(a) Rebbi Yochanan cried when he read five particular verses. When he read
the verse that says that Hashem is persuaded by the Satan, as it were, to
afflict a person for no reason (Iyov 2:3), Rebbi Yochanan cried, because
"what can a servant do if his master is persuaded to afflict him!" When he
reached the verse that says that Hashem "cannot have faith even in His holy
ones" (Iyov 15:15), he cried, because the verse implies that Hashem takes the
young Talmidei Chachamim from the world so that they should not have a chance
to go bad when they get older. The third and fourth verses (Malachi 3:5,
Koheles 12:14) at which he cried were the verses that imply that Hashem
punishes an inadvertent sin (Shogeg) just like a purposeful sin (Mezid), and
He punishes a light sin (Kal) just like a severe sin (Chamur). Finally, he
cried when he reached the verse (Devarim 31:21) that says that Hashem will
punish the people with afflictions that cannot be remedied, because the
remedy for one problem intensifies another problem.
Perhaps Rebbi Yochanan was so sensitive to these particular verses because of
his personal experiences. The Gemara (Berachos 5b) tells us that Rebbi
Yochanan lost ten sons, and yet he did not despair. He accepted the tragedies
as Yisurin Shel Ahavah, and that is how he would comfort others. These verses
reflect his experience.
1. The verse in Iyov says that sometimes Hashem afflicts a person with no
apparent reason, even when the person has no sins. The afflictions are only
Yisurin Shel Ahavah, as the Gemara in Berachos there describes.
2. When Rebbi Yochanan came to the verse in (Iyov 15:15), he cried, because
he realized that there might have been another reason why his sons died --
because sometimes Hashem takes away young Talmidei Chachamim in their youth
so that they not have an opportunity to go bad later.
3. He further justified the afflictions that befell him by saying that Hashem
has a higher standard by which He judges greater people. Consequently, great
people are sometimes punished very harshly for acts of Shogeg or for light
transgressions, as if the act was Mezid or a severe transgression (as we see
in Bava Kama 50a).
4. Finally, when he reached the verse that speaks of the "evils that will be
many and difficult" (Devarim 31:21), he cried. He explained that verse to
mean evils that "complement each other," becoming unavoidable because that
the remedy for one affliction is the cause for another (see Rashi and
Tosfos).
He understood that his afflictions must be because of Bitul Torah (as the
Gemara says in Berachos 5a, "if one cannot find a specific cause for his
afflictions, he may assume that they are due to Bitul Torah."). However, his
reproof involved becoming an Avel, such that he could not even make up for
his "misdeed," since an Avel is prohibited from learning Torah. Thus his
affliction just reinforced his deficiency!
(b) Similarly, the other Amora'im who cried upon reading certain verses might
have been affected by the verses because of their personal experiences. Rav
Huna cried when he read the verse that describes how Hashem at one time had
yearned to see the Jewish people come up to Yerushalayim for the festival
(Shemos 23:17), but then Hashem told them, "Who asked you to trample my
courtyard!" (Yeshayah 1:12), and when he reached the verse that says that
Hashem once yearned that His servant (the Jewish people) eat upon His table
(Korbanos), and now He rejects them (Yeshayah 1:11).
It could be that Rav Huna made these statements following the incident
recorded in Berachos (5b). The Gemara relates that 400 barrels of Rav Huna's
wine went sour and the Rabanan had to come to comfort him. Rav Huna was very
wealthy (Moed Katan 28a) and used his money for Mitzvos and Tzedakah. Now he
was watching Hashem not only take away his business, but impoverish him. He
exclaimed that until that time, he had used his wealth to provide for
Talmidei Chachamim. Providing for Talmidei Chachamim is akin to bringing
Korbanos (Berachos 10b). Now, though, Hashem has taken everything away from
him, as if to say that He does not want Rav Huna to serve Him anymore.
(c) Rebbi Elazar cried when he read verses (Bereishis 45:3, Shmuel I 28:15)
that discuss the exactness of Hashem's justice. The Gemara in Ta'anis (25a)
says that Rebbi Elazar suffered from extreme poverty. He accepted Hashem's
judgment and declared that Hashem was treating him properly, and no one can
fathom the justice of Hashem.
(d) Rav Yosef cried when he reached the verse that says, "Yesh Nispeh b'Lo
Mishpat" (Mishlei 13:23), from which we learn that sometimes a person' s life
is taken before its time, and that person's remaining years are given to a
Talmid Chacham who was humble and did not stand up for his rights. The Gemara
tells us that Rav Yosef became mortally ill and became blind forgot all of
his learning (Nedarim 41a). This might have occurred 22 years before his
death, at the time that the Chaldeans had predicted that he would die
(Berachos 64a).
The Gemara (ibid.) says that when it was time to appoint a new Rosh Yeshivah,
Rav Yosef -- who was entitled to take the position -- deferred to Rabah and
gave him the position. That act qualified him as a Talmid Chacham who acted
with humility and did not stand up for his rights. Rav Yosef understood that
the reason he recovered from his illness and lived for another twenty-two
years was because Hashem had given him the years of someone who had died
prematurely due to an accident (as described in the Gemara here), in return
for being humble and not standing up for his rights. (M. Kornfeld)