A True Leader
Once, the Baal Shem Tov built a sukkah that was full of halachic questions, and the great scholars of Mezhibuzh were inclined to disqualify it.
The Baal Shem Tov argued with them to validate it, but to no avail. The Baal Shem Tov rested his head on his hand, and a note descended from heaven: "The sukkah of Rabbi Yisrael is kosher." The note bore the signature of the angel M'" TT.
His Holiness the Admor, leader of our generation, explains:
The Baal Shem Tov built for himself a sukkah whose kosher status was questionable, because he was the "head" of all the people, including all those Jews who were at the level of "your woodcutters and water drawers," and therefore he built a sukkah not according to his true spiritual level, so that even for them the influences and flow of the sukkah would be complete, and in order to "elevate" even their sukkahs.
And this is what the Baal Shem Tov demonstrated and taught to the great scholars of Mezhibuzh: A true leader is one who is willing to forgo the beautification of his own mitzvah if he knows that through this he will help another Jew, even if that person is from the simplest of the people!
(Talk from the second day of the holiday of Sukkot, 5727)
www.chabad.org.il
"At first, H'shem thought to create the world through the attribute of strict justice".
At first the purpose of Creation was solely for the sake of the righteous Tzaddikim who would come in the future and receive the reward they deserved according to the letter of the law based on their actions. This has never ever changed - a Tzaddik always receives his reward according to the law. However, since it is natural that the chaff goes along with the wheat, that is the wicked along with the righteous, it was necessary to add the attribute of mercy so that the world can exist because they do not deserve anything according to the strict letter of the law and therefore H'shem must have mercy on them.
This was all one thought, one evaluation. It is just that the Tzaddik's creation is called "at first", since he is the original purpose and intention in H'shem's desire to create the world.
Mipeninei Noam Elimelech pg 298
