ערך גאות וענוה

Sections 7 through 11 · Continuing the Alef-Bais One who merits true anavah [humility] — which is the aspect of being truly as nothing [ayin mamash] — and nullifies himself in utter perfection before Him, blessed be He — he can reign and rule and glorify himself with every manner of glorification. And even so he is truly humble. As we find with the great Tzaddikim who glorified themselves with a very great glorification — such as Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and likewise many Tano'im and Amoro'im. And likewise Moshe Rabbainu, peace be upon him, himself recounted and wrote down all his own greatnesses and awesome deeds — and even so they were not at all affected by their own glorification. For they merited the nullification of all feelings — and through this they can and are permitted to glorify themselves with every manner of glorification. And even so, this is specifically the essential ultimate perfection of their true humility. But not every person merits this to perfection. Therefore all other people must conduct themselves in humility and lowliness, in simplicity — in the aspect of: "and may my soul be like dust to all" [from the morning prayer], the aspect of one who makes himself a neighbor to dust in his lifetime, as our Sages of blessed memory said.

Even though the essential of humility is to be truly as nothing — even so, it is forbidden to be lazy and contemptible — what is called in Yiddish a shlimazlnik [a hapless, do-nothing person]. For this is like invalid humility, G-d forbid. For one must be strong and courageous and a mighty warrior to stand against all those who obstruct the service of G-d — in the aspect of: "And his heart was elevated in the ways of G-d" [2 Chronicles 17:6]. For when one nullifies himself before the arrogant ones who wish to distance him from the ways of truth — then through his humility he gives strength to the arrogance, which is those arrogant ones aforementioned. And therefore invalid humility is the aspect of the blemish of pride. And this was the blemish of Shaul — who kept Agag alive through nullifying his own mind before Do'eg. And Shmuel the prophet rebuked him for this humility: "Though you may be small in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel?" [I Samuel 15:17]. And the repair was through Mordechai — who, even though he was truly humble in the aspect of nothingness [ayin], even so he refused to bow himself before the arrogant ones — who are the aspect of Haman — as it is written: "And Mordechai would not kneel and would not bow" [Esther 3:2]. And in truth there is in this matter a very great and exceedingly fine balance — that one must be in the aspect of nothing and what [ayin umo], truly — and even so be a mighty warrior and very strong against all the wicked and the obstructors.

The essential fall of the soul, G-d forbid, is through pride [gedulus] — from which the essential falls derive — as our master, of blessed memory, brings elsewhere: that the essential fall is through pride. For in truth there is no fall in the world whatsoever — for G-d is in every place, for "the whole earth is full of His glory" [Isaiah 6:3]. But when one has pride, then "I and he cannot dwell together, etc." [Sotah 5a]. It is thus found that all falls come through pride. And therefore those souls who fell so deeply as to be reincarnated in an animal — the essential cause of their fall was through pride, as above. And the essential repair of all the souls is through anavah [humility] — which is the essential techiyas hameisim [resurrection of the dead] and the pleasure of the World to Come. As our master, of blessed memory, wrote elsewhere — in the aspect of: "Awaken and sing, you who dwell in the dust" [Isaiah 26:19] — one who has made himself a neighbor to dust in his lifetime, etc. — see there. And therefore the shechitah [ritual slaughter] — which is for the purpose of the repair and elevation of the soul — is at the place of the stretching of the neck, in order to subdue and nullify the pride, which is the aspect of the meshicha d'tzavoroh [the stretching out of the neck], etc.

Through knowing one's lowliness in truth and making oneself truly like dust — through this one merits to gaze upon the truth in its truth, and for the light of truth to be revealed to him, until through this he merits to be strengthened with holy desire and will, until through this all obstacles are shattered, and he merits to draw close to holiness and to bring forth all matters of holiness from potential to actuality in perfection.

And as for what they said at the Second Temple during the Simchas Bais HaShoeivah [Celebration of the Water-Drawing]: "Our fathers who were in this place — their backs [were toward the Sanctuary], etc., and our eyes are toward G-d." And they would repeat and say: "We are His and our eyes are toward G-d" — and it was explained there in the Gemara: that they would say thus: "We bow down toward Him and our eyes hope to Him." That is, as above — they would bow down and give thanks to G-d for the great salvations and wondrous kindnesses He had performed for them in rebuilding the Temple anew. This is: "toward Him we bow" — for the bowing is the aspect of giving thanks for the past. But even so they knew within themselves how far they still were from the complete redemption. And therefore they said a second time: "and our eyes toward G-d" — which is: "and our eyes hope to Him". For certainly even though G-d had already helped them with such a great salvation — that "even in our servitude, G-d our G-d has not forsaken us, and has extended to us kindness before the kings of Persia, etc." [Ezra 9:9] — as explained in Ezra and Nechemiah — even so, still our eyes hope toward Him, that He redeem us with a complete redemption after which there is no more exile. And so it is for every person and at every time. For even now, at the height of the bitterness of this exile, we see miracles and wondrous kindnesses every day — as we say three times every day: "And for Your miracles that are with us every day, and for Your wonders and goodnesses at every time — evening and morning and noon, etc." [Amidah prayer]. And we must give much thanks to Him, blessed be He, for this — as it is written there: "And all the living shall thank You forever, etc." But we must know that all the salvations come from a very great distance, as above — and we must anticipate each day the further salvation, in the aspect of: "toward Him we bow and give thanks, and toward Him our eyes hope." And this is why they mentioned the disgrace of the earlier ones and said: "Our fathers who were in this place — their backs toward the Sanctuary of G-d and their faces eastward, and they bowed down, etc." — they performed many disgraceful and abominable acts to provoke [G-d], G-d protect us, as our Sages of blessed memory explained there. And seemingly this is wondrous — what had they to mention in the midst of their celebration the greatness of their fathers' disgrace? But all of this was in order to arrive at joy and hischazakus [strengthening oneself] in G-d and His holy Torah. For they mentioned the disgrace of the earlier ones — who fell into such abominations and filth, G-d protect us — and all of it was on account of pride and arrogance of heart, which brings a person to all evils and afflictions, G-d protect us. And from there is the essential source of all the falls — to the point that one can fall very, very deeply, to depart from one's world entirely — like those they mentioned, who performed such acts of folly and abomination that they turned their backs toward the Sanctuary and exposed themselves, etc. — is such a thing heard?! And this one must know: that surely those [earlier ones] were not fools and simpletons — for certainly they were wondrously clever at doing evil. For it is known that earlier generations were wiser. But the entirety of their fall — that they came to such evils — was through pride and arrogance of heart. For they had every good — and the yetzer hara and the heat of the desires intensifies in every generation — until it caused them to fall every single time. And every time they fell, they could not strengthen themselves to draw close to G-d even from such a distant place — for they could not bear the smallness and lowliness in their own eyes. For certainly those who are distant on account of their desires — when they nonetheless wish to burrow their way and draw close to G-d — must at least feel their lowliness and their distance and trust in the very essence of His kindnesses, blessed be He, which renew themselves at every moment — that even they can draw close. But those ones were people of arrogance of spirit and could not humble themselves and diminish themselves so far — until they fell every single time, fall after fall, until the spirit of folly overpowered them, until they fell into such abominable matters. And therefore in their celebration they recalled the opposite of all this and said: "Our fathers, etc." — but we: toward Him, and our eyes toward Him. For all that G-d saves us through His wondrous kindnesses — we know that everything is through wondrous kindness. And we bow and give thanks to Him for this. And still our eyes hope toward Him — that He save us from now on. For we still know our distance from Him, blessed be He. And this is the very essence of our joy — that He saves us from such a distance with such wondrous salvations.

The essential pride and arrogance is in the matter of a person's money and possessions and wealth — as is plainly evident: for the majority lose their world through the desire for money. And primarily — through the arrogance and pride and honor-seeking whereby every person wishes to conduct himself above his station. And the essential blemish of pride is bound up most of all in the garments — because garments at their root are very lofty, in the aspect of: "G-d reigns, He has donned pride" [Psalms 93:1]. And when one blemishes this, G-d forbid, through his sins — and falls into pride and the pursuit of honor of the sitra achra: the desires and vanities of this world — then the essential blemish of pride most often is in the garments. As is plainly evident — how many and many lose their world through their pursuit of garments and ornaments. And as is explained elsewhere on the verse: "And she seized him by his garment" [Genesis 39:12]. And all who blemish in this are in the aspect of the perversion of justice [ivus hamishpot]. For every person, according to his level and his station, must be very careful to apportion his affairs with justice [mishpot] and to conduct himself in his home as is fitting for him — and not to covet and desire what is not appropriate for him. And to look in every matter only at the ultimate purpose: that through it honor will come to G-d — and to nullify his own pride and honor entirely. And all of this is the aspect of: "he apportions his words with justice" [Psalms 112:5]. And whoever blemishes this is in the aspect of the perversion of justice. And the Kohen Godol [High Priest] engaged with his eight garments that he wore — which were very costly — and above all of them the choshen [breastplate] and the eiphod [apron], in which were very precious gemstones. And the Kohen Godol bore all of this upon his heart to repair through this the desires of wealth and riches — where the essential grip of pride resides, whose essential grip is in the garments. And this is the aspect of the choshen hamishpot [breastplate of judgment] that he bore upon his heart — to repair through this the perversion of justice. And even so, even the Kohen Godol — when he entered the innermost chamber [lifnai velifnim] — had to remove his golden garments, and entered only in white garments. This is the aspect of how the Kohen Godol — who wore these costly garments containing gold and gemstones in great holiness, as above — even so, into the innermost chamber, at the place of the ultimate supreme holiness, even he is forbidden to enter wearing them. For there the wealth and the craving for gold and precious gems are entirely nullified — and it is impossible to enter there except in completely white garments, which are the essential ultimate perfection of the supreme repair, in the aspect of: "At all times may your garments be white" [Ecclesiastes 9:8]. And this is an allusion that even the great Tzaddikim — who can serve G-d through gold and gemstones, etc. — even so there is a higher above the high, where it is forbidden to enter in this manner, but only in the aspect of truly white garments. And there is the essential atonement and pardon for all the sins of Israel — to purify them in perfection from the grip of the soiled garments, whose essential intensification is through pride and honor-seeking, as explained in the inner teachings. And it is impossible to explain everything — and one who truly desires life will understand from this much [to inspire him] to nullify his pride and to apportion his words with justice, as above.

The essential good life is humility — and every person, according to how much he merits true lowliness and humility, so he merits to live a truly good life.

The essential distancing from the Tzadik and from the holy Torah is only through pride and arrogance of spirit. And likewise the reverse — the essential receiving of Torah and the drawing of Torah from generation to generation forever is through humility and lowliness — through which one is encompassed in perfection within the aspect of "the place of the world" [mekomo shel olam], etc. — see the inner teachings.

Through knowing one's lowliness in truth and making oneself truly like dust — through this one merits to gaze upon the truth in its truth, and for the light of truth to be revealed to him, until through this he merits to be strengthened with holy desire and will, until through this all obstacles are shattered, and he merits to draw close to holiness and to bring forth all matters of holiness from potential to actuality in perfection.