The One Thing a Gadol Never Asks For

Just saw this story and thought I’d share:

One Simchas Torah, a young yeshivah bachur asked Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach for a brachah.

With his usual warmth, Rav Shlomo Zalman blessed him: “You should find a good shidduch, have parnassah, and merit time to learn Torah.”

But the bachur hesitated. “Thank you,” he said, “but that’s not the brachah I was looking for.”

“So what do you want a brachah for?” Rav Shlomo Zalman asked.

“I want to be the Gadol HaDor,” the bachur replied.

Rav Shlomo Zalman’s face fell. He grew visibly upset.

“How can I give you a brachah like that?” he said. “To ask to be the Gadol HaDor means you're asking for everyone else to be smaller than you. That’s not a brachah—it’s a put-down to others. I can’t give you such a brachah.”

And it made me think.

Should we really be aspiring to be Gedolim? Should we teach our kids to?

Or should we simply aspire to grow—to learn, to be kind, to be present—and if gadlus comes, it comes. Not because we see others as smaller, but because we see them as bigger.

Maybe a true Gadol is someone who looks around and sees a world full of Gedolim.

A friend of mine put it perfectly: The goal should be to be a Tzadik, not a Gadol. One is measured by who you are. The other is measured by who you’re better than. A Tzadik can fall and still be a Tzadik—because greatness doesn’t come from being perfect. And it doesn’t come from being seen.

To be great doesn’t require a title. You just need to be true to yourself.