Bank of Miracles | Rabbi Yisroel Besser

Where does a person buy a miracle? Could you go on Amazon and order a miracle for yourself? A Yeshuva, salvation? A wonder? It doesn't go that way. But the Steipler would say: “If you need a Neis, if you need a miracle in your own life, there is a way to earn a Neis: By being עומד בניסיון, by standing up to a temptation. We know that "נס" and "ניסיון" have the same Shoresh, the same root, which is "נס", which means like a banner. Because just like when the Ribono Shel Olam, when G-d, makes a miracle in the world, what He's doing is He's holding up a banner that says: “I'm in charge.” When a person stands up to a temptation, to a Nisayon, they're holding up a banner and saying: “I'm in charge! I got this! I have the strength! I have the control! I'm in charge of this body!” When a person is עומד בניסיון, when they stand up to a temptation, they earn a miracle! That’s what the Steipler would say. We know this, of course, from Chazal because the paradigm of someone who stood up to temptation was Yosef HaTzaddik, because he stood up in the face of temptation, he stood tall and strong. And when they came to the Yam Suf, which is the paradigm of a miracle, the water split. Why? Chazal tell us: "בזכות ארונו של יוסף" The water saw Yosef HaTzaddik’s bones coming, and they split, in deference to the fact that he was עומד בניסיון. A person earns himself a miracle by being עומד בניסיון. Now who doesn’t want miracles? Who doesn't want to have a bank account full of miracles that they could cash in, that they could draw on, that the Ribono Shel Olam could give them when they need it? We know, we have a Mesorah, there is a tradition that there are 36 hidden Tzaddikim who sustain the entire world. So Reb Aryeh Levine would ask: Why don’t we know who they are? Wouldn't that be helpful to know? We need Tzaddikim! We need people we could go to, to pray for us, to daven for us, people who can give us Brachos. Wouldn't it be great to publicize their names? So Reb Aryeh Levine would say, because today's 36 Tzaddikim aren’t yesterday’s and they’re not tomorrow’s. Each day has its own Tzaddikim. You don’t know who’s the one who just became a Tzaddik, who pulled himself away from seeing something he shouldn’t see, who stood tall at the temptation, who created such a life around himself that he's sustaining the entire world at this moment. But it's not the same person. There's no Yellow Pages of Tzaddikim. It keeps changing because every person has that moment when they become a Tzaddik. Every single person has a moment when they soar, when they stand above a Nisayon, and they become the Tzaddik who brings down Nissim. Earn miracles! Buy miracles! It’s very hard, but it’s doable, and it's within our reach, and each one of us could be that Tzaddik!