Rav Miller Learns a Lesson
What type of pictures? So listen to me now. Here's a man who just recently married. Only two months he’s married and he’s looking forward to a happy career with his kallah and suddenly he has a pain in the thigh and he tries to ignore it but it continues and finally he goes and discovers the news. The doctor says, “It’s sarcoma. Synovial sarcoma.” It means that there’s a cancer growing on his knees, by that fluid that we take for granted.
And he comes to me and he says, “What’s going to happen?”
Now, I know what’s going to happen. And so I told him he should steel himself for what's in store for him; how he should prepare for a difficult road ahead. He broke down and wept as I was talking to him. We spoke for a long time and then he left.
Of course I davened for him. Every day I davened for him. I cried for him. And we spoke to people, people who know these things, and we found him the best doctors. But I didn’t lose sight of this principle, that Hashem is teaching me how grateful I should be that my knees are healthy. I forgot all about my knees! A frum Jew should glide around all day and not be thanking Hashem for his two healthy knees?! It’s a chatas!
And so ‘Hashem teaches the chatoim the way.’ That’s one of the ways that Hashem teaches mankind. This young man has now become a lesson.
Never Tire Of It
Now why he was elected is not for me to say. It could be that he was a perfectly righteous man and there is some purpose beyond my ken for which he was chosen. But this we can certainly know, that he was chosen in order that we should learn from him. Hakadosh Baruch Hu needs people who should serve as lessons for others because mankind is unaware of their happiness unless they see someone who is unfortunate.
And so, this lecture is going to be listened to by many people outside of this place and they're going to learn the happiness of having healthy joints and bones. If they'll listen to this again and again and never tire of it and repeat it to themselves and practice it many times while walking; when they get up in the morning and they get off their beds painlessly they'll remember this story of this young man who couldn't get off of his bed. He had to roll off and fall on the floor. It was excruciating pain for him to stand up and the pain never let up, even when he was lying in bed, much less standing up on his legs.
The Greatest Ambition
Now suppose this young man suddenly became well. Do you think he would ignore the fact that his thigh now swung forward effortlessly as he paced the street? That would be to him the greatest happiness. All of the ambitions he had dreamed about, he wouldn't need any of them to be realized. Even if his kallah would forsake him and even if all his life he remained a pauper, that would be success for him. That he can walk! That his thighs and knees are functioning normally. He would be delirious with joy.
But you? You get up from your bed and you’re a grouch. Your knees are functioning, your thighs are swinging effortlessly; no matter – you don’t even think about it for a second. You would never know how fortunate you are unless somebody was chosen to teach you the lesson! And this young man was elected.
Now don't recoil at this and say, “Are you telling us we should profit, we should gain happiness, from the misfortunes of others?” Because the answer is yes, my friends. That's what you're expected to do. Certainly you should commiserate with them. Certainly you should try to feel their plight and do whatever you can do to help; it’s your first obligation.
But remember always that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is using them to transmit this message to you. The message is being delivered; like when somebody sends you a package but nobody is home. So the mailman leaves a slip, a sticker on the door. But if you never come to pick it up, the package is lost.
