Rabbi Yochanan said: Providing sustenance is more difficult than geulah, for of
geulah it is written, “the angel who has redeemed me” whereas of sustenance it is
written, “The L-rd who has sustained me.” (Pesachim 118a)

According to this gemara, Rabbi Yochanan is telling us that geulah is assigned to an
angel, whereas HaShem provides food rather than assigning it to an angel because
providing food is more difficult than geulah.

How can anything be difficult for HaShem?

The Torah Temimah obviates this question by bringing the alternative wording
recorded in the Midrash: Providing sustenance is greater than geulah.”

This teaches us that there is something more significant about sustenance
than geulah, not that it’s more difficult. What’s the significance, and how is it
demonstrated by the fact that geulah is assigned to an angel and sustenance is
provided by HaShem?

We may understand this by looking at what Rabbi Yochanan said Megilah 31a, “in
every place that you see the greatness of HaShem you see His humility.” He brings
a proof from the pasuk in parshas Akev that says that HaShem rules over judges
and kings and then says that He provides justice to orphans and widows giving
them food and clothing.

We may wonder what is the greatness of HaShem in giving food to those who are
hungry? Don’t ordinary people do the same thing? And how is this evidence of
HaShem’s humility?

We may explain that since angels are entirely spiritual they cannot experience
physical, mundane needs or desires. Therefore, even if they are merciful they
cannot empathically satisfy a person’s physical needs such as bread and clothing
because they don’t know what it’s like to be lacking them.

Now according to this it would seem even more so that HaShem, k’vyachol, would
not have an awareness of the experience of mundane, worldly needs. Therefore we
are told that nonetheless He is humble to experience the needs of human beings
and empathically provides food to the sojourners, orphans, and widows. Therefore
the main point is not the giving but the awareness and the empathic experience of
the need.

Now we understand why it says that providing food is even more difficult than
redemption. Redemption is a spiritual experience with which even an angel
can empathize, whereas food which is physical and mundane has to come only
from HaShem. This supports the wording used by the midrash, that providing
sustenance is “greater” than redemption, rather than “harder” than redemption.
(Torah Temimah, Braishis 48:15)

How do Rabbi Yochanan’s lessons apply to us?

The key is his answer to the question, what is the greatness of HaShem in giving
food to those who are hungry? Don’t ordinary people do the same thing?

The answer is that HaShem, k’vyachol, exercises humility in order to empathize.

Ordinary people look at someone who is hungry and generously give him food.
Extraordinary people slow down long enough to humbly think about what it must
be like to be hungry, to be embarrassed at needing help from someone else, to
wonder when someone will care.

Ordinary people can be angelic. They have to task to do, a responsibility to
carry out, and they get it done. Handing a poor person a coin, a dollar, or even
a generous check, can be done without feeling, no differently from stuffing the
donation into a pushka.

Extraordinary people go to a greater level, and it is harder, too. V’halachta
b’drachav, exercising the humility to think about and connect with another human
being, feeling empathy for him and expressing compassion with eye contact and
words of comfort and encouragement.

Rabbi Yochanan said, “The man who [by smiling affectionately] shows his teeth to
his friend is better than one who gives him milk to drink.” (Kesuvos 111b)

How often do you smile affectionately at each of your children? How often do you
stand still and wait to see them smile back? Or do you sound more like this:

Here’s your milk. Drink it, put on your coat, hurry up, the bus will be here any
minute now!

How often can you start your day 3 minutes earlier so that you could sound like
this:

Hi, here’s your milk. [Smile given, smile received, smile returned.] I hope you
have a good day.

You would be giving your child milk to drink, and, according to Rabbi Yochanan,
you’d be doing something even better by smiling affectionately.

You might also be doing a mitzvah that we seldom realize is available to us
nowadays.

Here’s how Rav Zilberstein describes it, in Tuvcha Y’biyu:

The Shechina Herself bears the distress of every person, as it says in Tehilim
(91:15) “I am with you in distress,” whether [the sufferer is] a zaddik or a rasha,
whether the tzaar is great or small. If it so for the Shechina, needn’t a person
share a fellow’s burden?

Do not think that it is difficult. A heartfelt “good morning” or “shalom aleichem”
can be truly therapeutic.

What did I do? What effort did I expend? I just said “good morning” with a smile
on my face. His’ya-chasti b’kovod. (Volume 1, page 183)

What an interesting expression - His’ya-chasti b’kovod. Literally, it means “I
formed an honorable connection.” I respected someone by connecting with him, by
taking the time to smile rather than watching them go by.

How often do you watch your husband or your wife, your child or your parent, go
by, without stopping to smile at them? How much would it mean to them to be
noticed, maybe even acknowledged? How difficult would it be to express your
interest, appreciation, concern, or affection? Do you realize how much you mean to
them?

Rav Zilberstein suggests that a heartfelt smile is far more than a courtesy. It
is a kiyyum of the mitzvah of pidyon shevuyim. That’s how much you mean to
them. Whether they are unsure of themselves, apprehensive of someone else, or
wondering if they matter to anyone, your warm, caring, smile can be freeing and
uplifting. For both of you.

Rabbi Yitzchak Shmuel Ackerman is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with
specialties in marriage, relationships, and parenting. He works with parents and
educators, and conducts parenting seminars for shuls and organizations. He can be
reached at 718-344-6575.