Gemara: Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai said: Hashem gave three good gifts to Israel, and all of them were given only by means of yisurin(torment or toil). These are they: Torah, Eretz Yisrael, and olam haba (the world to come).
Ein Ayah: There are levels that are within the nature of man to be able to attain according to the root of his creation as a human being. Since these are in line with his nature, there is no need for yisurin in order to merit them. However, in order to merit that which is outside and indeed above nature, the physical powers are not ready for them except by means of yisurin.
An illustration of this is prophecy, which when it took effect, caused a person’s limbs “to fall apart,” as the Rambam says (Yesodei Hatorah 7:2) and as the p’sukim in Daniel (10:8) and elsewhere indicate. All of this is because prophecy is a high level that is beyond nature, and the natural body does not accept it without yisurin, which weaken and “break” his strength
Thus, all three of these levels are above nature. A person is composed of intellect, body, and soul. In all of these realms, a person can be on the level of nature, but he can also elevate himself above nature in the three. Hashem prepared Israel that they should be able to go beyond the element of nature. From the perspective of intellect, He gave them the Torah to elevate and complete the intellect above the natural. From the perspective of the physical, Eretz Yisrael is a physical land, yet it has a special sanctity that is beyond nature. The world to come is where a person’s soul merits to reach a level that is higher than nature [allows for]. Therefore, all of these things were given only by means of yisurin.
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