Making Life Worthwhile | Rabbi Yechiel Spero

The great Mashpiah, R’ Meilech Biderman, was in Tveria together with hundreds, if not thousands of Chasidim. And it was a Friday night and they were singing the heilige Niggun, צמאה לך נפשי thirsting for the Ribono shel Olam. When he came to the words, that we will do חוקים, we will do the Mitzvos of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and we will live through that, and as R’ Meilech will sometimes do, he repeated the words over and over, and thousands of people joining him in unison. אשר יעשה אותם האדם וחי. We're going to live through these Mitzvos. That is how R’ Meilech inspired the Olam. To tell you the truth, sometimes we think of Mitzvos as a burden. We think of it as something that's impossible to do. But this is what we live for. When a person is faced with a Nisayon, Should he look at something immoral? Should he not? Should he close his eyes? Can he be מתגבר the moment and be zoche to true Shmiras Einayim? That's his life. אשר יעשה אותם האדם וחי. That's the צמאה לך נפשי. And he told over a מעשה. He said: One time, one of the Slonimer Chasidim who lived in Tveria they went over to the Rebbe, and they said to the Rebbe, Ah, last night I was almost able to do a Kuntz, a trick. And they said to him: What happened? He said: I had כמעט like some sort of a heart attack, but at the last moment I was able to live, Baruch Hashem. But in his words, he was insinuating that it would have been something Geshmak about finally going to Gan Eden, finally going to Shomayim. And the Rebbe looked at him and he said, And in Shomayim they have the Mitzvah, You want to go to Shomayim? You won't have that opportunity. You won't be able to live through that opportunity, of Of course it's hard, but that's when we're most alive. We're alive when we're fighting, when we're trying, when we're working towards our goal of being מתגבר, of strengthening ourselves, so that we can overcome the Yetzer Hara, so that our eyes can remain pure. One time, somebody came to a Rebbe and he said, Rebbe, oy, I have such Nisyonos. And the Rebbe looked at him and he said, You know who doesn't have Nisyonos? Tables, chairs, benches. Everyone else has Nisyonos. We all have temptations. But if you want to live, אשר יעשה אותם האדם וחי, if you really want to live, says R’ Meilech, then we live through the battle of ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם ואחרי עיניכם. And in those moments, when you're able to be victorious, when you're able to close your eyes, when you're able to turn away, those are the moments that life is really worthwhile. Those are the moments that we’re most alive.