We’re Still Alive | Rabbi Nachum Binder

1941. The Rebbe, R’ Mendel of Vishover, the oldest son of the Viznitzer Rebbe, the Ahavas Yisroel, was laying on his deathbed and his nephew, R’ Yidele Horowitz from Dzikov, was visiting him in the hospital, when the doctor came into the room, and the doctor asks him: Rabbi, how are you feeling? The Rabbi looks up at the doctor and says: You should know, I'm feeling fine. The pain has subsided. R’ Yidele, hearing this, breathed a sigh of relief. The doctor gasped. R’ Yidele looks at the doctor and says: Doctor, what's wrong? Isn't this such good news? My uncle is feeling better. And the doctor turns to R’ Yidele and he says, The disease, the מחלה, is there. As long as the body is fighting the מחלה, there's going to be pain. If there's no pain left, that means the body has given up. Sure enough, a few hours later, the Vishover Rebbe was Niftar. R’ Yidele used to say over this story and he used to tell the people that were listening to him, The Yetzer Hara is there. The Yetzer Hara is waging war on us. As long as we still have Nisyonos, as long as it's still painful, then we know that we're alive and we're fighting it. But the minute that we're complacent, the minute that we're at peace with the Yetzer Hara around us, that means that we have given up and then the Yetzer Hara has won the war. מורי ורבותי, Nisyonos are not signs of weakness. Nisyonos are the signs of our strength.