אִם בָּאֲרָזִים נָפְלָה שַׁלְהֶבֶת, מָה יַּעֲשׂוּ אֲזוֹבֵי הַקִּיר?

ביטוי (אנגלית)

"if cedars have caught fire, what will the moss on the wall do"? "if the mighty have succumbed how shall the weak emerge unscathed?"

הגדרה (אנגלית)

By analogy: If the situation is so dire among the strong, how will the weak cope with it? If the good fail in sins, what can be expected from ordinary people? Similar proverb: 'If fire has seized the moist, what will the dry do?' (Literally: If the fire managed to burn big, strong trees, what can the small shrubs like moss do against it?)

("If a flame has fallen among the cedars, what will the moss on the wall do? If a leviathan is caught with a fishing hook, what will the small fish do?" - Moed Katan 25b. Also: "There are Torah scholars who harm each other in halacha, and speak or write words of mockery about one another, and there is much strife and hatred among the scholars, and if a flame of dispute has fallen among the cedars, what will the moss on the wall do?" - Pele Yoetz, letter D.)