Thought for the Day: This is Going to Hurt Him -- Yes, Our Father in Heaven -- More Than It Hurts You
I heard this from R' Biderman and it now ranks as one of the most powerful, life changing ideas/perspectives that I have heard. To set the scene a bit, just yesterday I met a colleague at work with a very thick Russian accent. He first introduced himself, then said, "If you were in Russia, you wouldn't be sitting there wearing a yarmulke. That's why I escaped as a refugee 30 years ago." He was not frum -- I hadn't even known he was Jewish. That's a taste of how bad things were for Jews in Russia. Two chasidim of the Yesod Ha'Avodah were at the train station in Baranovich. (I don't know why that is relevant to the point about to be made, but R' Biderman included those facts; who am I to argue?) They saw a Russian soldier and recognized him as a kollel yungerman who had been conscripted into the Russian army. The two chasidim knew that yungerman also had a family. They could not even imagine the pain he must be feeling to be se