Content to Be Third
Rebbi named him head of the yeshiva, but Rebbi Chanina stepped aside for an older sage and even accepted third place.
It is told that as Rebbi lay on his deathbed, he gave instructions for the generation after him. His son Shimon would be the chacham, his son Gamliel would be the Nasi, and Chanina bar Chama would sit at the head of the yeshiva.
It was the highest honor a talmid could receive, and it came from the greatest man of the age. Yet Rebbi Chanina would not accept it. In the same beis medrash sat Rebbi Afes, who was two and a half years older than he. Rebbi Chanina could not bring himself to sit above an older sage.
So Rebbi Afes took the place at the head, and Rebbi Chanina sat outside. He did not want to sit before Rebbi Afes as an ordinary student, nor to take the place Rebbi had promised him. The sage Levi came and sat outside with him, and the two learned together.
When Rebbi's son wished to ordain him, Rebbi Chanina again would not go first; Rebbi Afes had to be ordained before him. Then another elderly sage said that he too must come before Rebbi Chanina, and Rebbi Chanina agreed to be third.
Only after Rebbi Afes passed away did Rebbi Chanina finally take his seat at the head of the yeshiva, just as Rebbi had said. In his old age, Rebbi Chanina wondered aloud whether his long life was a reward for stepping aside that day.
Source: Talmud Bavli, Kesubos 103a–103b; Talmud Yerushalmi, Taanis 4:2
Look this week for one small place where you could take the front, and give it to someone else instead: the first turn to speak at a meeting, the better seat at the table, the credit for a shared idea. Do it quietly, without pointing it out. If an older person is present, let them go ahead of you. Rebbi Chanina believed such moments added years to his life.