Lechteich Mussar Podcast
Join us as we explore the depth of bitachon, as explained in the timeless sefer Shaar HaBitachon.
Lechteich Mussar Podcast
Beis HaLevi #39 - How a Baal Gaavah Will Be Treated in This World and Greeted in the World to Come
"In his timeless essay on Anavah (humility), the Beis HaLevi, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, delves into the essence of this foundational trait and how it enhances our relationship with Hashem, with others and with ourselves. What does true humility look like? And how can we cultivate this vital quality in our own lives?" -ArtScroll Beis HaLevi on Anavah
Okay, everybody, welcome back to the Lech Teich Moshe podcast. We continue with the base of Levi and Anova. Now we're going to go further into the Chizik in how we can attain the Midah of Anova and distance ourselves from Ge'eva Parak, yudala, chapter 14. Kamabusha yaseg abal, ge'eva b'yisnidayim b'bezden shamayla. How embarrassing will reach the haughty person when he's being judged in the heavenly court. This too, we're talking about the different perspectives that a person should exercise in order to help him attain being a, not a. And if other people knew our thoughts and how? Hashem knows everything. There's no place, there's no infrastructure, there's no possibility that we should ever even think to toot our horn. We don't even have a horn because Hashem knows everything that's going on inside of us. And we're going back, we're going to the dirt, we're going to be just a piece of flesh in the six feet under one day. So who are we to have? Possess any sort of gaiva, haughtiness, arrogance, and we continue. Do we ever want to humble ourselves? Think of the truth, tap into the reality. We should think of the Yom Hedin, about the judgment in the heavenly court, the whole star of Yigaloyim, where all of our secrets will be revealed. They will ask him you future? Drop why? And what was the basis of your pride? Think about it. We're going to be sitting in. The heavenly divine angels are going to come to in Bezal Shomailo, the Malachim, the heavenly divine angels are going to come to us with a big smile on their faces oh, shomaleichim V'smachlin, how was it down there? We're going to come up and we're going to say we're going to be terrified, we're going to be so frightened by the Ema and Yudah. And they're going to tell us Nu, what were you so gaivadik about down there? And, of course, we're going to want to pack out, get out as fast as possible from that uncomfortable situation being encountered, confronted by these malachim. And they're going to say Nu, you're such a ba'gaiva down there, you are such a holy person. Tell us one thing Are we going to be able to even think of one? Are we going to be able to puzzle something together, conjure up, muster any type of story, any type of baseline of gaiva? Of course not. We're going to be running away frightened, shaking in our boots. We're going to regret any shemetz, any sniff, any mashahu, a hairline of even a thought of gaiva during that time of the aim ha-gadavaneira, of the aim ha-din. And these are the words the Malachim are going to tell us. No, tell us one of the great deeds you have done. How embarrassed are we going to be? Without any sort of response, as, in the words of the poet, he covers his face, convicted and shamed. Think about that. That should do it, that should remind us. Think about the sitting in front of them and they're going to say oh, mr BaGaiva, here you are. Tell us, tell us one thing that you're tooting your horn about. And if we can't think what we're going to say, then we should think the next time before we're going to be BaGaivas down over here.
Speaker 1:Moving on to Parak Tais Vav, chapter 15, it's only so that the world should honor him. But a person doesn't realize that it's very counterproductive, it's very counterintuitive. The whole thing is backwards, it's distorted because it doesn't even make sense. Why? Because it's Beferish HaPasek that the Kavod and the arrogance that this person is pursuing, that he thinks is going to bring him Kavod. It's Mamish. The opposite it's going to bring him only shame and ridicule. It's mamish. The opposite. It's going to bring him only shame and ridicule. Chumayim are a cause of gaivos. Odon tashbilanu it's a posik. In Mishle, the posik says, a man's pride will lower him and Hashem abides by that. Hashem stands by that and if a person is going to act and conduct himself as a ba'gaivo, hashem has other plans. Hashem will be there to be mashpel him, to lower him down.
Speaker 1:The Gemara Bava Bassa says of Mori, the man who is arrogant.
Speaker 1:He won't be acceptable even to the members of his own household.
Speaker 1:Even his wife and his children will mock him. As the Posican Habakkuk says, an arrogant man, and his abode will mock him. Sh'nemar Geber, yohir v'lo yinveh, as Apostle King Habakkuk says, an arrogant man in his abode will not endure Ma'i v'lo yinveh. What does it mean? He will not endure Loi yinveh. B'nova shel loi. His respect will not endure, even in his own abode, v'chol shekin she'ano house. But certainly other people outside his house will hate him, will resent him. Not just that, but they'll treat him with contempt. For it is the nature of the Hori to treat the honor of others lightly and to minimize other people. And all that contempt falls on him. As it says in the Merash Rabb in Kaheles Don't be hasty. And when the kettle boils over, it pours out the boiling water on its own side. Anyone who spits up into the air. The spittle will fall back onto his own face, and thus he'll end up receiving shame rather than honor, says the Beis Alevi in the name of the Mejish. Anyone who runs after Kavod Hakovod Berekh Mimeno honor will flee from him.