Emuna Daily

A student of Rabbi Eliyahu Dov Lazerovitz was once walking with him to the yeshiva.  They started out at a very brisk pace, then all of the sudden Rabbi Lazerovitz slowed down to a snail’s pace.  The student asked him if anything was wrong.  Rabbi Lazerovitz pointed to an elderly gentleman who was walking very slowly in front of them and said, “If we walk at our regular pace, he’s likely to feel badly that he is not able to go as quickly as us.”  Only when that elderly person turned into a side street did Rabbi Lazerovitz pick up speed. ~ Tnuas Hamussar as quoted by R’ Zelig Pliskin

On one occasion when Rabbi Noson Tzvi Finkel was leading the congregation in prayer, he kept stumbling on the pronunciation of the words.  Those present were amazed, since he always pronounced each word precisely.  The congregants soon understood the reason for the Rabbi’s uncharacteristic difficulty.  There was a mourner in the synagogue who had difficulty reading Hebrew, and when he read from the prayer book, some people laughed or smiled.  In order to lessen the mourner’s embarrassment, Rabbi Finkel acted as if he could not read any better. ~ R’ Zelig Pliskin