[Avodah] Raising Nitzotzos

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 12:58:10PM +0000, Akiva Miller wrote:
: He taught us to always praise the strength and skill of our opponent,
: most especially *after* the game (or, in our nimshal, the battle). If
: one unfortunately lost, he can console himself with, "I put up a good
: fight, but he was stronger than me." And if he wins, he can proudly say,
: "He was very strong, but I was stronger." Either way, there is very
: little to be gained by deprecating the opponent.

: (I do not mean to deny the idea that in some situations there can
: be great value in saying that the opponent is an easily-defeated
: gornisht. I'm just suggesting another approach.)

You remind me of R' Yehudah on Sukkah 52a, the maamar where he says the
le'asid lavo HQBH will shecht the yeitzer hara. The tzadiqim and resha'im
both cry. To the tzadiqim it will look like a mountain, and they will cry,
"How could I have overpowered such a big mountain?" And the resha'im will
see a hair and cry, "How could we not have conquered such a thin hair?"

-Micha