Mussar sobre Levítico 26:28

Isaiah, peace be upon him, said: O Lord, in their distress, they sought You; Your chastisement reduced them to anguished whispered prayer (Isaiah 26:16). For when the Jewish people are in distress, they seek Him with fasting and with prayer. For behold, it is well known that from the day that the Jewish people went into exile, they suffered from the illness of troubles more than any nation. And the rabbis, may their memory be blessed, expounded that when the teacher walks into the study hall with a whip in his hand, who worries? The one the way of which is to be hit. So too is the Jewish people accustomed to troubles from when they went into exile in [other] lands. So they have to worry more than the other nations when they see troubles spreading in the world; and all the more so when they see them coming towards them or spreading in them. And about this does Scripture say: May the Lord answer you in time of trouble, etc. (Psalms 20:2). There was no righteous person that encountered as many troubles as Jacob: The trouble with Laban, the trouble with Rachel, the trouble with Dinah, and the trouble with Joseph. And that is why Jacob is mentioned more than the other patriarchs. And they, may their memory be blessed, said, "The Holy One, blessed be He, only shakes up the world for the sake of the Jewish people." And the reason for that is so that they will move their hearts to repentance and pray before Him. And also explicit is that tragedies only come for the sake of the Jewish people, as it is stated: I wiped out nations, their corner towers are desolate, etc. And I thought that she would fear Me, would learn a lesson (Zephaniah 3:6-7). And this is correct — since the Holy One, blessed be He, chose the Jewish people more than other nations and they are the center of the world, it is fitting to sustain it or to destroy it on their account. Everything is according to their deeds. And they should not ascribe the thing to chance. As behold Scripture stated: And if you walk with Me haphazardly — meaning to say that when I shake up My world and initiate harsh decrees upon you; if you evaluate it and ascribe it to chance, like the way of the world, and that it is not with directed providence and with an intention known by Me — I will also walk with you [editor's correction: them] haphazardly (Leviticus 26:41). Meaning, I will continue and add more of that happenstance and allow the constellation to go on its path and not direct it at all, rather it shall all be by chance. And it also stated: And I will walk with you furiously haphazardly (Leviticus 26:28). It is as it is stated: So I poured out My wrath on them because (Ezekiel 36:18) they relate everything to chance.