Dance of Purity | Rabbi Moshe Perlstein

The great and holy Tzaddik, the Rebbe, R’ Shloime Karliner, is walking in the pre-dawn hours to Beis Medrash. Can you imagine? 250 years ago, let's say it was the winter time. Streets are empty, freezing cold. There's nobody our there, besides the shadow of the saintly R’ Shlomo Karliner. And he walks into the Beis Medrash together with all the other Tzaddikim of his times. And he says: Chevra, let's dance! And he starts this Dveikusdiker dance with such joy. Literally hopping on the tables and over the chairs. And his friends must think to themselves, Mazel tov! Did he have a baby? Did he win the lottery? What's this, ‘concerning joy, what does this accomplish?’ After R’ Shloime is literally bringing everyone there, truly for sure this is the joy of all times, they’re like: Our dear friend, holy Rebbe, R’ Shoime Karliner, what are you so joyful about? He says: Dear friends, I made it to Beis Medrash this morning without any Nisyonos on the way. I didn't see anything I didn't have to. I made it from my house to the Beis Medrash truly clean. And his disciples, his friends and his Chevra there, his colleagues, the other Tzaddikim are like, R’ Shloime Karliner, winter pre-dawn, there was nobody outside anyways. What's this intense joy? Dear friends, you know what I think? I think R’ Shloime Karliner was giving you and I a powerful, powerful path and guidance. If we would believe with joy, every time we hold back from seeing something or listening to something that might not be good for our Neshama, we should be making a l’Chaim. Cheers! What a Simcha shel Mitzvah. R’ Shloime Karliner, 250 years ago, it was not only for his friends. It was for us. A message for our generation, for you and I. We have to believe in the joy. The saintly Baal Hatanya tells us in chapter 27, a sacred obligation for everyone to see it, If a Yid would believe that every single time a thought comes across him and he pushes it away and he fulfills a Mitzvah of ‘and you shall not wander after your hearts’, if you’re Chasidish, you’d put on a gartel, maybe run to the Mikvah, and you would scream out: Ribono shel Olam, ‘and you shall not wander after your hearts and after your eyes’. Says the saintly Baal Hatanya, It is possible that that's what your job in this world is, because whenever you push away a bad thought, a Nisayon that comes your way, not only are you pushing it away, out of your mind, but in Heaven, you're pushing it away from the worlds and you're creating a purity in the creation. What a joy! If I would believe it, I’d dance in the streets with such a joy, with such a spiritual awakening. Thank You, Hashem, for that Nisayon. And thank You, Hashem, for giving me the strength to hold back and see only what I should.