Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider: Rav Kook on The Weekly Pirkei Avot Chapter 4 Mishneh 4

[music] [singing] [music] [music and singing] [singing] >> All right, we welcome everyone to to our sheer this evening and uh great to see everyone. Bruchim haba'im. So, the topic for tonight's class tonight's sheer is uh it's entitled Rav Kook, Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook on Pirkei Avot. And uh just to clarify, Rav Kook did not write a commentary, a direct commentary to Pirkei Avot, to the ethics of the fathers, but we do have vast writings of Rav Kook about middot, about mussar, and uh what we're going to do is going to apply we're going to take the teachings of Rav Kook and we're going to see how they uh they become a commentary, they embellish the uh the teachings of Pirkei Avot. So, this is we're in the period right now in the Jewish calendar of the study of Pirkei Avot, and uh there is a tradition, a long-standing tradition, a minhag that from Pesach until Shavuot that people study weekly Pirkei Avot, and there is also the minhag that it continues through the summer as well, all the way through to Rosh Hashanah, and there is a system that the Jewish people as a whole that they follow week by week. Last Shabbos, this past Shabbos was the fourth week of Pirkei Avot. This coming Shabbos is the fifth perek. The next Shabbos will be sixth, and then that brings us to Shavuot, and that is the custom. The six perakim of Pirkei Avot take us from all the Shabbatot, take us from Pesach until Shavuot. And part of the idea behind that is that this period of time of the sphere that we're counting, they were moving from the Exodus of Egypt until the Matan Torah, accepting the Torah, is that we are preparing for Matan Torah. Just as the Jewish people left Egypt, and they were building themselves spiritually for that moment of receiving the Torah at Har Sinai, so too for all of us, this is a period of some would say tikkun hamidot, that we're working on our middot, we're working on our character traits, that we are improving, that we are preparing for the big day, which is just a couple of weeks away, of of Shavuot, of Shavuot, of Matan Torah. Okay. So, what I'd like to highlight is one mishnah in particular. That's what we're going to do tonight, focus on one mishnah, on one teaching. We're going to take it from the fourth chapter of Pirkei Avot. The fourth perek, being that that's the one that we're still on, so to speak, and this coming Shabbat is the fifth perek. It's the fourth perek, and it's the fourth mishnah, 4:4. Um, and this is what the mishnah says. And it's one of what we're going to see in a moment, it's one of, I would say, one of the fundamental and one of the most beautiful ideas regarding middot of a Jew that we have in Judaism. Rabbi Levitas, a rabbi by the name of Rabbi Levitas Ish Yavneh, he was a citizen of and a dweller of the city of Yavneh, omer, "Me'od me'od hevei shafal ruach." A person should be, and again, here the language is very interesting, "Me'od me'od," which means very, very, "shafal ruach." One should be very humble. [snorts] Humility, shafal ruach. "She'tikvat enosh rimah." And he says the following, because the end of man, literally the hope of man, tikvah, hope, the hope of man, the end of man, is Rimah, is worms. Worms and maggots. So, what is the teaching? The teaching of Rabbi Levitas is the importance of humility, of anivut. But he does something which is interesting here, and that is he doesn't just say that one should be an anav, one should be humble. He says you should be me'od. That would be you should be very humble. He doesn't say that. He says you should be very very humble. Because the the end of all men is, after 120 years, that we're going to be placed in the soil, we're going to be placed in the ground along with the worms and the maggots. >> Did he define anivut? He does not define anivut, but I would say the following. He doesn't use the word anivut, which is interesting. The word anav is not in the Mishnah. The word that he uses is shifal ruach. And what is shifal ruach? Shifal means a lowliness of ruach, of spirit. And to me, that sounds like, we'll see in a moment what the Rambam is going to say regarding this Mishnah, that sounds like it's goes even beyond humility, that a lowliness that a person should feel. Shifal ruach, that's the the language. Again, not using the word anav, it doesn't say me'od me'od me'od yet anav. One should be an anav, he says you should be lowly of spirit. Okay. >> mean no energy? No, okay. I don't I don't think it means no energy, but it means as a personality trait, as a character trait, the importance of humility. And we'll see in a moment, let me read the Rambam, what the Rambam is going to say. And the Rambam is going to say that there should not be an ounce of arrogance within the Jewish personality. The Rambam has a commentary, and we were just talking a moment ago about all the great commentaries that are found in Pirkei Avot. One of the classics and certainly one of the most important is the Rambam, the commentary of the Rambam. By the way, ArtScroll just came out in the last year or two, came out with a translation of that commentary for the very first time. I mean, there are other translations, but ArtScroll just recently came out with the Rambam's commentary on Pirkei Avot. And he Here the Rambam says something which is somewhat well-known in the Rambam. One might say one of the famous uh comments of the Rambam. And he has it specifically on this Mishna. This is what the Rambam is going is is going is what the Rambam says. The Rambam says when it comes to middot in general, I don't you may be familiar with this. He says that one should take the middle path. One should take the golden mean. In other words, not too much to the right, not too much to the left, not to the to the extreme. Let's say in the area of charity, of giving tzedakah, being a charitable person. So, you can't give everything away, right? That's extreme. And you shouldn't be too stingy either. He says, "It's good, middle path." And that's the Rambam. The Rambam says when it comes to middot, a healthy way of thinking about middot and a healthy path in life is never to be into the extreme. >> But the term in Hebrew even enhances middle path. Shvil Hazahav. >> Beautiful, beautiful. Shvil Hazahav, exactly. So, that's the famous line of the Rambam. And then the Rambam says the following. He says that's true of all middot except for He says, "I have an exception to that rule." He says, and I'll just read to you the Hebrew. Uh here hikumi menu ad katz acharon vihitu el shiflut haruach ligamre. He says when it comes to this middah that one should go to the extreme. You should go to the extreme when it comes to humility. One should be And what does the Mishnah say? And how does he know that? He's actually taking it from the teaching of this Mishnah. Have they ma'od ma'od have they shiflut ruach. You need to go ma'od ma'od very very to the extreme that you should be Just saying I'm a gournish. I'm a gournish. Okay, good. All right, good. Okay, good. So that that that's that that's that's where the shear is going to go and I think it's I mean that we that we all recognize and I think the Rambam recognizes it recognizes that as well. When we talk about humility and we're talking about like uprooting or erasing any arrogance that we have, arrogance in the sense of that negative arrogance, ego that's that's that's inappropriate, you know, ego. Kedusha lo yash iru beneffesh, says the Rambam. The Rambam says that there shouldn't be left within the neffesh, the soul of a person, roshem ligah of a cloud. There shouldn't be an imprint, anything left of gaiva within a person, beshum panim. So that arrogance and again we're talking about an unhealthy kind of arrogance, right? Arrogance, a gaiva, there shouldn't be no gaiva. You need to uproot, you need to erase any gaiva that that one has. Okay, so that is the that's the Rambam that's the Mishnah by the way. Actually that's and maybe the hilish of the Mishnah, the novelty of the Mishnah, so the rabbi doesn't just say we should all be humble, but the rabbi says ma'od ma'od it's something that we need to go to the extreme and that's the way the Rambam interprets the Mishnah. Now fame what where do we famously have a description of an individual who is called an anav and we go back to the Torah itself and that's where it all starts, right? Who is the personality of anivut? Moshe Rabbenu. Beautiful. That's Moshe Rabbenu, the famous verse and I have it in front of me, Sefer Bamidbar Parshas Balak chapter 12 verse 3 and God says this, and this the Rambam actually in his commentary um on this mission he goes on to say, "Isn't it striking that when God is speaking about Moshe Rabbeinu and all of the contributions that Moshe Rabbeinu makes in Jewish life and to learning and Moshe Rabbeinu that Hashem points out that he highlights this aspect of Moshe Rabbeinu's character that he is an um Let me just read to you the pasuk that we are somewhat familiar with but quite amazing pasuk. Vayish Moshe anav me'od. Interesting by the way, there's that word me'od. >> Got twice. Right. It does again, right. Good point. Vayish Moshe, yeah, good point. Vayish Moshe anav me'od mikol ha'adam. He is the most humble of all people asher al pnei ha'adamah. Of all people that have walked the face of this earth. That is Hashem's honorific. That's the way that Hashem describes Moshe Rabbeinu. Now by the way, and I think here there's a very important point. In what context does Hashem say this? In what context is Hashem giving this giving this honor to Moshe Rabbeinu? It's within the pasuk in the Torah. Ah, so it's it So in this context it's the following. It's where Miriam and Aaron where they speak negatively about Moshe Rabbeinu. There is it's it's the episode and this is in Sefer Bamidbar where chapter 12 Sefer Bamidbar not the end of the Torah. It's going to come again at the end of the Torah, but in this context it's brother and sister Aaron and Miriam who have negative words that they are critic >> word anav there there. Yes. Yes, I'm reading Yeah, I'm reading the verse I'm reading the pasuk to you. This is perek yud bet pasuk gimmel. This is within the story of And I'll read you the verse. Vatidaber Miriam Aaron uMoshe. and Miriam and Aaron spoke negatively about Moshe. "Al odot isha Kushit" the what had happened with his his wife. "Asher lakach isha Kushit lakach" Again, a whole discussion of exactly what they say. The Rashi says the fact that he has separated from his wife and they're critical of him for separating from his wife. "Vayomru diber Hashem alo gam banu diber vayishma Hashem" And they say, "God doesn't only speak to Moshe. He speaks to us. Why is he acting behaving differently? And why does he need to separate? We haven't separated from our spouses." Who does he think he is? Who does he think he is? No, that's what Miriam >> So this is So look at what happens here. God steps in and says and Moshe is the most humble. Now, what is God saying? What and why here in particular? And I think one of the lessons here, and the Meforshim say this as well, is that Moshe Rabbeinu is being criticized. There's like an altercation that's happening between himself and his siblings and he and he doesn't take it personally. In other words, and that That's one of the great tests for all of us. You know, when you when there's a little bit of of infighting or you disagree with somebody or somebody has said something that's not so pleasant and not appropriate, so what is your response to that? And a humble person, and that's that's one way certainly one way of reading this the story or what God is saying, is look at Moshe Rabbeinu. He hears what you're saying. He knows what you've said about him. You've said something that really is out of line. And yet Moshe Rabbeinu is able just to to brush it off. He's able to step away and he and he's not going to hold a grudge. And that's humil- That's part of what it means to be humble. Right? To be humble is even where there is, you know, that altercation and somebody has crossed the line, that you're able because of your humility that you're not to uh you know not to not to hold a grudge. And and to be forgiving of others. So I want to just share with you one insight of of the Amek Davar the Netziv. So the Netziv says the following and this this is going to and the point that you made before in terms of the distinction between humility but humility does not mean that you are Did you use the word shmata? Or gornisht? Okay. I knew there was a I knew there was a Yiddish word there. >> [laughter] >> So not it doesn't mean that you are a gornisht and it doesn't mean that you are you think of yourself as a shmata for people to walk all over you. So this is the point that the Netziv makes and we're going to it'll bring us into Rav Kook's Rav Kook's beautiful teaching. Um so the Amek Davar Who is the Amek Davar? He is the Netziv of Volozhin. The Netziv is Rav Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin one of the great rabbanim he was the rosh yeshiva of Volozhin and one of the reasons why I bring his commentary is because he was a rebbe he was a rabbi in the Volozhin Yeshiva when Rav Kook studied in the Volozhin Yeshiva. And actually the commentary Amek Davar which is one of the classic commentaries in the Torah these were classes these were shiurim that he gave that the Netziv gave in the Yeshiva which was rare for rosh yeshiva to give classes in Chumash. He gave class I believe it was on Friday weekly that he gave these classes and then he wrote it up and became one of the great commentaries and imagine Rav Kook certainly studied with the Netziv and and sat in these classes and very much took in the teachings of of his rebbe. So here Why aren't other rosh yeshivas emulating its model? Okay. And giving shiurim? Okay. >> [laughter] >> We'll get We'll get to We'll get Okay, yeah not for now but we'll we'll talk about it later. Um so this is what the this is what the Davar writes. This is what the writes. He says, "What does it mean when God speaks of as an off?" And I'll just read to you a few lines and just two or three lines from the writing. What is the idea of being in an off? How do we define an off? Who says this? >> [snorts] >> He's not concerned with his vote. That's what it means to be humble. And is the the when other people are critical and they're saying things that are inappropriate, what it means to be humble is that you can step away from that, that you're not affected by that. That's part of what it means to be a humble person. To be a humble person, you can hear the negativity, you can hear others saying things that are inappropriate and and you're above that. One, you're above it and your humility because of your humility, so you're able to you're you're able not to not to be affected by that. But here's the key line. The low show who that and it's not when we speak about humility, it doesn't mean that you yourself are actually that word that's used in the mission. Right, not that you think of yourself as a or as a What's the other word they use? Or is garnish good? Right, it's not that you think of yourself as nothing. You know that you have talent, right? You know that you are a person of of accomplishment and worth. Thank you. Right, that you know. That's humility doesn't mean that you're not aware of that. And you must be aware of that. But humility means that where others are critical of you, that you're able to forgive. Right, that you're able to step away as does. Because could have held a grudge. He could have been angry with his with his brother and his sister. How could you say this? I'm not speaking to you again. Don't call me. Don't You're You're fired. Don't call me again. We're not We're not getting together for dinner as a family any longer. I don't want you at my funeral. I'm writing you all you know out of my will. Right. So, all of that. And it takes [clears throat] humility. By the way, it takes tremendous humility to do that if we think about, you know, our lives and our relationships and maybe what people have said to us or altercations we have with people and we kind of hold that grudge. But humility, part of what it means to be humble is that. But here's the key line or one of the key lines or in this piece is the Netziv says it does not mean that you yourself are not aware of your greatness. Right? Of your honor, of your accomplishments. Okay. And then the Netziv quotes the following Gemara. There's a Gemara that's found in Sota Mem Tes Amud Aleph. And it goes through a whole list of rabbis. It says when this rabbi passed away till like Rabbi Akiva when he passed away, the great talmid There was another There was not another talmid chacham like Rabbi Akiva. It goes through the list of rabbis. When they passed away, there was nobody that that, you know, held a candle to that rabbi. So, here the Gemara says the following, Mishum Meis Rebbi, when Rabbi Yehuda Nasi passed away, Anavah, humility, V'Yiras Cheit, and fear of sin um was batel. There was no In other words, there was nobody who was as great in that area of of being anav. Here's the word anav of humble. As Rebbi? As Rebbi. When he passed away, like there was no longer humility in the world. He was the ultimate in humility. That's what the Gemara says. And listen to the line. So, Amar Lei Reb Yosef, Reb Yosef stepped up. He was in the Beis Medrash and he said, Lo Titnei Anavah. You should not say that Anavah was lost. You should not That should not be the teaching. Why? De'ika Anah. Because I I here and I have that humility. I'm a person as great as Rebbe was in humility. Who said this? This is what Rav Yossi says. Now, this is quite a an astounding line of the Gemara. Some say this is one of the humorous lines in the Gemara. There's some humor in the Gemara. There is Here they got up and said there's nobody who had anavah, there's nobody after Rebbe that has anavah, that has humility of Rebbe. And he got up and said, "No, I am as humble as as Rebbe as as Rebbe was." So, the question is how to understand and the Netziv says what he means by this is that humility does not mean that you do not recognize your talents and your abilities and your greatness. So, he could say that. He could get up and say I have humility. [snorts] He is humble where it is appropriate to be humble. And he can also get up and say that I that I have greatness, right? That I also have accomplished I've accomplished a tremendous amount in the area of humility. So, that that that's the that's this this the the balance. The balance between being a humble person where one needs to be humble, but at the same time to be able to at the same time to recognize one's one's greatness, one's abilities and the gifts that one has. Okay. So, I want to share the following story, which is uh one of my one of my favorites about Rav Kook. And now we move into Now we move into the teachings of Rav Kook. We said this is a class on Rav Kook and Pirkei Avot. So, we're about to We're going to move into the uh the teachings of Rav Kook. So, by the way, one of the challenges in the in the life of Rav Kook is that he had many here in Yerushalayim. He lived here in Yerushalayim. First lived in Yafo, then he comes to be the chief rabbi of Yerushalayim, becomes the chief rabbi of of uh of the Jewish people in Palestine. He dies in 1935. >> [snorts] >> So, he had many people that were, uh, not on the same team. Many people had disagreed with many of his philosophical ideas and his writings. One of the one of the areas that they disagreed, they they they thought that he was too open, that he was too loving to the halutzim, to the pioneers. That these were people that were mehalel Shabbat, people that weren't keeping kosher, many that were rejecting the belief in God. And how could he talk about them, and he wrote about them as being holy in one of his writings in the Orot, he says they have a certain holiness that's even greater than the talmidei hakhamim. And people were just like, that's you're going you're going, you know, you're you're going way you're going yeah, you're you're going too far with that. So, there was a lot of and there was some strong opposition, strong opposition to Rav Kook. And, um, so in one of the stories, and I'll just read it to you, I'll read I'll read it from the This is from what's called, um, uh, a sefer called Ma'aseh Shehayah. The stories stories of Rav Kook. Pa'am achat katvu kama azai panim Yerushalayim kruz giduf >> [snorts] >> neged Maran HaRav Zatzal. So, there was a time um, one particular occasion that they put up what's called a pashkvilin. Does anybody know that term? Those nice Good, good. These are good. These are the signs that are put up in the religious community and still true today, over 100 years later. If you go to Mea Shearim in Geula, you'll see the often it's the white and black black and white signs. Sometimes they they are announcing funerals and sometimes they're announcing that certain people should be put in cherem, that certain people that they've gone too far and these are people that should no longer be respected, they should be ostracized from the community. And this is what you had in his day, that signs went up saying that Rav Kook should be ostracized from the community, should be put in cherem. And in one sign in particular, there was language that was used which was considered really to be one of the harshest things that could be said. And it said about a megadef, like somebody like a a rebel towards the Torah. And they used a language that says, and this is from the Gemara, it says "Afra le pume." Which means his his his mouth, pume, should be filled with afra, should be filled with with dirt. That is what he's saying, it's like putting like soap in your mouth, like that idea. He's saying things that are just beyond, you know, what should be said. You should fill his mouth with dirt. Do we have the actual history of this? I don't know if we have the actual sign. I'm not sure. So, so they came to Rav Kook and and his students said, "Okay, we're ready to go to war you know, against this group." And that these people these people should be, you know, kind of put in cherem. So, Rav Kook said the following. He said, "Don't do anything. Don't respond." And he said the following line. He said, "They're talking about putting dirt in my mouth." He said, "How wonderful it would be to have the dirt of Eretz Yisrael, the holy soil of Eretz Yisrael, fill my mouth. That would be the the greatest gift to if I could have the the the dirt of Eretz Yisrael in my mouth." So, it's just a beautiful beautiful way to respond. But you see that's part of the humility of Kook where everybody, you know, is ready they were ready and his students were ready to defend him. And he just stepped away and said that this is, you know, I I prefer not. And that's that's part of the humility. Going back to the story of Moshe Rabbeinu, right? Hearing others that are critical. And again, a beautiful lesson for for life. Okay, so here I want to share with you Rav Kook one line in particular from Rav Kook where he speaks about anavah. So, we have a beautiful work of Rav Kook. It's called Midot HaRaya. We were talking about before midot, midot, character traits. And Rav Kook has a book. It's a compilation of 18 different character traits and he goes through in alphabetical order from aleph to tav. Again, not every letter but cuz there only he has only 18 entries. But on every topic he has a few entries. On anavah. Anavah, what does he say? This is the first entry that he has about anavah, what to think about when you think about anavah. He says and I'll read to you with just a few words in Hebrew. Hinani or hinani or hinani who lashon anavah uzrizut. When a person says hinani hinani is a language of anavah, it's humility and zrizut. Zrizut means that I'm ready to take action. I'm ready to respond. Kihana nav, the person who is humble who zariz. The person who is humble is also a person who's ready to respond, to be responsive. So that's an interesting idea. So by the way, where do we have the word hinani? Famously we have the word hinani, that's what Yeah, please. Abraham. Beautiful. Abraham in the Akedah, he says hinani and I'll read it to you. Vayomer elav Abraham and God spoke to Abraham vayomer hinani. He was ready um to fulfill the word of God. And by the way, Rashi says kochi aniyatum shel Hashem. This is the way that a Hasid is the way a saintly person responds to God. It's And this this is the language of Rashi. It's a lashon anavah. The word hinani means I am here. Anavah, humility. In other words, whatever it is that you're going to ask of me, I'm ready I'm ready to respond to that, whatever that might be. And by the way, that requires anivut. Humility. It's not about myself. I'm willing to surrender my will to a greater will, to the will of God. That's that's humility. Who lashon zimun and Rashi says it's also means that I am I'm ready to respond. I'm ready to take action, whatever it is. So, it's interesting, humility doesn't quash, right? It doesn't diminish energy. In other words, you would think humble means shmata or it means cornish. So, it doesn't mean that. Humility means I'm willing to put aside, you know, my ego, right? My whatever it is that that's the and full very good and full speed ahead. So, humility actually energizes. It It It It It removes the selfishness, the ego, and to respond to to to a greater calling. I think about that, people that have made aliyah to Israel. Does that require humility? I think it does. In other words, leaving my friends, leaving my family, leaving my profession, right? Leaving that's humility. I know I'm going to come here, nobody I was a rabbi of a shul, you know, I had people that knew me and looked up to me. I'm get That's That requires humility, right? To give that up. But, that humility is also zerus, like full speed ahead. In other words, I'm I'm here because I I'm here and I'm going to move to Israel because I believe that this is the will of God. I believe this is where I need to be. I need I And this is And I want to be part of a people. I want to be part of this sacred time in Jewish history. And to to to be a part of that. So, it's humility that doesn't diminish energy, but energizes. That's And that's what Rav Kook says. Anavah hineni is lashon anavah in zrizut. It's humility that doesn't take away that doesn't make you the shmata, doesn't make you a cornish, does just the opposite, that energizes a person. Interesting combination. Now, there's another hineni in the Torah, which I would say is less known, less known to myself as well, and I'll read to you the pasuk. Vayomer Yisrael el Yosef. And Yisrael, meaning Yakov, said to his son Yosef, "Halo achecha ro'im b'Shchem." Your brothers went and they are shepherding in Shchem. Lecha, I want you to go. Shlacha aleichem, I want you to go and meet them. Vayomer lo, and Yosef said, "Hineni." Wow. And Yosef said, "Here I am." I'm here. Now, Rashi on the word Hineni, lashon anavah, here Rashi says the same thing again. It's lashon anavah, uzrizut. And that's exactly what Rav Kook is actually quoting from this Rashi. It means and Yosef in this case, again, he knew this was going there was going to be an altercation. He knew this was not going to be a simple thing to do. He knew to meet his brothers at this point. Obviously, he was aware that this was a very tense time. But if my father is asking me to do this, I'm willing to put aside whatever, you know, my personal agenda and and and my concerns for the sake of my father, for the sake of Yisrael, for the sake of the Jewish people. Interesting that the word Yisrael is mentioned here. It doesn't say Yakov. For the sake of the future of Am Yisrael, of the tribes together, I'm willing to do this. So, that takes anivut. That's what Rashi says. The word Hineni, by the way, what does the word Hineni mean? How do we break down the word Hineni? It's hinei ani ani. Now, what's interesting is I saw this in the commentaries, the word ani is not actually there. Right? You drop the It's there, but without the full ani. And that's what's necessary in Hineni, that you're putting the I, you're putting the ego aside, and you're saying, "I am here and I'm ready to do that what is needed." That's great. >> Yes. >> So, where's the anavah? Where's the humility when Yosef tells them the dreams? How is he expressing I'm I'm going with you on this, or Rav Kook, how is he expressing this form of humility, which the brothers cannot recognize? What's his [snorts] What's the anivut? Are you asking where where was the any good of Joseph? I mean why wasn't it there? >> He was insane those dreams. >> Right. So maybe that what maybe maybe I don't well that I would say that's the that's the um that's the side of any good or I don't know if first of all you could argue maybe there wasn't any good maybe need you could argue that maybe the dreams needed to be revealed or to be shared in a way that that it didn't feel that he was building himself up and the brothers were concerned about that. In other words that they were not sensing any good. So that that I think that's a that's a different discussion. It's a good it's a good question. Um but that's and you could argue that that's Joseph recognizing his abilities and recognizing his leadership abilities and and his potential and there's a place for that as well. Yeah. >> But here in this case he knew he was going to get into a confrontation. >> there was going to get into a confrontation. >> were going to kill him. They knew that there was a and exactly by the way that's why the word hinani cuz he knows this is a very dangerous moment for him. >> Total obedience and and total obedience that's right total putting aside his ego his you know what is best for him >> Maybe he trusts his father. No maybe he >> He is trusting his is exactly it's exactly what he's doing. He's saying hinani to his father. He is trusting his father. He's being there's key would have a moment at this moment. If this is what father is asking of me for his sake and I would add also that the possible doesn't say Jacob it says Israel that he also sees this as something necessary for Israel for the Jewish people for for the tribes for the future of trying to create a unity even though he knows it's going to be dangerous but he's putting aside his again going back to the the plan we can maybe all relate to right putting aside here you're moving to Israel you're making aliyah for the sake of the Jewish people for the sake of the nation for the sake of the future of Am Israel you put that you put aside your needs, your wants, right? What may be best for yourself. That's hinayni, right? I'm putting it that's humility and I'm acting upon it. So, it's not a humility and again, I think this is and this is what Rav Kook is was is suggesting, a very beautiful idea. It's not a humility that quashes energy or quashes mission. It's humility that actually that actually directs you, that energizes you to fulfill a bigger mission because you see yourself not just as, you know, your um your concerns and what's best for yourself personally, but seeing a bigger picture, seeing God, seeing Am Yisrael, seeing the nation, seeing history. So, when you live like that, so that's and that takes that takes humility to see that bigger picture. I think that's the that's the way that I understand uh Rav Kook's chiddush. I'll add just a couple of other couple of other ideas and we'll uh we'll come to a close. So, there is a very special rabbi in Israel today. His name is Rabbi Doron Perez. He's the head of World Mizrachi. He lost a son, a son who was killed uh Octo- on October 7th. And um there's a piece that he writes. He says one of the things that he was drawn to the writings of Rav Kook was something that he took note of. And I'll just read to you, it's one line here. This is Rabbi Doron Perez says, "One of the many things that attracted me to the personality and writings of Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, the founding Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel, was the way in which he signed many of his letters. And we that we do have. You can see his letters. In almost all of his letters, after his name, he signs his name and then it says the following. He writes right below his name. He says, "Eved l'Am Kadosh al Admat Kodesh." Rav Kook writes, "I am a servant to the holy people in the holy land." An eved, I am a servant to the holy people in the holy land. And that's just a beautiful, you know, just >> That's his signature. >> That's his signature. That's his line right after his name on just about every letter. Eved, I'm here to serve. I'm here to serve the Jewish people. I'm here to serve the Jewish people in the land of Israel. That's that's humility. Could have written chief rabbi. Right, right, right, right. You could have said chief rabbi, correct. >> Minister to administer. Is that that's right, beautiful. And to say eved, right, to see yourself Same thing too, Rabbi Boson? And administer to administer. As opposed to what? That's what he wrote. I'm here to serve. I'm here to serve. Eved am kadosh. It's like a title of belief, you know. Uh chief rabbi. I don't know, this is more humble. Exactly. Right. Okay. So, one of I wanted to share one I guess one pra- one interesting, maybe we could even say practical way of thinking about this idea of humility, again the balance of humility, the appropriate and the importance of humility, the beauty of being a humble person, and also recognition of of talents, recognition of uh of the honor of godliness that's found within a person. So, Rav Kook has a very interesting This is in in his Ein Ayah, his commentary on the Gemara in Brakhos, and he talks about the um the way that we bow in the Amidah. So, just reading the line in the Gemara, the Gemara in Brakhos says Kishihu Koreh, this is something that we're all familiar with. Kishihu Koreh, Koreh be Baruch. When we bow, we bow with the word Baruch. Ukishihu Zokef, and when we stand up, Zokef be Shem, that we stand straight when we say the name of God, Shenemar Hashem Zokef Kifufim. So, let me just explain this. I mean, this is a basic thing that we that we do every day as we davven. So, when we say the Amidah, so, how do we bow? We bow when we say the word Baruch, we bend our knees. We bend our knees with the word baruch, and then with the word atah, we then bend over. But when we say the name of God, we are to stand straight. In other words, we do not say the name of God in a bowed position. So, Rav Kook comments on that and says a very beautiful idea. He says the bowing as we begin the Amidah, in the places that we bow, so that is a posture of humility. We're standing before God. And it's a moment that we >> [clears throat] >> we express the humility that we are to have. But very interesting, but we stand, right, when we say the name of God. Now, why not bend? We should be in in in, you know, that right, in that mode while we're saying the name of God as well. Rav Kook says when we say the name of God, that's a moment that we recognize the godliness within us. So, here we see that balance, right, the balance of humility. Yes, the beauty of humility to recognize how little we are, shiflut ruach to use that term, right, as we begin the Amidah, as we're standing in the presence of God, the moment of shiflut ruach that we should feel that, we should experience that, right, the the faults that we have, the the how little we are in comparison to the greatness of God. But as we say the name of God, and it's very important that we're standing straight at that point when we say we say baruch atah, but we're saying the name of Hashem, God's name, standing straight. That's a moment Again, that's now the other side of humility. That's the There's anivut, and then there's risut. Right, there's the zimun that we the greatness within us. And what's a microsecond between atah There is a right. Right. Right, right. Nice. Very nice. And it's a pairing of the two. It's the pairing of the two. And that balance beautiful balance of living with humility, how we act in a humble way, we're forgiving of others, people we have you know, it happens to us throughout the day or somebody's honking at us, you know, and on the road or whatever may be in the office that that we that we're forgiving the humility to forgive others and to be understanding that requires humility. But then also that that that sense of the greatness that we have that God has given us the neshama, the talents that we have, the contributions that we can make, the great potential that we have because we are created in the image of God. Okay. So, I want to share just to close two things, two things that I came across and um one of them is from the uh the great Rabbi Joseph Dov Halevi Soloveitchik, Rabbi Soloveitchik zatzal. And he one of his classic works, he actually didn't write that much in his lifetime. There's this famous idea in the Brisque tradition that we don't they don't put that much into writing. That's like a tradition in Brisque cuz they always feel that there's, you know, always it's kind of from a humble point of view that one can always improve on it and uh so you never really put anything in writing. It's there's never really perfection and it's kind of also this theme of of humility. But so he wrote a work called Halakhic Man. Not sure if that's He wrote in Hebrew actually Ish Ha-Halakha. It was translated, I believe, like around 1980 or so and it became one of the classic uh one of the classic works and writings of It's It's like a long essay or you could call it a small book, 137 pages and it's it's Rabbi's Rabbi Soloveitchik's philosophy on what it means to be a Jew, what it means to be a Jew in the modern world, what it means to be a a Halakhic Jew. It's a uh it's a complex work, not easy. Certain parts are a little bit easier and uh certain parts are are uh that you need, you know, you need a background in philosophy and he's quoting from secular philosophers as well. It's quite an astounding work. People have studied it. When it first came out in English, Time magazine, remember Time magazine? Still around? Not sure if it's still around today. >> The Look magazine is gone. >> Right, right. The famous, right. This is >> It predicted Very good. Very nice, very nice. Right, that's a famous story about Look. Yeah. So, but they're gone and we're still here. Uh but Time magazine, so they did a review and they said people will be reading Halakhic Man in 100 years from now, they'll still be reading this work of Rabbi Soloveitchik. So, I'm actually preparing a class. You're invited back to YU on the night of Shavuot, and I'm going to talk about Halakhic Man. Actually, I'm going to highlight, he has about 10 stories. Rabbi Soloveitchik tells about 10. He's not really a storyteller. He's uh he's a genius and a philosopher and a great Talmudist. But within Halakhic Man, he has about 10 stories. I want to share those stories and what they mean and what Rabbi Soloveitchik wants to express in the stories. Okay, so I I started preparing a little bit. And what do you do when you're reading a book? So, you want to you want to get to the very end, right? What How does it end? You know, you want to you go to the last page. Not really supposed to do that, right? But you cheat a little bit and you want to see how it ends. >> Everybody does Everybody does it. So, I I'm I'm guilty of it as well. So, I went to the very last page. I read the book. I read it and I never took note of the very last paragraph, the way that Rabbi Soloveitchik ends Halakhic Man. I don't know, I just never never took note of it. Okay. So, this is the way that Rabbi Soloveitchik ends his masterpiece, Halakhic Man. He says, "These are but some of the traits of Halakhic Man. What I've shared in the 130 pages is just a bit about it. Much more than I've written here is imprinted in his consciousness." And here, listen to the following. "This essay is but a patchwork of scattered reflections, a haphazard collection of fragmentary fragmentary observations, an incomplete sketch of but a few of Halakhic Man's features. It is devoid of scientific precision, of substantive stylistic clarity. Indeed, it is an indifferent piece of work. I didn't know what that meant. It's an indifferent piece of work. I looked up the word indifferent. So, we think of indifferent a certain way. >> You don't care. No. Oh, so so right, doesn't care. But, that didn't really fit in. That's why I didn't really understand what that means. Indifferent also means mediocre or average. >> Mhm. Rabbi Soloveitchik at the end of this work, the very last paragraph says, "What I've just written is a mediocre book." Mhm. Could you imagine? I've compiled two or three books. I never in my wildest dreams would think to write at the very end of the book, "What I just wrote is okay. It's not that good." Like would would anybody ever write that? No. And would Rabbi Look at Rabbi Soloveitchik, the genius. Rabbi Soloveitchik, the greatest Talmudist, the Godol one of the Gedolei Hador. Why did he write Why did he write this? Something. Humility. Anivut. This is a This is This is This is a master class in anivut, reading this paragraph. This is a genius who is Every word of it is perfection, and he writes at the end that these are just some scattered ideas, and I've written a an average an average book. How does he write it? Because he is an anav, anav mikol adam. He's like a Moshe Rabbenu. He could write this and write at the end that this is the best that I could do. I mean, who who who finishes a book and says, "What I've just read What I've just written is okay." Rabbi Soloveitchik [snorts] did. And then he writes the following, "But, it is revealed and known before Him who created the world that my sole intention was to defend the honor of the Halakha and Halakha man, for both it and they have oftentimes been attacked by those who have not penetrated into the essence of Halakha and have failed to understand the Halachic personality. He said I I've done the best that I that I could here and then he ends this the last line of Halachic man and if I have erred may God in his goodness forgive me. Also just just unbelievable humility. If I've erred, the mistakes that I made in this book, Hashem please forgive me for them. I I I was I I never noticed this before. Rabbi Soloveitchik by the way was known for his humility. And here you see that the way it's end the book in that way. So that's I just thought that was beautiful. Let me end with uh let me end right now with with one story and I'm going to read the story to you. It's a story about one of the special personalities in the life of Rav Kook and that was the Chofetz Chaim. A lot of people don't know this but they had a relationship with one another. They both were Kohanim. They both the Chofetz Chaim and Rav Kook were Kohanim and they both felt that we were that we are moving closer and closer to a Messianic time in the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash. And the Chofetz Chaim wanted to create a Kolel, a group of students who would just be Kohanim and they would study the practical laws, not just to study the Gemara Kodashim and and Menachos, but let's study practically because we're Kohanim and if we believe that the Beit Hamikdash is going to be rebuilt and we do believe that and we and we believe that it might happen very soon so we need to know practically what to do. And he put together students that would study practically how to uh how to serve as Kohanim. And Rav Kook was part of that group of of students at the time. Turns out that early on I think the Chofetz Chaim said I see that you you really should not be studying in the Beit Midrash. I want you to become a rabbi. You have to go and he's forced him out of the Kolel and said and he started his life in the rabbinate and and the Chofetz Chaim saw that he was he was destined to be great as a as a leader, not only as a as a Talmud chacham. You have people that are good at just sitting and in a base medrash and writing. He said, "That's not for you. Right this point in life, I want you to get out there and uh supposedly Rav Kook didn't want to leave the base medrash, but the Chofetz Chaim said, "Do it." And the humility of of Rav Kook >> So, we have the Chofetz Chaim to thank Yes. for the the the He He certainly is one of the people to thank for Rav Kook's uh uh the the fact that he that that that he took on that mission of being uh a rabbinic leader. Absolutely. All right. So, here I want to share with you a story about about uh the Chofetz Chaim and his humility. And this is just classic humility, just the beauty. And I you know, with all like we spoke about the other side, but I wanted to just come back to you just the beauty of a Jew's humility and the gedolei Torah, as we just said, looking looking at Rabbi Soloveitchik, the beauty of a person who is a humble person. And humble to the in in to the extreme, like the like the Mishna says and like Maimonides, like the Rambam says, that's extreme, right? This is That's an example, halachic man, that's an extreme, like to write at the end of a book that I just wrote a mediocre work. I mean, that's I I I I think that's extreme. So, there's a a beautiful rabbi, his name is Rabbi Paysach Krohn. Anybody know Rabbi Paysach Krohn? He was a famous >> he's a famous famous mohel, famous mohel. And he's a storyteller. He's a beautiful He's a story And he still with us? He's still with us. Yeah, he had a stroke and baruch Hashem, I see that he's speaking again and he's visiting communities. I'm not sure if he's serving as a mohel at this point, but he was a mohel for a couple of my my sons as well. Very, very special real tzaddik of a person. Spent a whole lifetime as a mohel, but more than that, he really is a lover of Am Yisrael and bringing people together. And he wrote I think six, seven volumes of of stories of of maggid. Uh he himself became known as a maggid. There's a book called the Maggid from the Maggid. Uh the name of the book is the Maggid Speaks, and here's a story about the Chofetz Chaim. And I'll read it to you. We'll end with this. A student who had been diagnosed as having a life-threatening illness came before his Rebbe, the famous Chofetz Chaim, Rabbi Yisrael Meir HaCohen in Radin, to ask for a blessing. The physicians had already told the student and his family that they knew of no cure for his illness, and with each passing day, those concerned with his welfare were losing hope. The Chofetz Chaim listened to the young man and told him that he would give him advice, provided that he never revealed it to anyone. The student readily agreed. The Chofetz Chaim then instructed him to go to a certain Talmud Chacham who lived in a small town, "Tell him your situation and ask him for a bracha, for a blessing," said the Chofetz Chaim. "He'll give you a bracha, and with God's help, you will recover." Immediately, the young man did so, and in incredibly short time, um he became well. He continued his studies at the Yeshiva, eventually married, moved to Radin, raised moved from Radin, raised a family, and as he had been instructed, never told anyone about these events. More than 20 years later, long after his Yeshiva days, the man's sister-in-law became ill with a mysterious illness. It soon became apparent to the man that she was suffering from the same illness with which he had been ill so so long ago, but he did not say anything. His wife, though, remembered that he had once spoken of a mysterious illness from which he had suffered many years ago. Every time she spoke about it, he became evasive and refused to talk about it. The more vague he tried to be, the more she pressed him in order to save her sister's life. Soon, both wife and sister-in-law were pleading with him to reveal what had happened and how he had been cured. Daily and incessantly, he told them that he was bound to secrecy, but they kept insisting. Finally, his resistance was worn down and he rationalized it after so many years, perhaps he had already fulfilled the Chofetz Chaim's admonition. And so he told his wife what had happened. He revealed the facts of his appearance before the Chofetz Chaim and the tzaddik's advice to go to a certain talmid chacham in a small town far away from Radin. His wife and sister-in-law became hopeful, maybe this would be their salvation. But a short time later, the man himself began feeling ill. He became extremely frightened, for his worst fears were being realized. He told his wife that he had to travel to the Chofetz Chaim at once. And here's the last paragraph. He made the long journey back to Radin and made his way to the Chofetz Chaim, who was by then old and frail. The Chofetz Chaim remembered their old encounter and listened quietly to the man's story. Then he spoke slowly. "I wish I could help you, but what can I do? When you first had the illness, I was young myself and I fasted 40 days on your behalf so that you would be healed. Today, I'm already too old and I cannot fast like that anymore." That's what the Chofetz Chaim said and then Pesach Krohn adds the following. What is incredible here is not only that the Chofetz Chaim fasted 40 days on behalf of one of his students, amazing in the humility, but that he used the subterfuge of telling the bochur, this young student, to go to a talmid chacham in another town to get a blessing for himself so that when the student did indeed become well, the Chofetz Chaim would not get any credit for it. Meaning, he told him to go to another rabbi to get a bracha so that he wouldn't get the credit. He shouldn't think that it was the Hafetz Chaim's davening and his bracha. And again, he didn't reveal to him that he fasted for him for 40 days. So, I don't know, when I I read that story a few weeks ago, I just thought about the the beauty of of uh our gedolei Torah, of great people, people of humility, tremendous humility, the care for others, not to reveal that he was going to fasting for the student for 40 days. And again, this uh kind of setting up this um making it appear that it was the other rabbi's bracha and not his own bracha. So, this is one of the great attributes, one of the great middot of a Jew, talking about mussar, talking about middot, of working on anivut. And one aspect of anivut that we of humility we spoke about tonight is the anivut, which is something that comes up on a somewhat regular basis of our interactions with others. And to be forgiving of others, to step away, it takes humility to do that, to maintain peace and love for others. And uh as Rav Kook points out and the tziv, his his uh his rebbe, that it doesn't mean that you're a shmata, doesn't mean you're a garnish uh to do that, that we that we know the hineni, that we uh the the humility of of seeing a bigger picture of Am Yisrael, of Hashem, that the the importance of humility that he wanted to keep that, just to keep that a a secret, that that he shouldn't know about that, that he that he want to get the credit for it. He would feel good getting the bracha from this other rabbi. If the Hafetz Chaim said, "Go to this rabbi and get the bracha." So, we should all be zocheh to uh to continue to refine our middot, to master our middot, the beautiful anivut the beautiful middah of anivut of anivut, which Hashem calls Moshe Rabbeinu the great anav. We should walk in his footsteps. And as we are taking our path to Shavuot, as we're counting each day, that we should uh continue to uh improve in our Avodat Hashem, our love of Hashem, and our service to Hashem. And uh be zocheh to uh to Kabbalas Torah within a couple of weeks with a lot of love and happiness and joy. Wish everyone a good evening, and thank you for coming. Look to you then. >> [music] [music] [music and singing] [music] [singing] [music]