Hidden Tzaddik 2.0 | Rabbi Moshe Weinberger

Not so long ago, there was a great Tzaddik in Yerushalayim by the name of R’ Asher Freund, who I was zoche to see a few times. Somebody from his Beis Hamedrash published some years ago Sixty eight stories. Stories that never happened, but each one contains a very deep lesson. Now, you all know that in every generation there are 36 Tzaddikim Nistarim, Thirty six hidden Tzaddikim. So מעשה באחד, a Maaseh with a person, who decided he wanted to meet one of these hidden Tzaddikim. והלך בעולם והיה מחפש בכל מקום He went all around the world, searching for one of these Tzaddikim Nistarim. And he asked people and they said, לא ידענו מזה כלום we don't know. ופעם ראה אחד מהנסתרים However it happened, he actually came to a place where he saw one of these Tzaddikim Nistarim, וראה שהיה בונה בניין והיו סותרים אותו מן השמיים and he saw that this Tzaddik Nistar was building a building, and then מן השמיים, from Shomayim, the building was knocked down לפני שנגמר before it was completed. ושוב היה בונה הבניין ושוב היו סותרים אותו He got to work on this building again. He's building, he’s building, he's building. And שוב, and once again, it was knocked down. וחוזר חלילה This happened a number of times. ולא יכול היה להסתכל יותר And this person couldn't watch this any longer, כי התבייש עצמו מאוד because he was so humbled by the greatness of this Tzaddik Nistar, והלך משם ושב לביתו and he went away and he returned home. Now, let me explain. The word נסתר, Nistar, means hidden, but the way that it's being used in the story is the way we find in the Gemara in Shabbos 31, where we have the Melacha of לסתור על מנת לבנות. לסתור could also mean to knock something down, to break it. So who is this Tzaddik Nistar? This Tzaddik Nistar is a Jew who's trying to build his life up. He's trying to become better. He's trying to do the best he can in his learning, in his davening, in his Shmiras Ha’einayim. And as hard as he tries, somehow, מן השמיים, something happens and the building collapses. What he was working on, what he tried to accomplish was broken. So what's the greatness of the Tzaddik Nistar? Instead of remaining in that place, instead of being discouraged and giving up hope, he starts to build again. So those are the Tzaddikim Nistarim of our generation. Thousands and thousands of Jews like yourselves, like me, all of us, who are trying all the time to build ourselves into better Jews. But we often find ourselves broken. We find what we worked on destroyed. And אף על פי כן, we get up and we start again. One of the songs that I find most inspiring is the following. וגם אני חולם כמו יוסף I also have dreams like Yosef had dreams. I also want to become great. גם אותי זרקו לבור But like Yosef, I was thrown into a pit. In other words, something happened to me along the way. I had big dreams. When I was in Yeshiva, I had big dreams. גלגל חוזר בתוך תחפושת And I, too, came back disguised, with a costume. וכמו דוד אני עושה מזה מזמור And like Dovid Hamelech, I take all the ups and downs of my life, כמו דוד אני עושה מזה מזמור I try to put all of these things together in my life, and עושה מזה מזמור, and to make it into a song, into a Mizmor, to build myself back again up, higher and stronger. וכמו דוד אני עושה מזה מזמור.