Señor Raphael Picciotto (רפאל די פיג'וטו) owned a beautiful white horse that he greatly enjoyed riding during excursions outside the city. When the horse fell ill and died, he was heartbroken, feeling as though he had lost a beloved companion.
Many rabbis tried to console him, but none succeeded—until R' Mordechai Attiah offered words of comfort drawn from Tehillim:
לא אקח מביתך פר ממכלאתיך עתודים, I will not take a bull from your house, nor from your pens any goats.
R' Attiah interpreted the phrase מביתך פר in the following way. He read פר as an acronym for רבקה פיג'וטו, identifying Raphael’s wife, Rivka Picciotto. In this creative reading, the verse became a divine message: “I will not take from you, Rivka Picciotto, but rather, as a kappara, atonement, I will take from your stables—a horse.” Understanding the loss of his horse as taking the place of his wife leaving this world offered great comfort to Raphael Picciotto, easing his grief.
One can look at setbacks and suffering in one’s life as a kindness from Hashem as it could have been much worse.
