Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:01 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Day number 23,. My friends, welcome back, sorry. Day number 22. We're on page 113 in the Treasure for Life edition of the Orchos Tzaddikim of the Ways of the Righteous, and we're in the middle of the Gate of Humility.

00:18
There are six identifiers to humility. There are six identifiers to humility Harishon b'chozekazo, shel odom. You want to know who's humble? Look at how they're able to repress their anger. There are people who just explode. Well, that's not a humble person, that's an arrogant person. Arrogance and anger are very close, very closely related. Arrogance and humility are the opposite, because someone who's humble can't get angry. Someone embarrasses you terribly with words or with actions. They laugh at you, they scorn you, and you're able to forgive, you're willing to forego. That's a sign of humility, even though there are times where the halacha says you're not allowed to forgive. If someone is a Torah scholar and he's embarrassed or humiliated publicly, that is an area where the Torah says, an example where the Torah says you're not allowed to forgive because it's not your wisdom.

01:38
I'll share with you a quick story. Reb Chaim Ozer Grzegenski was the leading Torah scholar in Europe pre-Holocaust, and every major major question came to his desk. He was known as the generational leader of the Jewish people. One time there was a disagreement between two printing presses and who had the right to print the Shas, the Talmud, and they had a court case in front of Reb Chaim Ozer and Reb Chaim Ozer ruled like one of them, one of the sides. They had the right to the printing and they were able to print the Talmud. So the other one said publicly oh, he was bribed by them. He's a dishonest person to begin with, talking about the leading Torah scholar of the generation. Later on they came back to ask forgiveness. So the rabbi said me, if it was just me that you insulted, I have no problem. I would forgive you in a second. But you're not insulting me. I represent the Jewish people. As being the leading rabbi of the Jewish people, you have to ask the entire Jewish people for forgiveness because I represent them and that's a big responsibility.

02:54
A person who's a real righteous scholar can't just forgive because it's not his honor to forgive. It's like a king. If you embarrass a king, you can't go to the king. And now the king says I forgo my honor. What do you mean? Forgo? You have a whole kingdom, you have all those people. Imagine the king of England says I forgive. What do you mean? You forgive. It's not your honor to forgive, it's the people's honor that you represent.

03:17
Okay, what is the second identifier for anavah of humility? When a person loses a lot of money, he has a great loss or a tragedy happens in his family, and instead of arguing and fighting with God why did you do this to me? He accepts God's judgment with love. Like Aaron Hakohen when he found out that two of his sons were killed, what did he do? He stood still, which means our sages tell us he accepted God's judgment. God's judgment, v'zeh yore ma'od ala anova v'achno. This is an identifier to one's submissiveness to the Almighty and to his humility, hashlishi. What's the third identifier? Im yishma sha'olam ishab chumosa achochmosa v'alma'asav hatovim.

04:15
If he hears that people are praising him for his wisdom, his cleverness or for his good deeds, shouldn't be happy. He shouldn't take pride in this. He says everyone is praising me for my good deeds. But a person should really think about it and say to himself you know what? If I was a real righteous person, I would do much more kindness. If I was really a righteous person, I would give much more charity. If I was really a righteous person, I would teach much more Torah. So what they're saying they're just saying, but the truth is I know I should be producing much more V'kol shekeinim yomru olav ma'asim tovim, shaloh asa. And certainly if they praise him for things he never did, they praise him for things Shaloh yismach, eli yitzdor bolibo, al shayotzoloh, sheim b'dover she'enbo.

05:18
He shouldn't be happy in what people praise him for something that he's not. He shouldn't be happy in what people praise him for something that he's not, but rather he should be disappointed. That word went out about him. That's not truthful if someone says negative things about him that weren't true. If it's true, a person shouldn't try to bend the truth so that he can find a justification or to justify his actions, like Yehuda said.

05:53
What did Yehuda say when he was approached by his daughter-in-law who said whoever owns this staff is the person who impregnated me. What did Yehuda say? Yehuda didn't start making. Well, you know, yehuda said she's right. Immediately he accepted. Don't try to refute. And don't try to refute and don't try to disagree with a person who says don't either hate him for revealing your dark secret, but rather he should humble himself in front of the almighty that you've allowed for a little bit of my evil to be revealed to the world in order. Why did Hashem do this? Why did Hashem allow for this negative word to be revealed to the world?

07:01
I remember once something was written in an article that was not supposed to be printed in my name. I was interviewed and I told the guy this is off the record. And sure enough, I see the article a day before it's about to be released and it is very much on the record and it was so humiliating and embarrassing and it was definitely a lesson that there's no such thing as something being off the record. And the second is that you can't trust people. You can't trust every person, but it definitely was a humiliating experience and a humbling experience where God was giving me a message. It was a painful one, but it's something that it took me a long time to appreciate. But Hashem gives us these painful one, but it's something that it took me a long time to appreciate. But Hashem gives us these painful experiences so that we return to Him.

07:54
And what if what's told about you is a complete and total lie? Someone says a total lie about you. Now they're running around saying this lie. Don't go and correct them. Don't get angry either.

08:09
Ki kfar ne'mar al echad menachasidim, as it was said about one of the great pious people, she echad siper olavroh, that someone said a terrible story about him that was false. And when the chassid found out about it, she also, she siper olavdoron. So, and when the chassid found out about it. So this righteous, pious person heard that someone said a false story about him. So what did he do? He sent a gift to the person that publicized this false story and he wrote to him. He says he says says you gave me a gift of your merits and I'm giving you a gift in return, because when the day of judgment comes, they'll show my good deeds to everyone. They're going to say all of these mitzvos that I never did are going to be counted in my score. V'yomru haloloh asinu zeh. We never did this. V'yoshivu lehem oson shesipru. Aleichem ra heim osu eila ha-Mitzvos. V'notlon oson mehen. V'noson lochem.

09:23
What happens If someone says something that's not truthful about you? You know what happens you get their merits, they get your sins. It's a free bargain, free bargain. So imagine you get a whole wardrobe, a whole armory of mitzvahs that that person performed, but now that he said this negative thing about you, you get all of those mitzvahs that that person performed. But now that he said this negative thing about you, you get all of those mitzvahs and they take away all of your sins.

09:54
V'chein l'rishoyim mar'in aveiros shalot asu osan. So too, to the wicked people. They show them all of these sins that they never really did. V'kesh yomer halol lo asinu zeh. We didn't do this, we didn't do that, we didn't do all of these sins.

10:07
Yeshiva Elohim. They'll say you said, you said slander, you said false statements about that person and said negative. You get their bad, their bad actions become yours and they were added to your account and this is what it says in the verse in Psalms and return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their insults with which they have insulted you, o Hashem. Someone who says negative about the righteous is saying negative about God. Negative about the righteous is saying negative about God. Ki oy ve'yisroel, nikroim oy ve'yashem.

11:07
Those who are haters of the Jewish people, the foes of the Jewish people, are foes of Hashem. And it says that bikama mekomos in several places, valzei, zurunu, batora. And this is warned about in the Torah Zachor es asher osa Hashem elokecho l'miriam aderech. Remember what Hashem did to Miriam on the way. Lefichoch mi shesovil, bizyone, bizyono, v'sho seksamon. Therefore, if one suffers his own humility and remains silent, bozen nikar shuonov this is an identifier of his humility V'chein matzino, bihilal anasi. So too we find, with Hilal the prince V'echad, shebizo, b'dvor of someone who stood and humiliated him with words and reprimanded him publicly She'amolo al yir bukomozcha b'Yisroel. There shouldn't be anyone like you again in Israel. V'lo hik, there shouldn't be anyone like you again in Israel.

12:10
The rabbi didn't respond and he didn't, he let it just go. And the midrash says you want to know who a real humble person is? Is someone who hears his humiliation and does not respond. And they spoke. Who spoke? Aaron and Miriam spoke about Moshe Tikhsiv. And it says v'ish Moshe on of ma'od. And we know that Moshe didn't respond. And then the verse says that Moshe was a very humble person. Two verses later, v'olav ne'mar v'ol. Verses later, olovne mar ve'ovov, ketzei seshem, ishpigvor also. And about Moshe it says and those who love him are as the going forth of the sun in its might, meaning you have tremendous power when you are on the right side of humility and you don't respond negatively in return. This concludes day number 22.