיא, it was even better good. So if a person reaches that higher level, then that person is even happy with yisurim, but that's a very, very high level to reach. Now, the first two levels, many times, it's possible that the person really gets to see how it's good. Take for instance the first level, when it seems to be bad, but it's to lead you to the good. So the best example we always have, somebody is trying to catch a plane, and he's supposed to make an appointment, have a he has an appointment in some other city to make a big business deal, and he misses the plane, and because he misses the plane, he lost the appointment and he lost his deal, but then he finds out later that the plane crashed. So here's a case where he suffered, and he takeh suffered, but it was for the good, for a good reason. So sometimes this happens, not always. Sometimes a person suffers and doesn't see how really it leads him to the good. He doesn't see it, it's true, but he doesn't see it. And sometimes you do see it, or like the story of Rabbi Akiva. He had a problem, but then later he saw how this really turned out to be for the good. Then the second level, also, sometimes you see how the bad was really good, like the story of Nachum Ish Gamzu, where he actually this itself was good, that change was a good change, he just didn't see it at the time, he found out later. But you're able sometimes to find out later how this that happened was good. I'm just thinking, it's my own I don't know if it's true, that let's say the case of of of September 11th, those people who came late, that could be similar to the second case. It's not that it was something bad that was for good. See, when you miss your appointment, and you takeh miss it, and there is takeh a loss, but it saved your life, then it's for the good. Here it wasn't they didn't miss anything, it was purely good. The fact that so many people Hashem made that so many people came late to the to their offices that day, and because of that their life was was saved, that they saw later how this was not bad for the good, this was good, the fact that they came late. They just didn't see it at the time, they thought it was bad when they were trying to catch the train and they missed it and they came late, they thought it was, later it turned out that this was good, which is more than the first case. The first case, it's for it's bad because they missed the appointment and they missed the deal, but it's for the good, and this is good in itself. But I don't know if this is the right mashal or not, but it happens. The third level is something it can't be. Since the reason Hashem gives us this suffering is because it's so great, it's so good that the we can't take it, so now it never happens. We will never see how the bad is really the good of עלמא דאתכסיא. That's going to happen when Mashiach will come, then we'll be able to take it. And that's why the Gemara says, on this level, those that are happy with yisurim, specifically, extra happy with suffering, they will be the ones to merit the coming of Mashiach, because it's connect In the coming of Mashiach, they will be the ones to get it. But till then, they will not see it, because that's something that we cannot see. But besides that, this is specifically connected to Mashiach, because a person that is in the third level, that means this is a person that his gashmiyus is not תופס מקום, his gashmiyus, his physical cality doesn't mean anything to him. That person is already at a level that's similar to the time of Mashiach, because when Mashiach will come, what's gonna happen? We'll all be like that. We'll all be at a level that we will not care about gashmiyus, we'll only care about Hashem, we'll only care about spirituality, there will be the revelation of Hashem. So a person who lives in the third level now is already now in that level, מעין, a miniature way, in the level of the time of Mashiach. And there were tzadikim that lived in this lifetime, in this world, before Mashiach in the same level as Mashiach.

Just to tell you one story for a moment and we'll finish: The famous story that Rav Mendele Haradaker moved to Eretz Yisrael from Russia, and he moved to Tzfat. Once he visited Yerushalayim, and he stayed in someone's house, and he went to lay down in one of the rooms there. And there was a meshugener who walked up on top of Har Hazetim and started blowing shofar. Now, it says in pasuk that Mashiach will come, the shofar tune, tone, the the blowing of shofar will come from הר הזיתים. When people heard shofar from הר הזיתים, oh, Mashiach is coming! Mashiach is coming! What do you do? You want to know if it's true or not. The first thing the people did, they ran into the house where Rav Mendele was staying, and they walked into him, and they knocked on the door, and they said, there's a whole tumult! People are saying Mashiach is coming! Mashiach is there's we hear the shofar! So, he says, wait a moment. He went over to the window, stuck out his head, smelled, eh, says, שמעקט נישט משיח. I don't smell Mashiach. And the Chassidim asked, if Mashiach would have come, he would have smelled it in his house, too. I mean, he would be the first one to smell it. So, why did he have to open the window and smell it, try to see if he smells from outside? And the answer is, because in his house, it always smelled Mashiach. He wouldn't have known because they're always, because he lived a life like Mashiach, such a great tzaddik, and other tzaddikim like that. So, if you live a life like Mashiach, so then you reach that third level, and that's why Mashiach will come, they'll be the first. And this, just to finish off, this is the explanation in the Gemara where the Gemara says that a צדיק גמור, a complete tzaddik, is צדיק וטוב לו, is tzaddik that only good things happen to him. And the question we asked, it's not true! We look around and we know throughout history there were great tzaddikim, צדיקים גמורים, and they suffered. What it means is, they never suffered. As we said, a person who's in the third level doesn't suffer, like Rabbi Yehoshua, he doesn't suffer. That anything bad that happens to him, he sees it as good, and not just as good, he sees it as the greatness of good, טוב דאתכסיא. That's what the Gemara means! The Gemara says that צדיק גמור, if you're a complete tzaddik, it's a צדיק וטוב לו, it's always good for him. צדיק שאינו גמור, if you're not a complete tzaddik, it means you didn't reach that third level, then צדיק ורע לו, then sometimes bad things happen to him, because he feels the bad. Now, it could be he's in one of the first two levels, that it's bad, but he sees in the bad he sees the good, or could it be in the lower level, it's bad, but he sees how the bad will lead you to the good. But a צדיק גמור is צדיק וטוב לו, it's always good for him, because he's a complete tzaddik, so he reached that level. So, when we know this, even though we are not in any of these levels, I must say, it's hard for us to say that we're in the highest level, we don't do that. Even the second level, to see the good that's in what seems to be bad, even the first level, to really get the feeling of knowing that all this will lead you to the good, but even if we don't feel it, but as long as we learn Chassidut and we learn the explanation, or we're sitting here and discussing this subject, it makes it easier already. In other words, at least we know what we should feel. We don't feel If we'd feel it, we'd be fine, but if we at least in our mind know, that makes it easier. And then, when something chas veshalom bad happens, we take it in the right way, at least in our sechel, and then, hopefully we taka feel it, and hopefully Hashem will give us the proper reward, and ובצאת השמש בגבורתם, when Mashiach will come, then we'll see all this great good and the reward that we get for all this. Yes, yes. This week a settler was killed. A settler This week a settler was killed. So, how can you then see See, I'll tell you. All this is concerning oneself. We never say this when it comes to somebody else. We never say, well, something bad happened to that person, oh, it's very good! We don't say that. It's only for oneself, because for the other person, we have to look from the revealed end, and in the revealed way, we call it טוב הנראה והנגלה, the good that's revealed, this person is missing. And we ought always try that it shouldn't happen, and we have to pray to Hashem that even to us it shouldn't happen. But when it does happen, we have to look at it from this angle. Yes. Hashem is running the whole show. So, when the candle went out and the the rooster was killed, he just didn't have to have He could have let him have his candle, let him learn, and not bring him over to I don't know. See, that's right, that's what I was going to say. When you ask that, so we have nothing to speak about. Well yeah, so talk about that. No, but we can't, we have to judge everything from the gashmiyusdike way of teva, but understanding the deeper peshat. But if we're going to say, \"Well, Hashem does that, He could do anything. He could make this, He could make that, He could make no צמצום and never whether to be bad, or be good,\" then we're not working with any logical things. But if we're trying to understand, Hashem put us here with a sechel, with nature and with laws of nature, so everything that we do and everything that we try to understand has to go within that framework. Now, in truth we could say we don't understand and we don't have to understand, because Hashem can do anything. True? Yes. Why then should we say so? Just because suffering and pain is a gift, it's all good, whatever way you look at it. We're trying to figure that. Well, one way this is a a stepping by them, it's certainly the lower level, a stepping stone to the good, which is true. Because Hashem doesn't do anything bad, even to the resha'im. What He's doing is helping them. He's If somebody leaves it to degrees of chance No, no. No, I said that's not the peshat. Some people say that, but I said that that's not. According to the Baal Shem Tov, that's not true. There's no such thing as leaving to chance. Everything is hashgacha pratit. That's why I said in the beginning, those that answer that could say, at least by a rasha you could say it's not from Hashem, so there's no question. So I said no, but the Baal Shem Tov says everything is hashgacha pratit, so you can't answer that. Always leads to the good. All leads to come to good, right. Thank you, Rabbi.