And so suppose you see a tzaddik walking across the street. He’s not a tzaddik who’s a Rosh Yeshiva. He’s not a tzaddik, a chassidishe Rebbe, who has many followers; just a nice, fine, private Jew. But you know he’s a good Jew, a tzaddik. So you generate in your heart a certain admiration of him. You’re thinking, ‘“Hashem considers this man a very fine man, and so I do too.”
Or you see a woman pushing a baby carriage. Inside, there are two babies and four more are holding on to the side. So instead of just passing by like a golem, you admire that sight. She’s raising a future family of bnei Torah, of ovdei Hashem. You admire that. You consider her a princess.
Now she is dressed very plainly. There’s nothing to admire in the way that gentiles would look at that scene. She’s busy and she’s worried. Raising a family means many responsibilities and so her mind is occupied; she’s harried maybe. Nevertheless, we don’t look at the chitzoniyus. The exterior means nothing to you. Because you see what’s being done here! Hakadosh Baruch Hu desires a nation that is multiplying itself. That’s the great wish of Hashem to the Jewish nation. And, therefore, anyone who is succeeding in this tremendous endeavor should arouse admiration within you.
