Remove Opposition Like Shoes From Your Feet

The Modzitzer Rebbe tells of a meeting between his grandfather, Rav Yechezkel of Kuzhmir, and Rav Nosson Duvid of Shidlovitza. At the start of his career as Rebbe, the Shidlovitzer had many detractors who made his life difficult, and he complained to the Kuzhmirer. Rav Yechezkel answered with a new reading of the Mishnah in Avos: "Beware of their fiery coals; their bite is like a fox bite, their sting like a scorpion's sting." The first letters of the Hebrew words for their bite, their sting, their venom and all their words spell na'alcha, "your shoe." This is what Hashem told Moshe, "Remove your shoes from your feet." He was telling Moshe to remove the concerns of opposition from himself, just as one removes shoes. A leader of the generation must do the same, and must not be angered or troubled by any of the four forms of opposition.