Jewish Words of Wisdom: Quotes from January 1998

From the Week of 25 Tevet 5758/January 25, 1998

There is only one quote this week, from Berachot 5a, b. It is about a Jewish response to suffering

"R. Hiyya b. Abba fell ill and R. Johanan went in to visit him. He said to him: Are your sufferings welcome to you? He replied: Neither they nor their reward. He said to him: Give me your hand. He gave him his hand and he raised him.

"R. Johanan once fell ill and R. Hanina went in to visit him. He said to him: Are your sufferings welcome to you? He replied: Neither they nor their reward. He said to him: Give me your hand. He gave him his hand and he raised him. Why could not R. Johanan raise himself? They replied: The prisoner cannot free himself from jail.

"R. Eleazar fell ill and R. Johanan went in to visit him. He noticed that he was lying in a dark room, and he bared his arm and light radiated from it. Thereupon he noticed that R. Eleazar was weeping, and he said to him: Why do you weep? Is it because you did not study enough Torah? Surely we learnt: The one who sacrifices much and the one who sacrifices little have the same merit, provided that the heart is directed to heaven. Is it perhaps lack of sustenance? Not everybody has the privilege to enjoy two tables. Is it perhaps because of [the lack of] children? This is the bone of my tenth son! He replied to him: I am weeping on account of this beauty that is going to rot in the earth. He said to him: On that account you surely have a reason to weep; and they both wept. In the meanwhile he said to him: Are your sufferings welcome to you? He replied: Neither they nor their reward. He said to him: Give me your hand, and he gave him his hand and he raised him."

From the Week of 11 Tevet 5758/January 11, 1998

All quotes this week are from Jewish Wisdom by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin

"When G-d created Adam, He led him around the Garden of Eden and said to him: 'Behold my works! See how beautiful they are, how excellent! All that I have created, for your sake did I create it. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy my world; for if you do, there will be no one to repair it after you." (Ecclesiastes Rabba 7:13)

"A Jewish ecology...[is] not based on the assumption that we are no different from other living creatures. It [begins] with the opposite idea: We have a special responsibility because we are different, because we know what we are doing." (Rabbi Harold Kushner, To Life!)