Covered in Garbage | Rabbi Mordechai Finkelman

Approximately 15 years ago, in Camp Dora Golding, we had the special privilege of the Nikolsburger Rebbe of Monsey shlit”a coming to visit. And this was his message. In the 1700s, Sultan Suleiman of Turkey was in control of Eretz Yisroel. And in addition to his beautiful palace in Constantinople, he had one built for himself in Yerushalayim, and he just loved being there. He loved the view from three sides of the palace, but the fourth side disturbed him. It was a landfill, a mountain of garbage. It was not pretty at all. One day, he sees an expensive coach, a rich-looking coach, pull up near that mountain. An elderly woman comes out with a stick in one hand, in the other hand a bag of garbage, and she climbs a little way up that mountain of smelly garbage, opens up her sack, dumps out her garbage, and then goes back into her coach. Quickly, he told one of his servants, bring that woman here. And he asked her: Where are you coming from? I'm coming from Akko, up north. You have no place else to throw your garbage but in Jerusalem? You have to come here to empty your garbage? No, no, His Majesty, not at all. It’s a religious ritual. I'm a descendant of the Romans, the ones who destroyed the Temple. And the Caesar at that time was very frustrated. His weapons were able, his cannons were able to destroy three out of the four walls, but that fourth wall, the Western Wall, he just couldn't demolish it. It was frustrating to him. So he made it into a landfill and he announced there'd be rewards in Heaven for Romans who would bring their garbage and dump it there until that wall would be covered, so he wouldn't be reminded of the impossibility of destroying that wall. So once a month, I make it my business to come down from Akko, I want to go to Heaven, and I throw my garbage out. And I'm sure I'm getting a reward for it, that's why I come here. Aha, the Sultan said, and sent her off back home. He had an idea. He began to send his servants out to distribute coins of all amounts on that landfill, and he had sacks given out to paupers who collected money for themselves. And he said: We put out money on that landfill. You fill these sacks with garbage, any coins you find are yours, and take the garbage to a certain spot. Eventually, the Western Wall was uncovered. That's how we were able to see the Western Wall, at least the beginning of it. And eventually, the way we see it today, God willing, soon, to see the Beis Hamikdash on that spot. Said the Nikolsburger Rebbe to the children in the camp, What do you learn from this? We learn that if the Satan can't get us, he can't pull us away from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, he can't destroy us as servants of Hashem, he'll try to cover us with garbage. And we have to say: Vayimaen. I am not a garbage dump. I will not have any of your garbage. I will close my eyes. I will close my ears. I will have nothing to do. Because with the help of Hashem, I'm going to be a walking Beis Hamikdash, until, God willing, we'll be able to walk into the third Holy Temple, speedily in our days.