In my yeshiva high school years, I felt there was an overemphasis in promoting the concept that everyone can be a gadol hador. I felt it unfortunately just shifted the teenager’s natural focus on taivah to a focus on gaivah. I think we would have been better served if they simply emphasized the greatness of being ehrlich, tamim and frum Jews. In a certain sense I think that is a more noble goal than to attempt to be a gadol hador. It is a goal for what is right, without ulterior drives.
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