A Total Waste?
The 2nd Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rebbe Dov Ber known as the Mitteler Rebbe, was once in Homil visiting the well known chossid Reb Aizil of Homil during Chol HaMoed Pesach (the intermediate days of Passover). The Mitteler Rebbe's chassidim bemoaned to him that Reb Aizil was not befriending them - leading them in chassidus - and was only involved in his own life.
The Mitteler Rebbe asked him: "Why are you not reaching out to the youngsters in your community and teaching them chassidus?"
Reb Aizil replied, "If I don't have a quiet moment to work on myself, how can I work with someone else?"
The Mitteler Rebbe replied, "Aizil, Aizil, do as I do! When I see that I cannot have an effect on myself, should I then be a total waste? At least let me do a favor for someone else."
From Shmuos v'Sippurim, vol. 2 - quoted in Chassidic Soul Remedies by R. Dovid Polter
3 comments:
this is an essential ( and often uncomfortable) fact of spiritual growth. hollywood doesn't get it yet.
Besides which, as a teacher you can often learn the lesson even better than the student. Your effort to pass the knowledge onto your students can result in insights being gained that were not possible on your own.
The name of the Moshiach is
Nir Ben Artzi
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