By Yoni Schwartz
At a young age, Rav Elazar Shach unfortunately lost his daughter. He was deeply pained, to the depths of his soul, and at times found it difficult to keep moving forward. No matter how hard he tried, day after day, he felt the pain creep back in; it felt as if his reality had been overturned. He decided that he simply could not continue like this and that he should visit Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky, one of the gedolei hador at that time.
When he visited, he poured his heart out, expressing his deep pain and unbearable difficulties. Rav Chaim Ozer responded that he himself had lived a very difficult and painful life, losing many loved ones along the way.
He asked Rav Shach, “How do you think I managed to survive when I was in similar circumstances?” He then answered, “If Your Torah, Hashem, were not my delight, I would have been lost in my affliction.’”
Rav Chaim Ozer continued, “Carrying the burdens of Klal Yisrael on my back would not have been possible if the Torah had not been there for me. You have nothing else to do but throw yourself into the comforting words of Torah, because only through it do we experience closeness to Hashem, the source of all strength and comfort.” Rav Shach did just that, and he ultimately found the strength to keep pushing forward, learning Torah, and eventually becoming one of the leaders of world Jewry.
Rav Elazar Shach
Reprinted from the Parshas Vayikra 5786 email of Torah Sweets.
