The heiligeh Komarna Rebbe, in his sefer Heichal Habrocha, relates the following story that he witnessed. It once happened that the Rebbe Reb Levy Yitzchok of Berditchev came to visit the town of Brod. Of course, much of the town, including all of the gedolim and leaders, came out to greet the great Tzadik. As the crowd meandered through the streets of Brod, one of the townsfolk, a man named Berel, happened to be walking towards them. Baruch was a very simple Jew. He struggled with low things, and was certainly not from the choshuva people of the town. Immediately upon noticing him, the Berditichever Rebbe runs over to Berel, and greets him with a big hug and a kiss, and starts to tell him how deep the Ribbono Shel Olam is, and how special it is to connect with G-dliness! The Rebbe engages with Berel for a long time, sharing numerous Torah thoughts, including some very exalted ideas. All of the onlookers, including the great Rabbonim, were quite amazed by this behavior as Berel was, as far as they knew, a pashutteh Yid who, most likely, would not be able to understand what the Rebbe was talking about. Upon completing his prolonged discourse with Berel and returning to his entourage, the Berditichever noticed that the Rabbonim were intrigued, and even amused, by what had just transpired. The Rebbe explained himself: “You are probably wondering why I spoke to a seemingly simply Yid in such lofty terms.
What Berel does not realize is that inside of him is a neshamah, and every single neshamah has the potential of developing into a big tzadik and eved Hashem. Berel needs to look in the mirror and see himself as an underdeveloped tzadik. I greeted him and spoke to him as I did to convey this message to him: Do not think of yourself as a simple Yid. Begin to know and realize that you are, in fact, an underdeveloped Tzadik. This is how we should look at and engage with every Yid.”
Take It To Go!
No Jew is just a “pashutteh Yid.” If a Yid is not yet a tzadik, then he is still growing, still ripening. Let’s help every Yid achieve his inherent greatness by viewing him and treating him as an underdeveloped Tzadik. Don’t look at yourself as just a little guy. Look at yourself as someone who’s unbelievably big. Look at yourself as an underdeveloped Navi!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 34 Komarna Yahrtzeit Edition.