A little over a year ago, I attended a Staten Island Yeshiva High School dinner which recognized his greatness and duly honored him. Upon receiving his award, his true gadlus emerged. He was great - he spoke for only two and a half minutes!! He could have been compared to Shimshon Hagibor that evening. A gibor doesn't make his fellow Jews suffer through long speeches at Yeshiva dinners; a gibor is able to control the strong yetzer hara to plobble away at the expense of others. Besides the drasha's considerate length, the remarkable chemistry he had with the invited guests and his own sophisticated and unique articulation, I was delighted to hear this literal and figurative giant expound Torah in the name of the Ben Ish Chai.

The fourth Mishnah in the second chapter of Pirkei Avos teaches us "al tifrosh min hatzibur." Chazal teach that an individual should be as pliant as a reed, meaning that he should view himself as a reed which lacks strength while standing alone. One reed does not have the strength to support a structural beam, however when bundled with other reeds its combined strength is enormous. Similarly, a person must understand that alone he lacks force yet when buttressed by a group, his (its) power can be awesome.