תּוֹרָה רמו

Torah 246

Sometimes one must conduct oneself as we find with Yehoshafat — of whom it is written: ""and his heart was elevated in the ways of Hashem"" [II Chronicles 17:6]. And this is effective like a fast. For when one must ascend to a greater attainment — one must forget one's previous wisdom. And as we find that Rabbi Zeira fasted when he came to the Land of Israel — in order to forget the Babylonian Talmud [Bava Metziah 85a]. And through arrogance — one forgets one's wisdom — as our Sages said: ""all who are arrogant — their wisdom departs from them"" [Pesachim 66a]. Therefore sometimes one must elevate one's heart in the ways of Hashem — which is the aspect of arrogance — in order to forget one's previous wisdom. But one needs extra skill for this. For certainly arrogance is a great prohibition — and if one truly becomes arrogant — certainly one's wisdom will depart entirely — and one will not come to attainment at all. Therefore one needs extra skill — to elevate one's heart — only so as to forget one's previous wisdom which one needs to forget. Yet even so remain genuinely humble. [And it can be said that this is the reason why one who says: a Torah scholar must have one eighth of the eighth in him — and one who says he needs none — is out of fear that he may not gauge the measure properly — as our Rebbe's warning, of blessed memory.]