GEN1549 Many [medical] patients ask for medication seeking perfect lives, free of physical or mental pain or blemishes.  Is this appropriate? Is there a value in suffering?   In general, Judaism does not extol the virtues of suffering.   However, in the stories of the patriarchs we certainly see examples of emotional growth that comes through hardship and pain, grief or disappointment.  Perhaps the clearest example is Judah.  His emotional growth following the death of two sons prepared him to speak eloquently and soulfully to Joseph as he pleaded for the release of his brother Benjamin.   Pain leads to growth. Judaism offers several models of this. Jewish laws of mourning are designed to help people cope naturally with life’s pain and emerge with stronger community and family bonds. Fasting is described as “afflicting one’s soul” (Numbers 29:7), and on Yom Kippur this is one way we try to get closer to God. The older I get, the more I can look back on painful experiences in my own life and see how profoundly they have positively shaped who I am today. The expression “what doesn't kill you will make you stronger” is very apt. Do medications that blunt emotions also blunt the emotional growth that should occur? I do not think there are answers to this question. Judaism sees everything in life, both the good and the bad, as coming from God. To me this implies that we should try to live through all of life's experiences as consciously as possible, without medications that numb us to the outside world. Judaism is all about balance. The pursuit is perfect, pain free lives is not the work for which we were created. It is to struggle, grow, appreciate the beauty of life, and-- in the process-- become closer to God. (By Robert S. Karasov)