The Holiest Time in the World | Rabbi Moshe Auslander

So, gevald, many years ago, there was a Yid, his name was R’ Mendel Futerfas. He was a very, very heilige Yid. He was Mashpiah in many Lubavitcher Yeshivos. And he was sent to Siberia for teaching Torah, for spreading Torah, for being a Yid. So heilige R’ Mendel, the way he got through Siberia was he had Emunah, he had Bitachon. He would farbrengen with the Yidden, and be Mechazek the Yidden. There are many, many stories of his intense Emunah, intense Bitachon, in, literally, a place where it's so easy to give up. One time, he needed a Yeshuah in a big way, and he looked up to Shomayim and he said, You know, Tatte, I might have done an Aveira once or twice in my life. Oy, I might have done... I might have missed Mincha, might have missed Maariv. But I can tell you, Heilige Bashefer, I never, ever, ever in my life missed a farbrengen with Yidden. And he got what he needed. Mamesh crazy. Because you know what? One of the biggest ways we can keep ourselves heilig, keep ourselves holy, is by attaching ourselves to holy Yidden. Chevra that are shteiging, Chevra that are getting closer to the Ribono shel Olam. When you farbrengen with Yidden, when we sit and we learn with them, we sing with them, we dance with them, we daven with them, it's one of the best ways to keep ourselves holy. But, you know, Chevra, one time, heilige R’ Mendel was sitting with his Chasidim and he asked them, They said: This one's easy. The holiest Yid in the world is the holy Kohen Gadol and the holiest time in the world is, of course, on Yom Kippur and the holiest place is the Kodesh Hakodashim. R’ Mendel said, I hear what you're saying, but that's not the answer. He said: The holiest Yid in the world is whoever you are, and the holiest place is wherever Hashem put you, wherever you are, and the holiest time is right now, whenever that is, whenever you are. And you know, Yidden, you know, Chevra, this is... this is the secret. Because sometimes you think it needs to be Yom Kippur for me to do Teshuva, it needs to be Neilah for me to do Teshuva, it needs to be Shovavim for me to do Teshuva. That's not true. Hashem put you right here, right now, wherever you are, and He wants you to come close to Him from right here. Because right here, right now, it's Admas Kodesh, says the Chofetz Chaim. Wherever a Yid is standing is Admas Kodesh, wherever a Yid is standing is holy. A Yid can come close to Hashem from wherever, whenever he may be. Because the holiest Yid in the world is you. And the holiest place in the world is where Hashem put you. And the holiest time in the world, the holiest time in the world, the holiest time in the world right now, the time Hashem gave you.