Every Concealment Is for the Good

1a“Yisrael said: It is much (rav)” [Bereishis 45:28]. The Midrash says (Bereishis Rabbah 94:3): “Great is the strength of my son Yosef. How many troubles came upon him, and still he stands firm in his righteousness, far more than I, who sinned by saying, ‘My way is hidden from Hashem’ [Yeshayahu 40:27]. I am confident that I have a share in ‘How great is Your goodness, which You have hidden away for those who fear You’ [Tehillim 31:20].” “Hidden away” means stored up. Hashem stores the good away in order to increase their reward, since they are rewarded for this too. The verse continues, “You have done it for those who take refuge in You, before the eyes of men.” That is, when You sometimes reward tzaddikim in this world as well, it is “before men”: for the sake of people, so that they will not question Hashem's ways. And why does the Midrash say that Yosef, who endured so many troubles, was more righteous than Yaakov, who said, “My way is hidden from Hashem”? Because Yaakov had thought: if Yosef is a tzaddik, he should have sent word to me that he is alive. In truth, Hashem did not want Yaakov to be told, and Yaakov should have understood that the concealment was for the good.

1bPerhaps this is hinted in the initials of Vayomer Yisrael Rav, which spell the Name ריו. That Name comes from the initials of Refa'einu Hashem v'neirafei¹, “Heal us, Hashem, and we shall be healed” [Yirmiyahu 17:14], and its numerical value equals gevurah, severity. For judgment too is for the good: through suffering a person merits complete healing. This is “Extend Your kindness to those who know You” [Tehillim 36:11]: to those who know that even Hashem's being “a jealous and avenging God” [Nachum 1:2] is for the good. The Shabbos song [Kol Mekadesh Shevi'i] says: “Those who keep the seventh day, to uphold ‘Remember’ and ‘Keep.’” “Remember” and “Keep,” as is known, correspond to love and fear. Fear corresponds to the weekdays, when judgment rules. Love is Shabbos, when “all judgments flee and depart from her” [cf. Zohar II:135b]. By keeping the seventh day, they join Shabbos to the weekdays, which is “Remember” and “Keep” together. That is “Gladden them with a complete building”: they merit to sweeten the judgments of the weekdays with the mercy and kindness of holy Shabbos. And that is “In the light of Your face make them shine”: make the light of Your face, a face of mercy, shine for them. Then their understanding will broaden, and they will see with an open eye that every concealment is for the good.