Rabbi Yisachar Dov Ber of Radoshitz was once baderech (on the road), and spent the night at an inn. In the morning, he rushed to find the innkeeper. “That clock, that clock!” he said excitedly, “The one hanging in my room—where did you get it?”
Puzzled, the innkeeper replied: “Rebbe, it’s a regular clock, there’s nothing special about it, you find them everywhere … ”
“This is no ordinary clock,” said Rabbi Yissachar Dov. “Please find out where it came from, I must know!” The innkeeper asked around and found that the clock had belonged to the Chozeh—the great Seer of Lublin—Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Horowitz. A son of the Chozeh had fallen into poverty and sold his possessions to the dealer who resold such items to the innkeeper.
“Baruch Hashem, now it makes sense!” said Rabbi Yissachar Dov with a big smile. “Only the Seer’s clock could mark time that way!”
The innkeeper was even more baffled, “What do you mean?”
“A regular clock,” he explained, “when it strikes the hour, it sounds sad. It seems to say, ‘Yet another hour is gone. You are now that much closer to the grave … ’ But this clock is different. It sings! “Yet another hour of galus has gone by! You are now that much closer to the coming of Mashiach! You are on the way to Geula.””
“All night, when this clock sounded, I jumped up from my bed and danced for joy! And yet, this was the most restful night of sleep I’ve ever had … ”
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אלה הדברים—“These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan in the Desert, in the plain opposite the Red Sea, between Paran and Tofel and Lavan and Hazeroth and Di Zahav,” (Devarim, 1:1).
Sefer Devarim begins with Moshe Rabbeinu’s “closing remarks” at the end of his life—a lengthy sichas mussar of sorts. אלה הדברים—“These are the words … ” — Rashi explains these to be words of rebuke, in which Moshe enumerates all the places where Am Yisrael angered Hashem. מפני כבודם של ישראל—“ … out of respect for the Jewish nation,” the Torah makes no explicit mention of the incidents in which we sinned, but instead it lists them bederech remez—alluding to them in the names of their respective “cities.” The exhortation and mussar inherent in the mention of these places is enough for us to get the point, to remember our past indiscretions and to take heed for the future.
At a memorable farbrengen marking yud beis Tammuz in 1984 (celebrating the liberation from Soviet imprisonment of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, the sixth rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch), the Lubavitcher Rebbe delivered an impassioned plea, sometimes shouting with urgency:
“The destruction of the Beis Hamikdash was not a one-time event. The churban is ongoing as the exile unfolds, and it continues to happen every day: כל דור שלא,נבנה בית המקדש בימיו כאילו נחרב —בימיו‘Every generation in whose days the Temple was not rebuilt, it is considered as if that generation destroyed it,’ (Yerushalmi, Yoma, 1:1).”
“Although more than 1,900 years have passed since the Temple’s destruction, still, since today the Beis Hamikdash is not built, it is considered as if it were destroyed today. Day after day, through it all, the Jews have cried out עד מתי, ‘Until when?! How long will this exile last?’ Yesterday, and the day before that—for generations—we have been screaming עד מתי, and yet our Sages tell us that today the Temple was destroyed once again!”
The rebbe painted a searing image. Imagine: the Beis Hamikdash is burning before our eyes and standing nearby is a Yid. Even the most stone-hearted Jew would not stand idly by. They would cry out with all their strength and קער א וועלט—“overturn worlds,” and do anything within their power to prevent the destruction. Who wouldn’t do all they possibly could to stop the burning?
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The churban Beis Hamikdash represents our world in a state of disrepair and desperate need of healing and rectification. Beginning with Moshe Rabbeinu’s mussar in sefer Devarim, all the prophets and tzadikim of all generations have warned us regarding the causes of our exiles and tragedies, described the potential tribulations and horrors, and also urged us and strengthened our hearts with the bright promises of repair and redemption.
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ר׳ אליעזר הגדול אומר: מיום שחרב בית המקדש היתה ירידת הדורות
“Rabbi Eliezer HaGadol says, ‘From the day the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, there was a spiritual descent from one generation to the next,’” (Sotah, 49a).
The Ponovezher Rav urges us not to see the ירידת הדורות— “descent of generations,” as negative, but, ultimately, as a movement toward positive refinement. The Ribbono shel Olam is constantly improving His world—reaching deeper down into the world to rectify the flaws which were intentionally built into the maaseh vereishis—the acts of creation. Every descent is truly for the sake of an ascent. Indeed, despite the fact that every generation is further from the glory of the Beis Hamikdash, every generation is also spiritually enriched in some new way, and progress is made toward the ultimate goal. We may not be as “high” as previous generations, but we are much “closer.” The clock is ticking toward Geula.
“Every day is like a new generation,” (Kohelet Rabbah, 1:4), every day is like a new era with a light that has never been and will never again shine forth from the darkness. Today is a unique opportunity to find the divine light within, to refine ourselves and return to God. Tomorrow, there will be an entirely different opportunity. Let us see the opportunities that today presents, and walk the path of refining and elevating the world.
On this Shabbos, Shabbos Chazon, the rebbe’s message is more urgent and relevant than ever: קער אַ וועלט היינט, “Ker a velt heint—Overturn the world … today! Now!”
Let us not delay in doing anything and everything we can to awaken the love and honor of the Jewish people and bring redemption-consciousness into every facet of Jewish life. “Ker a velt, heint,” now!
Rabbi Judah Mischel is executive director of Camp HASC, the Hebrew Academy for Special Children. He is the mashpiah of OU-NCSY, founder of Tzama Nafshi and the author of “Baderech: Along the Path of Teshuva.” Rav Judah lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh with his wife Ora and their family.
