ולתן שכר לצדיקים (אבות ה:א)

Reb Volf Strikover zt’’l was once asked, it is known from Chazal (סוכה מה) that there are ל’’ו צדיקים – 36 hidden tzaddikim in whose merits the world sustains. If one of the tzaddikim passes away, another tzaddik comes and replaces him.

The question asked is, where was the ‘new’ tzaddik a day earlier? One doesn’t become a tzaddik overnight, and if he was a tzaddik yesterday, then are there more than 36 tzaddikim?

Reb Volf replied: “Unfortunately, tzaddikim are matched to the generation.  Each coming generation is weaker than before, which means that the weaker the generation, the weaker the tzaddikim.  So the moment a tzaddik from the previous generation is niftar, a tzadik from the new generation succeeds him, one who wasn’t considered yesterday to be on the level of the earlier generation, whose merit the world could be sustained.