לישועתך קויתי ה’ (ויחי מט:יח)

When representatives of the Brisker kehillah approached the Gaon Reb Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik zt״l to accept the rabbinical position in Brisk, the Chofetz Chaim was also involved. Initially, Reb Yitzchak Zev hesitated to take the position.

At one point, one of the representatives exclaimed, “Rebbe, how can you decline, when twenty-five thousand Yidden in Brisk are waiting for you?” Upon hearing those words, Reb Yitzchak Zev immediately summoned his Rebbetzin and said, “Please bring my coat and let us go. How can we allow so many Yidden to wait in vain?”

The holy Chofetz Chaim let out a deep krechtz and remarked, “If only we would wait for Moshiach in such a way, then Moshiach would not disappoint so many Yidden. The tragedy is that we do not truly wait for Moshiach. We say ‘כי מחכים אנחנו לך’—that we await You, but we express it only with our lips.”