Our Gemara on Amud Aleph reports a truism regarding cattle:

“A young ox that has been fattened, but then held until it is slim, performs twice the work of other oxen.”

As the saying goes, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Numerous verses speak to this idea, such as Yeshayahu (48:10):

“See, I refine you, but not as silver; I test you in the furnace of affliction.”

And in Malachi (3:3):

“He shall act like a smelter and purger of silver; and he shall purify the descendants of Levi… that they shall present offerings in righteousness.”

Also see Mishlei (17:3) and Zechariah (13:9).

In the psychological trauma literature, this is known as Post-Traumatic Growth. While it doesn’t always occur—sometimes what doesn’t kill you still disables you—the phenomenon is real. What are the features of post-traumatic growth?

1. Recognition of the trauma—facing it, not dissociating or denying.

1. Reevaluation of shattered assumptions: of safety, fairness, control and replacing it with more realistic ideas of vulnerability, a degree of tolerance for uncertainty and healthy interdependence.

1. Strengthened resilience and confidence.

1. Greater empathy and emotional flexibility. As it says in Shemos (23:9): “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.”

There’s a pattern in nature and in human growth: difficulty leads to strength. In Psychology of the Daf, Shavuos 48, we discussed how archetypes repeat throughout creation. These patterns hint at deeper truths from the Creator’s intellect. They are not random, but clues, signs, and structures meant to guide and comfort us.