Day 15/50: Acknowledging Our Vulnerability

וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֩ עַבְדֵ֨י פַרְעֹ֜ה אֵלָ֗יו עַד־מָתַי֙ יִֽהְיֶ֨ה זֶ֥ה לָ֨נוּ֙ לְמוֹקֵ֔שׁ

And Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this be a stumbling block to us?”

Some might mistakenly believe that only small and weak people need filters and other such gedarim. They feel that it is much more impressive to learn how to be “responsible” with unfiltered internet and make the right decisions on our own. But this line of thinking is false. Are we any better than the great Rav Amram Chassida (the pious one)? This great tzaddik was once alone and suddenly found himself facing an intense nisayon of arayos. To prevent himself from sin, he screamed, ”Fire in Amram’s house!”. His call caught the attention of a group of Chachamim, who hurried to his home to rescue him. It was their presence that prevented him from stumbling (Kiddushin 81a). Rav Amram knew that he was not able to rely on himself, and that is what made him great!

The ultimate chassidus is the act of acknowledging one’s vulnerability and doing everything in one’s power to deal with it. Rav Amram was called a chosid because he was willing to suffer public embarrassment by exposing his vulnerability in order to overcome a nisayon. He was not concerned with keeping up his image; his only concern was remaining faithful to Hashem and His Torah. 

We should take this lesson to heart. We might be concerned that if we tell a parent, rebbi, or friend what we are struggling with, they will think less of us. We would rather give off the impression of being the “perfect bachur” than get the help and support we so desperately need.

The truth is, however, that the type of bachur who is truly worthy of respect is one who is aware of his own shortcomings and has the courage to deal with them. A bachur who takes responsibility for himself and does everything in his power to avoid stumbling shows true signs of gadlus. This is the type of bachur from whom we can expect to see great things in the future.