A charismatic young man who had been very successful in his secular career came to Rav Moshe Shapiro ztz"l. He had given it all up to learn in kollel with a plan to go into kiruv one day and “save the world.” Rav Moshe schmoozed with him and picked up that he had a whiff of arrogance.
“Let me ask you something ” said Rav Moshe. “How does a person become a choshuve ben Torah?”
“By amassing Torah knowledge?” he cautiously suggested.
“Good enough. And how does a person become an adam gadol? Achieving true greatness?”
He was at a loss for words.
Rav Moshe said: “When he realizes that whatever Torah knowledge he has amassed he’s just scratched the surface of what there is to learn.
“And when does he become the gadol hador? The greatest man in his generation?”
Rav Moshe paused for dramatic effect. “That’s the moment when he knows with total clarity that he knows absolutely nothing.”
Years later this man had become a highly successful mekarev and Rav Moshe said “He had a personal revolution and with that he revolutionized a whole city.”
