Just Try | Rabbi Yechiel Spero

R’ Leizer Kahaneman was speaking to the Mechanchim and Mechanchos of the Batei Avos orphanage in Bnei Brak, and he told them the following story. It was one Yom Kippur night and it was late, late, late at night. Everybody had gone to sleep. 2:30 in the morning, a mother wakes up. It's very, very quiet. Too quiet, in fact. And she sees that her child, nebech, is not breathing. She picks up her child. She starts to shake her child and to pat him on the back, but there's no sound. She picks up her baby and she runs as fast as her feet can carry her to the doctor's home. And she starts banging on the door and she says: Please open up. Open up the door. But there's no answer. She bangs again and again. Finally, the doctor comes to the door. He's not thrilled. He says: What is it? And she says: My baby. Take my baby, my baby. My baby's not breathing. He takes the baby, he checks the baby and he sees, nebech... And he looks at her and he says, I'm so sorry. He's gone. She says: It can't be. Just try. Do something. He takes the baby and he continues to work over the baby. And he puts his mouth over the baby's tiny little mouth and he breathes into the baby's mouth. And he puts his fingers on the baby's tiny little chest, and he starts pressing and doing compressions. And before long, the mother hears the most beautiful sounds she ever heard. She hears her baby crying. She picks up the baby and she thanks him, endlessly. R’ Leizer Kahaneman looked over the crowd. That little baby was my father, the Ponevezher Rav, who went from being lifeless to quite literally, larger than life itself. How? Two words. Sometimes we are faced with what seems like insurmountable odds, impossible situations. We feel lifeless, because we failed over and over again. There's nothing left. Just try. That's what Vayimaen teaches us. Just try. Will you fail? Yes, you'll fail. But can you do it? Yes, you can. And you will. And you will go from being lifeless to larger than life itself.