Parashat Behaalotecha - Why should I be humble? - Rabbi Alon Anava

We're in Parshat Beha'alotcha. And today we want to talk about a concept that is required by all of us to have and to do. And it's not so simple. And this is called midat ha'anavah. The attribute of humbleness. We spoke many, many times about the concept that it's extremely important to follow the Torah and to do mitzvot and to learn Torah. But the main student of the Arizal, Rabbi Chaim Vital, teaches in the book Shaarei Kedushah that the mitzvot are very important, but the main work that I need to do here in this world is called tikkun hamiddot, to work on my character traits, to work on my middot, on my attributes. And today I don't want to talk about tikkun hamiddot, but I want to explain that there are two character traits that all the rest of the character traits are born from these character traits. One is on the positive side, one is on the negative side. On the negative side, the original character trait is the character trait of ga'avah, of pride. From pride, if chas v'shalom a person has a lot of pride, that will start birthing all the rest of the bad character traits. Which the first direct the first generation that pride will birth will be anger and sadness. And then that from anger and sadness it will start birthing more and more and more bad character traits. On the positive side, the highest character trait is midat anavah, the character trait of being humble. If a person is humble, then it will start birthing more character traits that are positive. Now, who do we learn them from the midat anavah? Nobody but the greatest, which is Moshe Rabbeinu. If you notice many of our sages, many of our forefathers, they have a title. Abraham, for example, we call him Abraham Avinu. And then going down in the generations, you have Joseph, Joseph HaTzadik. And many of our heroes, they have a title. David HaMelech. David was always going to go with the Melech. Shmuel HaNavi, Aaron HaKohen. They always attach a title. The title that Moshe got is Rabbeinu, our teacher. And he was known to be the most humble person ever existed. And this is the parashah where it's mentioned. Moshe Rabbeinu does not have any descriptions in the Torah. He's not described as a hero, he's not described as a powerful man, he's not described as a wise man. There's no descriptions on him. The only time that there's a description on Moshe that he says on himself that that he is a stutterer. That's the only description we find on him. And there's one description that is mentioned that ish Mitzri, uh Egyptian man, which our sages learn from that that maybe means that he had a darker complexion. He was a Sephardi. You know, the Sephardis say, "No, he was Sephardi. He was Mitzrayim, from Egypt." But, we don't find any description of Moshe Rabbeinu. Only one description is that he was humble. Now, what do we want to learn from that? What is that going to do with me? Oh, besides that I have to be humble, which that in itself is a 3-month course, how to bring myself to humility that I'm humble and I'm not even 1% compared to Moshe Rabbeinu. What do we want to talk about today is should I know the values of myself? Because every individual has certain character traits and talents that are way above somebody else. One person is going to be extremely talented in the music department, an amazing musician. Another one is an artist. Another one is an amazing cook. Another one is a amazing teacher, educator. Every person has a talent. There's no such a thing that a person does not have a talent. And a character trait that is very, very positive. One person can be extremely smart, but very stingy. Or a person can be very charitable, but gets upset very fast. There's always going to be some negative and some positive. The point is that there's no such a thing that there's a person that doesn't have a talent. Now, when I have a talent or two or three, should I be aware of my my talent and my power? Or should I totally disregard it and and humble myself? Because if I know that I'm amazing in something, that's not going to bring me to be humble. That's just going to bring me to be, "Oh, I'm the best in the nation." So, how does a person need to relate to himself? Do you need to recognize your talents or your positive character traits and be very strong about it and which will cause you to bring you to be pride proud about it or to show off? Or one should say, "No, you know what? I'm amazing chef, but there must be other chefs that are much better than me." So, this is one thing that we want to talk about because the Torah teaches me that I have to be humble. Not only that it teaches me that I have to be humble if I if I'm not humble, meaning if you're looking at the two character traits, the two midot that are dominating in the positive and the negative side, if I am not humble, then what will be the result? That the pride will go up, the geva. That's that's nature. So, if I want the pride to go down, then I need the humbleness to to rise. This is how I balance it. If a person comes to me and tells me I have a problem with anger or I have a problem with sadness, then after a quick analogy of their nutrition and their surrounding, he will go to the question how much geva do you have? If you have a lot of geva, a lot of pride, most likely that's what births your anger or your sadness because if somebody comes and says something to me and I get hurt, means that he stepped on my pride. That's very simple. So, I get hurt and I get angry. And then from anger, it will start birthing more character traits. So, one way of balancing it is working on your humbleness. People that they have a lot of problems with anger, assuming that they're not drinking 17 cups of coffee every day and their diet is extremely unhealthy and they're sitting next to a router that radiates all day long and they annoy them and many other things that will cause them to be angry, then one one one option where they get angry is that the midah of the of the anavah is very little and there's too much pride. So, they get angry very fast. Or sad. So, in order to have a very good balance, you the Torah doesn't only tell me that I have to be humble. It teaches me that the way for me to to work on my midot is nourishing the midah of anavah. So, first we have to understand where where am I holding here? How much anavah should I have when I know I'm very good at something. Should I know should I recognize that I'm good at something or I should be a shmatteh and say, "No, I'm the worst at everything and everybody's better than me." And cuz if I acknowledge the fact that I'm good in something, that will right away start pumping the ego. And what's going to happen? Too much pride. And then the anavah starts diminishing. So, in this parashah we learn about the the character trait of Moshe Rabbeinu that was very very humble. And this is the first time that we get a description about Moshe Rabbeinu. And it says, V'ish Moshe hayah anav mikol. And and this is the first time that we find a a description about Moshe Rabbeinu. Now, in order to kind of understand the concept, then first of all we have to raise a question. We spoke about it a couple times, but how many books are in the Torah? Five, right? Not talking about the Tanakh that are 24. We know five books in the the A few months ago in one of the classes, I told you that there is an opinion that there are seven books in the Torah. And we're missing two Chumashim. Now, if you go to the oral Torah, in the tractate of Shabbat, Maseches Shabbat, Rebbe was the the Tanna, he explains and he says there are seven books in the Torah. We don't have five, we have seven. This is according to the oral Torah. I'm not talking about now the mystical part of the Torah that actually explains that we're missing two Chumashim. And when Mashiach is going to come very soon, we will get another two books. We're missing a lot of information. In in the entire Torah, we're missing a lot of information. Even in the oral Torah, we know we have six tractates of of the Mishnah, not tractates, the Sidrei Mishnah, and really we have 600. So, we're missing 594. Try not not the tractates, the Sidrei. We have only six of them. So, we're missing this is how much from the oral Torah we're missing, and needless to say from the mystical part of the Torah and the written part of the Torah. So, when Mashiach is going to come, we're going to have a lot of time to learn a lot of Torah. But even in the oral Torah, in the Talmud, it says that we have seven books of the Torah. We learn it from a pasuk from the book of Mishlei that it says Chotzva Chotzva Amudeha Shiva. That the Torah is is is carved from seven pillars. But in the tractate of Shabbat, Rebbe explains there that we have four books which are Bereishit, Shemot, Vayikra, and Devarim. These are four books. And the book Bamidbar is really three books. And halfway into the book of Bamidbar, into the middle of the Art Parasha Behaalotcha, that's one book. Then we have parashah that is called Vayina So Aron that we're reading in this parashah. If you notice, if you ever looked in the Torah, the beginning of the parashah and the end of the parashah, I'm not only in the weekly parashah, I'm talking about the chapters in the parashot. That it has two nuns at the letter nun upside down. And that cuts the parashah the the chapter from Vayina So Aron. That's one parashah. This is one book separate from the book of Bamidbar. And then from the verse Kum Hashem Vayafuzu Oyvecha, that starts another part. Therefore, in the book of Bamidbar, we have it's divided into three books. So, this is an opinion by Rebbe in the tractate in the in the tractate Shabbat in the Gemara. This is the oral Torah says that we have seven books. Now, in this parashah, it's kind of dividing the story in half. From the parashah of Bamidbar to our parashah, in the middle of the parashah, what do we read? That they're going into the desert and they're getting ready to go into the land. First, they get divided by tribes. If you remember, we learned in parashat Bamidbar how they got divided in tribes. And not only that they're dividing in tribes, they're getting prepared to enter the land of Israel and they're preparing for war. So, the structure how the tribes were parked, it was the structure how they're going to go entering into the land into war. That's where we explained we had they had flags, they had colors, they were literally preparing to go into the land. Mentally, emotionally, not only that, was a build-up. Was couple parashot of a build-up of excitement. That's it, we got out of Mitzrayim, we got the Torah, now we're going into the land of Israel. Was a, you know, a lot of action. And then at this point Moshe Rabbeinu says goodbye to his father-in-law, Yitro, that makes a U-turn and goes back to Midian. And he says, "That's it. The time has come. We're going into Eretz Yisrael, what was promised to us 400 years ago." And now is the time and there's a lot of excitement. And then in one shot everything changes. A downfall. And starts a chain of events of problems and disasters and another sin and another problem and another sin and another issue. So, we have two and a half parashot of excitement that we're going into the land of Israel. And then within one shot one day, they just moved. One day, they had to move from where they were to the next location. It was a three-day walk. They had what was called a kfitzata derech. Uh Hashem squeezed the land and they would did it in one day. And suddenly everything starts. All the problems start. First, they start complaining that the diet in the desert is not a good diet. They start complaining, "Where's the zucchinis that we had in Mitzrayim? We had kishuim." And the fish, we had free fish. Now, what are you giving us here? Starts all the complaints. After that, they start complaining, "We want meat. It's not good. We want to chew meat." Okay, Hashem gives them meat. Doesn't matter all the meat gets stuck in their teeth, but they're complaining. Then even a bigger disaster. Miriam talks lashon hara about Moshe Rabbeinu. This is unheard of. Talking lashon hara about the leader? And then another disaster. The meraglim, the spies, they go into Israel. They make a U-turn. We don't want to go. Then Korach, a disagreement with Moshe Rabbeinu. One after the other, disasters. In one day, after this unbelievable excitement of going into Israel, everybody's united, everybody's together. We got the Torah, we're real. One second, everything crushes in front of our eyes. And the result from that, of course, Hashem gets upset, and we're punished to be stuck in the desert now for 40 years. And what makes this change? Suddenly, disaster, a crisis. Literally, crisis after one after the other. There's a story that I heard not too long ago. I met a Chabad rabbi who who once had a person in his congregation. And was a very special Jew who used to come and pray and one day he tells the rabbi, "Listen, uh you know, I I have something to tell you which I'm sure you're not going to like, but listen, I was hiding it from you for a long time, but I can't hide it anymore. And in a few months, I'm getting married to to a lady. And the rabbi's like, "Of course, whoa, this is good news." He's like, "Well, not for you because the lady is not Jewish. And I didn't want to tell you that because I knew you were going to try to convince me to separate from her and and I actually want you to come to the wedding. You're my rabbi and I like coming here and and I didn't want to tell you because I thought I don't know what I didn't know what you're going to tell me." Long story short, the rabbi tells him, "Listen, you're right. I am not happy about it. I don't know what to tell you. So, I have a suggestion and I'm not going to tell you anything. In a few weeks, I'm flying to New York because it's the the time where all the Chabad emissaries meet. And I want you to come with me, and I want you to go to the Lubavitcher Rebbe and ask him yourself. Tell him yourself that you're about to marry a non-Jewish girl. He says, "You think I'm going to fly now to New York to talk to your rabbi? That I'm to tell him that I'm marrying a non-Jewish girl? If you're not happy, he's going to be double not happy. Well, what is he going to tell me?" He says, "Listen, what have you got to lose? Listen, go to see what he has to say. Okay, worst case, you had a trip to New York." Sure enough, they fly to New York. The rabbi takes him to meet the Lubavitcher Rebbe on a Sunday. Every Sunday, he would stand out there and give out the dollars and meet people. And when it comes the turn of this individual, he comes to the Lubavitcher Rebbe and he tells him, "I I'm I'm engaged. And I I'm getting married to a non-Jewish woman." He is expecting now to get a hammer in his head. So, the Lubavitcher Rebbe tells him, "I'm jealous of you." Jealous of me? Why are you jealous? The Lubavitcher Rebbe tells him, "Because you were given a ladder by Hashem to climb close to Hashem. Now, what's going to be the result? You choose. You choose whether to climb this ladder and get close to Hashem or not. And I'm jealous of you because I don't have this ladder. I don't have a yetzer hara. I don't have the problem that I need to deal with. I don't have now something that I have to overcome. You have it. Now, what will be your decision? That's your decision. If you choose to climb the ladder that Hashem gave you, you will go closer to Hashem. And if you choose not to climb this ladder, then you're not going to be closer to Hashem like you could have. It's not the answer he was expecting to hear. And sure enough, he went home and after a couple of weeks, he called off the wedding. The point is that the way to get connected to Hashem is through struggles. And a lot of people have a problem with that. This is the Torah? I need to struggle and suffer to get close to Hashem? Yes. Because Hashem wants you to earn it. He doesn't want to give it to you. Before the world was created, it says in the Zohar that the souls were sitting around God and marveling the wisdom and enjoying enjoying getting benefits and enjoying the the wisdom of Hashem. And at some point they felt very uncomfortable and they told Hashem, "Listen, you know, all all all we do is you give us and you give us and you give us. We feel very embarrassed. We want to give something to you." The Zohar calls it bread of shame, Nahama Dikisufa. That they're embar- like a poor person coming to your door and knocking every day and you're giving them something to eat. The souls were embarrassed. They said, "We want to do something. We want to earn what we're getting." So, Hashem says, "No problem. I'll create a world. I'll put you in bodies. I'll give you a list of mitzvahs and you'll earn it." Of course, the souls after 2 minutes says, "No no no no. We were joking. What are you thinking? We're serious." But that was already too late and Hashem created the world. The point is that Hashem says, "I want you to earn the closeness to me. I want you to work hard so you will be the owner of your hard work. Not just to give it to you. It's very easy for a parent to give something to their child and the child will grow up a spoiled child. We have a friend that was born to a very wealthy family and all her life everything everything was given to her. She's now in her 40s, she barely can make she can't function even. She's dependent on her father. And she doesn't she doesn't know how to hold a job. She doesn't know how to do anything. She's so spoiled. She's an amazing woman but so spoiled. Everything was given to her. She doesn't even know how to cope with anything in this world. All day long she's from one psychiatrist to the other from one retreat to another because she doesn't know how to deal with things. A problem comes in her way, she doesn't know how to deal with it. So Hashem says, "I don't want spoiled kids. I want you to earn it. I want you to say, 'I did it.'" Therefore, we have to struggle. Therefore, everything will come with a struggle. Cuz Hashem says, "I want you to overcome this. I want you to battle it. I want it to be bitter and hard and I want you to sweat and then I want you to win and say, 'I did it. I was able to do this by myself. It was hard but I did it.'" And then when you finally happen you said, "I did it." Then will come another struggle and another smack to your face and another one. You move the head this way then a smack will take you that way. But the point is that to get close to Hashem it has to be through struggles. And the point of of break in Hebrew it's called nefilah that I fall. I walk I walk and I walk and I stumble and I fall. And I constantly fall. I I serve Hashem with all my might. And every 2 3 months, sometimes every 2 3 weeks, there will be a fall. I will fall. Meaning that I will do a certain sin that will make me go four steps back. A man will say that's it. I'm going to pray in a minyan now every day. Two, three months he's doing great. Then one time he does something and whoop, back to square one. Doesn't go on prayer anymore. We constantly have these these failing. This one example I'm giving with a man with a minyan, but every person. I know many many people they decide to start praying or to say birkat hamazon or to stop lying or to stop saying lashon hara. It works very well to two, three weeks. Then up, I fall again. Then I have to get up. And the getting up is the hard part. But it's the falling that really exposes my connection to Hashem. If I have no connection to Hashem, the falling has no meaning. The failing. When I recognize that I failed, that actually shows there you have a connection with Hashem. And Hashem is the one who orchestrates the situation that I will come to a point to fail. Because Hashem wants to see how I'm going to get up. He doesn't care how I fail. He says, "Okay, you failed. Nothing happened. Now get up. Let's see how you're getting up. Let's see if you're going to get up, brush off the dirt, and move on." So, our entire existence is from one struggle after another struggle after another struggle. Why? Because this is the ladder that takes me closer to Hashem. So, we understand from that that once we see that the Jews in the desert kept going through another struggle and another problem and another crisis, it's just to teach us, yeah, Hashem says, "Listen, I don't want you to think that you're just getting everything for free." Now, if we're really going one struggle after the other, we're not going to start dissecting all of them, but the first one that they were complaining, they were constantly complaining about the food. They were complaining that they had free fish in Egypt. I don't even know what they're talking about. They were starving there. They were slaves there. They barely had even material to work. Where do you come up with free fish? Fish? So, you know, there's one opinion that says, "You know what? Yes, the Nile there was a very strong current. And every time that the current will come closer to the shore, it will bring all the fish to the to the shore. So, yes, they did have free fish. But anyways, they were complaining about food. We didn't have meat, we didn't have zucchini, kishuin, we didn't have fish. Really what they missed is not the free food. They missed something that is called arayos. Arayos is forbidden relations. Up until the time that Moshe Rabbeinu came, there wasn't any law. You can marry whoever you want, whenever you want, how many you want. You can marry your sister, your cousin, your neighbor, your your anybody. There wasn't any laws. And what caused it is it caused a whole mess when it came to forbidden relations. There wasn't any laws. And they were happy with that. They were happy with the fact that I can do whatever I want. Now, you know, people have different urges. Yeah, but I'm married, she's married, he's married, you know, even though it doesn't stop 90% of the population of the world, if there's a ring on the hand or not. And they they they they join each other in with no connection. But at the time, there wasn't any laws. We didn't have the Torah, we didn't we weren't prohibited in all the forbidden relations. So, they missed that. They missed the fact it's called that Mitzrayim was called ervat ha'aretz. Ervah that a place that is not not modest place and not clean place. Which why was it called Ervat Ha'aretz? Because they were failing in arayot. In Mitzrayim, they were constantly failing in in forbidden relations. A woman and a man would just see each other and yeah, that's it. Let's go. Doesn't matter if you're married, not married, related, not related. Then comes Moshe Rabbeinu and starts telling them, "Listen, you can't do whatever you want. There's rules here. You have to be married. It has to has to be at the right time of the month." And starts giving him the all the rules. That's what they missed. Now, they were embarrassed to tell Moshe Rabbeinu, "Listen, I I I you took my father away." So, they were making it up like as if it was the food. I missed the the zucchinis. I missed the fish. There was free meat. It wasn't free meat. There was free arayot. There were forbidden relations. There wasn't any prohibition there. So, that's what caused the first thing. And this is basically the concept that Hashem took Israel out of Mitzrayim, but they didn't take Mitzrayim out of them. That's the problem that we have up until today. We were taken out of Mitzrayim, but we still Mitzrayim is still in us. And Mitzrayim is not necessarily the country, rather it's the concept that I'm stuck in my limitation. Mitzrayim comes from the word metzav, a limit. And I'm struggling with my limitations. Some people it's very extreme. They're addicted to drugs, alcohol, gambling, or whatever other thing. It's an addiction. This generation is called an addiction. And some people they're stuck in a limitation. It can be something simple that they have to have five pieces of cake every day. I mean, if they don't have the fifth piece of cake then it's not something so bad. But there is depending. They need this cup of coffee. I need this. I And more than that, there's many different things that limits me. That's that you know, today we have a new addiction. It's a phone. If somebody doesn't have their phone next to them for more than 3 seconds, they they lose balance. Oh my gosh, I forgot my phone at home. I'm not going to be able to check my email for the next 3 minutes. So, we are also struggling with this limitation. So, the first problem that they have, they couldn't go out. They went physically out of Mitzrayim, but their mindset was still stuck in Mitzrayim. I want to be free. I want to do whatever I want. Why do I need to be so limited? Then comes a different problem is that at some point, Moshe Rabbeinu he cracked. He was like, you know what? I quit. He comes to Hashem and says, you know what? I don't need to deal with this nation of whining all day long. They're complaining all day long. Nothing that I do is good. I quit. Hashem Moshe Rabbeinu so to say said, listen, that's it. I had enough. I don't want to do it anymore. So, Hashem says, okay, I understand. And I will give you 70 people that will be your your assistants and that will make your job much much easier. So, they take six people out of every tribe forming a group of 70 men. These are called the Shiv'im Z'keinim. And Moshe Rabbeinu gives them some Ruach Hakodesh and they get the power of Nevuah in a very Nevuah of prophecy in a very minor way. But these selected men, they get some type of a Ruach, a spirit from Moshe Rabbeinu that allows them to be in a much higher level. Two of them are going even beyond the the the rest and they become Mamash prophets. This is Eldad and Medad. That it says that they were prophesying in the camp. And now what happens? You have 70 prophets that just got so to say upgraded. They got a a promotion. Moshe Rabbeinu gave them a little bit of ruach hakodesh and they became prophets. Now, as all this scene is happening, two ladies are standing on the side and they're talking. One of them is Miriam and the other one is Tziporah. And Tziporah starts laughing and says, "They think that's to solve the problem? Now, these 70 men are going to have to divorce their wives." Miriam says, "What are you talking about?" So Tziporah says, "Yes, now these men are prophets. Since they're prophets, they're going to have to do separate from their wife." Miriam says, "Are you hinting that you and Moshe are not together?" Tziporah says, "We're divorced." Miriam says, "My brother divorced you and I don't even know about it? Oh, that's very spicy news." Moshe Rabbeinu Rabbeinu was so humble and it's nobody's business what he does. The reality is that Moshe Rabbeinu had to separate from his wife. In order for a prophet to have the power of prophecy, he can't be with his wife. At some point, it says that Moshe Rabbeinu actually gave Tziporah a get. He actually divorced her. In the beginning, he separated from her. Now, what's going to happen? Every time that Hashem wants to talk to him, he's going to have to separate three days, go to the mikveh, get clean. Hashem says, "Listen, I'm talking to you here on demand. You You to be separated from your wife. That's it. And a prophet before he wants to before he can get prophecy has to be 3 days not be with his wife and he has to be clean has to go to the mikveh. So Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu, "Listen, separate from your wife." Then at some point he actually divorced her. Now Miriam says, "Ooh, this is juicy information. I didn't know my brother divorced his wife. And wait a minute, I'm also a prophet and we have another brother, he's also a prophet. So Miriam calls Aaron and Moshe. She doesn't do it quietly. And she now comes and approaches Moshe and tells him, "What? You think you're better than us? That you have to separate from your wife? We're not separated. Aaron is not separated. Why do you have to separate from your wife?" Long story short, Moshe Rabbeinu sits and doesn't say anything. Miriam comes now and so to say attacks him and she puts him on the spot and she's waiting for an answer. And here the Torah says "Ve'ish Moshe haya navi mikol adam." He doesn't answer. He's quiet. He says, "I don't need to give you an answer. I don't need to It's none of It's nobody's business what I do." A person with a little bit of pride will be like, "Woah, let's sit down. Relax. I'm Moshe Rabbeinu. You're not as great as me. Let's take a step back." He's so humble, he He's quiet. Doesn't give an answer even. And the result right away that Miriam gets tzaraat, a severe tzaraat to a point that she can't even go out of the tent. It's so embarrassing that Miriam the prophet is getting tzaraat. To a point that the entire nation has to wait 7 days for her to be clean. And then they understand that that Moshe Rabbeinu is the greatest. Even though Miriam and Aaron were a very high level, but Moshe Rabbeinu would just talk to Hashem freely. And yes, Moshe Rabbeinu was the greatest. Lo kam keMoshe. And even when Messiah is going to come, I know there's disagreements on this opinion, but they say that Messiah is not going to be greater than Moshe Rabbeinu in prophecy. He's going to be greater than Moshe Rabbeinu than everything, but not in prophecy. That's the Lo kam keNavi keMoshe. Like Moshe Rabbeinu in the level of prophecy, there's not going to be like nobody like him. And yes, Moshe Rabbeinu was the greatest. Now, how does Moshe Rabbeinu have to react when he's looking in the mirror? He's looking now in the mirror. Does he have to say, "Ooh, ha. I'm the greatest." What what would it arise arouse in him if he says in the mirror, "I'm the greatest." And he knows he's the greatest. There's no question here that Moshe knew exactly who he is. Moshe Rabbeinu knew, "Yes, I am the greatest of all. I speak to Hashem. I brought the Torah. I went up to the mountain. I went up to Shamayim three times. Who goes up to Shamayim three times and comes back? I went into all into the pine took the Jews out of Mitzrayim. Moshe Rabbeinu knows exactly who it is who he is. Now, the Gemara in Maseches Chullin says there are three people in our history that are humble. And it says Shlosha Anavim Hem. The first one is Avraham Avinu. Avraham Avinu says Va'ani K'afar Va'efer. I am like the ash and the dust of the ground. The next one is David Amelach that says Anokhi I am a worm. I'm not even a human being. And the third one which is divided in two, which is Aaron and Mosha. That they say is what are we? The third one is I told you last week when we learned about the month of Sivan that Mosha and Aaron are considered twins. They're considered like one even though they're not twins. But both Mosha and Aaron said they said on themselves what are we? We don't We're not even something. It says that Abraham and David Amelach were very humble, but they still had some type of an existence. He says I am nothing. I am something. I am nothing. Mosha says I am nothing. I don't even I'm not even existence. This is the level of humbleness that Mosha Rabenu came came to. So A, we want to understand how does Mosha need to look at himself as the greatest of all or he has to look in the mirror and say I'm a shmata. I'm worthless. Everybody's better than me. How does he reach to the level of anava? How can he look in the mirror and say I'm the greatest and still be humble? It's a total contradiction. It doesn't make sense that he will say yes, I know I'm the best, but let me be humble. It's kind of like doesn't even fit. How can I be humble knowing that I'm great at something? If I'm an amazing scholar, I'm an amazing teacher, and I make Whatever it is, and I know it, that by default arouses the pride in me that I'm the best. There's a story that after the destruction of the temple, it was a very hard time in Israel. Everybody lost their fortune. There wasn't any money there. And there's a story that Yohanan ben Zakkai was walking with his students. And as they're walking, they see from far away a woman that is picking up uh the droppings of an animal. Cleaning, that's her job. And they're looking at her and feeling bad, you know, Jewish woman should not be working like that. And then Yohanan looks at her, Yohanan ben Zakkai says, "What? You know who this lady is? Oy, voy, this is the daughter of Nakdimon ben Gurion, the most richest man in the generation. There were three very wealthy people. He was one of them. The other one was Kalba Kalba Savua, the father the father-in-law of Rabbi Akiva, the father of Rachel. It says that Nakdimon ben Gurion was so rich that he could feed the entire city of Jerusalem for 3 years when it was under siege. And that was his daughter. And they couldn't understand how the richest person in the world and Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai said, "I was offici- I officiated the wedding of this woman. You know that her father gave her a donya of a million dinarim? This is like 5 billion dollar inheritance. And now she's picking up the droppings of an animal? When they asked her, "How did you get to this situation? Where is all these millions?" And she said, "My father was not giving enough charity." He was not giving enough charity? The story says that if he would walk on a carpet, he wouldn't walk on it again. They would take the carpet and donate it to somebody poor. That's how rich he was. That's how much charity he gave. He fed thousands of people. She says, "Yes, you're right. He did give a lot of charity, but not in the level what he could have. That's the difference. For a person that doesn't have a lot of money to give X amount of money of his fortune, that's one thing. But a person that is worth billions of dollars and he's only giving a few millions into charity. The millions, wow, it's a lot of money, but it's nothing compared to his ability. Therefore, he lost his fortune cuz he could have given much more than what he had, and he didn't. He gave a lot, but it was nothing compared to his ability. Therefore, he lost his fortune. And that's why his daughter end up being cleaning the the droppings of an animal. And it says that the secrets of anavah is that a person needs to live with the thought that he's not doing enough. If a person constantly says, "I'm not doing enough. I'm not doing enough. I can be better. I can be better." That brings him to be humble. So, this is one opinion, one way to bring yourself to into anavah. And where do we learn it from? We learn it from Igeres haRamban. If you read the Igeres haRamban, which is actually highly recommended to read it at least once a week, it brings you to a point to understand that you how to become humble. This Igeres, this scroll was written by the Ramban to his son because he was, you know, high society. He wanted his son to be humble. And he teaches him how to be humble. So, he has the attitude that you constantly have to feel that everybody's better than you, that you are a nothing, that everything that you do is not enough, and to diminish yourself. There's a story that there was once a big Yeshiva, and the students, the the great students, in order for them not to be developing too much pride, At the end of the day, they would go into a room and start hitting themselves, not physically, but saying, "I am a nothing. I don't know anything. I'm I'm not as great as I think." They would be hard on themselves to kill the ego. And they kept saying, "I'm a nothing. I'm a nothing." One time comes a new student and he sees what's going on and he likes this stick. So, he goes with them to the room and starts saying, "I'm a nothing. I'm a nothing." So, they're telling him, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. So fast you become a nothing?" So, this is one approach how to work on your midat ha'anavah. By constantly saying, you know, "Uh people are better than me. He's better than me. She's better than me. I'm not that great. I'm not 100% honest. I'm not 100% straight." That's one way that you diminish your midat ha'anavah. This is more a a leaning towards the the path that is called Musar. That I have to constantly get pounded on my head, "You're not that great." That will eventually make me a a nothing enough to understand that I have to be humble. But the Baal Shem Tov takes a different approach and he says, "No, there should be a different approach." And to understand this approach, I will share with you a story that is very, very interesting. A few generations ago, there's a very big Hasidus that is called Gur. There are many different Hasiduyots. The ones that are known are of course Breslov, Chabad, Satmar, maybe Sanz, but one of the biggest Hasiduyots is called Gur. And many generations ago, when the first uh the Rebbe of the Hasidus passed on, they needed a processor, somebody who come after. Now, originally, this Rebbe took over the Rebbe from Kotsk, but after that, they needed to find somebody to take over. So, they looked around, and who did they found would be the most suitable one? Was his grandson, who later on became a giant. He's known as the Sfas Emes. And they appointed him to be the Rebbe. Now, this is a 19-year-old boy. Appointing a 19-year-old boy to become the Rebbe of this huge Hasidus? All the older Hasidim didn't like that. One of them came to him and told him, "You going to be our Rebbe now? Who made Who Who made you? Who brought you? Well, how did you come to this level?" So, this was not a simple young man. And again, I told you later on, he was uh known to become a huge tzaddik. He's known as the Sfas Emes. And he told him, "I'm just going to tell you a story." And he says, "There was once a man who wanted to climb the mountain of the Everest, and he was preparing for years, building up his his strength, and working out, and climbing, literally preparing himself for years. And then, once he got to the point that he's prepared, he started climbing, and climbing, and it took him half a year. He would go one place and another, and this, and he worked real hard. Finally, after half a year, with the last breath, he reaches the top of the mountain, puts the last uh uh how do you call it? Like the the peg, pulls himself up, he reaches to the top, he's about to explode out of pride, and he sees a little boy there, just sitting there. He says, "How did you get here? I just worked climbed for half a year. I worked out for 3 years prior than that. I'm I don't even have my my last breath. How did you come here?" So, the boy told him, "I was born here. I didn't have to climb." So, the Sfas Emes told this old Chassid, "I was born here. I didn't have to climb up. Sometimes you are born somewhere. Sometimes you are given this talent. Not sometimes, each and every one of us has a talent. When you get a talent, you don't develop the talent. If you're a musician, you sit next to the piano, you start playing when you're 5 years old. If you are an artist, at 5 years old, you'll start painting. When my little boy, how he paints, this is this is a talent. I I will sit 20 years in an art gallery, I will not be able to paint like that. If you have a voice, you are a singer, you have it from when you're 3 years old, you start singing. We get our talents. I don't have to work for that. I got it. I was born there. Therefore, the the the path that the Baal Shem Tov decides is not to diminish what I am. It's to recognize what are my qualities, and to understand it. Yes, this is my quality, but not to let it take to me to take it me to become pride. To use it. If Hashem gave me a quality, it's to use it. With the story going back to the story of Nakdimon ben Gurion, Hashem gave him wealth. He didn't use it. He didn't use it, so Hashem took it. If Hashem gives me a talent, it's to use it to avoid that Hashem. Not to say, "Oh, I am the best." Take this talent and use it. Do something with it. Don't don't waste it. And the the knowledge, the fact that I I I acknowledge and I know what are my talents, that allows me actually to become humble. Because if I don't use it, then it will make me pride. But if I use it to avoid that Hashem, if I apply it, then that's the way to keep me in, so to say, in a place that it's not going to become too much of a pride. And it all boils down that the Kadosh Baruch Hu says, "There's nothing wrong with pride." You know, when the Torah was given, there's a big question, why was it given on a mountain? So, you know the whole story. We just finished Shavuot, and the story says that all the mountains were fighting. One mountain said, "The Torah should be given on me, because I'm the widest." Another mountain said, "The Torah should be given on me, because I'm the tallest." Every mountain had some type of a argument. And Har Sinai didn't say anything. And Hashem says, "Oh, because he's the smallest and he didn't say anything." And it's the smallest it was the most humble, the Torah will be given on the mountain. So, comes a different question. If the Torah is about humility, and Hashem wanted to be humble, he should have given the mountain the Torah in a valley, not in a mountain. A mountain represents power and strength, and I'm out there, and I'm above the ground. It should be given in a valley. So, the answer is no. Yes, you have to be humble, but it shouldn't take away from your power. You should be around them. This is why it's called Har Sinai, a mountain of you have to be humble. Somebody once told me when I first became religious, he I met this individual in not such a appropriate place. I was in the mikveh. We start talking. And he tells me, "Your name is very, very special because your name is like Har Sinai. Your name is Alon Anava. Alon is an oak oak tree, strong powerful tree. But your last name is Anava, so you are like a Har Sinai. You're powerful, but you're you're humble. Your name is a very special combination." So, the Torah comes and tells me, "There's nothing wrong with knowing who you are. Moshe Rabbenu knew exactly who he is. He didn't think of himself as a shmatte. He looked in the mirror and says, "I know who I am. I know that there's not going to be a greater prophet than me. You have to have some type of a It's called a Hasidic pride. I have to know who I am. I have to know that I'm strong, I'm smart, I'm I'm what I'm talented. But at the same time, I it should not take me to a place that I feel that I'm better than anybody else. And even if I know that I'm better than somebody in something else, but Hashem gave me this quality to serve him. Not to go and brag now, "I'm the best at that." It's to be humble and says, "Yes, Hashem gives me money, so yeah, it gave me money to donate it to to help other people. He gave me wisdom to teach. Don't go and say I'm the smartest. Oh, I know the entire Shas off by heart." So, the one approach of staying humble is saying, "I'm a nothing. Everybody's better than me." Which I'm not Has v'shalom saying that this is the wrong approach. I also read the Iggeret ha-Ramban once a week. This is what that read once a week in Motzei Shabbat. I got it as a present from a friend of mine when I became religious and it stuck with me. And in the Iggeret it says, "Read this Iggeret once a week." It is a powerful approach to know that, yes, I might be good in this department. You, you, you, and all of you are better than me in many other things. So, I'm good at one thing, but I'm not doesn't mean I'm better than you. So, the approach of kind of making myself a nothing is a good approach, but you also have to have the approach of knowing who you are. You have to know your power. And when you know your power, you know how you have to serve Hashem. Cuz Hashem says, "I'm going to give you a certain talent. You have to serve me with that talent. Don't use it for your own good. Don't use it to make your name greater. Don't use it to pump up your ego. Use it to serve me." And that's where I can take my power and make it make myself humble by applying it to Avodat Hashem. There was once a story with the Baal HaTanya that he had a very special Hasid and his name was Pinchas Reizes. He's very famous. He was a very wealthy individual that he got all his money from his mother-in-law. Her he he His name He got his name because of the mother-in-law. His mother-in-law was named Rosa. And she was wealthy and she told him, "If you go to become a Hasid of the Baal HaTanya, here is all my money. Give it to him. Do do charity with it. Support Torah." So, he got the nickname Pinchas Reizes. And one time he made he bought a he built a home and he invited the Baal HaTanya to come and give a bracha and to he made a Chanukat Bayit. He walks in there. He sees a mansion. A palace. Rooms. everything is made of gold, beautiful rugs, unbelievable palace. And he tells him, "This is what happened? This all these hours of learning Torah and Hasidus, this is what happened? This you're bringing me to a palace? You can't live in a four-bedroom apartment? All your Torah, all your learning, the entire approach of the Hasidic philosophy brought you to build a palace? I'm disappointed." So, he wasn't such a simple individual. He tells him, "No. I don't need this palace. But, you know now what happens now that I have this fancy home, all the meetings of the city are done in my home cuz it's the nicest home. Now, you know what it says in the Torah? Ba'al ha'deah, ba'al ha'meah, uba'al ha'deah. The one who has the fortune, the power, he has what to say. Now, I influence everything that happens in the city. I have power now cuz everybody comes to me. They come and sit in this beautiful home, in this little palace, and I say, "I'm the power here. I'm the money. I decide who's going to go where and who's going to do do who's going to do what?" And I'm able to influence the entire city. And I can make and control the decisions. Therefore, I don't need this palace. I'm fine with living in the stables. I'm doing it because it allows me to control and to have power and to use it positive. Some people have power and they use it in a very negative way. I use it in a very positive way. So, then, of course, the Baal Tanya was happy to hear that, but the point, the approach of the Baal Shem Tov is is that you have to know your power. It doesn't mean that that should bring proud pride to you. But, each and every one of has a character trait, a powerful midah, an amazing talent. In the same way that Moshe Rabbeinu would look in the mirror and says, "Yes, I know I'm the best. I know there's no nobody like me." But that means I have to be 100% dedicated to Am Yisrael, and that's what he was. He didn't have a wife. He actually divorced his wife. He was dedicated 24/7 to the to the people. So he took his power, and instead of making him pride, it made him humble saying, "Yes, and what I need to take from that is that I also have a character trait, a talent, something positive that is way beyond anybody else. And I have to A, recognize it in me. And recognize it in me not to make me feel a little bit better than other people, is to serve another person. And the test in the anavah will be if when the person that needs my assistance in that department, if I will assist him, or if I will be like, "Of course, I'm much better than you. No wonder he's coming to me." So the lesson that we're learning here, which is uh one of the most important lessons, is that A, I need to know who I am. I need to know my ma'alot, my virtues, my my my my advantages over other. I need to I need to recognize it. But the fact that Hashem gave it to me, that is what should make me humble. To be like, "Wow, Hashem made me this amazing person. I can be an amazing father, I can be an amazing educator, I can be a unbelievable chef, I can be an amazing singer, whatever it is. What should bring the midat anavah in me that Hashem chose me. I can't believe it. Hashem chose me to be the one who's going to deliver the message through this channel. Doesn't matter how it's done. And that should be the power that allows me to be humble. Because if I'm not humble, then I'm going to lose it. Like this in the rich individual that was very wealthy, he lost it because he didn't utilize his power to the fullest. And Hashem says, "I'm giving you a talent, use it to the fullest." And you find what is great in you. Yes, you're going to have some bad character traits, which you have to refine, but then you also have a few good ones which you have to recognize and then apply it to your avodas Hashem. And that's what we need to take from the teachings of Moshe Rabbeinu and that's why we call him Rabbeinu, our teacher. Because it all boils down to how humble you are by know- knowing your faults. I need to know my faults, yes? I we all have faults, nobody's perfect. One person has faults in that department, that one in this department. I need to recognize my faults, to work on it. And it doesn't mean it's going to work on within a day. Sometimes it can take you 60 years to work on one middah. Person has the problem with anger, it will take him his entire life to work on his anger. The last day of his life, he'll be like, "No, I'm not getting angry. Now I got the point." But I also have to understand I have a very very few talents and character traits and instead of making it me feel too special, no, this is what I have to serve Hashem in. And there are many ways to serve Hashem. I'll tell you one more story. Cuz a lot of people say, "Listen, I I I have talents, but I don't see how to serve Hashem with it." And a few years ago came to me a young lady and she told me, "Listen, I was born religious. I always kept Shabbos. I always ate kosher. I'm always modest. I'm you know how they say, a goody-two-shoes. I'm a good girl, you know, and really my yetzer hara is very small. I pray, I help. I don't feel that I can do anything in avodas Hashem. You know, I feel like I'm a very below average individual. And I don't think that I have any type of special character to do a lot of serving Hashem. And I told her, "Must be that you have something." She's like, "No, I'm average." I told her, "Must be a talent. Must be something that you love doing. What do you love to do?" So, she told me, "I love dancing. But I'm a little bit embarrassed. I will never dance in public. I dance in my room." And I told her, "Do you Do you consider yourself a good dancer?" She was like, "Yeah, I'm a good dancer. I just love dancing." So, I said, "Okay. So, I have an idea for you. You live in a very small neighborhood in Brooklyn where people there are very poor and every average family there has eight kids and up. A Hasidic neighborhood. And there's barely any afternoon activities and the kids are just piled on their on each other in these small apartments. Why don't you take all the little girls and teach them how to dance? Take yourself a small room, a basement or something. Take them by age and teach them how to dance. They need an outlet. It's little kids. It's New York. Six months of the year it's freezing cold. They can't even go out to the street. They're in little apartments. They need an outlet. The mother needs a little bit of quiet. And you're going to give some joy to these little girls. More than that, you can be dressed modest and teach them that they should be modest, too. You'll become their hero. And more than that, you'll teach them that they You can be modest but still dance. There's nothing wrong with dancing. There's nothing wrong with being happy. And you'll plant in them the seed of this power of simcha. And I told them, "You can change these little girls' lives." And that's what she did. And she opened first it started in a little basement. Later on it became a studio. Beginning everything was free. Then she maybe charged a little I think like $3 a kid. Something little. And it end up being such a success. She was like the hero of all these little girls. Dozens of 8-year-old, 6-year-old, 9-year-old she she taught them how to dance. And she let them be free. And little girls they need to be free. They need to jump up and down. They can't be in a box all day long. And she did it in such a special way that she taught them good middos. And even though that you are should be free with yourself but you should be modest. It ends up being an unbelievable success. These little girls looked up to her like a they're they're she was their hero. And I told her now you are a leader of a community of couple dozens or hundreds of little girls that will grow up until the last day of their life they will remember you that you taught them how to dance and how to be happy and how to just throw their hands whatever direction they want. And and at the same time they should be modest and and she applied it. And I said look how you take something so simple and something that you just like. She wasn't a professional dancer. And she made something unbelievable from that that I can guarantee to you that until the last day of these little girls of their life they'll remember this what she did for them. And and from that you can say that any person can take any character trait that they have, any talent. Can be something simple and teach it to another person and that person that's their lifeline. And it can be a child, can be an adult, can be anything. Shem has says I gave you a talent, I gave you knowledge, I gave you a hobby. Everybody has something they love doing. One will be sewing, one will be painting, one will be arts and crafts, one will be gardening. It says you can serve Hashem in many different ways. It doesn't have to be in a yeshiva. It can sometimes take a little child and teach the child something fun that instead of having constantly the burden of school and the parents and Torah and mitzvahs, they need an outlet. A child needs an outlet. Even adults need an outlet. You know, not too long ago we had some event here and I told my wife after it was just for women. I told my wife after, "Nu, how was it?" She was like, "Ah, it I mean, it was nothing special. It was actually kind of boring." And she was like, "But you know what? Even just not being with for a woman, just just not being with her kids for 1 hour, she doesn't care if it's boring. Just give me 1 hour of quiet. I don't care if the event was boring." And she said, "Yes, the event was boring. The person we brought wasn't exciting at all. But the women were just so happy for 1 hour quiet, not to deal with her husband or their kids." So, sometimes you can be the one that initiates this outlet, this channel through that a person, you know, finds a little bit of comfort. And every person has a talent and some type of a knowledge or character trait that can be addressed and applied in the right way to affect another person. And one needs to know their their power. And I need to know, yes, I am very good at that. How am I serving the public and how am I serving Hashem with my talent? And when I do that, that's what actually brings me the real anavah. I don't need to kill myself all day long that I'm a shmata. It is good to constantly hold myself in a position that I'm not that great. But also I should look at it from the other angle by saying where where am I utilizing my strength and my power? And we learn that from Moshe Rabbeinu. And Be'ezrat Hashem each and every one of us can apply this this method that I should be powerful in the same thing same way humble then I can guarantee to you that each and every one of us will climb to a much higher level of connection with Hashem because I will accept that everything that happens from Hashem, the good and the bad, which is in essence to make me humble. When Hashem is putting pressure and correcting me, is to make me understand I have to climb the mountain. Some things I get, some things I have to acquire. It all boils down if a person works on their midda anavah, needless to say that only thing that can birth out of it is happiness and and serenity and good middot and calm and love for other people. And needless to say that if we just add a small percentage of that attitude in our nation and in the entire world, needless to say the world will be a much much better place. We have enough ego in this world. We need to remove a little bit of the ego and if the world will start moving to that direction, we will definitely make space for Mashiach to come because Mashiach cannot and will not tolerate any ego. And now when a person wants to prepare himself for the coming of Mashiach, one of the many things is to start diminishing the ego and the selfness, the this issue cuz Mashiach is not going to be able to to be in the same place when a person has a little bit of a ego. Now Be'ezrat Hashem, we should learn to reach to that level that we we should all be humble and have the midda anavah of Moshe Rabbeinu. And Be'ezrat Hashem, should have a beautiful, successful, restful week. Ah.