Some people once insulted Reb Gedalyah Moshe of Zvhil zt'l, and Reb Gedalyah's gabbaim wanted to admonish them to stick up for their Rebbe's honor, but Reb Gedalyah Moshe instructed them to let it pass and not to make an issue of it. He explained, "My father, Rebbe Shlomke of Zvhil zt'l, was a rebbe because he was a great tzaddik, but my only quality is that I am silent and don't respond during a machlokes. If you take that away from me, I have nothing."
Once, Rebbe Gedalyah Moshe davened Musaf quickly. The reason was that as he approached the amud, he overheard two children say, "Oh no! The rebbe is going to daven musaf. Davening will be very long." He didn't want to cause distress to those children.
When his first great-grandchild was born, he didn't tell anyone. On Shabbos morning, when the chassidim heard that the rebbe had a great-granddaughter, they asked him, "Why didn't you tell us? We would have prepared a kiddush." For shalashudes, the gabbai arranged extra food in honor of the simchah. Reb Gedalya Moshe later explained that one of his gabbaim didn’t have children. He didn't want to celebrate the simchah, so as not to cause tzaar to this Yid.
Reb Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt'l never took a grandchild on his lap because some of his children never had children. He didn't want them to suffer watching him enjoy his grandchildren, who were born to his other children.
Before Rebbe Moshe Mordechai of Lelov zt'l put on tefillin shel yad, he first kissed the yud [the knot attached to the box, בית]. He said, "Before we put on tefillin and think about Hashem's oneness, we must first kiss the Yud – the Yid – to remind us that we must first have Ahavas Yisrael."
