From the shiurim on Kav Hashgacha Pratis
Disclaimer: All opinions mentioned here are presented for discussion only. For practical ruling, please consult with your Rav.
Emunah
Rav Yehuda Gewirtzman from Beit Shemesh and Rav Leibel Stern from Rechovot: No one chooses yissurim. They simply occur. But we can choose how we react to them. Two people can go through the same pain, and each of them experiences it differently. When a person encounters yissurim, he can choose to try to fight the yissurim or to accept them. Fighting against the reality is hopeless, and it ultimately results in a person’s drowning in his misfortune. When he fights his yissurim, he focuses on the pain and suffering, and he is not able to see the good things in his life. When we accept yissurim, we spare ourselves the hatred in our hearts, and the bitterness of the yissurim subsides. The most important tool that helps us to survive and grow from yissurim is emunah.
Rav Yisrael Meir Sillman from Yerushalayim: Life is not easy, and there are difficult and challenging stages. Nevertheless, if a person continues “swimming” despite the failures and difficulties, he will ultimately reach safe shores. The way to safe shores is not easy; it is accompanied by suffering, pain, and difficulty. If you are now in a difficult stage – don’t fall. Don’t put your head down. Continue swimming. Don’t give up. In the end you will reach safe shores.
Rav Shimon Shushan from Yerushalayim: When we experience yissurim we can get the feeling that they are worse than what they truly are. A stone that falls into a pool is a good example of this: When the stone falls in, it causes ripples going outward in all directions. The waves seem so large, but they are only reflecting the place where the stone fell in. In the same way, yissurim seem so large, but they don’t reflect the truth.
With Gratitude and Joy
Rav Avigdor Rosenthal from Bnei Brak: Hakadosh Baruch Hu does only good, but not always do we see this. Therefore, it is important to give thanks always for the hidden chassadim and to ask for revealed chassadim in the future. When a person feels he is in a situation of hester Panim, he needs to think about the root of this hester Panim: What is the hidden chessed that is hiding behind the hester Panim? When a person stops defining himself as being in hester Panim but rather focuses on the chessed hidden with it, he can handle it better.
Rav Zev Aryeh Steiglitz from Bnei Brak: A person needs to accept the bad with joy. If he does not do this, he causes himself great harm. He needs to know that Hashem brought this situation upon him, and that he could emerge from it. He needs to overcome sad thoughts and focus on simchah. He needs to live with emunah in Hashem, not with sadness and worry. One who believes in Hashem with all his heart and soul will never fall into sadness.
He’aras Panim
Rav Yaakov Yisrael Arera from Yerushalayim: Hester Panim does not mean pain and hurt, but rather distance from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. A person can be rich and successful, but if he is not close to Hashem, he is in a state of hester Panim. On the other hand, a person can be poor and beset by yissurim, but if he is close to Hashem, then he is in a state of gilui Panim. If a person is in pain, this is the time to come close to Hashem through tefillah and emunah, and then he’ll be zocheh to see he’aras Panim.
Rav Shimon Deutsch from Bnei Brak and Rav Avraham Yeshaya Cohen from Modi’in Illit: There are many good things in life, and it is important to focus on them. If a person focuses on good things, he will not see the hester Panim. Everyone has good things in life. It’s important to think about the good things and give thanks for them.
Rav Dovid Leifer from Yerushalayim: Hakadosh Baruch Hu is close to us, especially when it is hard for us. He holds us and helps us get through the difficulties. We can illustrate this through the example of a father with a sick son: When a child is sick, his father cares for him and invests in him more than in his other children.
Rav Aharon Beifus from Rechasim: The way to deal with the feeling of hester Panim is to search for the sparks of chessed that appear within the difficulty. It can even be something small. When we search for the chessed, we’ll find it, and we’ll see that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is still with us, and He still loves us.
Rav Dovid Booker from Tzfas, Rav Shimon Davidson from Yerushalayim, Rav Chaim Levy from Modi’in Illit: Rebbe Nachman of Breslov explains the passuk “In suffering, You brought me comfort” to mean that Hakadosh Baruch Hu provides us with comfort through our tzaros themselves. When we encounter difficulties, we can understand that good is coming to us through the tzaros.
Rav Shlomo Shimon Rotman from Beit Shemesh, Rav Aharon Schick from Bnei Brak: “Hashem reprimands those He loves” (Mishlei 3:12). When a person goes through a difficult time, it is not because Hashem has left him but rather because Hakadosh Baruch Hu loves him and cares for him and is reprimanding him, in order to do good to him ultimately.
We would like to thank all our readers for their enlightening responses. Due to space constraints we could not present all of them here.
