You know why Purim is on the highest madreiga of Jewish holidays, and why Yom Kippur is called the Yom K’Purim, the day LIKE Purim? That is because ANYBODY can be a tzaddik when he is fasting and shukkeling away in Shul for 25 hours on a day filled with introspection and thoughts only of doing Teshuvah. But when he remains a tzaddik on a day of levity and lightheartedness, a day when he is even told to eat a fancy seudas mitzvah and drink alcohol ad d’lo yada (something I do not really recommend in this day and age), and still elevates that levity and foolishness to a height of kedusha when he is NOT somber and fasting, but FEASTING, THAT is a person who is acting with true Tzidkus. There is a reason for that old adage about there being no atheists in foxholes. We are more able to “act religious” when a situation fosters a particular religious emotion in us. Similarly, it is very easy for the Yeshivah world to maintain a certain level of frumkeit and commitment when talmidim do not venture out of the daled amos of the protection of the Yeshivah. And that’s ok, I suppose. But when those same people venture out into the real world, manage to hold down a job, take care of their families, and despite the shmutz that they may see outside the vestiges of the Yeshivah walls, REMAIN totally committed to their observance of Torah and Mitzvos, then their learning has even greater value in my humble opinion.
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