I Was Only the Attendant
To the end of his life he signed himself as the former attendant of the tzaddik of Liska, and measured greatness by service.
A teaching ofRav Yeshaya Steiner of Kerestirהרב ישעיה בן משה שטיינרProfile ›
Reb Shayele was sought out by tens of thousands, yet he continued to sign his name Shaya ben Reb Moshe, who once served the holy tzaddik of Liska. For him the title that mattered was not Rebbe but meshamesh, one who stands in the doorway ready to serve. This was not a pose. It reflected a conviction that everything he had received came through the years in which he carried a teacher's needs, handed out challos, and learned by watching. A leader, in his view, remains a servant of the one who taught him and of those who now come to him. When people called him a miracle worker, he pointed back to his own teachers and ahead to Heaven. Real greatness, he showed, is the capacity to remain small in your own eyes while carrying the weight of others' needs.
Source: His own signature, "Shaya ben Reb Moshe, who was a meshamesh bakodesh of the tzaddik of Liska", as recorded in Ami Magazine, 22 May 2024 (interview with Rav Mendel Rubin); also noted in the Mofes HaDor biography.
Think of the person whose guidance shaped you most, whether a teacher, a parent, or an older friend. This week, send them a message of thanks that names one specific thing you learned from them and how you use it today. If they are no longer living, give tzedakah or learn something in their memory. Gratitude keeps us humble, and it reminds us that whatever we can offer other people came to us through someone who served us first.