The Imrei Yosef of Spinka zt'l once had a guest in his home. The guest was a rav, and the Spinka Rebbe honored him immensely. After Shacharis, the Imrei Yosef immediately took his guest home to serve him breakfast. He didn't keep his general routine to learn a certain amount before returning home. The Imrei Yosef's son, the Chakal Yitzchak zt'l, asked his father why he honored this rav so much. The Imrei Yosef replied that he was once collecting money and came to this rav's beis medresh. The rav didn't do anything to help him. Neither did he tell his wealthy congregants to help me; he just ignored me. The Imrei Yosef was upset with the rav, and he didn't want to help him now. To uproot those negative feelings, he was now honoring the rav immensely. He explained, "I was tempted not to help him, to act with him as he acted with me. To overcome this negative tendency, I am acting in the opposite extreme and helping him immensely."
The Chakal Yitzchak writes, "I saw many episodes like this one. The Imrei Yosef honored those who harmed him to break his desire to harm them."
