אות - רפד

There were many youths in the community who prayed with great feeling and enthusiasm. Others would disturb them and cause them trouble (see “ His Wisdom ” #119) . When the youths complained, their detractors had a stock answer. They said, “If you have true feeling and are really bound up in your prayers, you should not hear any disturbance. Your devotion should be enough to block out everything else.”

The Rebbe said, “The truth is that this is no argument. A great tzaddik may pray with great strength and attachment to God, but he can still be disturbed. No matter how great his enthusiasm, no matter how deeply he is bound up in prayer, he can still be greatly disturbed by one who makes fun of him and disturbs him. All his feeling and emotion will not prevent him from being disturbed and distressed.

I heard from someone who heard from the Rebbe that sometimes a person is given great wealth and everyone else envies him. The others spend days and years pursuing money and wealth solely because of this envy and their obsession with the one who struck it rich. But in the end, they have nothing.

This is all the work of the Evil One. He works hard to make one person rich so that many others should waste their lives through envy. “Heaven protect us from this misleading notion!” ( Shabbat 84b) .