Sicha from the Rebbi 22nd Shevat

By the grace of God,
the 22 Shevat (1)
Brooklyn, New York

I greet you and bless you,

... People ask me how to believe in divine providence? How can we imagine that God is the Master of the world and leads?

Imagine a man who has never known civilization which grew up alone in a desert.

Suddenly, he is led into the office of a dentist or a surgeon. There he sees a child sitting on the chair, bound and gagged him and the dentist pulls a tooth, then he cries. It is the same surgeon. He sees a man attached to the operating table, unable to move, to defend themselves or flee, undergoing an operation and losing blood.It is clear that one who escapes the idea that doctors are upright and righteous, who, of course, has no concept of medicine will reach the conclusion that the man attacking the child or the patient is a criminal, inflicting terrible pain to those who fall into his hands.

It will not be the same if the guest from the desert, has ideas on how to heal the physical body, he knows it is sometimes necessary to have an operation or to pull a tooth. At the time, the pain is great, but that is how man can be preserved for a long and terrible suffering that his body will remain healthy for decades.

Even if this man knows nothing of medicine, it can verify that the dentist or surgeon is a good man, regretting the pain of the child or the patient, but believes that it is necessary, at least transiently, to exert its effect thereafter for decades.

The same goes for what is the subject of our discussion. Each of us is the spectator of transient events, occurring over several days, months or years and you forget completely that his soul was already several thousands of years before that. Moreover, this soul is immutable. It will be the same tomorrow and forever. In imposing a passing pain, mild considering the life of the soul before the event and after it, he can be an advantage to be eternal, for the past and the future. In such cases, not only we will not call into question the principle of such suffering, but much more, in the words of the prophet Ichai (12, 1), we say:"I praise You, Lord, for giving me reprimanded. ...

With my blessing,

M. Schneerson