Greater Than the Great | Rabbi Avi Wiesenfeld

Somebody went to visit a blind center. And when he walked in, the manager told him about the different types of people that were in that center. There are people that were unfortunately blind from birth. They were never able to see the light of day. And then he had people that were born perfectly healthy, but for whatever reason, unfortunately, lost their eyesight. And then there's a third category, and that are people that are about to lose their eyesight. They have an illness that is going to cause them, ,רחמנא לצלן to lose their ability to see. And the man said: I would like to visit those people. The third category, those that are able to see but are going to lose their eyesight. The manager took him in. He said the sight that met him was so incredibly sad. He was tearing in his eyes as he saw children and adults learning Braille, learning how to get around, follow instructions without using their eyesight to prepare them to what is about to come. And one of them got up and he said: Do you know what it's like to have a gun pointed to your head, that at any moment, the trigger is going to be pressed? That's what we feel like. We have no idea when, but sometime soon we're going to lose our eyesight. The man left the blind center a different person. The Bracha of פוקח עיוורים was said with so much כוונה and concentration, understanding the gift that we have got from the Ribono shel Olam. The Bnei Yisaschar brings down from the Ari z”l the following idea. He says that Klal Yisroel, all they have to do is מעט מעשים טובים, just a small amount of good and it can push away, in his generation, so much טומאה, so much of the impurity. Says the Bnei Yisaschar, When a Yid gets up and rises to the challenge and is able to turn away and is able to overcome that temptation of that particular moment, says the Bnei Yisaschar: He is greater than some of the תנאים of that generation. Do we realize what that is? We have a gift, a beautiful gift. It's called our eyes. We have to be able to use it. And a little bit of trying, just a small amount of effort can turn away so much darkness.