Bread of Affliction

The Bread of Affliction / 3
and yasom are being afflicted, but because they cry out. What
we have to understand is that when they cry out something is
accomplished. They are changed. They gain daas, an awareness
of Hashem, by crying out. They gain emunah by crying out. And
because of this excellence that they have now achieved by crying
out to Hashem, Hashem answers them and takes action. He rewards
the perfection that they achieved by crying out.
There is another place in the Torah where these steps are repeated.
The verse is talking about taking the garment of a poor
person as collateral for a loan. The verse tells us to be careful
to give back the collateral at night, since the poor man will have
nothing else with which to cover himself when he goes to sleep.
He may be cold at night without a blanket or a coat to cover
himself. “V’haya ki yitzak eilai, v’shamati ki chanun ani — If
he will cry out to Me I will listen, because I am merciful.” It
doesn’t say I will take action because he needs it. I will take
action because he cried out to Me. We must understand that
the crying out changed his personality. It doesn’t mean that
he instantly acquired the highest degrees of perfection. But
when you’re dealing with diamonds you don’t need thousands
of diamonds to be rich. One diamond is also worth a lot. When
a man gains a little more awareness of Hashem, he cries out
to Hashem. That’s a diamond. And because of that diamond
he deserves that Hashem should listen to him. Now let’s study
the subject a little more thoroughly. This is not only about
poor people; it is about all of us. The verse states that when
the mann (manna) fell in the midbar (desert), “Vayilaktu oso
baboker baboker — they gathered it every morning” (Shemos
16:21). Now that’s a job, to get up early every morning to gather
the mann. If they waited until later in the day, the mann would
be gone. You had to be on time to pick the mann every morning.
Why? Hashem in His kindness couldn’t have given the