עבודה זרה ג

A חסיד complained to his רבי about the terrible suffering he endured.  “The פריץ ordered me to come to his castle and when I entered, he instructed his servant to tie me to the bed, with my back facing up, and to whip me until I almost fainted.”  The רבי responded:  “You call yourself a חסיד?  You still haven’t reached the level of ביטול היש – the negation of existence.  If you had reached that level, you would know that the פריץ is nothing, his servant is nothing, his whip is nothing, and your back is nothing.”  The חסיד began crying and confessed that he was not worthy of being called a חסיד.  “But permit me to ask a question,” he said. “Why is it that when the first nothing instructs the second nothing to whip my back with the third nothing, the fourth nothing has these huge red welts?”

06/10/2021