The Loss of Yaakov’s Ladder By Rebbetzin Naomi Sprung | January 27, 2021
My sister, Rebbetzin Aviva Weisbord a h, was my sister, my compass, and my best friend
Rebbetzin Aviva Weisbord a”h wasn’t only my sister, she was like another mother, she was my best friend, my compass, my North Star. Her passing is not only my personal tragedy, but a loss to all of Klal Yisrael.
From as far back as I can remember, Aviva had such clarity in her mission: to do the retzon Hashem. She was made of iron mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and even physically. A cousin recently commented that Aviva was the picture of what you can accomplish when you don’t waste your time on gashmiyus. She never wasted a minute and was always on to the next thing to be accomplished. No wonder she was taken from us so much earlier than we could have imagined she had already used much more than her allotment of hours serving Hashem and His People.
The greatest success is the ability to own up to failure
In the Torah view, the single most essential ingredient of a person’s fitness to hold a position of responsibility is his ability to accept responsibility. There is no greater disqualification for leadership than one’s unwillingness to say the three words, “I was wrong.”
It works the other way, too: Someone with a conscience that impels him to accept blame when justified is also likely to feel unable to stand idly by when wrongs need righting, and will more readily volunteer to step up to act and take responsibility.