The Echoing Questions | Rabbi Moshe Weinberger

Every one of us has two voices coming into our heads, into our ears. There's the voice, the sound, the words of the most honest time of the year, Ne’ila. Hashem says, I have made you special. You know why? Because you could stand before me. You can look at me in the eye. There's no other creature that could look at me in such a way. Because I love you. That's one voice. That's gevaldig. But then there's another voice that says also the word אנוש. But who is man? Man is worthless. You're nothing, you're worthless. Now, why would one feel that way? So it says in Devarim, We were talking amongst ourselves in our tents, that, you know, Hashem hates us. That's why He took us out of Mitzrayim. How could a Jew come to that conclusion, that we’re hated by Hashem? He did all the miracles for us. He split the sea, the Mann, the Makos. Of course, Hashem loves us. How could we come to such a conclusion? So Sforno says, Because we were going back to the past and we were thinking about the mistakes that we made, we were thinking about the ugliness of things that we had done in Mitzrayim. And that's what happens to us, the same thing, and that saps us of all of our Ko’ach, of all of our strength. It’s from the beginning of time. Adam HaRishon couldn't stop thinking about what went wrong. He ran away from Hashem. He was hiding from Hashem. And the Ramban says he couldn't daven, he couldn't look at Hashem in the eyes, because he couldn't stop thinking about what went wrong, instead of moving forward. So how do we move forward? There's a very sweet little story. In Lubavitch, the Jews were not allowed years ago, they were not allowed to cross over from the Jewish part of town to the non-Jewish part of town. And at that time, the Rebbe was the Rebbe Maharash, Rabbi Shmuel. And one day, the Rebbe was deep, deep in thought and contemplation, and he wasn't paying attention. He crossed into the non-Jewish section of town, which was a major violation. And all of a sudden, a Russian soldier came running after him and started to yell at him, Who are you? Where are you going? What are you doing? And the Rebbe Maharash was very startled. And the Rebbe looked at him and asked him: Tell me something. He asked the soldier: How much do you get paid a day? And the soldier was caught off guard and he said: I get paid ten rubles a day. And the Rebbe said to him: I'll tell you what. I'll pay you ten times ten rubles each day, if you could be so kind as to come and to ask me those three questions. Chevre, If we hear those questions. Who are you? Who am I? I'm a Ben Melech. Where am I going? I'm going to learn, I'm going to daven, I'm going to talk to Hashem Yisborach, I'm going to be with Hashem. What am I doing? I'm doing מלאכת השם. That's the biggest Chizzuk. Hashem Yisborach should help us to hear that question and to be able to answer the question honestly, with all of our hearts.