Onions for Moshiach | Rabbi Yussie Zakutinsky

You know, very often we make the mistake of thinking that we don't maybe carry that much sway and that much leverage in heaven. You know, listen, we're small people, we have small Mitzvos, small Avodas. How much leverage can we have already? Let me tell you a מעשה about that. The story goes that in Lublin, by the Chozeh of Lublin, the great Seer of Lublin, it was during the winter, and it was such a strong winter, there was an onion shortage. Now, the problem is that by the Chozeh of Lublin, onions was a big deal. It was a big Avoda on Shabbos with onions, it was a big thing. So the story goes that one of the Chasidim of the Chozeh of Lublin, R’ Naftali Ropshitzer, was going to Shul Friday morning. As he passes through the market, he notices a non-Jewish peasant carrying a huge sack of onions and calling out in Polish: Onions for sale, onions for sale. So he goes over to the peasant and he says: I'll buy the whole sack. He gives him some crazy price. Fine. As R’ Naftali is getting the money out of his wallet, he says, But you know what? I'll buy from you not just the onions, but your whole outfit. So R’ Naftali, what he does is he starts putting on the clothing. He puts on the hat, the jacket, the boots, the coat, the whole thing, and he disguises himself. But not only is he disguising himself physically, R’ Naftali Ropshitzer, he is disguising himself on all levels. He goes to the Beis Medrash of the Chozeh and he calls out in Polish: Onions for sale. No one can recognize that it’s R’ Naftali. All they see is, what looks like a non-Jewish peasant. And all of the Chasidim say: Oh, you got onions. It’s perfect. Our Grand Rabbi, the Chozeh of Lublin, he needs onions for the Sabbath. So the peasant, R’ Naftali says, I'll sell it to the Grand Rabbi on one condition. What's the condition? I want to sell it to him face to face. You have to bring me into his office. I want to sell it to him directly. What's the difference to you? Fine. So they bring him in and the Chozeh, with his eyes, can't see that it's R’ Naftali. While he's preparing the money, the peasant, R’ Naftali, says to the Chozeh, he says: You know what? I'm a little bit thirsty. Maybe we can make part of the deal is that, you know, you'll give me the money and maybe a little משקה, a little something to drink. So they take a little bit of alcohol, some vodka, whatever it is, they pour a little cup and they give it to him. So the peasant says: Nah, that's not enough. They give him a bottle. -A bottle? I'm a שיכור? So what do you want? So the peasant points to the closet over there, and he says: I want to drink from that cup. The Chozeh had a Kiddush cup, he inherited this from Tzaddikim. It was considered to be one of his prized possessions. No one was allowed to drink from it, touch it. It was off limits, the Kiddush cup. But the peasant said, You want your onions? I want the Kiddush cup. I'll just drink from the Kiddush cup. The Chozeh doesn’t know what to do. His prized possession. But he needs the onions. So the Chozeh says: Okay, we have no choice. He goes over, takes the Kiddush cup down, pours the משקה into the Kiddush cup, gives it to the peasant. His heart's ripping out, you know, he’s ממש ripping up his kishkes from this. And the peasant takes the Kiddush cup, he rips off his costume, puts on a gartl, לשם ייחוד, שהכל נהיה בדברו and drinks from the Kiddush cup. And the Chozeh says: Oh, R’ Naftali, you're smarter than all of us. You were able to figure out a way to get to the Kiddush cup. We don't know why the Chozeh wanted his onions, but R’ Naftali realized one thing, I have onions, he has a Kiddush cup. I always wanted to drink from that Kiddush cup. I'm going to use my onions to get to that Kiddush cup. We don't know why the Ribono shel Olam wants our Mitzvos. We don't know why. But למעשה, with all the Mal’achim, with all the angels in heaven, they can't put a quarter in a Tzdaka box. They can't have the Mitzvah of guarding one's eyes. They can't have the opportunity to say a kind word to another Jew. Why would God care about this? Why does the Chozeh want onions? I don't know. But למעשה, we have the onions and the Ribono shel Olam has the Kiddush cup of כוס ישועות אשא ובשם השם אקרא, the Kiddush cup of Moshiach, the Kiddush cup of Geulah. We have to be able to come honestly and humbly and say to the Ribono shel Olam: Listen, we’re going to bring onions to You, but all we want in response is just take the Kiddush cup off the shelf, give it to Dovid HaMelech, let him make Kiddush with ביאת משיח צדקנו, במהרה בימינו, אמן.