Maghen Abraham - Thoughts From Mayer Sasson

"Even if you meant to do evil to me, G-d meant it unto good…" (50,20)

Gratefulness for shame

I found a story that was from the Grand Rabbi of Slonim, author of Birkat Avraham:

There was once a righteous man name Rabbi Mendle of Prishmalan, who is buried in Tiveria. He once came to the synagogue and invited his friends to a feast of gratefulness.

His friends asked him, "What is the reason for this feast? Were you or one of your family members sick, G-d forbid? Rabbi Mendle answered that thank G-d everyone was fine and healthy and nothing special had happened. "It is just that I was now walking in the city and from Heaven it was decreed that I have serious, terrible shame, I was disgraced for no fault of mine! I therefore want to thank G-d and express my gratitude with a feast of gratefulness."

"Why a feast of gratefulness for disgrace that you faced," his friends asked.

"I see that you do not understand the idea of a feast of gratefulness," Rabbi Mendle responded. "Do you think a feast of gratefulness is brought only by someone who recovered from an illness? For what does he have to be grateful? It would have been better if he had never been sick, and what does he have to thank to the One Who made him sick and then cured him?"

"The idea is that "there is no one righteous who has not sinned" and every time a person sins in a small or large sin he is, unfortunately, charged with judgments against him. They accumulate into piles until the time comes for him to pay up and he becomes very sick. After he recovers from his illness he thanks G-d for having been sick and thereby being saved from the judgments that were resting upon him. He is now clean and pure. Think about it: His illness hurt not only him but all his family and friends as well who worried about him; he had to spend a lot of money on doctors and medications, and usually, after the illness the patient does not return to his original strength and suffers from pains or weak health for a period of time, sometimes, unfortunately, until the end of his life."

"Now that I merited public disgrace, in one go I finished with all those piles of judgments that were upon me. No one had to worry about me, my family remained tranquil and calm, I did not have to send extra money on doctors and medication and remained healthy and fit as always. But what happened? For a short time I was shamed terribly."

"Therefore, how much more so do I have to bring a feast of thankfulness, for I no longer have those judgments against me and the price I paid was relatively cheap, without any pain and damage for a lengthy time."

SHABBAT SHALOM!!