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Thought for the Day: before you can achieve greatness, you need to appreciate your own greatness

R' Avigdor Miller, ztz"l, was wont to say that the Alter from Slobodka spoke for decades on the topic of "gadlus haAdam" just to get out the message of how much better it is to be human than to be a dog.  It is only then that we can begin to appreciate the inherent greatness of being a Jew over just being a goy.

In many chasidishe k'hilos the Rebbie makes all of the birchos hashachar.  One morning the Rebbie skipped "shlo asani goy".  The chasidim were wondering what was going on and one approached the Rebbie to politely ask why he had skipped that bracha.

"This morning on the way to davening", said the Rebbie, "I saw an extremely wealthy goy getting out of his limousine.  I felt that was a rare opportunity to say that bracha with particular kavana.  We are not thanking HaShem not being the bum on the street, we are thanking Him for not making us only rich and powerful in this world.  Baruch sh'lo asini goy afila k'ze!"
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