Suffering as preparation for Hashem's gifts

במדרש ויהי רעב עין ה' אל כו' המיחלים לחסדו כו' ע"ש כל הענין.

In the Midrash: "And there was a famine" (Bereishis 12:10) — "Behold, the eye of Hashem is toward... those who yearn for His kindness" (Tehillim 33:18) — see there the whole matter.

The Midrash connects the famine that drove Avraham to Mitzrayim with the verse describing those who place their hope in Hashem's chesed.

פי' המיחלים לחסדו שמצפין שיתגלה חסד ה' בעולם לא לעשות עמהם חסד דמה שבחייהו רק שהגם שיש להם זכות עצמם אין חפצים רק בחסדו ית"ש וכמ"ש חז"ל אע"פ שיש לצדיקים לתלות במעשיהם הטובים אין מבקשין רק מתנת חנם.

The explanation of "those who yearn for His kindness": that they anticipate the chesed of Hashem being revealed in the world — not [merely] that He do kindness with them for their own benefit; rather, even though they have their own merit, they desire nothing but His chesed alone. As Chazal said: although the tzaddikim could rely on their good deeds, they ask only for an undeserved gift.

To "yearn for His kindness" is not to seek personal benefit but to long for Hashem's chesed to be revealed in the world. Even tzaddikim who could lean on their own zechus prefer to receive everything as a free gift, purely from Hashem's kindness.

וכיון שהם מצפים רק לחסדו. הקב"ה ממלא משאלות לבם ומכניס אותם למקומות כאלה שיהי' צריכים לחסדו כמ"ש להציל ממות כו' ולהחיותם ברעב כדי לגלגל על ידיהם חסד עליון ומה"ט טירוף נתן ליריאיו ע"ש.

And since they look only to His chesed, Hashem fulfills the desire of their heart and brings them into such situations where they will need His chesed — as it says, "to save from death... and to keep them alive in famine" (Tehillim 33:19) — in order to bring supernal chesed into the world through them. And for this reason "He gave sustenance to those who fear Him" — see there.

Because the tzaddikim desire only Hashem's chesed, He grants that very wish by placing them in circumstances of need — like famine — so that His chesed can be drawn into the world specifically through them. Their trials are actually the fulfillment of their deepest longing.

וכל היסורין שעברו על אאע"ה הי' הכל הכנה.

And all the suffering that Avraham Avinu underwent was entirely a preparation.

Every hardship Avraham faced was not punishment but a preparation for something greater.

וכמו דאיתא במדרש ג' מתנות נתן הקב"ה לישראל וכולם ע"י יסורין.

As is taught in the Midrash: three gifts Hashem gave to Yisrael, and all of them come through suffering.

The Midrash teaches that Hashem's three great gifts to Bnei Yisrael are each acquired only through yissurim.

וכמו שהי' גלות מצרים יסורים הכנה אל התורה.

Just as the galus of Mitzrayim was suffering that was a preparation for the Torah.

The bondage in Egypt was the suffering that prepared Bnei Yisrael to receive the Torah.

והליכה במדבר ארבעים שנה יסורים הכנה לירושת הארץ.

And the journey in the wilderness for forty years was suffering that was a preparation for the inheritance of the Land.

The forty years of wandering were the suffering that prepared them to inherit Eretz Yisrael.

כמו כן לך לך של אאע"ה הי' כדי לירש הארץ.

So too, the "Lech Lecha" of Avraham Avinu was in order to inherit the Land.

Avraham's command to "go forth" — leaving everything behind — was itself a preparatory trial leading to his inheritance of the Land.

ורעב שהלך ע"י למצרים הי' הכנה אל התורה ועל זה כתב במדרש אשרי הגבר כו' תיסרנו ומתורתך תלמדנו כי כל הרעבים שנזכרו בתורה הם רמזים לרעבון לשמוע דבר ה' כמ"ש במדרש עשרה רעבון הי' בעולם והעשירי יהי' לעתיד לא ללחם כו' כי אם לשמוע כו'.

And the famine through which he went down to Mitzrayim was a preparation for the Torah; concerning this the Midrash cites, "Fortunate is the man... whom You chasten and from Your Torah You teach him" (Tehillim 94:12). For all the famines mentioned in the Torah are hints to a hunger to hear the word of Hashem, as the Midrash states: ten famines were in the world, and the tenth will be in the future — "not for bread... but to hear" (Amos 8:11).

The famine that brought Avraham to Mitzrayim was itself a preparation for the Torah, as in the verse pairing affliction with Torah-teaching. Indeed, every famine in the Torah hints at a deeper hunger — the hunger "to hear the word of Hashem" — culminating in the final famine of the future, which will be a yearning not for bread but for Hashem's word.

פי' לעתיד יתגלה פנימיות הרעבון.

The explanation: in the future, the inner essence of the hunger will be revealed.

In the time to come, the true, inner nature of all hunger — a craving for Hashem's word — will become openly revealed.

ומקודם היו מתלבשין הרעבים בגשמיות. אבל הכל ענין אחד:

And beforehand, the famines were clothed in physicality, but it is all one matter.

Until then, this spiritual hunger is "dressed up" in the form of physical famine — yet physical and spiritual hunger are essentially one and the same longing for Hashem.

Summary: To "yearn for Hashem's kindness" means to long for His chesed to be revealed in the world, desiring everything as an undeserved gift even when one has one's own merit. Hashem fulfills this longing by placing tzaddikim into situations of need, so His chesed can flow into the world through them. Thus all of Avraham's sufferings — including the famine that drove him to Mitzrayim — were preparations for great gifts, just as galus Mitzrayim prepared for the Torah and the wilderness prepared for the Land. Every physical famine in the Torah secretly hints at a deeper hunger to hear the word of Hashem, which will be fully revealed in the future.