Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk zt'l toiled for at least twenty-five years to acquire perfection in one particular middah. His students asked him why he focused so much on that middah. He replied, (a) Perfection in one middah, alone, greatly purifies a person. (b) When one attains excellence in one middah, he automatically attains perfection in all other good middos.
All good middos are connected. Therefore, some tzaddikim focused on perfecting a single character trait, and when they attained perfection in that trait, they attained excellence in all other good middos.
A hint to this concept is the Chazal (Midrash, Mishlei 1) "If one keeps one mitzvah perfectly, it is like he kept all 613 mitzvos." This is because all mitzvos and all good middos are connected. Perfection in one area generates perfection in all aspects of avodas Hashem.
For seventeen years, the Chidushei HaRim zt'l toiled with all his strength to attain an טובה עין, a good eye. He said that no one ever acquired this trait as perfectly as he did.
One aspect of טובה עין is to see only the good in others. When the Chidushei HaRim zt'l became a chassidic Rebbe, he had to see the faults in people (in order to help them), which bothered him immensely.
The Chidushei HaRim writes, "During [the Three Weeks], one must eradicate sinas chinam and all aspects of a bad eye. Even if he doesn't look down at anyone, if he doesn't focus on their good, it can be considered sinas chinam. Chazal tell us, 'A generation that the Beis HaMikdash isn't built up is like it was destroyed in that generation.’ With a good eye, the Beis HaMikdash will be rebuilt."
Stories of Ahavas Yisrael
A woman dedicatedly cared for her ill husband for several years. Reb Meir Brandsdorfer zt'l (a renowned dayan from Yerushalayim) would call her occasionally to give her chizuk.
Once, erev Shabbos, he asked her, "Do people help you, or is everything on your shoulders?"
She told him that kind people help her. Reb Meir said, "Do me a favor, when you light Shabbos lecht, tell Hakadosh Baruch Hu the people who help you because there is nothing more beloved to Hakadosh Baruch Hu than when people say good things about His children."
In 1940/ש"ת, Reb Shaul Yedidyah of Modzitz zt'l fled from Modzitz to Vilna to escape the war. On Shabbos, he led a tisch, and the Litvishe people in the area came in to listen to the Rebbe's beautiful, trademark singing. When the Rebbe handed out shirayim, it seemed strange to them. They had never seen this custom before. The Rebbe said, "Don't make fun of this custom.
The Rebbe explained, "Shirayim means that even when a plate of food is before you, you don't keep it all for yourself. You give away from your own so others will have. If people would practice this, this war wouldn't happen."
Tana d'Bei Eliyahu (Rabba 28) writes, "Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells Bnei Yisrael, 'My beloved children...what do I ask from you? Only that you should love one another and honor one another.'"
