A Tzaddik's Inner Goy | Rabbi Yussie Zakutinsky

One of the great Chasidim of the Ba’al HaTanya, the first Lubavitcher Rebbe, was a Chosid, a Tzaddik, by the name of R’ Shmuel Munkis. How did R’ Shmuel Munkis meet the Ba’al HaTanya? How did he become a student of the Ba’al HaTanya? So it was with the following story. R’ Shmuel heard about the greatness of the Ba’al HaTanya and he wanted to go meet him. So he travels to the city of the Ba’al HaTanya and he shows up 3:00 in the morning, and he's walking through the streets. He doesn't know which house the Ba’al HaTanya lives in, but he sees one house that's lit up, that's light. So he knocks on the door and lo and behold, it's the Ba’al HaTanya's house and the Ba’al HaTanya opens the door. Who are you? So he says: My name is Shmuel from Munkis, and I'm here to become a student of yours. So the Ba’al HaTanya asked him, How do you know that this was my house? So he said that I saw that this was the house that was lit up and certainly that's the house of a Tzaddik. So the Ba’al HaTanya said to him, How do you know the house of a Tzaddik is lit up? R’ Shmuel was quiet. The Ba’al HaTanya says to him, You know, I don't think this place is for you. I think you should go back. R’ Shmuel says: No, no, no. I want to be by you, I want to learn by you, I want to become an עבד השם, I want you to show me the path. Ba’al HaTanya says: No, it's not for you. And they keep on going back and forth like this, until finally the Ba’al HaTanya says: Listen, Shmuel, if you don't listen to me, if you keep on being stubborn like this and standing by my door, I'm going to get the Goy from inside and I'm going to have the Goy throw you out. So R’ Shmuel begins to cry and he says: Rebbe, my Goy is bigger than your Goy. So the Ba’al HaTanya says: Oh, if it's like that, if that's the truth, then come in. You could become a student of mine. What's the meaning of this story? What the Ba’al HaTanya was showing R’ Shmuel was the following idea. R’ Shmuel was coming with the assumption is that what does it mean to be a Tzaddik? A Tzaddik means someone that's only light. There's no challenges. There's no problems. There's no inner turmoil. It's just lichtig. It's just light. And that's how R’ Shmuel came to approach the Ba’al HaTanya and he said, I know it's your house because your house is light. And the Ba’al HaTanya said back to him, Who says the house of a Tzaddik is only light? A Tzaddik doesn't mean someone that's only light. A Tzaddik means someone who's struggling, who fights, who perseveres, but knows that he struggles Leshem Shomayim, for the sake of heaven. And then the Ba’al HaTanya told him, Not only if you don’t understand this, you don't appreciate this, I'm going to have my Goy kick you out. Because even in the house of a Tzaddik there's also a Yetzer Hara. Even Tzaddikim have Yetzer Haras. And then R’ Shmuel said: Oh, my Goy is bigger than your Goy, and that's why I need to come in, that's why I need learn with you, in other words, to learn how to deal with my Yetzer Hara. Says the Ba’al HaTanya: Oh, if that's what you realized now, that the עניין of being a Tzaddik is not to lose that battle and not to disengage from that fight, but it's to appreciate the significance of that struggle that we have with the Yetzer Hara, if so, in that case, then come on in, and this is the place for you. That's what it means to be a Tzaddik. A Tzaddik doesn't mean someone that doesn't have a Yetzer, that doesn't have struggles. A Tzaddik is someone that understands that the struggles that they're going through is in order to bring out from them strength that they otherwise would not realize they had. And that's what a Tzaddik is. The more we strengthen ourselves with that Emunah, with that strength, to realize that a Tzaddik’s house also is sometimes dark, and a Tzaddik’s house also sometimes has a Goy inside, but that's what makes him a Tzaddik, by his struggling with that and dealing with that, then we’ll be able to find the strength ourselves and to become the Tzaddikim that, B’ezras Hashem, the Ribbono shel Olam wants and knows that we will become.