“ … his teeth whiter than milk” (Bereishis 49:12)
Rabi Yochanan says: “Better to show the whites of the teeth to his friend than to pour him milk. There is no Jew that has not been placed in some way or another in jail — in solitude.”
Rav Shlomo Wolbe describes it like this:
A person is hit with middas hadin whether it’s with sickness or some other issue and he’s struggling with his problem futilely. Someone who is imprisoned cannot free himself. And he sits in solitude. And this loneliness hurts even more than his yissurim. (Alei Shur Chelek alef)
Suddenly in the middle of everyday life a person finds himself in jail cement walls closing in on him and wire fences surrounding him. He searches in shock for the door but finds that it has disappeared behind the screen of darkness that befell him.
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