The Value Of Yissurim

By: R’ Mordechai Young

There is an amazing lesson told as a story by Rabbi Akiva Tatz. Once there was a man who had a lot of yissurim. In fact, he was so overwhelmed that he couldn’t cope. He fell asleep and dreamed he was in the Next World, traveling on a road that he didn’t recognize. Soon, a dark truck passed by. He stopped the driver and asked for more information. The driver said he was heading toward a court case about a man’s life. He asked the driver what he carried inside the truck. The man said, “Every bad deed you ever did.” The man was filled with dread. Then more dark trucks passed by; all filled with horrible sins. The man was frozen with fear.

Soon, a smally white buggy came along. He stopped the driver of the buggy and asked him: “Where are you going?” The driver said he was going to a court case. He asked the driver what he carried inside the buggy and the man said, “All your good deeds.” He asked the driver if he could hop along for the ride. The driver said, “Sure, there’s plenty of room.” And he moved aside all the packages to make room for the man. Now the man really felt doomed because his good deeds could not fill the buggy, nor could they save him.

At the courthouse, they took out a scale and put all the man’s good deeds on one side and the bad deeds on the other. The man was crestfallen; all his bad deeds completely outweighed the good deeds. Then a rumble was heard and more dark trucks appeared. But this time the trucks carried his “yissurim,” every annoyance big and small. Every time the man had a difficulty, the event was put on the side of his “mitzvos,” his good deeds.

As the last bundle of troubles and difficulties was put on the scale, it finally evened out. He asked Hashem, “Ribbono shel Olam, why couldn’t You give me more troubles?”

In this week’s parashah, Shelach, we know there was a request to send spies into Eretz Yisrael to see how the Bnei Yisrael could conquer the land. Hashem permitted it, but as Rashi teaches, Hashem would have preferred that the nation had believed Him when He told them that it was a good land and trusted that Hashem would help them win all their battles.

One of the items they had to look for (Bamidbar 13:20) was if there was a tree. Rashi teaches you can’t take this literally since all countries have “trees.” The pasuk continues, “And you shall take from the fruit of the land.” So obviously there were trees. According to Rashi, there was a great tzaddik there who protected the people of the land. Rashi later (14:9) quotes the Gemara in Bava Basra (15a) that says it was referring to Iyov. Yehoshua and Calev, two of the spies, came back with a good report, saying their protector had been removed, which was Iyov. Therefore, Calev and Yehoshua believed there was no reason to fear the inhabitants of Canaan because Hashem was with the Bnei Yisrael since by causing Iyov’s death, He had stripped the Canaanites of their protection.

Thinking this out: does this mean that if the tzaddik, Iyov, had not died and stripped the Canaanites of his protection, would that have prevented the Bnei Israel from doing Hashem’s will? We see that by Sodom, when Avraham Avinu was davening that they needed ten tzaddikim to save them, how could only one tzaddik save the Canaanites here? I was happy to see this question in Shaare Aharon and Ayelet Hashachar.

Shaare Aharon answers that with Iyov, there’s a difference from before he went through his yissurim and after. After he went through his yissurim, he could protect Canaan even though he was just one righteous person. He brings proof from the Gemara Sukkah 45, where Chizkiyah teaches that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said he could protect the entire world from judgement from the time of his birth until now, and if he included Elazar his son, from the time the world was created until now, and if he included King Yosam ben Uziyahu, from the beginning of time until the end of time. Rabbeinu Chananel ben Chushiel explains the Gemara that those tzaddikim didn’t take pleasure from this world since they had tremendous yissurim.

We see here that yissurim can protect the whole world in the merit of a tzaddik’s suffering. Wow! It shows you the power of problems. I was wondering, okay, it’s fine that Iyov can protect the entire country, but how can his merits go against the merits of Am Yisrael? Maybe the protection of Iyov was so great that if he had been alive, the spies would have said we need more zechusim (merits) to combat that protection of that tzaddik. The point of the spies was to make the people feel more confident about the mission. So, if they had returned and said there is a big tzaddik protecting them, some would have said, “Yes, they have merit, but we have an entire nation with the merit of Torah!” In the same pasuk above (Bamidbar 14:9), it concludes by saying, “Hashem is with us; do not fear them.” That’s the main point: Hashem is on our side. It doesn’t matter whether the other side has physical or spiritual strength. The protection of the Canaanites did not matter in the end, not a great army or a great tzaddik like Iyov. We have Hashem.

But would we trust in Hashem? Many would have trusted Hashem no matter what; others needed more convincing. We also see the tremendous value of troubles though nobody wants them. Once a challenge appears in our lives, we have to remember how it helps us and also to remember to trust Hashem to get us out of a challenge.

Have a great Shabbos! 

R’ Mordechai Young can be reached for comments at [email protected].