<html>
<body>
RSRH gives a most interesting explanation of the difference between
Rachamim and Rachmonis. YL<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>Bereshis 43: 14
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>May the All-sufficing God
grant you compassion before the man, so that he may let your other
brother and Binyamin go. As for me, if I must be bereaved of my children,
then I will be bereaved.<br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4>Rachamim</i>
</b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>denotes the attribute of
God’s love for His creatures, which is<br>
most general and will never be lost. The attribute of
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Rachamim</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>should also<br>
be the guiding principle in human relations.
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Rachamim</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>is love of family, love<br>
of parents for their children, love of children for one another
because<br>
of the one </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Rechem</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>from which they came
forth.<br><br>
People tend to confuse
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Rachamim</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>with the popular expression
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Rachmonis</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>and<br>
take the attribute of
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Rachamim</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>to be pity. Pity, however, is
of a much lower<br>
level than that of true
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Rachamim</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>.<br><br>
Which is rarer, which is nobler: sharing in others’
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>pain
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>or sharing<br>
in others’
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>joy</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>? Very few people do not feel pain
at the suffering of their<br>
fellow men. But this is certain: not all those who today share in a
poor<br>
man’s pain will rejoice to the same degree if overnight he becomes
rich,<br>
and tomorrow passes them in the street, riding with his family in an<br>
elegant carriage.<br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Rachamim</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, the attribute by which our nation
is distinguished
(</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Yevamos<br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>79a), means more than
pity. </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Rachamim</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>stems from <i>Rechem</i>,
which denotes the<br>
most intense and self-sacrificing investment of energy by one being
for<br>
the formation and emergence of another being; the commitment of all<br>
of one’s blood and energy for the sake of another being’s formation<br>
and completion.
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Rechem</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, the womb, is the hearth of the
deepest devotion.<br>
Afterward, too, when the new being has been completed, the
<i>Rechem</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>—<br>
this deepest devotion — effects not only sympathy with the baby’s
crying<br>
but even more intimate joy with its smiling. A smile of a baby on<br>
the lap of its mother makes up for years of worry and sleepless
nights.<br>
From <i>Rechem</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>derives the attribute of
<i>Rachamim</i>. This attribute not only suffers<br>
when the other suffers, but knows no rest until it sees him
happy.<br><br>
</font></body>
</html>