The Hasidic Parable

The Suffering of the Shekhinah

The Suffering of the Shekhinah woman had an only child very beloved to her, and once when that son committed a serious sin against the king, the king ordered that he be chastised with sufferings inflicted upon him. His mother, in utter disillusion, would painfully see her son's afflictions, and the son told her, "Mother, know that I do not feel at all the pains caused by the whippings because I have sufferings much greater than those lashes-namely, knowing that you witness my sufferings. Your own distress from my lashes is much graver to me than the pain caused by the lashes themselves." During that time, he began to cry out to the king, "Spare me, my lord; let go of me and allow me to speak with you." He then said to the king, "I do not ask that you forgive me for my iniquity or that you cease inflicting sufferings upon me, for truthfully I deserve them. Only this I request of you. You are certainly a truthful judge who acts out of unblemished integrity. Therefore wouldn't it be possible for you to inflict me with sufferings without making my mother suffer through my distress ? Were it not for the sorrow my mother experiences, I would gladly and lovingly accept my own 58 The Suffering of the Shekhinah woman had an only child very beloved to her, and once when that son committed a serious sin against the l~ing, the l~ing ordered that he be chastised with sufferings inflicted upon him. His mother, in utter disillusion, would painfully see her son's afflictions, and the son told her, UMother, l~now that I do not feel at all the pains caused by the whippings because I have sufferings much greater than those lashes-namely, l~nowing that you witness my sufferings. Your own distress from my lashes is much graver to me than the pain caused by the lashes themselves./I During that time, he began to cry out to the l~ing, ilSpare me, my lord; let go of me and allow me to speal~ with you./I He then said to the l~ing, ill do not asl~ that you forgive me for my iniquity or that you cease inflicting sufferings upon me, for truthfully I deserve them. Only this I request of you. You are certainly a truthful judge who acts out of unblemished integrity. Therefore wouldn't it be possible for you to inflict me with sufferings without mal~ing my mother suffer through my distress ? Were it not for the sorrow my mother experiences, I would gladly and lovingly accept my own S8 Redefinitions 59 sufferings. Her distress, however, gives me pain much more than does my own distress. Do this for the sake of my mother, for she has not sinned." And the king answered, "1 will do so for her sake." (Turei zahav) 1 The above parable, related by Binyamin ben Aharon of Zalozetz, though stylistically different from the more specifically hasidic type of parable we have been reading, voices a Significant theme in early hasidic thought: in prayer a person must be concerned neither with his own needs nor his own distress, but rather with the distress experienced by the Shekhinah, resulting from one's misdeeds. To the Maggid and his followers , including Binyamin of Zalozetz, giving thought to one's own problems or needs is incompatible with the contemplative nature of prayer. It follows, then, that if traditional prayer contains an element of petition, it should concern not one's own needs but rather the Divine suffering -the exile of the Shekhinah. This parable exemplifies both a distancing from one's personal distress in life and a depth of empathy with the Divine who is not above suffering . As the Maggid himself made very clear, "One should not pray concerning his own personal needs but rather only for the plight of the Shekhinah that it find redemption from exile." 2 The parable itself is quite transparent. The mother represents the Shekhinah, both in the more general sense of the Divine Presence-the Divine in its more immanent state most closely bound up with the world and its experience-and the specific kabbalistic meaning of the tenth and lowest of the sefirot, (aspects of the Godhead). Kabbalistic teaching speaks of the captivity of the Shekhinah at the hands of the evil and impure forces countering the divine reality and its suffering in being severed from...