L'Chaim, I'm Alive! | Rabbi Yisroel Besser

After the פטירה, the passing of the חידושי הרי”ם, the first Gerrer Rebbe, it was a very dark time, it was a very depressing time for his Chasidim. They had seen a series of great Rebbes. The Rebbe, R’ Simcha Bunim of Peshischa, and then the Kotzker Rebbe and the חידושי הרי”ם. They were exposed to such light, and when the חידושי הרי”ם died, there was a little bit of a rough patch until they regrouped and found themselves a new Rebbe. And not long after his פטירה, the Chasidim were sitting down from a Seuda, for a meal, and one of them had a L’Chaim. He had a drink and then he had another drink, and it was, like I said, a depressing time, so maybe he had a third drink, a fourth drink. And he got very drunk, unbecomingly drunk, and he started to walk and he staggered and he fell onto the street outside the Beis Medrash. He was lying there in his filth, drunk. And it really, really wasn't appropriate. A distinguished Chosid, a Ba’al Avoda, lying there drunk on the floor, surrounded by his filth. And the Chasidim were looking at him and they were discussing it, on how unbecoming it was. This Chosid got up, drunk. He held himself, fell down again. And from lying down, he said: You know what? He says: It's better to lie here on the sidewalk, alive, living, than to lie next to the Rebbe in the בית החיים, in the cemetery. With all his greatness, with all that he's developed, with all his incredible spiritual, lofty dimensions that the חידושי הרי”ם had, but not alive anymore. What he was saying was the Yesod, was the foundation of everything. It's better to be alive and fighting, it’s better to be lying on the sidewalk alive, than to be lying in the cemetery not alive, even with all the accomplishments in the world. I have a friend, a mentor, R' Pinchos Lipschutz, he’s the editor of Yated Ne'eman. He told me he once had the opportunity to visit one of the Tzaddikim of Yerushalayim, R’ Yaakov Meir Shechter shlit”a. R’ Yaakov Meir Shechter, from the Ziknei Breslever Chasidus. R’ Yaakov Meir told him: You have a newspaper? Here's what you should write. Tell the people in America that they should know that they have the Yetzer Hara, and it's okay, and they shouldn't feel bad if the Yetzer Hara sometimes wins. That was his message, R’ Yaakov Meir’s message to the Jews of America. You have a Yetzer Hara, and sometimes the Yetzer Hara’s going to win and sometimes you're going to win, but you're alive, and being alive means being able to fight. We walk in the streets and a lot of times, we find ourselves lying on the sidewalk, like that Chosid by the חידושי הרי”ם. It's not so glorious, we don't feel so good about ourselves, we don't feel so proud about ourselves, and maybe we’re even lost, but we're alive. Being alive means you get up from the sidewalk, you’re not in the בית החיים, you’re here, you’re on the battleground of life, where every single move counts. And you walk on and you smile and you say: L’Chaim! Because we're still here.