There are life-changing sentences that one encounters sometimes. One such sentence is the most important sentence that I learned from the Ta’atzumot system developed by Rachel Bolton: “Difficulty and pain are catalysts for growth.” Everyone knows that in the end it is possible to grow from difficulties, and to develop as a result of pain. Every Jew is familiar with this; after all, in every exile and in every difficulty we have told this to ourselves. The truth is that the Jewish People has proven, time after time, how from every crisis, no matter how big, it has grown immensely.
It starts with the story of Yosef, the first Jew who was exiled to a strange land, where he grew and developed to the point of being the viceroy of Egypt, the one who prepared the way for his family when they came to Egypt. As Yosef himself told them, “G-d sent me to feed you.” Personally, he describes this in five (Hebrew) words perfectly. When he named his second son Efraim, he said, “For G-d has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” As the Rebbe emphasizes (in Likutei Sichot Part I): How did he get to being fruitful? Specifically, by being in “the land of my suffering.” For Yosef, it was really a land of suffering. He was orphaned from his mother, his brothers wanted to kill him and finally compromised on selling him. He was sold several times on the way, and then sold as a slave in Egypt, continuing on to prison for a few years – all this starting when he was only 17 years old. And here, he comes and says clearly and concisely: It was particularly when I was in the land of my suffering that Hashem made me fruitful.
When I learn to change my way of thinking, so that the moment I experience a difficulty I remember immediately that it is a catalyst for growth, my first thought will not be, “Oh no, why is this happening to me?” but rather “Oops, where does this difficulty want to lead me?” and then my life changes for the good. It takes practice and effort, and it’s not always possible to prevent the first thought from being “Oh, no,” but it is perfectly possible to decide that the second thought will be, “Oops.”
An illuminating and Happy Chanukah,
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Zalmen Wishedski