Fall season arrives. The fruits have long ripened and been picked off, the once proud tree now stands bereft of its produce. Shedding its protective layers, the tree’s leaves fall off, its branches bending submissively in the hailing wind. Heaps of golden crunchy leaves cover the ground, slowly evolving into mushy brown dirt.
Winter takes over. The trunk stays bare, its roots gnarling and its branches contracting in the cold. Heavy snow overpowers. Stuck in the frozen-over earth, the tree sucks valiantly, but the rocky soil is stony, frigid ice. Its roots delve deeper, searching desperately for warmth, for vitality, but in vain. The frost increases unceasingly, and the roots crumble helplessly. Shivering in the cold and in fear, the tree is on the verge of death. Glancing around weakly, it is tempted by its dead friends having given in to the wind and cold to do the same and throw in the towel. But it so wants to live…
Exactly then comes the fifteenth of Shvat: The turning point.
From the outside, nothing seems to have changed. Same frost, same ice, same bowed, bare branches. But down below, deep in the earth, the roots have lost their lethargy and renewed their vigor. They are energetically sapping their life-force, eager to return to their strength. The tree gives a violent tremble of relief in the next gust of wind. Nobody knows its secret, but it will yet survive, it will yet bear fruit. From the brink of despair, when it had all but given up on life, hope was revealed. Survival courses through its veins; the tree waits patiently and continues hoping optimistically.
The tree’s message whispers in the wind, gaining momentum from leaf to leaf, until it finally comes up against the thick walls surrounding our homes and hearts. Seeping in through the cracks in our armor of ice, it slowly destroys our self-destructive thoughts of despair and depression. It fights against our tendencies to just ‘let go, give in, and give up’ when faced with our larger than life battles.
The message having penetrated, we won’t give up! As long as we’re alive, we’ll continue hoping, wanting, trying, battling, whatever it takes! Like the tree, we’ll look towards the future with bright hopes, never losing heart. It may seem hard, the circumstances surrounding us urging us to admit defeat, but we’ll stand firm! We know that someday, sometime, someplace, there’ll be salvation. We’ll yet get there. We’ll yet bear fruit.
And when we falter, stumbling in the dark after having fallen once again; when we are dangerously close to despair, it is this message that lifts us up and prevents us from falling. The call of the Tzaddik, who shines and instills in us the strength to keep hoping. ‘It is the Tzaddik who shines into the heart of every single person – even the lowest of the low – that Hashem is still with him…’
‘Because he shines and makes known Hashem’s boundless ways of goodness and kindness to the world. He reveals to every single person that Hashem is still with him, next to him and close to him; he enlivens, cheers up and comforts everyone, and shines in them his ways, so that they too should be able to strengthen themselves and bring themselves to joy even when they’re far.’
Even when we’re down in the dumps, convinced that there’s no way out of this black situation, the Tzaddik works to lift us up! He boosts us, reassuring us that Hashem is still with us, and emboldened, we have the courage to continue hoping!
We’ll hope and hope and hope and hope! And then hope some more! And even more! Bolstered with the Rebbe’s strength, we won’t give up! Eventually, we’ll attain our hopes, but we’ll never tire of hoping.
How poignant to note that the tree’s turning point – the fifteenth of Shvat, marks the exact date of the arrival of the greatest revitalizer into this world. R’ Nosson! Quintessential strengthener, the one who injects the Rebbe’s chizuk into us with every wonderful word flowing from his pen, ‘the moon who reflects the light of the sun and shines it into the deep darkness of our generations, and enlivens and encourages with it even those weak sighted ones who can’t gaze straight at the sun itself...’
As low as we may have sunk, as far as we may have fallen, R’ Nosson reaches us. He pours bucketfuls of chizuk over us, washing us over with revitalizing water from the flowing brook. He doesn’t let us give up!'ברודער, האלט זיך!' ‘Even a tiny turn away from bad is so very valuable! The main thing is to hold on!’
And when so much time has passed already, and although we’re holding on with our last bit of strength, we still see no change… It gets hard to continue hoping. But a picture of the tree continues to reverberate in our minds: From the outside, nothing seems to have changed. Same frost, same ice, same bowed, bare branches.
The tree itself shows no outside change, but beneath its dead exterior lies a hive of activity. What do we know?
The Rebbe reveals: ‘Even if many years have passed and he hasn’t risen to any greater levels in fear of Hashem, but he’s remained on the same level he started out on, or he’s even worse off than when he began; if he is close to the true Tzaddik, the connection itself is worthy beyond value.’
We don’t need to see results to know that something has changed – the Rebbe tells us in advance that as long as we’re clutching onto him, great things are being achieved. True success isn’t measured by human faulty eyes; we’re talking about the Tikkun Ha’olam here! Even if presently, we’re at rock bottom; we’re aiming for the very top! And we won’t give up hoping until we get there!
And between you and me, what do we have to worry about? We’re not alone in the struggle. The Rebbe has already told us explicitly, he’ll take care of us! As he himself puts it:
‘I stand and hope, await and anticipate at all times that Hashem should give me the merit that I should see in you what I desire; that you should be true servants of Hashem like I want. And I hope that with Hashem’s help, it will surely be so. Not only those who are close to me, but even those who are close to my people, and even those who’ll just touch them, will surely be truly righteous people. Anyone who’ll merit to come close to my people will not just be a truly righteous person, but even a great big Tzaddik!’
He also said then: ‘I have already finished, and I will finish!’
