The Midrash tells us that before a person is born a malach shows him where he will die and where he will be buried. In this way we can understand the pasuk ותצא רוחו ישב לאדמת, when his spirit departs he returns to his earth.
R' Chaim Kanievsky when comforting bereaved families would say based on this that it seems that one’s burial ground is predestined as is the place where one will die. In certain circumstances people may blame themselves for the death of a loved one believing they could have done a more intense medical intervention or they shouldn't have traveled to the place where their loved one died. They must understand that all that transpired was previously put in place by Hashem.
Once, R' Yeruchom Levovitz heard of a tragic accident in which people traveling in a wagon were killed. He viewed the tragedy with Divine Supervision and remarked, “Look how Hashem placed all these people who all needed to meet their fate, on the same wagon, at the same time.”
Rabbi Alt merited to learn under the tutelage of R’ Mordechai Friedlander ztz”l for close to five years. He received semicha from R’ Zalman Nechemia Goldberg ztz”l. Rabbi Alt has written on numerous topics for various websites and publications and is the author of six books including the recently released Dazzling Money Insights. His writings, some of which have been translated into Yiddish, Hebrew, German and French, inspire people across the spectrum of Jewish observance to live with the vibrancy and beauty of Torah. He lives with his wife and family in Kiryat Yearim (where the Aron was for 20 years [Shmuel 1, 7:1,2]) where he studies, writes and teaches. The author is passionate about teaching Jews of all levels of observance.
The Chofetz Chaim would relate the following story. In 1794, R' Yaakov Kranz, known as the Dubno Magid, once met a blind widower strolling with his son in the streets of Vilna. While most people didn’t pay much attention to them, the Dubno Magid greeted them warmly. They told him about their great poverty and the lack of heat and food in their home. The Dubno Magid welcomed them into his home so they could warm up and eat dinner. He also hired a tutor to teach the son Torah, and he himself would learn with the boy the Aggadic (i.e., non-legal) parts of the Torah, meeting with him in regular Friday night sessions. From then on, they became part of the Dubno Magid’s family. He continued to care for this child after the child’s father, R' Yehuda Aharon, Rav of Komarow, died before the age of 40. This child became the great Torah personality, R' Shlomo Kluger. (Interestingly, in his work Chochmas Shlomo, Even Ha'ezer 1:1, R' Kluger analyzes whether one fulfills the mitzvah to “be fruitful and multiply” through adoption.) The Chofetz Chaim would say that many people saw the blind pauper walking with his son and felt bad about their predicament. But whereas for them, that’s where it ended, for the Dubno Magid it began. He showed concern, welcomed them, fed them and paid for a tutor for the child. If the Dubno Magid had not reached out to them, the Jewish Nation would have been bereft of a great Torah personality. The Chofetz Chaim would conclude, “How many more Shlomo Klugers are out there that we just pass by?”
There is a saying, “I don’t know great people. I know common people who do great things.”
Mark Twain observed: “The Jew is not a burden on the charities of the state or of the city; these could cease from their functions without affecting him. When he is well enough, he works; when he is incapacitated, his own people take care of him. And not in a poor and stingy way, but with a fine and large benevolence. His race is entitled to be called the most benevolent of all races of men” (“Concerning the Jews,” The Complete Works of Mark Twain, p. 266).
The Tiferes Shlomo writes that he heard from R’ Dovid Lelover, “How can you call me a tzadik if I still feel love of my children more than for a fellow Jew?”
Tanchuma Pikudei 3.
Tehillim 146:4.
For the believer in G-d, there is only one question: Why do tragedies happen? If you don’t believe in G-d then everything else (about life) is a question.
