The Gates of Prayer Belong to Someone Else
When Rav Meir wondered aloud whether his gift for prayer was his calling, the Chortkover answered with a story about Reb Zusha.
A story ofRav Yehuda Meir Shapiro of Lublinהרב יהודה מאיר בן יעקב שמשון שפיראProfile ›
It is told that on Shabbos Bereishis, Rav Meir, then Rav of Sanok, was a guest at the beis medrash of the Chortkover Rebbe. To everyone's surprise, the Rebbe invited him to bless the new month and lead Mussaf. Rav Meir's voice and melodies lifted the whole room, and many said the atmosphere felt like Yom Kippur. Afterward the Rebbe remarked that he had never known the Rav of Sanok could lead prayer so well. "Neither did I," Rav Meir replied, "until the Rebbe showed me."
Later, in the Rebbe's private room, Rav Meir wondered aloud whether he should become a chazzan, since he descended from Rav Pinchas of Koretz. The Rebbe grew serious and told him of Reb Zusha of Anipoli, who once came in disguise to the yeshivah of Rav Yosef Yuzpa in Zolkava and heard his shiur. When the rosh yeshivah learned that this beggar knew the secrets of prayer, he asked to be taught, and was so moved that he wanted to leave his yeshivah and follow Reb Zusha.
Reb Zusha refused. Every person has a different face, mind and mission, he said, and each must serve with the gifts Hashem gave him. Rav Yosef Yuzpa was meant to inspire talmidim with Torah, and the gates of prayer could be left to others. Rav Meir understood. In later years he told those close to him that the Rebbe had set him on his path: to raise up the coming generation through teaching and chinuch.
Source: Maasei Avos (recounted from Rav Meir's own telling of the Shabbos in Chortkov), pp. 60–63.
It is easy to admire someone else's talent and wonder whether you should have been built differently. Today, take five quiet minutes and write down two things you do well, and one place where those strengths could help someone else this week: a family member who needs patience, a friend who needs a call, a class that needs a teacher. Then do that one thing. You do not have to be the person you admire. Your own mission was fitted to the tools Hashem has already given you.