Rav Yehezkiel Sithon, a Rosh Yeshiva from Eretz Yisrael who was very close to Hacham Ben Sion gave a eulogy for the Hacham, and discussed his tremendous love for the Jewish people, citing a Zohar that says,
Yisrael (Jewish people), the Torah and Hashem are all one.
Therefore, he said, if you love Hashem, you have to love His Torah, and if you love His Torah, you have to love the Jewish people. You can’t split the three.
It is impossible to say, “I love Hashem and I love his Torah, but I don’t love the Jewish people.”
He told a story about when he was a young rabbi in kollel, and had asked Hacham Ben Sion for some advice about renting an apartment.
The next day, Hacham Ben Sion told him that he had gone to a certain lawyer to ask about it, and told him what to do.
This was Gadol HaDor, who troubled himself to go to a lawyer, to clarify something for a young kollel rabbi.
There is a similar story with Rav Shach.
A young kollel rabbi had asked him about whether he should move to a certain neighborhood, because he wasn’t sure if that area was religious enough for his family.
Rav Shach said he wasn’t sure, and told him to come back the next day. When the young rabbi came back, Rav Shach told him that he had done the research, and that it was okay to move to the area.
The man went down to building, and someone told him how interesting it was, that they had seen Rav Shach walking around the neighborhood the day before!
The young rabbi realized that Rav Shach wasn’t sure if the neighborhood was suitable , so before advising, he himself went to see the area, and walk the streets to see if it was the proper place for him.
That is yet another example of what great people do. There are endless stories like this, of Gedolim.
We too, can become great people.
We become great people by looking out for what we can do for smaller people.
This is always important, but especially in the month of Elul.
The Chazon Ish once said that if you want to learn a sefer Musar, read stories about Gedolim.
The great Rav Moshe Feinstein, the Gadol HaDor, was once seen during the high holiday season, reading a sefer called Meorot HaGedolim, a book of stories about great rabbis of Musar. That was his musar- to read this book. He was the Gadol HaDor, but going back, in previous generations they were even greater.
So reading stories about Gedolim is wonderful Musar, and that is what we are trying to do now, to strengthen our Avahat Yisrael.