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Sifting Through the Ruins

GYE Corp. Thursday, 22 March 2012

I recently read a story about Rav Nosson, the Talmid of Rebbe Nachman. He was walking together with his students after a raging fire ravaged the town of Breslav. They passed by completely burned down houses, and in one of the houses, R' Nosson saw the owner of the house sifting through the ruins, trying to find or rescue some of his belongings. The fact that everything was burnt down didn't stop the owner from looking. R' Nosson turned to his students and said: "This is how we have to pick ourselves up after a fall" (looking for any good points that are still left).

I was walking home, somehow thinking about this story, and I lifted my eyes to the night sky and I said: "G-d, I don't see any good in me, zero. Don't tell me I'm a holy Jew, etc... I'm not gonna buy it right now. I fail everything I try. I want to love you, yet I am so far from Mitzvos, Torah, Midos - you name it, I don't have it.

I looked again into the sky, and then one thing came into my mind: "Maybe I helped someone on this forum". And I said to G-d: "Thank you HaShem, that is true. Maybe I helped somebody. Maybe that is the essence of being a Jew. I actually might have done something good that justifies my existence and that justifies that You created me and keep me alive".

To all my brothers and sisters out there: The addiction sometimes makes us feel worthless and far from G-d, especially when we feel weak and vulnerable. But if we join together as a community and give each other strength; NOTHING - not even falls - can take away the precious chizuk that we offer one another. This is indeed something that will survive the raging fires of today's world.