Defining a Hero | Rabbi Moshe Weinberger

Every culture has its heroes, its heroines. Western culture has, for many years, idolized the wealthy, the influential, attractive, celebrities and so on. The Torah has its own very different way of defining גבורה, of defining the גיבור, the hero. Years ago, I read in a Sefer about a Yeshiva Bochur, a young man who, for many years, was struggling with קדושת העיניים, טהרת העיניים. And he finally agreed to a friend who wanted him to come with him to a Tzaddik. And the Bochur walked into the Tzaddik and he said, the boy said to the Tzaddik: Rebbe, don't look at me. Don't look at me, because it's not good to look at the face of a רשע, and I'm a רשע. And the Rebbe was very shaken by that. And for a moment or two his eyes were down, but then the Rebbe looked at him in the eyes, and he saw all of that pain. The Rebbe asked him: Tell me something, I see שכינה שרויה, I see the שכינה is upon your face. So I want to ask you, when did you first slip? So the Bochur said: Rebbe, it started after my Bar Mitzvah. I'm 23 now, it's already ten years. The Rebbe asked him: Are you still fighting? Do you sometimes overcome that? So the boy said: Yes, I fight. There are times that I win, but there are many more times that I lose, but I'm... I'm fighting. So the Rebbe said, Now I understand that the שכינה is שרויה על פניך, that the שכינה is upon the face of a person. For ten years, you're fighting a relentless war. A war every single day. A war that doesn't end, that doesn't stop. You’re fighting this war למען הבורא. It's unbelievable. The boy walked out and for some time, almost every night, the Rebbe would call this young man and ask him for a Bracha. The כוח of Vayimaen doesn't always mean that we’re successful. That fight, the Vayimaen, of resisting doesn't always mean that we win. But we're in it. And when we're in it, the שכינה is with us, as well.