 God “Cries” When We Suffer Printed with permission from "The Chesed Boomerang" by Jack Doueck www.judaicapress.com Rabbi Meir declared (Sanhedrin 46a): “At the time that a person suffers (for his sins), how does God express His anguish (so to speak) for the suffering of that person? God says, ‘I am burdened... I am burdened...’” In other words, God is “troubled” when human beings suffer. Maimonides comments (commentary to the mishnah, Sanhedrin 46a): “If God is saddened by the suffering of a convicted felon (or a wicked evildoer), how much more so, then, is God pained by the death of an innocent person!” The point is clear: God is saddened, so to speak, when people are in pain. How can we expect to emulate God, while we ignore the suffering of others? No. To emulate God is to feel for others’ pain, to be compassionate and sensitive to the feelings of other human beings, (no matter who they are or how evil you might think they are). Furthermore, it is to stand up and speak out against cruelty and injustice.
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