“Hashem accepted Yishmael’s tears as he cried alone, but he lovingly embraced Aharon’s prayers as he shared in his brother’s pain”
Last week, several readers took umbrage at some Yidden in chutz l’Aretz who were concerned about the degree of graphic coverage about the war in Eretz Yisrael. We were accused of being upset that “our safe cocoon of the highest standards of luxury was slightly prickled,” of “pure selfishness and immaturity,” of “having the audacity to hide under the covers in the face of such horror,” to “intentionally blind oneself,” to be “self-centered and be displaying a complete lack of empathy,” of exempting ourselves from “the basic tenet of Yiddishkeit of being nosei b’ol.”
As a trauma therapist, allow me to introduce ourselves in chutz l’Aretz. The Mesillas Yesharim states that 999 out of 1,000 individuals have yissurim. Some of us are suffering severe health issues and may even be awaiting organ transplants. Some of us may be single, experiencing severe grief. Some of us may be suffering from infertility, adding intense suffering to our lives. Many of us have our own histories of serious trauma. Some of us are divorced or widowed. Many have lost relatives of our own.
Some of us may be suffering abuse in silence. Some are contending with acute tzaar gidul banim challenges. Others are dealing with extremely limited functioning special-needs relatives on a constant basis. Some of us are struggling intensely with parnassah, not knowing how we will keep a roof over our heads.
Before this war, we may have been outside our window of tolerance and barely sleeping. With the advent of the war, we somehow expanded our window of tolerance to include the Yidden in Eretz Yisrael. Our Tehillim seders have been increased to include not just our own milieu but Yidden who are strangers located 5,000+ miles away. We have taken on additional kabbalos, above and beyond what we were already doing.
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