The Monk | Mr. Charlie Harary

A friend of mine told me a story that took place in his neighborhood. There was a guy, many, many years ago, who was searching. And he went around the world. He ended up in Thailand or India and ultimately, became a monk or something of that type, and then came back to Eretz Yisroel, found himself and became a very Chashuve individual, married, family. His daughter married a young Talmid Chacham, who became a Rosh Kollel. And his Kollel was having a Melaveh Malka, to raise money. And my friend’s on the committee. The Rosh Kollel was going to speak, and the father-in-law was going to introduce his son-in-law. And somebody on the committee found a picture of him when he was a monk. And they wanted to show it, I guess, on a screen or whatever, as, like, a shtick. And my friend jumped in and, like, knocked it out right away. Can you imagine the בושה of getting up for your son-in-law, who's a Rosh Kollel, and showing a picture of you as a monk? One of the most Chashuve Parshas in the Torah is Yisro. It’s the Parsha of Matan Torah. And Hashem himself says, Wait a second. Hashem brings up that he was a monk? He's way past it. He’s got a son-in-law that’s Moshe Rabeinu, who’s the Rosh Kollel of Klal Yisroel. Aren’t we not supposed to remind Ba’alei Teshuva about their past? Like, why would Hashem, on the front page of this Parsha, bring up that was the Kohen Midyan? So I heard a beautiful idea from my friend, Yeshaya Kahalani. He quoted a Sefer, called עצות והדרכות. It's written by a man named Rav Yaakov Greenwald. Rav Yaakov Greenwald was very involved in people's mental health and emotional health and he used to correspond with the Steipler. And the Steipler writes to him the following. There must have been somebody who was struggling. You should know, this lacking and this tremendous challenge these are the vessels that Hashem gave you that you're going to use to open up your strength. This is going to open up your spiritual power. You think you fell, you think you're in a challenge, you think you have lack, that feeling of unworthiness is your path to your greatness. And he quotes Rav Tzadok HaCohen, Whenever the Yetzer is pushing you ביותר, where the Yetzer is getting you, that area this is your path to those things The Steipler, Rav Tzadok and the Tzaddikim are telling us the following thing. Whenever you feel the תאווה, when you feel you're lacking, when you feel your unholiness, and you tell yourself, That must mean that I am far from Hashem. That just means you have the potential to get even closer to Hashem. The unworthiness is your path to greatness. The challenge is the proof that you have the ability to soar. So Rav Yeshaya says to me, Why is it That wasn't a knock. HaKadosh Baruch Hu is saying, You know why he became Chosen Moshe for? Because he was Kohen Midyan. He took his power to be the Kohen Midyan and he turned it around and he became Chosen Moshe. One of the reasons why we can't overcome challenge, is because we feel like if I'm in a challenge, I am unworthy. It is a sign of my lack of holiness. It's the opposite. Great people are the ones that take their challenges and use it to open up their power. The next time you're in a challenge, the next time you're in a dark place, the next time you're facing a moment where you feel ייאוש, I want you to look in the mirror and say, Am I going to be a Kohen Midyan or am I going to be a Chosen Moshe? The choice is ours.