ANSWER:
When goyim suffer, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is sad. Ma'sei Yudei tovim bayam, Hashem is sad. What should we do? We should say Hashem is sad, that's enough. Don't spend any money on it, because there are plenty of poor Jews that need your money. Now, when an ambulance passes by, you should always say a tefilla. If it's chalila a Jew inside, say Hakadosh Baruch Hu should send him a refuah shleima.
Now, if an Italian would hear me say this, and he asks, why don't you say this prayer for Italians too? So I say, do you pray if an Italian passes by in an ambulance? Do you pray for an Italian? You don't pray for your fellow Italian, so why should I pray for Italians? Therefore, you are mechuyov to pray for your fellow Jews. If you hear an ambulance, don't ignore it! It's making a wailing sound, it's crying out for help – maybe it's a Jew? Therefore pray that he should have a refuah shleima, if it's a Yisroel.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu is different. Hakadosh Baruch Hu has kavayochol tzar when a person has any tzar at all; ma'sei Yudei tovim bayam.
Good Shabbos To All
This is transcribed from questions that were posed to Harav Miller by the audience at the Thursday night lectures. To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210