Transcript
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The story I once heard about the great
Godol the Tzaddik Reb Aron Leib
Shteinman.
The story goes there was a Bar Mitzvah
Bachur that was so excited.
His father booked tickets for a very
special momentous trip. They were going
to go together, travel to the great
Godol the Tzaddik. And the Tzaddik was
going to put tefillin on this Bachur for
the very first time.
They packed their bags. They set out to
the airport.
And the Bachur was clutching onto his
tefillin, holding it so tight, so dear.
He was so excited. And here he goes on
his going on a trip with a eretz
Yisrael. It's going to be amazing. He's
going to go to Bnei Brak to Reb Aron
Leib with his father.
A trip, memories that will last forever.
Before boarding the plane, the father
thought it would be a smart idea just to
make sure
spoke to the Gabbai a few months before.
And he decided, "Let me just
double-check. Tell him that we're going
to be there in about 24 hours flying and
getting there. And we should be there in
a couple days. And just to double-check
with the Rosh Yeshiva."
He called the Gabbai.
And he said, "Gabbai, I just want to let
you know, we're excited. We're here in
the airport.
And we can be there very shortly."
And the Gabbai said, "Let me just
double-check with
the Godol."
A minute later, the Gabbai comes back to
the phone.
The father sensed there was something
off. The Gabbai's voice was a bit shaky,
quivering.
And the Gabbai says,
"Sorry to break it to you,
but the Rosh Yeshiva directed me to tell
you turn around."
The father says, "What? Did I hear that
correctly?"
He says, "Yeah.
Turn around. Call me back soon."
Picks up his bags. Tells his son,
"Listen,
I don't know how to explain this to you.
Maybe the Rosh Yeshiva is not feeling
well.
Maybe something happened, family
circumstances.
But we have to abide. We have to listen
to our Torah.
We're going to pack our bags. We're
going to go back home. And we'll figure
this out later."
His son was sad.
His eyes swelled, filled with tears. And
the father said, "Don't worry. We're
going to figure this out, but right now
the Rosh Yeshiva Rav Aron Leib told us
we have to turn around. We must turn
around."
They packed their bags, they get off
this security line, they explain that
they have to leave, they need their bags
back, they already checked in.
Get into the car.
And once the father kind of reoriented,
got his
mind mentally back together, and he was
ready to understand the situation, he
calls the gabbai back up.
And he says, "Can we understand, can you
explain what transpired, what happened?
We were going to come, and then he told
us to turn around. What's going on?"
And the gabbai explained very simply.
He said, "Yes, there's inspiration.
There's chizuk, there'll be memories
that you'll look back to forever
from this moment, from the time the Rosh
Yeshiva would have put on your tzitzit
for your son.
But then there's real change. There's
real growth. There's being a real eved
Hashem,
which will happen not by coming to Bnei
Brak, but by staying put
in your shul, in your home, and not
going through the challenges, the
temptations, and then the nisyonos that
an airport brings.
Shmiras einayim,
guarding one's eyes.
If your son can remember for the rest of
his life that instead of going to Bnei
Brak to Rav Aron Leib, he turned around,
went home,
and circumvented, side-stepped all those
nisyonos because that's true
growth. That's true change. That's true
impact, lasting, enduring forever.
That will be a much greater lesson to
your son than coming and having the Rosh
Yeshiva put his tzitzit on.
We see from here,
it's not just about shmiras einayim. Of
course, there's a lesson in shmiras
einayim, but it's about every area in
life.
That sometimes we chase the big moments,
the big experiences, the big
inspiration.
But sometimes when we're truthful, when
we're emesdik ourselves, we realize
that growth is really based on the quiet
choices.
Not in what we're willing to grow into,
to enter,
but what we're willing to walk away from
and to leave behind.
Because who a person becomes is not
defined by moments he stands in front of
greatness.
Greatness is defined by moments he
quietly chooses.
