One Little Light | Rabbi Elimelech Biderman

The holy Torah brings the Nisayon Yosef HaTzaddik had where he refused. Says the Roke’ach, one of the Rishonim, Why did the Torah write this? The Torah doesn’t just tell stories. The Torah wants to teach all generations to come, that a person who overcomes his Yetzer Hara and guards his eyes, merits to be like Yosef who provided for the people. He merits to rise to greatness and provides for everyone. What trop is on the word וימאן? Everyone knows, a Shalsheles. Why is the trop a Shalsheles? Because businesspeople know that one who works from sunrise to sundown, does he become rich from this? No. He’ll have $15,000-20,000. He’ll have a comfortable livelihood but will marry off his children frugally. He won’t become rich. How does a person become rich? By working from sunrise to sundown? No. From one business deal in the middle of the day that goes well, he becomes a millionare. If it goes very well, he becomes a billionare. The same thing Hashem says to a Yid. I told you to learn and daven from morning to evening, that’s your livelihood. That’s the meat, fish, food, clothing, but that’s not wealth. What is wealth? One Vayimaen in the middle of the day and that gives you a Shalsheles (chain) that goes up to the heavens. You guarded your eyes one time, and that creates a chain that goes up to the heavens, and makes you very rich. Here, in Israel, a man got a bill from the electric company. 1,500 shekels. So much? He called a family meeting and they decided it has to go down to 5 shekels. A balancing Teshuva. How? He said his father told him that 50 years ago there were no air conditioners. No more air conditioners. Light in the bedrooms, only in one room. End of the month, the bill arrives, 500 shekels. 500 shekels? That’s a lot. It needs to go down to 5 shekels. He remembered that his grandfather told him that 80 years ago, there were no refrigerators. He says: No more refrigerator, that’s it. Leben, every day you can buy a new one. No more refrigerator. End of the month, he got a bill for 100 shekels. That’s not good. We need to go down to 5. He walked around the house and he saw there was a small light bulb which gave just enough light to see where you’re going. So he said: Guys, a small light bulb is enough. We turn off the whole house at night. No refrigerator, no air conditioner, no electricity, only the small light bulb. End of the month, he got a bill of how much? 15,000 shekels. He ran to their offices. What have you done here? 15,000 shekels? Electricity is off, air conditioner is off, refrigerator is off. They came to check. They checked and saw that the electricity was really off. Only one small light bulb. What was that small light bulb? The hot water tank switch. The hot water tank came up to 15,000 shekels. A person sometimes, a small light bulb in a hot water tank switch, for a moment that he closed his eyes, he doesn’t know what a great reward he will get from Hashem. 15 billion shekels. It says in the Midrash, Hashem said: I must repay the eye that closed. I must pay him a great reward for one small switch.