After the petirah of the Kedushas Levi zy”a, Rav Moshe Tzvi of Savran zy”a was asked to replace him as Rov of the city of Berditchev. Rav Moshe Tzvi was serving at the time as Rov of the city of Uman. When he left that city to travel to Berditchev, the entire town of Uman came out to escort him and the entire Jewish population of Berditchev came out to greet him. The men, women and children of Berditchev walked for miles until Rav Moshe Tzvi and his huge entourage reached a valley located between two mountains. The people of Berditchev who were unable to get through the crowd to approach the Rebbe climbed to the top of the mountains and threw down their kvitlach and pidyonos to the Rebbe. The honor that was shown to him on this occasion was incredible.
Amongst those who came to greet the Rebbe was his student, Rav Moshe of Kobrin zy”a. Rav Moshe told those around him, “Let’s see what the Rebbe is doing.” He positioned himself in a place where he could see the Rebbe but the Rebbe could not see him and he simply looked at his face. After a while, the Rebbe caught a glimpse of him and said, “Are you looking to see how I will deal with all of this kavod? Boruch Hashem, I know how to deal with it. Yosef told his brothers to inform his father about all the honor he had in Egypt. Why would he say this? The answer is that Yosef was telling his father, who was a paragon of humility, that he knew how to deal with the honor he was receiving in Egypt and that he didn’t have to worry because it would not harm him either.”
וְהִגַּדְ תֶּם לְאָבִי אֶת כָּל כְּבוֹדִ י בְּמִ צְרַ יִם וְאֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר רְ אִ יתֶם וגו' (מה, יג)
And you shall tell my father of all my honor in Egypt and all that you have seen. (45:13)
