We don't know our own strength

At nighttime, elephant trainers tie the elephants to wooden poles to prevent them from escaping. The elephant is strong enough to pull free from the pole, but it doesn't try. And that is because when it was a young, small calf, it tried to pull away from the wooden pole, and it couldn't. It has never tried again since then. It doesn't realize that now it is much greater, larger, and has strengths that it didn't have in the past.

We are similar because we tried to do things in the past and failed, and since then, we don't try again. We don't realize that we have grown since that time. Past letdowns shouldn't prevent us from trying again. Perhaps this time we will succeed.

(Torah Wellsprng, Tazria, 5782, Rabbi Elimelech Biderman, shlita)

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