The Wonders of Harav Yitzchack Kadouri

254 away,” do not read “saw,” rather, “feared.” (They fea- red because of his death.) This as we learned: Rabbi Yitzchak said, Rav (or others say Rav Yehudah in the name of Rav) said, As long as the tzaddikim of the generation are still alive, the Divine attribute of justice can not prevail and exact retribution from the wicked. As it says, “And he desired to destroy them, were it not for Mo- she his chosen one, who stood in the breech.” When G-d wishes to exact retribution from the wicked, He takes away the tzaddik from their midst and only then can the attribute of justice prevail. To what can this compare to? A king once had a garden. One day, he entered his garden and saw it abounded with a great number of thorns and thistles. He said, “I wish to destroy these from my garden.” Then he noticed beautiful roses growing there. He said, “Because of these roses, I will leave those thorns untouched.” After the roses gave forth their scent, the king cut them and removed them from the gar- den. Whereupon he said, “Now the time has come to uproot the thorns and thistles com- pletely.” So too, as long as there are tzaddikim in the generation, G-d does not allow the at- tribute of justice to prevail. Only For the tzaddik was gathered in, to precede the outbreak of evil