Parshas Bereishis (Machar Chodesh) 5787
Reb Yehudah HaChassid zt”l (Sefer HaChassidim) writes as follows:
“'ויברא אלקים את האדם בצלמו בצלם אלקים ברא אתו' - The Medrash states that when Adam Harishon was first created, he filled up the entire earth. Hashem then shrunk him and removed parts from his limbs and placed small pieces of flesh around him. Adam said, ‘Master of the Universe! Why are you taking from me? Replied the Lord, ‘I will return it. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth - as you did originally. Take these pieces and scatter them around the world. Wherever they are buried, populations of your descendants will settle.’ Every child is a piece and part of Adam Harishon. Each legitimate birth is a fulfillment of the command to multiply and fill the earth. This is the significance of Chazal teaching us that Moshiach will not come until all the souls of the world have been born into bodies.”
A Wise Man would say: “You will never get ahead of anyone as long as you continuously try to get even with him.”