Stories of Tzadikim / 12 A high pain tolerance
Hold on to Shabbos with
Stories of Tzadikim
With Rav Yussie Zakutinsky
A Gut Voch everybody, I’ll tell you a Maaseh. There was a great tzaddik from the town of Hornosteipel. There was one time when the tzaddik was very ill and he needed a procedure done, what doctors would call a minor surgery. The problem was he was at an old age, his medical situation wasn’t great so Anesthesia wasn’t an option for him. The Doctor’s don’t want to operate on him without it, it would be extremely painful but the Rebbe is in danger if he doesn’t get it. The rebbe says it’s okay, I’m used to pain just do what you have to do. They're saying well, a person can’t really tolerate this but the tzadik insists, no I can handle it.
The Doctors begin and want to test out if he’ll be able to handle it. First they take a metal rod, they heat it up a little to see his tolerance and the Rebbe doesn’t make a sound. They go a little more painful, still no reaction. Finally they’re confident enough to actually go through the procedure. They do it, and the whole time he was learning, davening without a krechtz, a moan or a cry.
After this, the goyish Doctors were very shocked and awed that this person was able to experience such pain. They said, Rabbi, we have determined that it can’t be that you’re a regular human, you must be an angel of some sort. The Rebbe answers, no not at all. I just developed a high-tolerance for pain. How is that possible? What suffering do you have in life that makes you equipped to handle a surgery like this?
The tzaddik explains, when Jews come to me everyday with their tzaros, oftentimes I look at the kvittel and there’s nothing I can do. I have to hold in the pain that I’m feeling and give a bracha that Hashem should help, give some kind words and hope because I know that there’s nothing I can do to help. That’s how I learned to withstand pain.
That’s the highest madreigah of a tzaddik. Caring so much for other yidden, that seeing their pain and being unable to help hurts them more than having an intense surgery. Hashem should bless us, we shouldn’t have any pain at all, but to feel the life of another yid, feel their pain, feel the simcha of another yid, like it’s mamash ourselves, it’s the biggest madreigah in the world. Hashem should bless us with such a jewish heart. We should be zocheh to have a lichtigeh Voch, a mazal’dik Voch, a Geulahdik Voch.