| "And all the people who are at your feet" - Rashi explains: those who follow your counsel (Shemot 11:8). Our personal redemption, and the collective redemption of all of Klal Yisrael, depends solely on our following the counsel of the tzaddik. One well-known concept is that on Pesach we receive mochin (intellect) of both greatness and smallness out of sequence, and during the days of the Sefirah we proceed in proper order, slowly and steadily, until Shavuot. The deeper lesson is that what seems out of sequence is, in truth, also the proper order. Everything depends on our mindset. If we believe that we can only accept mochin d'gadlut—a bright, sun-like clarity where everything feels right, where we sense that we are serving HaShem with full strength—and only then consider ourselves "okay," this is a serious misunderstanding. We must internalize and truly understand that even when we are in a state of mochin d'katnut—a faint, moon-like light—when it is difficult to serve HaShem in a dark and constricted inner world, precisely there we must do whatever we are able to do. Even if the prayer is not with full intensity, even if Torah learning comes with great difficulty, even if we feel genuine distance from HaShem—if we strengthen ourselves and know clearly that what we managed to do is our avodat HaShem, and that this is completely acceptable, then we can live truly happy lives. This is one of the most fundamental and simplest pieces of counsel: each day has its own mochin, and that is the way to serve HaShem. There is no "all or nothing." We grab whatever we can. May HaShem help us fulfill, with simplicity, the counsel of the tzaddikim, and may we merit to live a state of redemption even within exile. Shabbat Shalom. |
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