09 Apr TAZRIA: THE BEAUTY OF STRUGGLES

It states (Shir
HaShirim 7:2)
“beautiful are your
footsteps in the
shoes…”
The Gemara (Succah
49:) says that “in the
shoes” refers to Aliyah
L’regel when the
Yidden go up to the
Beis HaMikdash for the
mitzvah of R’eya
L’regel on the three
regalim.
The Vilna Gaon zt’l
asks the following question. How can the
pasuk be referring to the mitzvah of Aliyah
L’regel? Why, it is forbidden to enter the
Har HaBayis with shoes!
The Vilna Gaon zt’l answers that the Torah
promises (Shmos 34:24) “No man will
covet your land when you go up to appear
before Hashem, your G-d, three times a
year.” However, as they walked to the Beis
HaMikdash, there were certainly many
moments when they became very scared.
They thought, “I shouldn’t have come!
Everything I own will be stolen!” They had
to repeatedly remind themselves to rely on

Hashem’s promise and that they had
nothing to fear.
When they came to the Beis HaMikdash,
they no longer had these anxious thoughts.
They were overcome by the kedushah they
saw and felt in the Beis HaMikdash, and
they totally forgot about their anxieties.
Which part of the pilgrimage did Hashem
enjoy most? Was it when they journeyed to
the Beis HaMikdash with a heavy heart or
when they were in a state of spiritual bliss
as they stood in the Beis HaMikdash?
Most people will say Hashem enjoys more
when we are in the Beis HaMikdash,
wholly attached to Hashem.
But the pasuk tells us that the opposite is
true. The pasuk says, your feet are so
beautiful when you perform this mitzvah of
aliyah l’regel, and the most beautiful part is
“in the shoes” when you were still wearing
your shoes, walking up to the Beis
HaMikdash. Those are the most precious
moments to Hashem. It is your struggles
with the yetzer hara that Hashem loves the
most.
Reb Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt’l repeated
this vort from the Vilna Gaon and noted
that it is a great chizuk for bachurim.

Bachurim struggle with their yetzer hara,
and they think that Hashem doesn’t have
nachas ruach from them because of their
struggles. But it is the opposite. These are
the times that they are most precious to
Hashem.
Reb Yitzchok Hutner zt’l writes in a letter,
“When we tell stories of the greatness of
tzaddikim, we have a habit to begin at the
end [of their lives] and discuss the great
levels the tzaddikim reached. We skip the
many years they struggled with their yetzer
hara, and we think they were born
tzaddikim. Everyone praises the Chofetz
Chaim’s shemiras halashon, but who speaks
about his struggles and the ups and downs
he encountered until he reached that level?
This is just one example among a thousand.
Leaving out these chapters of their lives is a
problem because when a bachur with a
strong desire to grow in avodas Hashem is
confronted with a challenge or a downfall,
he becomes convinced he will never reach
the levels of the tzaddikim he wishes to
emulate. He thinks that if he faces
challenges, he has no hope. But that is
ridiculous. Know, my friend, you will fall
time and again, and there will be battles
that you will lose. But in the end, you will
emerge victorious and wear the crown of

success on your head. The wisest of all men
said, ‘A tzaddik falls seven times and rises.’
The wise understand that the tzaddik rises
because he fell seven times [and kept lifting
himself again]. I beg you, don’t think of
tzaddikim as people who are at peace with
their yetzer tov. Rather, when the yetzer
hara is burning inside you, and you’re
struggling to overcome the yetzer hara,
those are the moments when you are most
similar to the gedolim, even more than
when you are at peace with the yetzer hara.”
We daven that we shouldn’t have nisyonos,
but when they come, we must know that
these are the best times. There are various
types of nisyonos, such as ben adam
l’chaveiro, ben adam l’makom, and yiras
Shamayim. Hashem loves those times more
than when we are at peace with the yetzer
hara because these are the times we struggle
to serve Hashem.