"When a person contemplates this idea, and he thinks about the reality that he is literally being created every moment, מאין יש, a being from nothingness, then how could he think that life is bad for him or that he has yesurim from his children, his health, or from his parnassah, or any other kind of yesurim? Behold, he is being created from אין, nothingness [and nothingness is a very high level]. This is because חכמה, Hashem's wisdom, is called אין, nothingness, and חכמה is the source of all life, all goodness, and all pleasures. It is עדן, which is higher than Olam HaBa. Only, it is because the good cannot be perceived, which causes people to think that it is bad and yesurim. But the truth is that nothing bad comes down from Above, and everything is good, only we don't perceive it because the goodness is so massive.
"This is the primary emunah, for which man was created: To believe there isn't a place where Hashem isn't there... and therefore, במקומו וחדוה עוז, there is only joy. Everything is always solely good.
"So, the first thing is that a person should be happy all the time, and he should believe in Hashem Who gives life to all creation, and He does kindness to His nation at every moment.
"When someone is sad, and he moans, he is showing that he has a small amount of bad and yesurim, and that he lacks something good, and that is kefirah, chas v'shalom. Therefore, the chachamim of kabbalah are so strict with us that we shouldn't have any atzvus. But when one believes in Hashem, he isn't upset about any yesurim concerning any matter in the world. No and yes are the same to him – truly the same."
It states (Devarim 28:3) אתה וברוך בעיר אתה ברוך בשדה, "You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field." The Daas Zekainim m'Baalei HaTosfos explains that בעיר אתה ברוך refers to the city Yerushalayim, which is called הקדוש עיר, the holy city, and בשדה אתה ברוך refers to Tzion, as it states (Michah 3:12) תחרש שדה ציון, "Tzion shall be plowed as a field."
Reb Simchah Wasserman zt'l asks, why is it referred to as ברוך when Tzion is destroyed? How is this situation a blessing?
Everyone knows that a plowed field is the beginning of the growth that will come. Therefore, even when Tzion is plowed, it can be a blessing because it prepares for the restored times that will develop and prosper. (Simchas Elazar, vol.2 p.15).
Therefore, whoever feels that he is in a situation of "plowed" should know that much good will develop from this situation.
A hint to this idea is mentioned in (Eichah 3:10) במסתרים אריה, "A lion in hiding." אריה is gematria גבורה, which represents the matters that are difficult for a person, times that seem to be bad for him. But אריה is also gematria three times חסד because we must know that even that which appears terrible is solely Hashem's chesed.
Reb Chaim, the brother of the Maharal of Prague, in his sefer טיול אגרת takes note that throughout Megillas Eichah (which discusses the Churban), the only name of Hashem mentioned is Havayah – Hashem's name of kindness. אלקים, the name of judgment, isn't written in Megillas Eichah at all. He explains that this is to tell us that the Churban, and all matters that seem difficult for us, are all for our good and our benefit.
Galus
The Tiferes Shlomo (Rosh Hashanah ויאמרו ה"ד) writes that in the future, we will discover the goodness that was concealed in the galus, and the hint is (Tehillim 96:11) ותגל השמים ישמחו הארץ, "The heavens will rejoice and the earth will exult." The word ותגל spells גלות.
Reb Elchanan Wasserman zt'l hy'd was asked in the Kovna Ghetto a few days before his petirah, "Why did Hashem do this? What is the purpose of all this suffering?"
Reb Elchanan replied with a mashal: A man from the city approached a farmer and asked him to teach him the ways of farmers. The city person had no idea what farmers do and was interested in learning. The farmer said, "I will teach you, but you must be a patient student. The lessons and teachings of farmers will take lots of time. It isn’t something that I can teach you in just one day."
"I will be patient," the student replied. "Then come out with me to the field," the farmer said.
They went outside, and the farmer asked his new student, "What do you see?" The student replied that he saw a field covered with high grass.
The farmer took a plow and plowed and ripped out the grass and beautiful flowers growing wildly in the field. Now, the field was empty, with many holes from the plowing. The shocked student asked, "Why are you ruining the field with your own hands? It looked better before! You call yourself a farmer? You only ruin fields."
The farmer replied, "Patience. I told you that you need patience to understand farmers' ways. You won't understand in one day."
The next day, he called his new student, and they went out to the field again. The farmer took a bag filled with wheat kernels and asked the student, "What do you see today?"
He said what he saw. "I see a bag of wheat kernels."
The farmer planted the kernels in the field, in the holes he prepared yesterday, and then covered them with earth.
The student was shocked. "Isn't it enough that you ruined the field yesterday and got rid of all the grass that was growing in it? Now you are being even more foolish. You are taking good wheat kernels, which could be cooked or baked and eaten, and you are burying them in the ground! Why do you waste your money?"
The farmer replied, "Remember what I told you. You need patience."
A few months later, the farmer called his student and told him it was time to return to the field again. Together, they went out to the field, and the student saw orderly rows of growing wheat. "What do you see now?" the farmer asked. The student replied, "I realize I was wrong for doubting you earlier. Now, the field is much more beautiful than it was before."
The farmer replied, "The process isn't over yet. You will still need a lot of patience. There will be more questions and surprises before you learn the ways of farmers."
After some more time passed, the farmer called for his student and they went out to the field again. The wheat had grown very high, and the wheat stalks were filled with seeds. The farmer began cutting the grain with a sickle.
The student shouted, "Why are you ruining your field?! I don't believe what I see! You finally have a good field, and you ruin it again!"
The farmer replied, "Savlanus. Patience. You will understand, but you need to practice your patience."
The farmer placed all the cut stalks into a pile and began hitting them with a hammer. (This is called דש, threshing. It separates the kernels from the stalks). The student watched in surprise. He held himself back from asking all the burning questions inside him.
Afterward, using a shovel, the farmer threw stalks of wheat into the air, and the wind blew the stalks away to the distance while the kernels fell to the ground. (This is called זורה, winnowing.) The student was quite upset with what the farmer was doing to his field but forced himself to remain silent. However, when he saw the farmer grinding the wheat kernels into "white dust," he couldn't contain himself any longer. He didn't realize that this "white dust" was flour. He shouted, "Why did you turn your wheat into dust? What purpose is there to grinding your beautiful wheat?"
As he expected, the farmer replied, "Savlanus. Patience. Be patient, and you will see.
The student was in for some more surprises. The farmer mixed the "white dust" with water and made dough from it. In the student's eyes, this was a useless "mud" mixture. But when the farmer formed the dough into bread, the student began to understand. There was purpose and meaning to what the farmer was doing. He was creating bread.
But then the farmer took the form of bread and placed it on the fire. The student couldn't control himself any longer. He shouted, "For months, you worked and finally began to make something. You finally created a loaf of bread! But then you throw it into the fire? Don't you care about your time? Don't you care to accomplish something in your life? Why do you throw your hard work into the fire?"
The response was once again, "Savlanus, patience."
Soon, the bread was taken out of the oven, and the smell was heavenly. He invited the student to a meal and gave him a slice of bread. The farmer said, "Nu, now do you understand?"
The nimshal is that we don't understand Hashem's ways. We wonder and shout, "Why is Hakadosh Baruch Hu throwing everything into the fire? Have rachmanus on your creations." But when Moshiach comes, we will understand why all of this had to occur. And until then, we must wait patiently. The time will come when we discover all the good we gained from the galus. (Kobetz Maamaim v'Igos, vol.2 p.224).
