We have discussed that קבלת יסורים באהבה sweetens the bitterness of the suffering.
There is an incredible insight from Rav Elchanan Wasserman zt”l, Hy”d, wherein he explains the words in the Haggadah, שהקב”ה חישב את הקץ, HaKadosh Baruch Hu has “calculated” the end of the Galus. “There are times,” says Rav Elchanan, “when yissurim are ordained for a person—but in what way the yissurim will come to him, what form they will take, will vary. True, the bitter coffee must be drunk, but the person can determine how many spoons of sugar will sweeten it. HaKadosh Baruch Hu “calculates” the trials and tribulations differently—according to the attitudes of the recipient.
The Ba’al Bitachon Chooses the Easiest Type of Yissurim
The Way Yissurim Come Depends on the Person
Even if it is bashert for a person to have yissurim, the Ribbono shel Olam may choose to consider the small challenges and inconveniences as yissurim—as the Gemara tells us, “To what extent is something considered yissurim? Even if one’s shirt was turned inside out; even if one put his hand in his pocket to take out three coins and he only came up with two!” (Erachin 16b). All these instances count as yissurim.
Yissurim That Don’t Hurt as Much
There are times when yissurim are bashert for a person—due to any number of reasons, whether on account of his past actions, or due to different cheshbonos from Above.... Even then, it was not ordained how much the yissurim should hurt. Anything can be counted as yissurim—as the Gemara tells us.
Different Intensities of Galus
Explains Rav Elchonon:
Galus Mitzrayim had to have been for 400 years—because this is what Hashem had decreed. But there could have been a number of ways in which the Galus would manifest itself, either easier or more difficult. We find the same concept in Maseches Makkos: When one murders a person in error, he must exile himself to an עיר מקלט. However, when a Levi—who resides in the עיר מקלט—kills a person by mistake, it is sufficient for him to exile himself to another neighborhood within the city.
Two people endure yissurim—each with a varied degree of intensity. Some must exile to the other end of the country, while for others it is sufficient to move to another neighborhood.
The same applies to every form of suffering a person endures: There are various degrees in the quality of the suffering. One may endure it in a lighter form, while another person experiences the yissurim with greater intensity.
Galus Mitzrayim: Calculating in the Lightest Form
Continues Rav Elchanan:
This is what is meant by חשב את הקץ, HaKadosh Baruch Hu “calculated” the end: Instead of giving Klal Yisrael the most severe ravages of Galus for all 400 years, He calculated it with great compassion, making the yissurim as easy as possible. The count of the 400 years began well before the truly difficult shibud Mitzrayim took place—all the way to the birth of Yitzchak Avinu, for even a one-day-old child senses the suffering of his parents, and this too is counted as part of the Galus.
And on Pesach night we give thanks for this very fact that Hashem calculated the keitz with such compassion—choosing to give us the yissurim in their lightest form.
Acceptance Lightens the Load
This yesod of Rav Elchanan is central to each and every person in the challenges they endure in life.
The Gemara (ibid) stating that even small challenges may be considered yissurim is telling us, “Know that all people must endure yissurim in their lives, but all yissurim come with spoons of sugar to sweeten them! And the way to access the sweetener is by accepting the yissurim—as the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh tells us, ‘The remedy for yissurim is acceptance.’”
The more we accept the yissurim b’ahavah, the more we sweeten the situation. Hashem will count as yissurim even the slightest inconveniences—things that for others would never be considered yissurim. It is up to us to decide what kind of yissurim we will receive.
HaKadosh Baruch Hu calculates the keitz, the end of yissurim. How? Through our bitachon and our acceptance.
