Why Did Rachel Gutman Live Only 23 Years?

The road accident on Route 304, which was traveling from Kiryat Sefer to Jerusalem, resulted in the deaths of two precious women and injuries to many others. One of the deceased was Rachel Gutman, only 23 years old, leaving behind a young widower and a tender baby.

A reporter from the 'Dirshu' website visited the Gutman family for condolences and transcribed the words of Rabbi Elimelech Biderman. These are the rabbi's words, which may shed light and bring comforting faith to grieving hearts.

"There is an ancient saying: 'Think good, it will be good,'" Rabbi Biderman began, continuing, "In Jerusalem, they say: 'Don't think at all, it will be even better'... Don't think at all, why? Because you don't understand anyway. Who understands the ways of Hashem? Now the deceased is above, and she sees everything: why she was born, for how long she was born. We here on Earth understand nothing".

Rabbi Biderman continued by recounting the story of the 'Imrei Emet', who sat shiva after the death of his sons. One of his disciples approached him and said: "The sages say: 'The building of the young is deception; the destruction of the old is construction.' In other words, the building of the young, even if it seems like construction, is actually deception; and the destruction of the old seems like destruction, but it is essentially construction. The disciple told his mourning rabbi: 'It seems that you received a 'slap' (using 's' instead of 'f') but it's a 'slap' from an elder full of compassion, and therefore it’s definitely construction!' The 'Imrei Emet' responded: "You have comforted me".

Rabbi Biderman continued to describe the reaction of Rabbi Moshe Shapira of blessed memory, when his daughter passed away. "Rabbi Moshe stood by his daughter's bed and said: 'Master of the Universe, the Talmud says there are three partners in man, Hashem, his father, and his mother. The law is that one partner is not allowed to take money from the partnership alone; he must speak with the other partners. So how did you take her alone without speaking with the other partners, the father and mother?' Rabbi Moshe continued passionately: 'You are forced to say that it’s not a duty, but a privilege. And the law is that one can benefit someone not in his presence. That is, while one partner cannot withdraw money without consulting the other partners, he can indeed contribute money. So if Hashem took her without consulting the partners, you must conclude that Hashem added to the account, not withdrew from it'.

"Whoever is left alone, Hashem Himself plays with him"

"The Chidushei Harim sat shiva 13 times for 13 children," continued Rabbi Biderman. "When the shiva ended, the rebbetzin saw him calm and composed. In her deep pain, she asked him: 'How can you be so calm?! Only a rooster could be so indifferent when losing his chicks.' Her great husband replied: 'The trouble "package" is given from above, but the distress of the soul man creates for himself... Why? Because man chooses how to look at what happened to him. Everything can be viewed differently. It can be seen as excess that Hashem takes before the great gift He is preparing'.

"Your daughter, oh how good it is for her there," said Rabbi Biderman to the mourning parents. "I heard she was such an Eishes Chayil, a supportive wife. Her husband should just study. She is well now. She left a note here on the door 'I’ll be right back'. She will return soon".

Rabbi Biderman turned to the widower, explaining the verse from Psalms: "You fashioned Leviathan to play with" as follows: Hashem created everything male and female, and also the Leviathan, then saw that the world could not sustain both, and took the female. Leviathan said: 'I am left alone!', but for Hashem, there is no alone. Whoever remains alone, I myself play with him... These are things that the mouth cannot speak, and the heart cannot think of how far they reach. But the idea here is that the presence of the Shechina you have, no tzaddik in the world has...

"From above everything looks different," Rabbi Biderman reiterated. "The deceased is now above, and she sees clearly that 23 years ago she was born only for 23 years, and she exploited it to the fullest. With such love for Torah, such dedication to Torah. She is already there praying. Our trial here below is hard. We must be strong. But when you strengthen, then you receive the gift. To this day, what stands for the people of Israel? The merit of the Binding of Isaac. That’s what Hashem is testing you with. A test like Abraham our father faced, the tenth trial, that to this day we cry out and plead 'Answer us' in the merit of this trial".

"What was the greatness of Abraham our father? That he fulfilled the entire Torah?", Rabbi Biderman asked the young widower, and responded: "No. There were others who fulfilled the entire Torah. Only from the ten trials he went through. Understand that you have now grown a million heads! As important a Jew as you are, as much as we heard about you being such a great and wonderful Jew - but it doesn’t reach the tip of what you grew this week by several levels"...

Rabbi Biderman continued his words and told of a Jew and a non-Jew who were collecting a lot of money together. The Jew said to the non-Jew: 'Go to the synagogue on Passover night, they will take you home, there's a good meal there'... The non-Jew dressed as a Jew and indeed they invited him. The soul left him there. First Kiddush, then they start 'Ha Lachma Anya', talking for an entire hour, finally washed hands, received some broken matzot pieces. He was waiting eagerly to eat – then they gave him maror and korech... he felt he was going to vomit. He was enraged, fled from the house. The next day he met his friend. Asked him: "What kind of advice did you give me? Maror and korech I got there!"

The Jew replied: "What? You were already at maror and korech?! So why didn’t you wait? In another minute they would have brought 'Shulchan Orech'!"

"The deceased already sees the 'Shulchan Orech'. She is sitting there in the shadow of Hashem’s wings, the wings of the Shechina. We are here below. If you are already at maror and korech, in another minute Shulchan Orech... the gifts are already coming soon. May Hashem help that you soon see the gifts," Rabbi Biderman concluded his words.

Courtesy of 'Dirshu' website.