Just for Me | Rabbi Zev Smith

There are many benefits being part of a big family, but there's one drawback, perhaps, a dangerous part of being part of a big family. A person loses his self-identity. He's one of 10 children, he's one of 100 grandchildren, and that cousin is much better than I am, and my younger brother is certainly better than I am. And when a person feels he's a nobody, he won't succeed. Life is typically a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's gratifying to watch the unbelievable growth of the Vayimaen family, but I wonder if each and every one of you realize how important you really are. Now imagine you're a camp director ten years ago and you get a call from a Bochur. He says: I had a very hard winter. I know it's the middle of the winter now, but I need a break. Could I go to your camp for two days and relax? So you say: My camp? It's not winterized. It's not a camp now. I can't open a camp for you. Please find a different alternative. Ten minutes later, you get a call from R’ Chaim Kanievsky’s personal Gabbai. R’ Chaim needs a vacation and someone suggested that he travel and come to your camp. Could you accommodate him? You would say: Get him on the next plane. I'll do it. Now, is that a double standard? No. You can't open a camp for one Bochur, but for the Gadol Hador, you'll do anything. But although that sounds convincing, it's not true. Because the Ribono shel Olam has a different outlook to this very question. The Mishnah in Sanhedrin 37 tells us that the Ribono shel Olam created one human being to show the value of every single individual. That if we destroy one person, it's like we destroy the world. If we save one individual, it's like we saved the world. But Rashi adds some crucial words. Why is that so? Because each individual has his own uniqueness. No one looks alike. The Ribono shel Olam made that no two people are the same, because each one has his own individuality. Because חובתו בעולמו, my mission is not your mission, my challenges are not your challenges, and my combination is unique only to me, just like my physical appearance is unique only to me. But then the Mishnah adds something incredible. There's a ruling of the Mishnah, incumbent on every single person, to say: The world was created just for me. Not just for R’ Chaim Kanievsky. Just for me. Because my unique mission warrants the creation of the entire world. And I guess that's why R’ Tzadok put it so beautifully, when he writes in Tzidkas Hatzaddik 154, We have to believe in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so, too, one must believe in himself. We have to believe, as R’ Tzadok explains, that the Ribono shel Olam is משתעשע, is מתענג, He relishes, He enjoys the Nachas that we are giving Him. I remember once, our camp, we were seeing the beautiful Niggun, I am, I am, I am a servant of Hashem. And someone said: I can't stand that Niggun. I am, I am, I am. Me, me, me. Why are you so self-centered? I told him, In America, we need that, because we have so little self-confidence, we have to say it over and over. Me, me, me, little old me, I am a servant of Hashem. I don't make a difference. I make all the difference. And we have to repeat it until we live with that. We live in a world, a perpetual frenzy, for quick winning, lotteries and Powerballs. Maybe the message is the lottery ticket is of zero value, but in a moment of truth, suddenly it's worth millions. This is the lesson for our final generation. We are pale in comparison to the previous generations. Who am I? But we have the winning ticket. When the Moshiach will come, he will show you are the ones that brought the Moshiach. Never underestimate the ‘I am, I am, I am,’ and keep living and singing, ‘I am a servant of Hashem.’