My Zalman | Rabbi Naftali Reich

The heiliger saintly R’ Aharon of Belz זכר צדיק וקדוש לברכה was a Malach Elokim. He lived כימי השמיים על הארץ, Heavenly days down here, on Mother Earth. Before the war, he had a young Chosid by the name of Zalman Hoffman. He was a Bochur and he was so connected to his Rebbe, that during the darkest days of the war, he'd lost his family and he was going from one concentration camp to the other, but the image of his Rebbe sustained him and as soon as the war was over and he miraculously survived, he made his way to Eretz Yisroel to be reunited with his beloved Rebbe. At one time, he said, he was overwhelmed with challenges. Starting a new life in the fledgling state, it was very, very difficult. And he went to his Rebbe to pour out his heart with all his problems. And he arrived in Tel Aviv and he came to the Rebbe’s door and the Gabbai, R’ Sholom Fogel, went in to the Rebbe and he said to the heiliger R’ Aharon, Zalman is here. What? The Rebbe lifted up his eyes. My Zalman? Zalman said, when he heard those words, My Zalman, all his problems melted away. He felt so wonderful and so close. He's embraced like a child to the Rebbe. The Rebbe says My Zalman? Everything was meaningless. He was in Gan Eden itself. There will come a time for each and every one of us, when the Malachei Hashares will bear our Neshama aloft. The Malachim escort us to the door and we're waiting to hear, at the very core and the very essence of our being, what we pine and yearn is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu, עין בעין, should look at us and say, My Chaim. My Itzik’l. My Yankele. That's all we want. Nothing more. And every time we resist looking in the wrong places, thinking about inappropriate thoughts, we are cementing that emotional fidelity, that intimacy with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and securing that close connection that when that moment arrives, we are one with Him. If we can just hear in the background the resonance, My Chaim. My Itzik’l. My Yankel. My Moishele. My Mordchele. If we could just hear it in the background, it gives us the courage, the fortitude and the strength to withstand all the temptations and seductions that abound in the world around us. And we are sure and secure that we will be one with Him forever and ever.