אות - רפו

Once he said to me in these words: "Di schmust zich yo mit mentshin — kensti zey tzu fregn: vos?" (You do indeed speak with people — you can ask them: what?). And he said the word "vos" [what] in a prolonged and drawn-out manner in a loud voice from the depth of the heart. That is to say: one should ask every person who does not think about his end — "what?" — meaning: after all the conflicts and confusions and obstacles and claims and false excuses of foolishness and vanity that most people have as lies with which to justify their being far from Hashem Yisburach — even so, in the end, what will become of you? What will you do in your end, and what will you answer to the One Who sent you — and what are you thinking? Do you not know that you are a stranger in this land, and all the days of our years are vanity and emptiness like a passing shadow and like a dissipating cloud, etc.? And all this a person knows well — so what are you thinking?! Place these matters well in your heart, and bring them deep into your heart, and do not cast them behind you. (Avos 5:22): "Turn it over and turn it over, so that your soul will be your prize."