In a brief review of some of the Jewish explanations for
the fact of suffering, two categories emerge. The first attri-
butes suffering either to sin or to ignorance of the right path
that should be followed; the second postulates that suffering
may attend spiritual progress.
It has been generally recognized in rabbinic Judaism
that suffering is largely due to one’s own misconduct. Nu-
merous passages throughout both biblical and rabbinic liter-
ature indicate that suffering results from wrongdoing and is
thus a punishment for sin (Prv. 22:8). A direct relationship
exists between suffering and wrongdoing, on the one hand,
and between joyfulness and right action, on the other. Suf-
fering may also arise from a misconception about the true
nature of the self, which leads to a course of action that is
ultimately self-destructive rather than self-fulfilling. In the
stories of Jacob and Joseph, for instance, suffering comes
about because one does something fundamentally wrong or
alien to one’s being. In such cases, suffering may function
as the means by which one comes to terms with one’s true
self. This view suggests that self-knowledge, as well as a prop-
er understanding of the world and of truth, can come only
through struggle and through becoming sensitized to things
that one would not have been fully aware of without first
having suffered.
Many rabbinic and biblical passages indicate that suffer-
ing does not simply punish, but also serves an educational
purpose. For example, Deuteronomy 4:20 reads: “He brought
you out of the iron furnace of Egypt to be his people.” Here,
Rashi (Shelomoh ben Yitshaq, 1040–1105) interprets “iron
furnace” to mean a furnace made of iron for the purpose of
refining a precious metal such as silver or gold. Samuel David
Luzzatto comments that it is a furnace for smelting iron, em-
phasizing the purificatory purpose of suffering. We find a
similar idea in Jeremiah 11:4 and in Isaiah 48:10, which
states: “Behold, I have refined thee but not with silver, I have
chosen thee out of the furnace of affliction.” Suffering gives
special insight and leads to self-transcendence and concern
for others; without suffering, man is insensitive and given to
self-interest and self-centeredness. As Exodus 23:9 admonish-
es: “Do not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of
a stranger, since you, yourselves, were strangers in the land
of Egypt.”
There is another way in which suffering is understood
in Jewish tradition: one may suffer not because one has done
wrong but, on the contrary, because one has done right. Here
a distinction is made between suffering that results from sin
and suffering that results from acting virtuously. Having rec-
ognized one’s responsibilities through one’s own suffering,
one is confronted with a new form of suffering that arises
from the assumption of the burdens of others. In this respect,
suffering is a necessary part of the burden of ascent, since it
results from the assumption of tasks that the righteous take
upon themselves. Acting virtuously necessarily entails suffer-
ing—not a slight, passing discomfort, but intense, agonizing
suffering. The doctrine of chastisements of love affirms that
God gives special burdens to those who have an unusual ca-
pacity to endure them. The righteous bear the burden of as-
cent; according to Psalms 11:5, “The Lord tries the righ-
teous.” In a rabbinical interpretation of this text, Rabbi
Yonatan writes:
The Lord tries the righteous (Ps. XI, 5). The potter does
not test cracked vessels; it is not worthwhile to tap them
even once because they would break; but he taps the
good ones because, however many times he taps them,
they do not break. Even so God tries not the wicked,
but the righteous. Rabbi Joe b. Hanina said, “The flax
dealer who knows that his flax is good pounds it for it
becomes more excellent by his pounding and when he
knocks it, it glistens the more. But when he knows that
his flax is bad, he does not knock it at all, for it would
split. So God tries, not the wicked, but the righteous.”
R. Elazar said, “A man had two cows, one strong and
one weak. Upon which will he lay the yoke? Surely
upon the strong. So God tests the righteous.” (Gn.
Rab., 32.3)
The idea that those who are able to bear the burden are
the ones who should carry it is interpreted by Henry Slonim-
sky to be the heart of the Midrashic teaching on suffering.
He states: “The answer to the question why the good must
suffer for the inadequacies of the world would be the fact that
the world is growing, developing, and therefore inevitably
defective, and there must be someone noble enough to as-
sume the burden, as exemplification of a new insight, namely
that nobility obligates, noblesse oblige” (Slonimsky, 1967,
p. 39). Taking on the burdens of others can only be done
by those individuals who are made capable by their own ex-
perience and understanding of suffering. Several midrashim
indicate how dear and precious are these shattered ones of
God. In the name of Rabbi Abba’ bar Yudan, the Midrash
states: “Whatever God has declared unfit in the case of an
animal he has declared desirable in the case of man. In ani-
mals he declared unfit the ‘blind or broken or maimed or
having a wen’ [Lv. 22:22], but in man he has declared the
broken and contrite heart to be desirable.” Also, Rabbi Ye-
hoshu’a ben Levi said, “He who accepts gladly the suf-
ferings of this world brings salvation to the world” (B. T.,
Ta’an. 8a).
A sublime individual response to suffering is seen in an
incident in Rabbi Zusya’s life:
When Rabbi Shemlke and his brother visited the mag-
gid of Mezritch, they asked him the following. “Our
sages said certain words which leave us no peace because
we do not understand them. They are that men should
praise and thank God for suffering just as much as for
wellbeing, and receive it with the same joy. Will you tell
us how we are to understand this, Rabbi?” The maggid
replied, “Go to the House of Study. There you will find
Zusya smoking his pipe. He will give you the explana-
tion.” They went to the House of Study and put their
question to Rabbi Zusya. He laughed. “You certainly
have not come to the right man! Better go to someone
else rather than to me, for I have never experienced suf-SUFFERING 8805