How Many Followers do I Have | Rabbi Fischel Schachter

How many generations do you think we are from the Rambam? Guess what. At about 30 years per generation, we're only 25 generations from the Rambam. But do you know how many grandparents there are, how many ancestors there are in these generations? Every person has two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents. It keeps doubling and doubling. You know the famous story, you put a piece of wheat on a chessboard and double it and double it and double and double it and by the time you're halfway through, there's no more wheat left in the world. You know how mind-boggling numbers are when you keep doubling them? So if you're going to go back 100 generations, you know how many ancestors you have? Here, try this. One octillion, 267 septillion, 600 quintillion, 228 quadrillion, and a mere 220 trillion. Wait a second. There aren’t that many people in the world. And the answer is, At one point, they're cousins, they’re the same grandparents. But either way, there are millions. Now, think about this for a moment. When תחיית המתים comes around, millions of grandparents. Whoa. You know how many stamps you’ll need for family invitations? Good luck with the Brachos under the Chuppah. You know, you have 1.5 million grandparents over here. Your mother says: Make sure you call all your bubbies and zaydes and tell them L’shana Tova. You'll have to start the Chanukah before. And you may say to your grandfather: You have some Bar Mitzvahs this week. Want me to get some sets of Mishnah Berurah? Yes. -How many? Three trillion, please. Okay, when Moshiach comes, we'll worry about that. We live in a time where people are obsessed by how many people are following me. I have a status. You know how many people are following me? When I said I put in a new bathtub, you know, a million people were watching me. Why people have such a תאוה, I'm not sure. But I do understand everyone feels good when there are a lot of people following them. It makes us act differently, think differently, say different things. Says the Avodas Yisroel, R’ Pinchas’l Koritzer, the Sefer Imrei Pinchas, the Tiferes Shlomo, the Or Hachaim Hakadosh says it, You stand up to a Nisayon, there's a flash of light that goes up to all your grandparents in Shomayim. So let's say it's not octillions, because many of them are the same. It's millions. What happens is they get a message, Your grandchild just closed his eyes. Your grandchild turned away. All those millions are now focused on you, and they're all looking for an opportunity, Can we come down and help our grandchild? And there is such a thing, says the Or Hachaim. You’re faced with a struggle. I can't do this, I can't make a decision, I can't go on, I can't deal with this challenge. And all of a sudden, you say: No, whatever's going to be is going to be. I have the courage to move on. It is very possible that there's a grandmother or a grandfather that had a similar challenge, that was given permission to come down subconsciously, in the sublime, it’s called the Koach of עיבור, and they're helping you along. And that happened because you connected on a Nisayon. I'm walking on the street and think about this for a moment, how many people are following me? How many great grandparents up there are looking down at me? What am I gaining over here by closing my eyes? Just by the virtue of our own existence, we are networked into numbers that boggle our minds. No supercomputer can figure it out. But they don't have to. Hashem figures it out for us. Press the right buttons and an octillion Brachos are coming our way. I ask you, Isn't it worth closing your eyes?