Holding Onto Darkei Avos

The Rizhiner told of a city near a tree whose apples were irresistible, but whoever ate one lost his mind. Fences and gates did not help. Half the city went mad, then three-quarters, until only a minyan was left, and the ten gave each other strength, until two of them also ate. Finally only one man was left, and he began to wonder whether he was the one who was mad and the townspeople the sane ones. Then he remembered how they had all once behaved, normally, like him, and he understood that he was the only sane one left. The Rizhiner said that at the end of days, when the world is tempted by many evils, the few righteous may be so alone that some even of them will fall. How will the Yidden of Ikvesa DeMeshicha survive? “They will look back to the mesorah, to the darkei Avos, and remember how their zeidas and alte zeidas conducted themselves. If they wonder whether the rest of the world is right and they are wrong, they need only look back to their forefathers, the Avos HaKedoshim, and hold fast to them, and they will be saved.”