The Bird at the Cage Door

Another time, the chassidim in Sanz sat discussing Chassidus well into the night, past chatzos. The Divrei Chaim himself came in and remarked, “When hunters catch a bird and put her in a cage, she goes up to the bars and to the locked door. She pecks at it again and again, coming back over and over. All her earlier efforts were in vain, yet she does not give up. Maybe this time she will succeed.

“So too with chassidim. They try every kind of trick and strategy to overcome the yetzer hara and free themselves from his grip, and they never give up. Even when it feels as if they have already tried and failed, they try again and again, until they escape his clutches and run free from darkness into light.”