The Mashgiach of Mir Yeshiva, R' Ezriel Erlanger Shlita, told a story about R' Gershon Liebman Zatzal. Somebody asked him if he could tell over his: ִז ְכרוֹנוֹת memories of the Holocaust. R' Gershon was Mamash a Malach, and he built Torah even in the ghetto and the DP camps. He answered: “What I do today is also: ִז ְכרוֹנוֹת memories”. Novardok was very involved in appreciating the present and using it to its utmost, instead of always praising your past accomplishments (which is also good).
It’s up to you. We all believe in: הָבוֹטְל לֹכַּה it is all for the very best, especially if you insist that it’s good. You can turn a Ma'ala or a Chasuna to be the biggest failure, or the worst Chisaron or a Levaya into the biggest success and: ֵע ָר תצוֹ ן favorable time. It takes working on Bitachon and positivism, and glorifying the present moment.
In the Velt, only the Rosh Yeshiva who has hundreds of Talmidim is precious. Not the Rosh Yeshiva who struggles with a small Yeshiva; he’s on everyone’s black list. This is why R' Yisroel Movshovitz Zatzal was such a quiet person, although he could have been that charismatic Mashgiach. (He was indeed much loved by everyone). Many Novardokers preferred a low-key existence, keeping their greatness in Torah to themselves.
Better not to be such a knocker but to have a pure soul, without popularity and Kavod destroying you. Yet, ideally (I was told by Novardokers) a person should aim for the top, and get all the advertisement needed to build his Mosad (institution) (including his smiling picture in all the newspapers). But lots of Mussar against Kavod must be learned so you aren’t enjoying all the Kavod. They told me in Novardok that often a person is drunk with Kavod, but he’s not aware of it.
