## Ba'al Shem Tov, Noach

###### Ba'al Shem Tov, Noach 153:1
[Ba'al Shem Tov, Noach 153:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Ba%27al%20Shem%20Tov/s/Noach/r/153:1)

איש חכם ומשכיל יתן לב להבין כי צעד שיש לאדם הוא צער השכינה כמו שאמרו בסנהדרין (דמ"ו ע"א) קלני מראשי וכו', יתפלל על צער השכינה וממילא יעבוד הצער מהאדם:
(תוי"י פ' בשלח דנ"ג ע"ב).

**Ami Silver, 2020:**
A wise and intelligent person will realize that any pain he experiences is the pain of the Divine Presence, as the Talmud says: “When a person suffers, what does the Shechinah say? ‘May head hurts me! My arm hurts me!’”⁶²46a.
He should pray to alleviate the suffering of the Shechinah, and as a result, his own suffering will abate by itself.⁶³ (*parashas Vayeshev*) writes: I heard in the name of the Baal Shem Tov that prayer even affects the Holy One, if such a thing could be said. Because when even the sinners of Israel suffer, the Shechinah declares: “My head hurts me….” Because G-d’s intention in creating the world was in order to bestow goodness upon the creation, for He desires loving-kindness. It turns out that prayer is really for a supernal need – that G-d’s will to bestow upon creation should be fulfilled. This was the trait of Nachum Ish Gamzu (See *Ta’anis* 21a), who understood that there was a hidden goodness in all that happened to him, for evil does not issue forth from G-d. That goodness is presently concealed, in the aspect of ‘Smallness.’ But through his faith in this, and by saying ‘This is also for the good (*gamzu l’tova*),’ the hidden goodness became activated and revealed, attaining a state of “Largeness.’
*Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Beshalach*

footnotes:
⁶² Sanhedrin
⁶³ The Chasidic work Teshuos Chen