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Merit

During the first Kneisiah Hagedolah in Marienbad, the Hafetz Hayim was asked to lead the assemblage of rabbis and rebbeim in Birkat Hamazon.  He asked himself: “Why do I merit this honor?  It cannot be because of my great scholarship," he mused.  “It cannot be because of my piety,” he continued.  “It must be because I am a kohen, which of course is not due to any personal merit.  I inherited it from my ancestors.”  -Rabbi Morris Shapiro

It behooves us to be be modest.  If we have any claim to merit it is because we have been brought to this place on the shoulders of giants.
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