איש חכם ומשכיל יתן לב להבין כי צעד שיש לאדם הוא צער השכינה כמו שאמרו בסנהדרין (דמ"ו ע"א) קלני מראשי וכו', יתפלל על צער השכינה וממילא יעבוד הצער מהאדם: (תוי"י פ' בשלח דנ"ג ע"ב).
A wise and intelligent person will realize that any pain he experiences is the pain of the Divine Presence, as the Talmud says: “When a person suffers, what does the Shechinah say? ‘May head hurts me! My arm hurts me!’”62Sanhedrin 46a. He should pray to alleviate the suffering of the Shechinah, and as a result, his own suffering will abate by itself.63The Chasidic work Teshuos Chen (parashas Vayeshev) writes: I heard in the name of the Baal Shem Tov that prayer even affects the Holy One, if such a thing could be said. Because when even the sinners of Israel suffer, the Shechinah declares: “My head hurts me….” Because G-d’s intention in creating the world was in order to bestow goodness upon the creation, for He desires loving-kindness. It turns out that prayer is really for a supernal need – that G-d’s will to bestow upon creation should be fulfilled. This was the trait of Nachum Ish Gamzu (See Ta’anis 21a), who understood that there was a hidden goodness in all that happened to him, for evil does not issue forth from G-d. That goodness is presently concealed, in the aspect of ‘Smallness.’ But through his faith in this, and by saying ‘This is also for the good (gamzu l’tova),’ the hidden goodness became activated and revealed, attaining a state of “Largeness.’ Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Beshalach
איש חכם ומשכיל יתן לב להבין כי צעד שיש לאדם הוא צער השכינה כמו שאמרו בסנהדרין (דמ"ו ע"א) קלני מראשי וכו', יתפלל על צער השכינה וממילא יעבוד הצער מהאדם:
(תוי"י פ' בשלח דנ"ג ע"ב).
A wise and intelligent person will realize that any pain he experiences is the pain of the Divine Presence, as the Talmud says: “When a person suffers, what does the Shechinah say? ‘May head hurts me! My arm hurts me!’”62Sanhedrin 46a.
He should pray to alleviate the suffering of the Shechinah, and as a result, his own suffering will abate by itself.63The Chasidic work Teshuos Chen (parashas Vayeshev) writes: I heard in the name of the Baal Shem Tov that prayer even affects the Holy One, if such a thing could be said. Because when even the sinners of Israel suffer, the Shechinah declares: “My head hurts me….” Because G-d’s intention in creating the world was in order to bestow goodness upon the creation, for He desires loving-kindness. It turns out that prayer is really for a supernal need – that G-d’s will to bestow upon creation should be fulfilled. This was the trait of Nachum Ish Gamzu (See Ta’anis 21a), who understood that there was a hidden goodness in all that happened to him, for evil does not issue forth from G-d. That goodness is presently concealed, in the aspect of ‘Smallness.’ But through his faith in this, and by saying ‘This is also for the good (gamzu l’tova),’ the hidden goodness became activated and revealed, attaining a state of “Largeness.’
Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Beshalach