We May be Less, but We're No Smaller | Rabbi Nachum Binder

We all know that we are living in a period of עקבתא דמשיחא. We're living in a period of the end of a long and bitter Galus, that has lasted for thousands of years. And we also know of a concept called ירידת הדורות, that as the generations progress, they become lower and lower and lower. And because of that, we tend to think about ourselves, how small and how little, and yes, sometimes how worthless, we are. But I once heard from the Rosh Yeshiva, Maran R’ Elya Ber Wachtfogel, zol zei gezunt, בשם R’ Chaim Vital, that the Ari z”l told R’ Chaim Vital, that even though it's true, that the דורות, as they get further into Galus, are not as great as the earlier generations. However, they are not smaller. And in a way, they are even bigger. Because the earlier generations, not only did they not have our Nisyonos, not only did they not have to go through our struggles, but right and wrong, moral and not moral was so clear to them and to the entire world in which they lived. We, however, live in a world with such a הסתר פנים, where right and wrong are so mixed up. The world around us is so immoral, so low, they don't even realize anymore what low means. And in this generation, with such darkness, when someone struggles and someone tries, he may not be as great as the previous generations in what he accomplishes, but on the level, on the Madrega of the person, the previous generations cannot compare to us. R’ Shimshon Pincus z”l once said a fascinating thought. He said, and I'm quoting him, that one day I'm going to be נפטר, and I hope that after מאה ועשרים I go up to Shomayim, and I hope to meet R’ Akiva Eiger. and R’ Akiva Eiger will probably ask me, Pincus, what's the Pshat in Tosfos, on Daf 137b in Chulin? And R’ Shimshon Pincus said, I hope to have the guts to answer him, R’ Akiva Eiger, I don't know. But when was the last time you had to walk through Rechov Yaffo and not look? I won't be able to answer his question, but he won't be able to answer mine. מוריי ורבותיי, we may be less, but we're not any smaller. The Nisyonos that we face, the world in which we live in propels us to greatness.