…Celebrate on a Tzadik’s yartzheit?
It would seem like we should really do the opposite, no? On the day a Tzadik dies, shouldn’t we be sad? There is a famous story of the Rayatz – the frierdiker Lubavitcher Rebbe. He was threatened to be killed. He said, “That gun doesn’t scare me. It only scares people with many gods, or no god, and one world. But I have one G-d, and two worlds!” Meaning, we all know that when our bodies die here in Olam Hazeh, our neshamos go to Olam Habah.
In Hallel we say, יָקָר בְּעֵינֵי ד’ הַמָּוְתָה לַחֲסִידָיו. Yakar means precious. While for the Yidden who miss the Tzadik, it is tremendously hard, for Hashem it is precious. The word “hilula”, used to describe a Tzadik’s yartzheit, actually means a wedding! The heiligeh Alshich on Iyov explains that when the neshama of a tzadik goes back to meet and connect with Hashem, it does so with tremendous simcha; this meeting is like a chasuna! The Arizal says the Tzadik’s neshama is tremendously happy; he now can focus on learning the Torah he revealed during his lifetime.
On the hilula of a Tzadik, we can tap into the areas that Tzadik was amazing at: chessed, hasmada, tefillah – it’s all on the table! When we do, we also give the Tzadik’s neshama an aliyah in Shomayim, which in turn brings us tremendous brochos! What an amazing opportunity!
May we be zoche to connect to our heiligeh Tzadikim!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 33 Red Shayele Yahrtzeit Edition.
