Anava

And then there's a famous comment in the comments and on the aleph zeira

שמשה רצה לכתוב על הויקרא וזה שנאמר אצל בלעם כאילו לא נראה לו השם אלא במקרה פה אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא לכתוב גם באלף וכתבו קטנה.

So the aleph zeira reflects the all-encompassing anavah of Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu's anavah was what defined him, והאיש משה עניו מאד. The Chaim Volozhin has in the beginning of Pirkei Avos in the Ruach Chaim he says that the shalsheles hamesorah,

משה קיבל תורה מסיני ומסרה ליהושע ויהושע לזקנים וזקנים לנביאים,

that at every stage of the masorah, every link in the chain, what qualified and characterized each one or each group was their anavah. And that is the defining quality and characteristic of the chachmei hamasorah. And the reason Moshe Rabbeinu was zocheh to be mekabel Torah miSinai was because his anavah was of the highest order. The bechinah of vanachnu mah, right? Even going beyond that of Avraham Avinu of anochi afar va'efer, vanachnu mah. Maybe let's try a little bit to define midas ha'anavah and to explore some of the ways that we can try to work to inculcate.

יש דעות שאסור לאדם לנהוג בהן בבינונית אלא יתרחק עד הקצה האחר.

Vehu govah halev

שאין הדרך הטובה שיהיה האדם עניו בלבד אלא שיהיה שפל רוח ותהיה רוחו נמוכה למאוד. ולפיכך נאמר במשה רבינו עניו מאד ולא נאמר עניו בלבד.

So me'od means to an extreme again as without the negative connotation which that usually has. It means excessively, again, but seemingly excessively. So the pshat in anav me'od is that on the spectrum of anavah and gaivah, so what's correct, what's true is not the middah habeinonus, but what's correct and true is the extreme. Me'od always connotes extreme. That's what it means.

ואהבת את ה' אלקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך.

It means that a person is supposed to be totally, entirely focused, all his energies, all his resources, all his time devoted to ahavas Hashem. Bechol me'odecha with every extreme. The pshat is that the Rambam in a fascinating perek in Shemonah Perakim where the Rambam talks about when Chazal speak of a navi seeing Hakadosh Baruch Hu מתוך אספקלריא שאינה מאירה. That they see Hakadosh Baruch Hu through a screen which isn't entirely transparent and it clouds their perception. So the Rambam says that what the nimshal of מתוך אספקלריא שאינה מאירה, the nimshal of the hamasach hamavdil, of the screen which separates and therefore chesronos in middos. chesronos in middos. And the Rambam only Rambam Kadu, the Rambam goes through in the Avos Haolam in tamtzis what their chesronos were and and why their nevuah again unlike Moshe Rabbeinu's nevuah which was betoch aspaklaria me'irah, why their nevuah was בתוך אספקלריה שאינה מאירה. So he says by Yaakov Avinu, that Yaakov Avinu had a chesron of fear because ויירא יעקב מאד ויצר לו, because he was afraid of his encounter with Esav. The shaylah is Chazal say about that pasuk in Gemara Brachos in Vayira Yaakov, that's the darkan shel tzaddikim. Tzaddikim are never never complacent. They never they're always on edge shema yigrom hachet. And and Chazal identify that same middah by by Dovid Hamelech, לולא האמנתי לראות בטוב ה' בארץ חיים. Dovid Hamelech says if only I could be sure that that I'll be zocheh to Olam Haba. I but Dovid Hamelech said שמרה נפשי כי חסיד אני. Dovid Hamelech recognized that he was a chasid? No. The middah of a tzaddik is that they're always worried shema yigrom hachet. So Chazal see the Vayira Yaakov as something positive that even though Yaakov Avinu had been given a havtacha,

והנה אנכי עמך ושמרתיך בכל אשר תלך והשבתיך אל האדמה הזאת,

so what's he nervous about? No, he's nervous shema yigrom hachet. Same thing as by Dovid Hamelech. And and the Rambam is is clearly criticizing it. He's saying that the that the reaction is inappropriate. So efshar, emes is no they're both true. Chazal are saying Vayira Yaakov was appropriate. Rambam is commenting on the me'od. Chazal are saying vayira, yeah, that's what Chazal are telling us shema yigrom hachet. So a person should have pachad. But but to the extreme, to the excess of pachad, no, that's where the Rambam sees that there's there's a criticism being being levied at Yaakov Avinu. So bekitzer, me'od implies extreme. It implies extreme. That's why the drasha that the Mishnah has in the last perek in in Brachos,

ואהבת את ה' אלהיך בכל מאדך, בכל מדה ומדה שהוא מודה לך,

that whatever literally whatever measure Hakadosh Boruch Hu measures out to you, בכל מדה ומדה שמודה לך, so a person is supposed to thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu, a person is supposed to sustain his ahavas Hashem. So so where's the? So the word is me'od, the word is not middah. So what's the basis for that drasha? No, the teirutz is no, bechol me'odecha means even in extreme circumstances. That's what the bechol me'odecha means even in even in your extreme experiences. That's what it means bechol middah umiddah she'Hakadosh Boruch Hu moded. So a person is supposed to sustain the ahavas Hashem. So al kol panim, that's what the Rambam says והאיש משה ענו מאד. Means that Moshe Rabbeinu was not just humble, Moshe Rabbeinu was exceedingly humble because that's on on the spectrum of anavah and ga'avah, so it's an exception, a person is not supposed to follow what what the middah beinonis is but is supposed to go to an extreme. Ulefikach tzivu Chachamim, that's why the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos says מאד מאד הוי שפל רוח. Again not just hevei shefal ruach, but but a person is supposed to be exceedingly humble. Ve'od amru shekol hamagbia libo kafar b'ikar, שנאמר ורם לבבך ושכחת את ה' אלהיך. Chazal further say, says the Rambam, that that a person who's haughty, kafar b'ikar. He denies Hakadosh Boruch Hu rachmana litzlan. Shene'emar v'ram levavecha, your heart will will become your heart, your mind, will become haughty, ושכחת את ה' אלהיך. According to the Rambam, the the pshat in in the pasuk is is not v'ram levavecha and there will be a progression and that will ultimately result in ושכחת את ה' אלהיך. No, v'ram levavecha and that k'she'atzmo, that itself is already ושכחת את ה' אלהיך. Not that it's going to set off a reaction which will rachmana litzlan culminate in v'shachachta. No, v'ram levavecha and And eo ipso, that already is the ושכחת את ה' אלוקיך. Agav, we have this absolutely astounding maamar that the Rambam is quoting, so we have it in the Gemara ke'ilu kofer ba'ikar. The Gemara in Sotah the first perek, so we have it ke'ilu kofer ba'ikar. I don't know, so the impression one gets from this Rambam is that the Rambam had a different girsa. The problem is that the Rambam himself actually in the Peirush Hamishnayos in Pirkai Avos quotes this and he seems to have our girsa, so the question is what is he quoting here in the Yad? And on this Mishnah of מאוד מאוד הוי שפל רוח in, where is it here? In perek daled of Avos, so the Rambam writes over here in the Peirush Hamishnayos

וממה שאמרו בגאוה אמרו כל אדם שתהיה בו גסות הרוח כאילו עובד עבודה זרה ואמרו כאילו כפר בעיקר שנאמר ורם לבבך ושכחת את ה' אלוקיך.

So that's takeh how we have the Gemara in Sotah. So the question is what is the Rambam quoting here? If he had our girsa, what is he quoting here? So iyen sham what the Rambam's makor is. Al kol panim, hava nisbonen for a minute rabosai. This isn't again such an extraordinary, extraordinary statement. There are lots of, in Chazal, and there are lots of equivalences that you can find in Chazal. For instance, the second half of this halacha where the Rambam is quoting the maamarei Chazal about ka'as, so Chazal say that כל הכועס כאילו עובד עבודה זרה. But it's with an equivalence, right? It's with a ke'ilu, it's with that disclaimer that I don't mean literally that a person who's ko'es is literally an oved avoda zara, I mean on some level there's a certain equivalence. So it's ke'ilu. There's a ke'ilu or al kol panim there's a chaf hadimyon. The way the Rambam quotes this Gemara כל המגביה לבו כפר בעיקר. It's not with a ke'ilu, it's not with a chaf hadimyon. Mamash. Mamash. Not a moral equivalent, not with an equivalence, but that's what it actually is. So what does that mean? What does that mean? So lichora as follows. Rav Zachs used to say that the velt makes a mistake in defining anavah and ga'avah and erroneously thinks that an anav is someone who even though he knows a lot, professes to know nothing, and that a ba'al ga'avah is the opposite, a ba'al ga'avah even though he knows very little or nothing, is someone who postures, or even thinks, worse than postures, who thinks he knows some. So Zachs used to say, someone who knows one blatt or ten blatt or fifty blatt and thinks he's a בקי בכל התורה כולה, he's not a ba'al ga'avah, he's a maturrah, he's a meshugeneh, he's out of touch with reality. The problem there is not ga'avah. If I know five blatt and I think I know five hundred blatt, it's not a question of ga'avah, it's a question of being delusional. It's the same mistake as thinking that it's snowing outdoors now or that there are gale hurricane winds. It's just out of touch with reality. Ella mai, הן ענו הן בעל גאוה, no, that there is, he knows how many blatt he knows and he knows how well he knows those blatt, on what level. What's the difference? The difference is that a ba'al ga'avah thinks it's kochi ve'otzem yadi. Whatever a ba'al ga'avah correctly perceives, so he attributes to kochi ve'otzem yadi. And that's why he's maleh ga'avah. Ma she'ein kein, an anav also has an accurate self-perception, but he doesn't attribute it to kochi ve'otzem yadi. He doesn't attribute it to kochi ve'otzem yadi. How can a person attribute anything to kochi ve'otzem yadi? The imperative and the vital importance of hishtadlus of yegiah amalah notwithstanding, a person's life is not his own, a person's abilities are not his own. Nothing is a person's. That again, the vital importance and the vital imperative of yegiah amal hishtadlus notwithstanding. The Rambam writes in Perek Alef of Yesodei HaTorah when he opens the Yad:

יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון והוא ממציא כל הנמצא.

So the Rav used to underscore how the Rambam writes in Lashon Hoveh. The Rambam doesn't write הוא המציא כל הנמצא. He doesn't say that Hakadosh Baruch Hu brought into existence, brought into existence everything that exists. No, he says Hakadosh Baruch Hu brings into existence. Meaning it's not the pshat that ה'תשע"ו shana ago Hakadosh Baruch Hu pressed the button and created the world and now the world exists on its own. No, there was something singular that happened that many years ago in that there was a Beriah Yesh Me'ayin, but the Beriah never exists on its own. That's what it- the Beriah is always- Hakadosh Baruch Hu is always Mamtzi Kol Nimtza. There is no such thing as any independent existence. All existence is- is constantly, constantly from, through, because of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. There is no such thing as- it's not that Hakadosh Baruch Hu endowed the world with its own existence. למשל מה הדבר דומה, you lend someone $1,000 and you tell them they can go into business and they invest. Okay, so then they invest the money, they pay back the $1,000. So they're taki indebted, but the money they have now is their own. The money they have is their own. But that's not the case. Over here it's not- again, it's not that Hakadosh Baruch Hu- it's not that we're indebted to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for that original act of the Beriah. No, every- every moment Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Mamtzi Kol Nimtza. And Nefesh HaChaim as you know discusses this at the very beginning of his sefer in שער א פרק ב. He says that's what it means when- when Anshei Knesses HaGedolah- it's- it's striking, it's one of the few- few phrases that we- we repeat verbatim in- in davening in- in the first bracha of- in the first bracha of Birkas Krias Shema that Hakadosh Baruch Hu המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu is constantly renewing Ma'aseh Bereishis. So it means exactly this same idea. That- that there is no- there is no existence other than Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't create an existence. He allows things to exist because of Him, through Him, etc. And that's- that's what the Nefesh HaChaim says, that's what we're saying in- in the first bracha of Birkas Krias Shema המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית. The Birkas Krias Shema corresponds to the three parshios of Krias Shema. So each of the brachos is- the kiyum of Krias Shema itself, but each of the brachos is an amplification, amplifies what the theme of- of the parsha of- of Krias Shema is. So the- the overarching theme of the Parsha Rishona of Krias Shema is Yichud Hashem, השם אלוהינו השם אחד. So that's what the Anshei Knesses HaGedolah are explaining to us that- that on a deeper level, it doesn't- only mean that Hashem is one, Hashem is not- is not more than one, but on a deeper level, part of Yichud Hashem means that- that there is no other metzius other than Hashem and everything is because he's המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית or because he's Mamtzi Kol Nimtza. The person who's magbia libo, who's magbia libo, so- so he has a sense of kochi v'otzem yadi. A person has a sense of kochi v'otzem yadi. Says the Rambam, it's not with an equivalence, it's not with a kaf hadimyon. It's mamash kopher b'ikar. A person- a person- you know, l'moshal, a little kid who's just trying to- trying to swing a baseball bat but doesn't really know how to swing the baseball bat. So his father stands behind him, his father puts his hands on top of the kid's hands and then when someone pitches, then he swings together with the kid. So then you tell a kid: "Oh look, you hit the maiseh." Okay, so- so you- you talk the three-year-old into thinking that he hit it, but maiseh, maiseh the father hit it. The three-year-old didn't- he didn't- he's not the second coming of Babe Ruth, it's- it's the father who- who hit it. If a person feels kochi ve'otzem yadi, so that's not with a chacham lev, the way the Rambam says it here in the, in the Yad, in the halachos. Without a chacham lev, it's, it's kofer ba'ikar because what do you mean, what kochi ve'otzem yadi is there when, when Hakadosh Baruch Hu is מחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית. That, that's why the, if we understand that the idea of Torah, right? That's why lich'ora, the answer, let's say for us who are hopefully not החכם הגאה על לבו but, hopefully not, but, but rachok me'od from, from anav me'od. So we wonder how, how is it that, okay, meila that a person is not, veizeh misga'eh. You open a Shulchan Aruch, you open a Shach, so, okay, that, that takes one, one guide down a few, few notches and and you try to learn Ohr Hachayim and takes it down a few more notches. But you wonder, how you wonder how they weren't misga'eh, you wonder how they weren't misga'eh. And a person also wonders, but let's say lema'aseh you have a person, he takeh worked harder than, than his chaver. Because he worked harder than his chaver, so he knows more than his chaver. So there is a correlation there. Again, the ein od milvado, mamtzi kol nimtza, מחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית, all that notwithstanding, lema'aseh there is a correlation, this person knows more because, because he worked harder. So, so let that be a basis for feeling some superiority. But how does Moshe Rabbeinu, how does Moshe Rabbeinu feel ve'anachnu mah? What's that mean? And the answer is that what tzaddikim understand and what we have to try a little, little, little, little bit, efshar, to, to be misyaches to. That notwithstanding the truth of the fact that, that the yegia ve'amala, there is a correlation between the yegia ve'amala and, and who a person is, but lema'aseh the metzius of ein od milvado, metzius of that a person doesn't, the way the Rambam set to, to use the Rambam's lashon:

הוא שהנביא אומר וה' אלהים אמת הוא לבדו האמת ואין לאחר אמת כאמתתו והוא שהתורה אומרת אין עוד מלבדו כלומר אין שם מצוי אמת מלבדו כמותו.

If, if a person has such a hargasha, there just can't be a metzius of anything other than האיש משה ענו מאד. It just can't be. It's not a question with an answer, it just can't be. Can't be that there's a metzius. משל למה הדבר דומה. You have, you have an ant colony. You have an ant colony. And within this ant colony, so there's one ant that goes to the gym big time, four or five hours a day and lifting, lifting weights and the barbells and the dumbbells and whatever other bells that, that are out there. And, so the ant's got bulging biceps. The ant's got biceps. Whatever the ant, whatever the analogue for that is in the, in the ant's anatomy. Okay, so he feels, he takeh feels bigger and better and superior to all the other ants in the colony. And then vayehi hayom, vayehi hayom, he hears of this colossal, indescribably large giant, who here is called a person, a man, and who with one step of his foot totally obliterates hundreds and thousands of ants. So what happens so superior. But he is, but he's bigger, he's stronger, he's better. But it's clear, it's clear what that ant feels. Segueing a little bit to how to remind ourselves of that reality and just a little bit take the edge off the natural guise that often exists. It's just difficult to overstate the importance of whenever a person is talking about something he hopes to do, of it always being Im Yirtzeh Hashem, of it always being Be'ezrat Hashem. A person can be saying that right after shiur he's going to eat lunch, not talking about long-term plans. It's so important, it's virtually impossible to exaggerate the importance of a person saying and hopefully when he says, correspondingly thinking, that's what I hope to do, but what I'm going to do, what I'm going to do is not up to me.

הקדוש ברוך הוא בידו נפש כל חי ורוח כל בשר איש

a person's next breath is not up to him. A person has no control over anything. I hope to go eat lunch afterwards, Im Yirtzeh Hashem, Be'ezrat Hashem, I hope to. And then what are you doing over the summer? Im Yirtzeh Hashem, Be'ezrat Hashem. If it's a devar mitzvah, a person should say bli neder also. Im Yirtzeh Hashem, Be'ezrat Hashem, I hope to do this, I hope to do this. Will I do? I don't know, it's not up to me. A person has no control. Basically the Iggeret HaRamban outlines a behavioral approach to instilling, helping to instill middas ha'anavah.

תתנהג תמיד לדבר כל דבריך בנחת לכל אדם ובכל עת.

A person has to talk softly to everyone and at all times

ובזה תנצל מן הכעס שהיא מדה רעה להחטיא בני אדם.

Ka'as is a middah ra'ah lehachti bnei adam because the way we avoid cheit is through self-discipline and when a person gets angry so then we lose our self-control. That's what the essence of anger is, it's a volatility, it's a loss of our self-control. That's what it means שהיא מדה רעה להחטיא בני אדם. That's what Rashi says on the Torah, that by Moshe Rabbeinu and none other than Moshe Rabbeinu, that when Moshe Rabbeinu gets angry, so then he ba l'chal t'aut because again anger is something which is volatile, it's something which involves a loss of self-control, loss of self-discipline, and that's the way a person avoids cheit is through the self-control, through the self-discipline.

וכן אמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה כל הכועס כל מיני גיהנם שולטין בו שנאמר והסר כעס מלבך.

So everything has a shlitah over him

והעבר רעה מבשרך ואין רעה אלא גיהנם שנאמר וגם רשע ליום רעה. כאשר תנצל מן הכעס תעלה על לבך מדת הענווה שהיא מדה טובה מכל המדות טובות.

When a person is able to anava, when a person is able to, when a person is able to be nitzel min haca'as, when a person habitually, thoughtfully adopts that behavior, it helps instill within a person a corresponding state of mind. The anava which is suggested, which is evident in how a person talks, what decibel a person talks, will then create a corresponding state of mind and state of heart. Right, this is the same yesod as so many, so many, basically the same yesod as what is always quoted from Sefer Hachinuch, אחרי הפעולות נמשכים הלבבות. It's the same yesod as Ramchal says in Mesillat Yesharim. Ramchal says that the person has this inner bren, he has this hislahavus, so then he'll run to do mitzvos with zerizus. But he says it's equally true that if a person doesn't have that inner bren, he doesn't feel that hislahavus, if he'll push himself artificially as it were, he'll make a concerted effort to run to do the mitzvah, to act with zerizus even though it's not a natural action or reaction on his part, it's something he has to push himself to do, so then it will generate the hislahavus within him. So that's one approach, again, in general to tikkun hamidos, that the behavior helps generate the behavior repeated, reinforced again and again helps create that inner state of mind, state of heart, it helps instill the t'chuna within one. If a person is mevater, sometimes a person is forced to be mevater, but whenever and possible and usually appropriate a person is mevater again. He's mevater so he may not be feeling the anava, but it's an act of anava, it's an act of anava to be mevater. When a person is ne'elav v'eino oleh, when he's שומע חרפתו ואינו משיב, he again, he may have to be misgaber to do that, but be'ma'aseh that's an act of anava which ultimately contributes to being molid anava within the person. If a person does his best to avoid people's gratuitous attention, if a person does his best to avoid gratuitously being in the limelight, so he's not recognized for who or what he is. Again, that's an act of anava and it helps even if a person has to make a concerted effort to do that, but it helps then instill a genuine sense of anava within that person. It's important to understand that that that anavah, which is in the Reishis Chochmah in the Sha'ar HaAnavah, מדה טובה מכל המדות הטובות. But that doesn't mean a lack of self-esteem, a lack of a lack of self-confidence. And and that's implicit within, again, what we quoted from Ramchal. A person is an anav because there's no kochi veotzem yadi. There's no whatever whatever a person is, whatever he does, a person's life, person's existence, everything, everything, everything is from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Again, the need for yegiah and amal notwithstanding, ein od milvado. But ein od milvado in no way does or should preclude a person recognizing that Hakadosh Baruch Hu did give him kochos to accomplish and to do things. So the Vanachnu Mah doesn't... not only shouldn't result in a lack of self-esteem, but aderaba, aderaba. In the same way, a person if a person is taluy bekochos atzmo, he's responsible. Okay, so takeh maybe... so who says I can... who says I can do anything? But a person who recognizes that it's not him, it's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives a person, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives everyone kochos to to do and to accomplish. A person has to... one of the biggest challenges in in life and in avodas Hashem is for a person to identify those kochos that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave him and how to best apply them, how to best to channel them and and develop them. But what we're talking about, the lack of self-confidence and the lack of self-esteem, point is that the self-confidence, the self-esteem is not... is not tainted by a sense of kochi veotzem yadi, but rather the sense of it's it's my obligation, my privilege to to use to maximally whatever kochos Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave and and continues to and continues to give me. Rabbi Adler gave a very good hagdara about someone... the Piesetzner talked about someone that he takes what he does seriously, but he doesn't take himself seriously. And that's... sort of captures what we're talking about. A person takes himself seriously, so then there's... there's some kochi veotzem yadi there. He takes what he does seriously, he takes his getting to the beis medrash is serious, it's real, it's important. It's עבודת רבונו של עולם. I'm nothing. Anan mah, anan mah. But what what happens in the beis medrash, getting to the beis medrash is is only

עבודת רבונו של עולם. אם לא בריתי יומם ולילה שמים וארץ לא שמתי.

And this whole perspective in a deeper way is is included within within what we've been talking about. Okay, we'll iy"h continue again tomorrow morning on this topic.