A Picture of Shame
A woman once came to ask my advice concerning a specific matter. She brought along pictures of her family. She laid them before me on the table. To my sorrow, they depicted a lifestyle far from Torah and mitzvot. I immediately ordered her to remove the photographs and rebuked her for her family’s inappropriate attire. But the woman was blinded by love of her children. She could simply not see anything wrong with their appearance.
I felt a word of explanation was in order. I told her, “You are blinded by love for your children. You are deaf to my words of rebuke due to your fierce admiration for your family. But you should know that their lack of tzeniut causes untold suffering to themselves, as well as the nation as a whole.”
After she left, I was left wondering how she had the audacity to display such photographs in front of me. I remembered that this was the generation before the coming of Mashiach. The face of this generation is like the face of the dog. Just as the dog sees nothing wrong with its unfitting behavior, so do fellow Jews, unfortunately, conduct themselves with no shame. May Hashem accept our prayers and send us Mashiach, speedily in our days.
- With the tzaddik, the Admor of Dushinsky, shlita, in the Beit Hamidrash Orot Chaim VeMoshe, Ashdod
