Sometimes when we are particularly appalled by flagrant evil, the unspeakable inhumanity and the dark ignorance that seems to engulf us constantly we may ask ourselves, "why does the lord permit this  most imperfect planet to exist?" Perhaps the answer is written in the old Hebrew legend which tells us that there are living in every generation 36 human beings whose lives are completely without blemish and it is for their sake that the lord allows the world to continue and since the Hebrew works Lamed and Vav form the symbols for the word thirty six these people are called "Lamed Vovniks" and so long as there will always be 36 of these saintly people in each generation the world will not be lost.