T250 PNC - All Suffering and Affliction Come Only From Lack of Da'at

Rebbe Nachman states it bluntly: every form of suffering and every kind of affliction comes only from a lack of da'at — true awareness that everything is under Hashem's hashgachah (providence). Whoever has real da'at and knows Hashem gave and Hashem took (Job 1:21) experiences no afflictions and feels no suffering. Even when there are unavoidable physical pains — like the tearing of soul from body in dying, the pain of illness as the soul begins to depart — these pains are felt only because soul and body are bound together with such tight, strong bonds. But even those pains become very light and easy to bear when a person has clear da'at that everything is under Hashem's providence.

And all the more so other forms of suffering — when one has true da'at, one doesn't feel them at all. The very essence of suffering in afflictions is that the da'at is taken away from the person so he will feel them. This is the main suffering of Israel in exile: it all stems from the fact that we have fallen from da'at and attribute everything to nature, to chance, and to mazal (fortune). And this comes specifically from dwelling among the idolatrous nations and learning from them — seeing the nations succeeding while Israel is despised, we adopt their worldview and credit nature instead of Hashem. In truth, Israel stands above nature; only when we sin do we fall under it like the gentiles, and only then do exile and suffering have a grip on us. When Hashem wants to redeem us, He draws upon us hashgachah from the very end of the world — because at the end of days nature itself will be nullified ("For the heavens like smoke will vanish," Isaiah 51:6). The constellations will be confused, mazal will fall away, and only providence will remain.

Through this hashgachah Israel rises above the nations and an end is brought to those who oppress them — this is "ketz ba ha-ketz" (the end has come to the end, Ezekiel 7:2). Tefillah itself is the aspect of hashgachah above nature: nature dictates one outcome, but prayer changes nature. This is what the Torah calls our greatness: "For who is a great nation that has G-d so close to it as Hashem our G-d whenever we call upon Him" (Devarim 4:7) — Hashem hears prayer and changes nature through providence. The Talmud (Berachot 59a) describes the earthquake (gohah): when Hashem remembers His children dwelling in suffering among the nations, He drops two tears into the great sea, and His voice is heard from one end of the world to the other. The two tears are hashgachah being drawn down — because tears literally take the power of sight ("the clouds return after the rain" — sight that follows weeping, Shabbat 151a). Tears carry providence. Hezekiah "wept a great weeping" when sick (Isaiah 38:3), and David "became great" through his weeping over his suffering (II Sam) — because their tears reached the level of hashgachah, and through hashgachah they were saved.

Why specifically tears? Because when a person has torments and suffering, what he most needs is hashgachah — direct providence — to reach salvation. Tears are the conduit through which providence and "sight" are drawn into him. Without tears, you remain locked inside teva. Tears break the seal.

And so the tears draw down hashgachah and "sight" — because providence is drawn through them, as in "the clouds return after the rain" (Ecclesiastes 12:2; Shabbat 151a) — sight that follows weeping. Crying diminishes physical eyesight precisely because the eyes' "sight" is being transferred into the tears, where it becomes a vessel for divine providence. This explains why Hezekiah wept "a great weeping" (Isaiah 38:3) when he was sick: his weeping drew down the aspect of "great" — the providence of prayer that overrides nature. And when David wept over his suffering, the verse says "David grew greater" — his weeping reached the level of hashgachah called "great," and through that providence he was saved from every form of suffering.