Rav Avigdor Miller on Parsha Ki Tisa: Greatnes is measured by how you behave after your mistake

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The opening of this shiur, in Rabbi Avigdor Miller’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

Hi everyone, it's Rabbi Dr. Jack Cohen, dating coach and public lecturer, lifelong student of my Rebi, Rabbi Vic Miller. Let's talk about this week's parakitis. It contains one of the most painful episodes in Jewish history, the sin of the golden calf. And we read it. We naturally ask a question. How could a nation just stood at Harai that had risen such a high caliber force so quickly? How could they fall so low? But Rabbi Miller explains that the Torah is not telling this story to shame the Jews. The Torah is teaching us something about human greatness. Because if you about human greatness. Because if you look carefully, the same people who stumbled were the same people who became the greatest nation in the world. And that teaches us a very important principle. Ladies and gentlemen, the greatness of a person is not measured by whether he or she never makes a mistake. The greatness of a person is measured by what they do after the mistake. When the Jewish people realized what had happened, they didn't deny their sin. They didn't make excuses. They were broken by their behavior. They did chuva. They repented and they rebuilt themselves. And that is the secret of

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1. 0:00Hi everyone, it's Rabbi Dr. Jack Cohen, dating coach and public lecturer, lifelong student of my…
2. 0:31about human greatness. Because if you look carefully, the same people who stumbled were the same…
3. 1:03themselves. And that is the secret of the greatness of the Jewish people. Other nations disappear…
4. 1:34R Miller explains that stubbornness can be the greatest virtue in the world. Because that same…
5. 2:05stubborn for the truth. Once a Jew knows that something is true, he holds on to…
6. 2:37Jewish people became the eternal nation because perfection is not the secret of greatness. The secret…

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