T71 Petten Nanach Commentary - Kashe Meod Lihyot M'fursam (Difficulty of Fame, 1 seg)

A very short but deep teaching: 'It is very difficult to be famous (m'fursam).' Know that fame harms those who are famous — greatly. Because famous people must bear suffering on behalf of the many, as the verse says about the suffering servant of Isaiah 53: 'And by his wounds we were healed' (Isaiah 53:5). The famous person, by virtue of being famous, enters the aspect of 'Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many' (Isaiah 53:12) — meaning his life becomes intertwined with and responsible for the multitude. He suffers what the many should have suffered. However, there are certain people who specifically need to be famous and are made famous by Heaven. And there are tzaddikim who willingly accept suffering upon themselves for the sake of all Israel — through this they redirect and exchange the divine shefa (flow of blessing), turning harsh decrees into healing. This is connected to the teaching of Torah 63 on the seraphim covering their face: the same dynamic of concealment-and-revelation governs both the tzaddik's fame and his suffering.