Moment of Clarity | Rabbi Naftali Reich

When I was a young boy, R’ Mottel Zenitsky was the very chashuve Shochet in the town of Gateshead. And he shared that his Zayde, who he was called after, R’ Mordche Horowitz, was a Naggid, was a very chashuve Yid that lived in Piatrikov. And he and his brother, R’ Meir, owned together a huge industrial concern. They were very wealthy. And at one point, there broke out between them a סכסוך, an argument about a lot of money. It was such a large sum of money, that they determined they had to go to one of the greats of the generation to arbitrate. R’ Mordche said: R’ Meir, you're a Chosid of the Sfas Emes. The Sfas Emes is a Gaon Olam. Let's go to him. And when they arrived at the Rebbe’s house and the Gabai saw them, the Gabai, knowing how important and how Chashuv they were, he said: Just go in. He's learning. Don't worry. They stood outside the Rebbe’s room and R’ Meir, the younger brother of R’ Mordche, was shaking in fear, trembling. I can't go into the Rebbe. Mordche, you go in, you give over all the details and I'll rely on whatever you say, whatever the Rebbe says. R’ Mordche entered into the room, and 3-4 minutes later, he came running out, and he said: Meir, Meir, the money is yours. You can take it all. You have it. It's yours. Meir looked at him in astonishment. The Sfas Emes is a genius, but can he grasp the complexities of this question so fast? How did he give it over? And he said: No, I didn't give it over. I was standing in front of the Sfas Emes, and he was immersed in his Gemara. And around him, was an aura of Gan Eden. He was in another world altogether. And then he noticed I was standing in front of him, and I saw him wrenching and ripping himself away from the Gemara with great pain. I saw the hurt on his face that he had to leave the Gemara and deal with worldly matters. And at that moment, I realized these are all worldly nothing. It's just meaningless. I want eternity. Take the money. I don't want any problems. Please, just take it. Wow. We all have those flashes and moments of inspiration. Every day, we watch a Vayimaen in order to grasp clarity. And we know where we're coming from, what's the דמות דיוקנו של אביו, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, winking and twinkling at us from the window and sharing with us who we really are and what we really want, and what's really important. We're able to see the glittering stones of the Choshen, of future generations, pristine and clean, and we want to ensure that we are a solid link in that golden chain of generations. And it's these moments of clarity and inspiration that we need to hold on to so that we have the strength, the courage, and the ability to withstand all the blandishments and temptations that wink at us at every step and at every corner of our daily lives.