בעש״✦ Verified
The Baal Shem Tov
A teachingGrief is not a failure of faith or a sign that we have strayed from God's presence. It is, rather, one of the deepest languages of the human heart—and the Psalmist knew this when he cried out that God "heals the brokenhearted." Our sorrow is not hidden from the Holy One; it is witnessed, held, and met with tenderness.
The Baal Shem Tov taught that where our thoughts dwell, there we truly are. This means that when we carry grief, we are not separate from ourselves or from God. The very act of feeling deeply is a kind of presence, a return to our truest self. Grief breaks us open to what we love—and love, even when it aches, is a divine spark.
There is also a season to everything, as Ecclesiastes reminds us. Grief does not mean we are stuck forever, but neither should we hurry it away. Each day of mourning, each moment we honor what we have lost, is its own time—holy and necessary. In that time, the broken places in our hearts are where God's healing light enters.
Sources
“He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.”Psalms 147:3 ↗
It affirms that our brokenness is seen and tended by God; grief is not abandonment.
“In the place where a person's thoughts are, there is where they truly are.”Baal Shem Tov, Keter Shem Tov ↗
Our sorrow and the love within it are real presences; we do not disappear into grief—we are fully there.
“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.”Ecclesiastes 3:1 ↗
Grief has its season; we are not meant to skip it, but neither are we meant to remain there forever.
A small stepSit quietly for a few moments and name one person or thing you grieve. Do not rush the feeling. Simply say their name or speak what you miss, and listen to the love that grief carries. That love is a light.