Reading the News, Tolerating Suffering, and Living a Productive Life

Show Notes
Transcript

How do you stay informed without feeling utterly overwhelmed by the constant stream of distressing news? This episode explores the delicate balance between empathy and productivity in a world where every headline seems to scream of unimaginable suffering. We draw inspiration from Jewish teachings, particularly the story of the Jews wandering in the wilderness, as explained by the commentator Rashi, to offer insights on managing the emotional toll of modern news consumption.

Join us as we uncover the concept of broad-mindedness and how expanding our perspective can help us endure and respond to the relentless news cycle. We'll discuss the importance of making space in our hearts to feel for those who suffer, yet not allowing the pain to paralyze us. With these teachings, we aim to help you maintain hope and resilience, ensuring that our empathy fuels our prayers and actions, allowing us to continue our responsibilities with strength and devotion.

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Transcript

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It takes such extreme bravery to read the news these days.

00:00:05.713 --> 00:00:21.693
I wouldn't suggest it unless you really have a stomach of steel for the suffering that you will be exposed to by your fellow Jews just by reading the news headlines.

00:00:21.693 --> 00:00:28.088
It's hard to tolerate it and keep living a productive life.

00:00:28.088 --> 00:00:37.386
We are required to feel compassionate, a yarbis of loathsome, to have empathy about those suffering.

00:00:37.386 --> 00:00:43.926
But it takes such extreme bravery just to look at the news headlines.

00:00:43.926 --> 00:01:03.588
It has us reading about children that have been drowned by parents, hundreds of hostages still held captive, along with who knows how many of their loved ones that are in total agony over the hostage situation.

00:01:03.588 --> 00:01:10.049
We have bullets flying all over the place at rallies, jew or Gentile.

00:01:10.049 --> 00:01:16.590
It seems like the world has gone rogue and it takes bravery to follow the news.

00:01:16.590 --> 00:01:20.009
It takes a stomach of steel to digest it.

00:01:20.009 --> 00:01:38.209
But with us being required to keep tabs on our at least Jewish brethren and feel empathetic for them, to take that mita from Moshe Rabbeinu, seeing the pain of the Hebrews, how are we to do it?

00:01:38.209 --> 00:01:42.751
Is it even the right thing to do with this much pain and suffering?

00:01:42.751 --> 00:01:44.545
What's the approach?

00:01:44.545 --> 00:01:56.293
And while maybe this Rashi, as explained by the great Mashiach, rebbe Leichter, I believe could give us a bit of insight as how to do what is required of us.

00:01:58.441 --> 00:02:04.599
The Jews were wandering in the Midbar and eventually they became discouraged because of the constant wandering.

00:02:04.599 --> 00:02:25.765
It's in Perikhov, aleph Pasek Dalet of Sefer Bamidbar, and it says the nation became discouraged from all the wandering, burnt out, unable to tolerate any more of the constant wandering in the wilderness, and trying to define the word that the nation became shortness of soul.

00:02:25.765 --> 00:02:40.004
Rashi tells us listen to these incredible words about tolerating pain, something that is painful, arduous on a person.

00:02:40.004 --> 00:02:56.568
It means that his soul is now bound, something has now been placed on him that makes his soul short, tied, as if a big package has been thrown onto you.

00:02:56.568 --> 00:03:17.094
But one's brain isn't broad enough to endure this heavy load and this person doesn't have space in his heart for the pain to live.

00:03:19.161 --> 00:03:26.174
Rashi tells us that that's struggling, struggling, inability to cope with all the suffering.

00:03:26.174 --> 00:03:30.020
It comes from a limited sense of perspective.

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It comes from an inability to be broad-minded.

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It would be cheating ourselves to deny the pain, deny the suffering, to flee from it.

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It's a part of us that we have to see it and know what's happening, suffering and to flee from it.

00:03:45.600 --> 00:03:47.003
It was a part of us, that we have to see it and know what's happening.

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But broad-mindedness, an ability to let the pain find a section in one's heart, a place for the pain to live in his heart, and whether that means that one expands his heart so he has a spot there because of his now studying of faith, or chobos alavovos, to know that we're on the doorstep of mashiach it's been thousands of years and the geula is right around the corner and we know that only good comes to this world, ultimate good, through the eyes of hashem.

00:04:21.822 --> 00:04:33.730
So maybe that means broad-mindedness in that perspective, or maybe it means there's a worry hour, a time where you can open up the door of worry but it doesn't incapacitate you or paralyze you for the rest of your day.

00:04:33.730 --> 00:04:59.632
Empathy about the suffering, a yarbis of losam, but also broad-minded, with a place for the suffering, to tolerate the suffering and feel bad and to pray and to feel it and to understand the messages, but to be broad enough, open enough, that there's a place in your heart for the pain to live.

00:04:59.632 --> 00:05:08.694
This way we will be able to continue to ultimately do Torah and mitzvahs, which is going to be the only way that we can fix the situation.

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It will give us that strength and that ability to pray with devotion and with fervor, because that takes energy and it's our avodah, it's our job, our responsibility to find a makom, betoch, libo, log, risham, atzar, to have a spot in your heart that the pain can live.

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