Hashem and Human Suffering

Rav Tzadok Hakohein of Lublin, zt”l, explains the detrimental results of inflicting pain.“One must be very careful to avoid causing even the slightest pain to any person even for a mitzvah. The proof of this is that the verse, 'על כל חולציו'—‘I will punish all who oppress him.’ The sages taught that even a gabbai tzedakah may not cause pain to another.
“Tana D’vei Eliyahu writes that even the stone used for סקילה and the tree a person was crucified upon will be judged for being the vehicle of such pain. This also means in a case where one was rightly sentenced to capital punishment in beis din. This explains why the Sanhedrin must fast on the day their sentence is carried out. They fast to atone for causing pain, even though it is deserved.
“Now we can better understand the statement that a Sanhedrin who kills more often than once in seven years is considered ‘bloody.’ Even if their ruling was in exact accordance with the halachah, this does not mitigate their status. Similarly, we find that one who accidentally kills someone who deserved to die must nevertheless also be exiled to the city of refuge.
He concluded, “The pain he must atone for in such cases is that of Hashem Himself. Our sages teach that Hashem is not happy with the suffering of the wicked since when the wicked suffer, Hashem also suffers as it were. How much more so does Hashem suffer, as it were, for the pain of tzaddikim who experience pain to fulfill the mitzvos!”