Why Was the Rebbe Saying Tehillim All Night in the Waiting Room?

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When Mojsharabaynu came to deliver the most exciting message imaginable,

that Kali's shawt were about to be freed from its rhyme,

the Torah tells us something shocking.

The Jewish people did not listen to him.

Why?

Says the Pasic,

Mikoyce Ruach Mavaida Kasha

Shortness of breath and backbreaking labor.

We know that every word in the Torah is precise.

Why did the Torah feel it necessary to explain?

Why did they not listen?

What lesson is hidden in these seemingly superfluous words?

Furthermore, they were just told the greatest news a prisoner could ever hear.

You are about to be free.

And who delivered the message?

Mojsharabaynu himself.

The greatest prophet who ever lived.

The Godladar.

And they don't listen.

Life goes on as usual.

How is that even possible?

But perhaps one question answers the other.

The Torah deliberately adds the reason Mikoyce Ruach Mavaida Kasha

to teach us a profound lesson.

Don't be so quick to judge others.

We instinctively ask,

how could they not listen to Mavaida Kashaabaynu?

So the Torah tells us they had a legitimate excuse.

Their spirits were crushed.

They were emotionally broken.

They were physically exhausted.

Under those conditions, even the most hopeful message

cannot penetrate.

And that is why they didn't listen to Mavaida Kashaabaynu.

What a lesson.

Sometimes we meet someone on the street

and they don't greet us the way we expect to be greeted.

And immediately we start judging.

He's unfriendly.

He's arrogant.

Step past the minute she's looking at Martin.

She's moody.

She's holding a grudge.

But we really know what's going on in their lives.

Maybe she just received devastating medical news.

Maybe she has a child that almost struggling.

We see someone come late to shul and instantly we start judging.

He's lazy.

He's slacken off.

Who knows what else he's doing or not doing?

But maybe he was up all night with a sick child.

Maybe he's business just collapsed.

Maybe he woke up with a migraine.

And the fact that he came to shul required enormous strength.

Do we really know what challenges people are going through?

So the Tariya tells us,

Vloy Shomal Moysha, and we ask,

how's that even possible?

If I had been there, I definitely would have listened.

So the Tariya tells us, don't judge.

Bekoitsa Ruach Mavaida Kasha.

They were being tormented.

They were suffering.

Had we been there?

We might not have acted any differently.

Scottish author Ian McLaren once wrote,

be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.

As the saying goes, don't judge a person until you've walked a mile in the shoes.

And perhaps this is the message that Hashem told Moysha at the very beginning of his mission.

At the snag.

Before Moysha could become the leader of Kalisrael, Hashem told him,

take off your shoes, because if you're wearing your own shoes,

you can't walk in someone else's shoes.

If you're absorbed in your own concerns,

you can't truly feel another person's pain.

Leadership begins with empathy.

And this brings the mind an incredible story.

The square above bar park of Dovetl Thursky was renowned not only as a spiritual leader,

but as someone deeply involved in helping people receive life-saving medical care.

Doctors revered him for his piety and selflessness,

and they would respond immediately whenever he called.

One night on a legal holiday,

the Rebbe received a frantic phone call from a man named Moysha.

Rebbe, he said,

you don't know me, I don't know you,

but my relative is critically ill,

and he needs emergency surgery.

But no specialists are available now because of the holiday.

And without your help, my relative will die.

The Rebbe made a call.

And within minutes, a top surgeon was rushing to the hospital

and preparing the patient for emergency surgery.

Moysha and his family rushed to the hospital and gathered in the waiting room,

saying, till him throughout the night.

As though and broke, the doctor merged from the ER to speak with the family.

And as he entered the waiting room,

he was shocked to see this kvere rebbe himself sitting there.

Rebbe, he said, you didn't tell me that the patient was your relative,

and the family was stunned.

They had no clue that the man sitting across them all night,

saying till him was the kvere rebbe himself,

and not just another person waiting for a report.

But what stunned the family even more was the Rebbe's response.

The doctor, he said, I felt terrible that I had to call you to come here tonight.

But I didn't want you to think that while you were away from your family on a holiday,

operating all night, I'm at home sleeping comfortably.

What a story.

The Rebbe's teaching us, if you truly want to help another person,

take off your shoes, stand with a stand, feel what they feel.

Because only when we recognize kvere rebbe and others,

do we become worthy of redemption.

And now we know, have a wonderful day.

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