The Gemara (Gittin 56a) tells the moving story of an extraordinary tzaddik, Rav Tzadok, who lived nearly 2,000 years ago, during the final decades of the Second Beis HaMikdash. For forty years, the Gemara says, Rav Tzadok fasted every single day. Why? “She’lo yeicharev Yerushalayim—So that Jerusalem would not be destroyed.”
His body, weakened by decades of fasting, grew emaciated and frail. The Gemara describes that even after the destruction, Rav Tzadok could no longer digest normal food; they had to slowly reintroduce nourishment to his system.
When we first encounter this Gemara, our instinct is one of heartbreak. Rachmanus! What a tragedy. This holy man sacrificed so much, pushing himself to fast for forty years, heroically, selflessly, passionately, and yet Yerushalayim was destroyed. Was it all for nothing?
The Tiferes Shlomo, the holy Radomsker Rebbe, reveals a radical insight.
No, it was not a failure at all.
Rav Tzadok didn’t fast for forty years so that forever there would be no churban. That, he felt, was too ambitious, too vast for a human being to carry. Instead, Rav Tzadok took a different approach, a transformative one.
He said to himself: “Today. Just today. I will fast, I will daven, I will do everything in my power so that today, there should be no churban.” And then he did the same the next day, and again the next, and again. For forty years, Rav Tzaddok held off the destruction of Yerushalayim—one day at a time.
With that understanding, what at first appears to be a tragic, failed effort, transforms into a breathtaking success. Rav Tzadok delayed the Churban for four decades. He bought us time; he bought us the opportunity to do teshuvah. And he paid for it with his body, his strength, and his very life.
This is not just history; it is a lesson for each of us.
Too often, when faced with spiritual struggle or the yetzer hara, we think we must conquer it all at once. We try to become tzaddikim overnight as we aim to eradicate temptation completely. And when we fail, we give up. But Rav Tzadok teaches us a different path: break the battle into parts. Don’t commit to defeating the yetzer hara forever. Just today, just this hour, just this moment. “Ha’yom, im b’kolo tishma’u—Today, if you will listen to His voice" (Tehillim 95:7). That’s all Hashem asks of us. Today, not forever.
If a whole day is too long, break it into segments. This car ride, I will stay calm. This hour, I will guard my eyes. This conversation, I will speak with kindness. This challenge, I will rise to the occasion. One step at a time, one victory at a time.
And if we live this way—with the mindset of ha’yom, today—we will be capable of standing strong in the face of our challenges, and mirror in our own way the quiet heroism of Rav Tzadok.
