Rabbi Benzion Klatzko: The Source of Pride

things that have come up either in the para or questions that we get within the ciru world and we try to figure out where is the Torah coming from and therefore usually we'll pick a few different topics we'll tie them in now for those who by my house for chabas some things will sound very familiar because I use my chabas table as a preparation for this class so you'll have to hear it a second time okay it's okay okay good um the the story of pesak the story of para's bone the formation of the Jewish people has a lot of undercurrent stories going on there's a lot that's going on within that story that is meant to Define who the Jewish people are so let's take it on a very simple level okay what happens story Jewish people go down to Egypt start off of 70 fruitful multiply a new paru comes parro doesn't remember who yoseph is and he says okay let's get the Jews let's make them into slaves make sure they don't escape make sure they don't Rebel Jews are slaves for hundreds of years God says oh I remember these slaves their grandparents were Abraham Y and yob and because of that I'm going to take these slaves out in honor or in the Merit of their grandparents and I'll give them the Torah a little bit strange like where's the why these slaves and why the Torah and why does that change the way we look at the world so let me start off with a point that I made to the uh to the group before and um I think it's an important point anyone here go go to a Jewish kindergarten a Jewish Nursery Jewish Hebrew school when you're young so one of the things that teachers do is they tell you about the para of the week or they tell you about the holidays coming up Kaneka and if you're in a younger grade you make arts and crafts what is arts and crafts you know you make uh you make little manura out of uh out of bottle caps did you ever do that they or we used to make out of clay When We Were Young they used to take clay you can never actually light with those things but they looked cool right there was actually a teacher who once made a arts and crafts for PES and the teacher used uh they wanted to make a Seder a Seder plate and they decorated the outside of the Seder plate with macaroni that was a decoration and uh the teacher was very um sad when she learned that macaroni iset so you can't possibly use a macaroni plate for uh for PES okay so let's take the beginning of the Torah we have stories and the stories involve creation of the world the stories involve the flood Abraham Isaac Jacob the Angels the sacrifice of Y that never happened Joseph being sold right so lots and lots of opportunities for arts and crafts every paraa you can make a nice arts and crafts right so the teachers are very happy comes bous which very conveniently coincides with near the beginning of the year and gracious what would what would a teacher do a teacher would make would make uh you know the dark and the light and the water and this that right all sorts of things for Braes Noah what would the teacher do have you make an arc have you make an arc little animals going up the ark you know you got the has to leave you got the the uh um he goes to parro he gets rejected you know there's there's what to make V the tent ab's tent the Angels so on so forth then you finished the whole bra and now you're up to shamos More arts and crafts opportunities what you got in shamos you got the whole we got to wake up over here it's getting too warm what you got what I'm just okay you've in shamos you've got you've got the plagues you've got NEOS in the basket every teacher's got to make a little a little basket you know with a little baby got a little bring a little baby in the basket in the Nile River right that's art crafts splitting of the sea right you make a nice picture of the splitting of the sea and all the Jewish people walking through right you can make that out of cotton or everyone El to bring rolls of toilet paper cut those open paint them blue yro accepting the Torah you got a big mountain you've got flowers so they make the flower thing right you got The Ten Commandments by the way you know why the Ten Commandments look like this really Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments were put on tablets and the tablets actually look like the tablets actually look like this that interesting why do people make them with like that you know why so some people say it's because Michelangelo painted them like that when he painted Moses with the horns right but actually the source is because it says in the Torah you should you should put it on your heart the the uh the Torah should be put on the tablet of your heart and the heart is usually represented by the that sign so this is sort of the the heart so that's why people make it with a heart thought okay so now you have and then the next para is M and Mish Begins the laws and from Maman on it becomes difficult if you're a kindergarten teacher to make arts and crafts okay M returning lost objects how to treat a slave Tuma okay this is what you give to the Tabernacle Tav more Tabernacle Kisa the golden calf fako more Tabernacle PUD more Tabernacle by this point the Arts and Crafts teacher the kindergarten teacher is like well oh no what am I going to what am I going to make this week and then thank God by the time you get up to those pares we're up to the holidays so they say okay forget about the Parish of the week let's start making arts and crafts about PB you porm and then you've got PES and you know and all that will take you uh through most of the year he got PES then he got sh coming up it's an interesting Rhythm of the Torah is that interesting you have story story story story story story story and then all of a sudden you've got law with a few stories in between you got the story of the golden calf you got the story of the spies got the story of korak you got a few stories in between but essentially the Torah is a book of stories until we bump into the laws and then it's laws from here on out if I writing the Torah that's not what I would do I'd probably make them into two volumes they got your One volume with stories and your one volume with laws right you got your they have such a thing right you got your one book someone open a window over here just like getting very very stuffy if anyone gets cold let me know okay if I WR in the make him into two volumes you know you got your stories where you learn lessons from you got your book of laws that you learn what to do here you actually have to sip through the stories to find the laws strange Rhythm now words what's bothering me I want to tell you when I stand up here and I speak and I and I uh tell you you know thoughts that I have on my mind it's because these things I thought about and they bother me a little bit like why would the Torah have such a rhythm it seems to be sort of a hodgepodge stories laws okay I just thought of a story okay here's five more laws here's a story here's 40 laws what's the rhythm of the Torah now I used to think that the rhythm of the Torah was like this the Torah tells me stories and in every story there's either a hero a villain Someone who lived up to their higher calling someone who fell flat let's pick examples of that okay give me a story in the Torah anyone mosenu okay which story whole story of mosha the whole story of mosha let's pick one story uh mosenu God tells mosenu take the Jewish people out mosenu argues for seven days was it okay that he argued yes it was he was being humble he was being humble that's why was he's a humble man but then at a certain point hasm says okay enough arguing go at that point M exceeded oversteps his boundaries so he had a sort of a a failing and I couldn't say that the Torah says it so here we have the same story mosu humble great and then fell short we have to learn from that what was the greatness and where did he slip who else is like that in the Torah any character you can absolutely bring me anyone no Noah great man or not not not not yeah how could he not be a great man depends Depends for his time it said he was great for his time it's otic in his time oh my goodness he hears a voice say there's going to be a flood in 120 years build an ark in your backyard and he says yes sir all the animals all the animals in the world you have to gather into your backyard I put them in an ark because I'm going to drown the whole world in 120 years you didn't go see a psych psychologist or psychiatrist in said he built an ark we focus yeah he wasn't that great that was that was very very very very I think they made it this film that if that would happen today you'd hear a voice saying hey build an ark in your backyard drop what you're doing cuz I'm going to make a flood and drown the world what would you say in college you have your degree you're a lawyer you're a doctor stop what you're doing build an arc and get all the animals in the world together how am I going to catch up yeah that's not the voice yeah the prophecy it's a different way I mean you would know if you had a prophecy right even if you have a prophecy no that's what different you would say your going on they didn't leave so you say he wasn't great well from what I heard the opinion and he he was not great because he he never tried to change people around him he was very happy with everything that he did and he didn't do anything to change the people around him that doesn't make him not great that just makes him not as great as Abraham was maybe he felt that by building an ark people are going to ask him questions and he'll say cuz God's going to make a flood he didn't feelm made him build it for 120 years to let people see it so he he thought was built into the system okay I'm not I'm I'm nitpicking with you because of course what you're saying K say right yeah but but you understand you understand that the way that we look at Torah the same person who could be heroic and no was a hero he is our grandfather he's my Z is your Z Sab Sab just like and yet the Torah makes a point to all point out where he fell a little bit short we we don't ignore that just like you know it my kids know it we make a point because each hero also when they fall short they don't escape the scrutiny of the Torah where's another time that no was scrutinized waiting for the water to come up to his or right the water the water began to rise and what noos where was he he was standing outside well let's see I don't know if this is going to be the big rain this going to be the big rain and then it says he went into the Tava he went into the ark finally me name because the water was getting so high but do you mean you Hashem said it's going to flood you got you got to wait till the water gets so high that you're forced to go in don't you believe God so for that he got punished for that he was criticized in the Torah he didn't believe what do you mean didn't believe how can you say didn't believe he built an ark I mean clearly he must have believed something did not Escape scrutiny so in every story of the Torah there's a hero villain or even a hero sometimes can fall short even the hero can fall short okay and then once we learn the lesson of the Torah then hasem gives us a Mitzvah to exercise that new muscle that we just learned we just learned a new moral concept a moral idea now Hashem says now you practice it and the mitv are here to practice a new lesson that we've learned okay now this yeah now this itself is a big concept but we're not going to get into it but every Mitzvah is targeting a moral idea a moral concept okay so I used to believe that was the rhythm of the Torah but I had one problem with that belief which is if that would be the case that you'd have a story and then an exercise what should the Torah look like should look like this you should have a story and then you have a Mitzvah to now exercise the this New Concept story mitzah story mitzah story mitzah but you don't that's not the way the Torah Works instead the Torah has story story story story story with a few MIT I even know what m flat are inous which which mitzah what's the first Mitzvah in the whole Torah Vu very good have children have children be fruitful and multiply in order to do that Mitzvah what do you have to do married and how many children they have to have in order to fulfill the Mitzvah of be fruitful and multi mly that's okay how many how many children do you have to have two we pass to a boy and a girl right so that was a then there's a few more there's GHA there's BR that are mentioned but most of the MIT not there instead you have all the stories and the reason that you have that is as follows and then we're going to get to the punch of what this sheir is going to talk about the reason of all the stories is Hashem is explaining to us why we need the Torah why we need the Jewish people in the first place if we need the Jewish people so badly why didn't make the Jewish because they weren't Jewish were not Jews they didn't have they didn't have Torah why did make no a Jew why did has make Abraham a Jew Jewish people are so important it say made the world for for the Jewish people so may the begin why did hasem wait more than a, years for the first Jews they didn't have merits they didn't have merits yeah who didn't have merits people until they didn't have enough marit to deserve it before he did there the greatest Mar he was born like that so make make give him give him the Torah give him the Torah he didn't earn it so he saying you have to earn it the Jewish people didn't earn it either and if they did earn it because of abam then hasem should have given the Torah to there there is a rhythm and the rhythm is like this Hashem originally created the world for people to be good Hashem wanted the world in order for people to be good and decent and moral and good to each other but the world could not live up to that and their world began to destroy itself people would fight people hurt each other eventually Hashem said I have to start over and hasem started over after the After the flood again the world messes up the Tower of Babel let's start over the capitals of the world Sodom and Amora let's destroy them and start over eventually Hashem said I need a people who will represent what I consider to be good and decent and moral to the rest of the world and they are going to be my representatives and those people were the Jewish people now why that is I gave other classes about it so I don't want to get into it here some people have heard it but that's the rhythm of the Torah Hashem tells us all of these stories told to show us why the world needs role models for them to look at to learn how to act we are the or we are the light unto the Nations we are the representatives of Hashem in this world okay I'm going to leave it at that and I'm going to get into the topic that I want to speak about what is the worst character trait in the world we have midot midot some midot that we are good some are bad give me give me an example mid I want to make sure we the same page give me a mid any kind of character trait Marcel any character do you have good character are you a good man why are you good what do you have good about you you are very goodness you're what good acts good act so you're kind kind kindness kindness kindness that's a character trait right someone who's kind give me an other character tra that's good humbleness humbleness wonderful character tra I'm very humble and I'm not a show off give me another character trait that is good honesty honesty excellent honesty is a good character trait that's another good character tra we use them up huh what's another good character trait being attentative attentive oh wonderful knowing how to be attentive sympathetic empathetic how about Z knows Z getting up and doing and going what's the opposite of his laziness laziness that's the opposite right give me some bad character traits pride pride what is it pride pride arrogance that's another bad character trait me what me to be mean and that's Hebrew what's that called to be an to be cruel to be mean what else what's another bad character trait M only two I'll tell you the worst what's the worst ego ego we all have an ego a big ego huge a huge ego so what tell me your first name again B bamin what bamin is saying is what kazal say the very worst character trait that a person can have is to be a b a show off someone who believes that they are God's gift to mankind It's All About Me can a person with a big ego absorb teach lead as a Torah scholar as a Torah leader they cannot Torah gravitates to the humble we're going to speak about that but let me first make a contrast between our leaders and the leaders of the secular World okay in some parts of the world showing up saying rhetoric about how great you are and what your great Deeds have been is considered amazing right if you ever look at Hamas when they speak about yeah we beat the Israeli Army yeah we're going to make them suffer yeah it's coming it's coming just wait just wait it's coming and that is showing off ego prideful in the Muslim word World Pride is a very is is the currency PR pridefully in America interestingly enough it's not exactly like that if you go around in America and say saying I'm all that I'm great I'm fantastic you're going to be considered a joke unless you can live up to your boast in America don't boast unless you can live up to it but if you could live up to it then you're okay then you're okay as long as you could put your money where your mouth is have you hear that expression he that put your money where your mouth means you say and you're able to accomplish many years ago in baseball there was a man named Babe Ruth Babe Ruth is a baseball player who is ahead of his time he was a home run hitter in the dead bull era dead bull is when people couldn't actually hit cuz the ball was a very heavy ball and most people a big home run hitter would hit six seven eight home runs a year comes along this guy named Babe Ruth he a big chunky fellow and Babe Ruth hit one year 60 home runs it was unheard of like even today you know one or two people who are steroid driven have hit over 60 home runs and he hit 60 in the dead bull so he was King he was the king he was the as the Sultan of Swat SWAT sulan of SWAT no one can hit it like him but one day he gets up to the plate I think the story goes that he had visited this this person who was sick he would visited his boy in the hospital who was Ill here here's the chair have chair that here we [Music] go so one day um Babe Ruth visited this kid in the hospital and the kid says to babe according to Legend babe hit a home run for me today and babe says I promise I'm going to hit you a home run so babe steps up to the plate and then right before I don't know if if the picture had started count yet or not but he takes his Bat and he points to the Centerfield fense and he calls the Home Run according to Legend some people say that's not what he was doing is that you you believe it wasn't what he was doing it was two different times those two different times he pointed in the World Series there was another time when he was at home at New York he pointed at Wrigley there's another time when he was at home then he promised it for the kid in a New York h oh there we go was he able to come through by for the kid yeah the kid yeah but the point no but both yeah the question whether he was actually pointing anyways he pointed and then he he stood up the plate and there he goes to the bat and he hits the Home Run and he goes around and that was considered a legendary moment in babu's life why because he said he could do something and he did it in America it is okay to be a showoff it is okay to be a Bala to be a bragger as long as you could live up to what you say you can do if you could put your money where your mouth is if you cannot just talk the talk but walk the walk then you're okay by us you're not just okay you're super amazing you almost have control over the universe cuz I could call it and say u in New York there's a basketball team called a New York mix the New York mix used to have a player named Patrick ying and Patrick Ying too used to make calls the the only thing about Patrick Ying is he never was able to come through so he became Legend there for falling on his face but it never stopped him from saying I on my word on my uh on my say we are going to beat Jordan and the Bulls and no they did not beat Jordan and the Bulls one game after the next and he sort of became a joke and that's why in New York although everyone appreciates Patrick Hing he was a guy who could not live up to his uh to his bagery he would say something but he couldn't live up to it so again the rest of the world bragging itself is currency in America bragging only if you could come through and in Judaism we say shut up we are not interested whether you can come through whether it can't come through we don't want to hear it this is not what we're about showing off that character tra of ego is the number one worst character tree now imagine being a politician but being a God-fearing Jew it's got to be tough you stand up there and you have to say what you've done what you're going to do and you have to recount your accomplishments and you stand up there and everyone else on the podium is saying well in my term I made sure this and and I did that and I signed this bill into law and it was and my opponent you know he doesn't have the experience and I do and there's the Jewish fon I think I could do it I'm going to try we have to dive into hasem we have to have if Hashem will help us then we'll be able to uh balance the budget and with hashem's help you know we'll be able to defeat our enemies and we'll say some to H and Hashem is going to help right but it's not me you know what am I I Buster a dum I'm Flesh and Blood right it's very hard in politics you have to be you have to stand up there brazenly lie in front of everyone brag in front of everyone and then at the end whoever does it in the most humble way he gets elected you got to say it we got to do it in a humble way as a matter of fact if you stand up there and you brag outright then we look down on you if you stand up there and you and you look like you're arrogant ever see a political debate and there's this one know all who's there who who actually does know better than everyone else and uh this person sort of looks down on everyone else in the podium is that guy gonna get elected no because Americans hate a person who looks down on people but braing is okay who is the greatest big shot in the history of the world if there was a Guinness Book of World Records and we were trying to find the one man who defined ego they spoke about this on ch right the one man who defined ego more than anyone else and it was it was parro there has never been a man in history who is as arrogant as parro let us recount his arrogance let us speak about how arrogant he was well first off he considered himself a God so much so that you know you know how he used to expel himself how he used to go to the bathroom where did he used to go go to the Nile River why didn't you go he didn't have any uh L in his Palace he didn't have a little ouse in his house he want people he told people he was a de so right he's a de and de is not supposed to go to the bathroom and therefore you know what this poor man had to do in the morning he had to expunge himself expel himself and then the rest of the day got to hold it in right so I'm sure he made sure he was careful not any any spicy burritos right careful not to drink too much because he wouldn't have to suddenly excuse himself cuz Dees don't have to excuse themselves for that right so step number one you're a big shot consider yourself God I don't mean God accomp I mean actual God God like the Creator okay that's step number one he wasn't the only one like that that was him what else was it about par that was really fascinating let me tell you a line in the Torah someone gave me a is that over there thank you so mosu comes to parro and tells parro he says he says Hashem says they said to they motion so said Hashem the god of is send out my nation and they will make a holiday for me in the desert what is parro answer listen to this answer listen to this arogant man he says like this what does that mean translate me to his who is God that I have to listen to him who is God that I have to now by the way I'm just thinking of it now but it didn't have to say it could just who's God so the mes tells us that when when Moshe and Aon went to visit parro it turned out it was on parro's birthday this is parro's birthday did we ever have parro's birthday in the Torah a different time yeah a different parro we did right I remember Sim with the Baker and right so this is parro's birthday and people from all over the world were coming to bring pres to parro and parro is sitting on his Royal throne and his party hat and he's sitting there and one person after the next comes in and they say we're from Macedonia and we bring gifts of gold goblets full of pearls and diamonds okay okay thank you thank you put them other side please please write it down I'm the thank you note okay next we are from Philistine come on in okay we are from uh arame we are arameans so on and so forth comes mosha and Aon and they stand in front of param and Par looks and says where's the where's the present I don't see any gift wrapping I don't see any boxes with stripes and a big bow on it where's where's the Box okay yes um who are you from who sent you said oh we are sent by God we God God I never heard of God do God what dyslexia right who who who is this person he says oh we do not come bearing gifts you don't on my birthday you don't bring me giftes no actually we come bearing a message oh maybe it's a it's one of these singing uh greetings a happy birthday what's the message send out your entire Workforce send out the nation of Israel they must leave Egypt what send them all out yeah no he didn't remember Mo MOA so he didn't remember mosa he didn't remember or he did remember but it's been it was many many years mha was away for many many many years so he comes in yeah according to uh according to the uh secular movies oh yeah parro was his brother yeah leave that aside that's all secular stuff we don't we don't know we don't know it's the truth so says Hashem says send out the Jewish people Hashem I never heard of this guy guards bring me my God book and he had a book of all the deities all the gods I actually own the book I own that book it's called a book of the Gods I actually found it in a thrift store and every PES I took it I take it out and I read it to my kids it's very funny some of the names of the Gods and what they represent some words that we have in our language today believe it or not come from Gods um based on what religion it's encyclopedia no it's all the gods all the history yeah peder the gods so he says who is this God I looked him up I didn't see him and even if he exists me that I have to listen to him what is he a deity God I'm also God plus who is he I never heard of him so that's number one M then he continues to send that is who is this God I never heard of this this is in the Torah these words I don't know him and also Israel I'm not going to send out now the word also is troubling right the word also shouldn't be there what should it say it should say I never heard of of and I'm not going to send out the Jewish people what what does it mean and also and also means the following it also means and even if such a God exists I don't have to listen to him so here's the exit tell your God I said no goodbye next time bring me a present that's a leave this is this is arrogant person comes mosu he's going to do a miracle throws the snake down he also does who is this God the plagues come one plague after the next they're destroying Egypt you know when you have a hurricane how much damage does an average hurricane cause if it hits if if it uh lands in a uh in a metropolis pretty good amount billions billions of dollars right when you have a hurricane we have a Hugo here right Hugo we had a hurricane Hurricane Hugo also you know about that yeah we have a Hurricane Hugo was very very destructive I remember between six and 13 billion dollars worth of damage sorry okay you're forgiven right tremendous damage whatever power thought was worthwhile hey let's let the Jewish people stay because we need their Workforce already the whole Egypt was destroyed one plague after the next why didn't he send them out because he was arrogant that's why before it says God hardened this it says means what com the word means he made his heart heavy but it also comes from what word comes from the word he made himself honorable oh I'm not going to listen to God I'm going to bend not break you know like the guy is's playing Mercy and his fingers are breaking off and he will not say Mercy right okay the greatest arrogant person in all of history was pirate now I'm going to tell you one more thing about arrogance okay what is the root of arrogance we spent this on chel what is the root of being arrogant low self-esteem low self-esteem insecurity insecurity all psychologist right let me ask I'm going to tell you a little story of scenario okay you got uh two brothers we'll call one yusi and one Mishi now Mishi is a good boy he's always cleaning up he's always helping out but he's also schlam he's got no masle and whenever he cleans up whenever he does something good he steps out of the room right before his parents notice Yi walks in the room just on time and the parents always give Yi the credit for what Mishi has done okay it's a picture one day Mishi comes into the kitchen the kitchen is a big wreck Mishi says okay I'm going to clean up and he cleans up the whole kitchen he's finished steps steps goes to the bathroom Yosi walks in the room the mother walks back in from her shopping SHP and she says yesie you cleaned up the kitchen thank you so much now just then Mishi walks in the room and Mishi sees Yi saying yes it was my pleasure cuz I love you because I I really want life to be easier for you Mom that's why I did it what does Mishi think to himself like give you two choices choice a Yosi is a big shot what a what a big shot or Choice B Yi is a liar what is what is yasi is he a big shot or a liar he right you wouldn't say oh what a big shot no you're lying you didn't do it you didn't do it I did it you're taking the credit for something that's not yours the root of arrogance is dishonesty it's me it's mine it's because of me I'm the one who is the greatest we you say in Hebrew it's the strength of my hand Hashem says no no no no no no no no that's not why you're great I made you great I gave you the brains I gave you the strength it's dishonest so therefore when we have to say thank you to somebody what are we actually saying what are we saying to that person when I say thank you how did you say thank you in Hebrew to to comes from the Hebrew word mod I admit that you are in control I admit that I need you that's what the word to means I admit someone who does not know how to show gratitude it's because they are arrogant they don't know how to admit the source is a lie [Music] and the new king came who did not know yose what did not know he pretended that he didn't know yose now what did Yosef do to all of Egypt for all of Egypt saved all of EGP he saved all of Egypt and power didn't have a power did not have gratitude and therefore that showed his inance now we're going to get to the second half in a moment but in order to keep the class pppy and into it I'm going to take any random question and then we're going to get to okay random question time out if you have no okay who is the humblest man M how do we know he was the humblest man here we go right he was the humblest man ever so watch what we have look at this fight look who's standing in the ring here the most arrogant man in history is in one corner and he is going to tea off he is going to face the humblest man in history that's that's that's the dichotomy of that's that's now remember what did we say showing gratitude is a sign of humbleness now MOS did he have the ability to show gratitude who do who do we know mosh who showed gratitude to the first plague was the plague of blood of blood and in order to make the Nile turn into blood what do they have to do hit the water hit the water who hit the Water Aaron Aaron why didn't mosu hit the water denial saved his life do a a person does AAL have feelings well the N got embarrassed it all turn red right the N have feelings and yet MOS renu's gratitude was so great that it even extended to inanimate objects again look at the extreme his humbleness was such that he had gratitude towards something that didn't even feel didn't even have feelings didn't even know how to respond parro didn't have gratitude to the people of Joseph who literally saved his family's skin literally saved all of Egypt mosha was the humblest man on the face of the Earth there are many other examples of this but Hashem says if I am going to have my Jewish people accept this Torah and be the light unto the Nations I have to pick a nation that understands humility and that's another reason why Hashem chose a band of slaves if there's anyone who is going to recognize what it means to be humble as these slaves think about it a moment we're living in modern history but in ancient history when people would Trace back their Origins they would always make up their origin none of it was true but they all either came from gods or they came from nobility they came from great philosophers we are the one nation who comes from slaves thumbs up we're the slave nation and not only that we're not trying to escape our slave our our our slave Legacy our slave Heritage we remember it each and every day a few times a day cuz that's what keeps us humble cuz that's what allows us to absorb Torah humbleness and therefore when Hashem had to choose a mountain which mountain did he choose the smallest mountain the most humble because it says in the Tor and if a person treats himself like a desert if he's humble he will get the Torah as a gift right we get the we get this great Torah only if we're humble Torah is compared to water because water goes down trickles down to the lowest spot and Torah trickles out to those who are the most humble and here's the question we have to ask ourselves how humble are we how humble are we really okay ask yourself this question when you are in a conversation with somebody how many times do you use the word I me it's a really painful question my daughter in her school had an exercise I think I used to wear a little necklace that had an eye and anytime a person would use eye in the sence they someone would poke them poke i a i again there are certain people who they cannot tell a story they cannot relate to their friend story unless they have a counter story that happened to them it's got to be about I and it's got to be about me we picture a big shot like the guy walks around and got a strut in his step and you know hey party coming in I'm a oneman party one man show you know now now we can get the party started cuz I'm here there are a lot of people who are so obious they they don't have that strut in their step but still I notice it when I interview people and I I interview people for jobs as campus rabbis and one of the things I look for is how many times do they say I in their conversation how many times do they point the finger like this back of themselves that are people and when I when I see it it's it's like it makes me cringe probably cuz I see a reflection of myself that's the truth because you know there are people who when you have a conversation with them no matter what you're speaking about somehow the conversation becomes about them and there are some people who know how to focus on you and listen to you what kind of friend would you like to have if you have a choice of a friend would you like to have a friend who somehow always makes it about themselves probably not right I said up this ding this girl and last night the girl calls me up and I was sure they were going to get engaged girl calls me up they ended it and she described to me why they ended it and it became clear at a certain point that this fellow was a very self-centered person and the conversation kept going back to him and she picked that up she picked that up she understood it it's very hard you know it says in the Torah it says in the in the in I it's Mish which means let a stranger praise you not your own mouth don't be the one to praise yourself and it's difficult because we come into a place and we want to show we have a certain amount of worth and we you know we've accomplished in our lives and they people who are sitting in this room who have accomplished a great deal and we want to share with people what we've accomplished and yet it's good to leave a little bit of mystery who we are what we've done right leave leave a little bit to the imagination now there is another Hal that it says in the gamar that says by person can say that you know what nobody knows me here I can tell a little bit about myself to people just so they should know who I am but eventually when the whole conversation keeps coming back to you and it becomes about I and me and my accomplishments when that happens then eventually the then the conversation dies cuz it's all about me I'm a self-promoter I'm My Own best PR and such a person told can't stay now let's define humbleness for a moment if Albert Einstein were to come to you and say Ira I'm not really smart is that being humble no is that humble yes yeah because no no because it's information that you know and that's already out there and that's it now I think it is because just like a famous Rabbi there his tum come see him you know sitting in front of the Torah hitting himself crying that he's not worth it and he's man in Russia that's cuz he believes it any different that's different probably won't believe all my smarts come from how are you how are you to tell Einstein what he's thinking I mean he might really believe that he's maybe he thinks let's pick a different example um LeBron James comes to you and say says I'm not really a good basketball player that's ridiculous what big animal basketball play amazing yeah a good basketball I'm not really good so that is not called being humble that's called being foolish and being a liar as a matter of fact if a person says things like that the source of LeBron James saying I'm not a good basketball player that kind of humble with that same source of lie is the same source of a of a big shot taking the credit CU they both are based on a line here is what an Albert Einstein has to say I am smart I look I figured out relativity that's a pretty good accomplishment I am smart but I'm only smart because the creator of the universe gave me the intellect and I hope to use it for good that's humbleness that is humbleness not not saying the truth not not saying what you're what you bring to the table but attributing it to he who deserves for it to be attributed to him understand that's humbleness saying that you're not a a good Tor scholar when you are that's just silly you are you are don't say you're not but they say I am because Hashem gave me the brains that is where humbleness comes in we could understand over here by the way what the whole dialogue was with MOS andem cuz listen to this [Applause] says so I told MOS go and speak to Pharaoh speak to pyro and tell him to send out the Jewish people and M no no don't send me who am I I can't speak you know M was not a good speaker you know that Moshe the great Moshe couldn't speak why couldn't he speak he stuttered he stuttered why did he speak he had a speech impediment how to he get a speech impediment he got it the mag tells us when M was a little boy he was living in parro's he was living in parro's Palace right remember Basia the daughter of parro Basia the daughter of pyro says um oh here's a little boy found him in the Nile let's bring this little boy and bring him up Tom's home so one day little little tot little little infant mosha they is sitting on parro's lap and suddenly grabs the crown from his head now was a little baby little babies grab things right I used to have glasses I got the lasc surgery so I don't need the glasses now when I had glasses the kids used to grab the glasses from me they could even break them right they grab kids grabb so little Moser they knew grab the crown from Pharaoh's head from parro's head so the advisers of parro suddenly had a very worried look in their eyes and what do they say this boy is going to take the crown from you you must kill him P said to the advisers don't you think it's a little harsh you know he just C no you must it's a sign he took the crown he wants to take your kingdom so finally Hashem made a miracle and an angel came down in the form of a human being it looked like a human and he he he presented himself like one of Pyro's servants and this Angel says to par one second we can make a test let's put in front of this little boy gold and we'll put in front of this little boy a burning hot coal that's red it's glowing and let's see whether he's just gr grabbing anything that's shiny or whether he knows what he's doing so py said that's a great idea and they do this little test in front of baby mosha this story is not in the Torah it's in the Mages baby Moshe has in front of him gold and he has in front of him these burning hot Cals now mosu even as a little boy was a smart kid and he sees the he sees the gold and he understands it has value and he reaches for that the angel pushes his hands over towards the burning hot coal he grabs the coal instead burns his hand a little piece of coal is still on his hand he puts his hand in his mouth to like you know to lick off the burn and that coal that was still on his finger fingernails is burning on and singing burning his mouth and that's how he got a speech impediment so he was not able to speak properly why did Hashem make MOS who have this speech impediment cuz Hashem did not want anyone to say ah mosha you know how he was able to get the Jewish people out cuz he was his great oror like a Barack Obama gets up there you know what we got to do we got to we have to work towards change change is difficult and great orator great fantastic MH was like that no no MH was like we got to go out of Egypt that's how he spoke speeching better still hasem says he's going to be Be Your Leader so no one should say it was just a great Master order who took the Jewish people out okay so mush don't send me don't send me for seven days he argued with Hashem and Hashem was willing to argue with him finally Hashem says the following words listen carefully he says and Hashem said to him who is it who puts a M to man in the first place who gives the man who gives man the ability to speak in the first place right who makes a person that he can't speak or or someone who can't see right or someone who's lame hell it's meem I'm the one so now you go and I'm going to be with your m for and I will show you what to speak look you think if you were a great order that would come from yourself that also would come from me that also is mine so I'm the one telling you go to parro so go and I'm the one who's going to allow you to speak so what what M answer back don't send me so at this point hasem said hashm and Hashem got angry Hashem okay stop it already stop it and Hashem got angry at Moshe why did Hashem get angry at this point in the conversation because at this point it was already like Albert Einstein saying I'm not smart till now he was saying I can't speak are you right I can't but Hashem says I'm the one who allowed you to speak in the first place right it's not you I get it's not you it's me by saying still oh no still don't send me so that's not humbleness anymore that's not humbleness then you're just being stubborn then not that's when Hashem gets angry you understand that's the point that hasem got angry okay we have to work on being humble it's something that we have to work on as people it says in the ramban that every bad character trait comes from being arrogant arrogance is the source let's figure it out let's do the math okay anger how does being somebody who's angry I thought a cute little chick by the way a sister who uses this when one of her children get angry says she and any bad character tra she put puts the word bunnies after uh after the accusation to soften it so she says to her little daughter Oh no you're having anger bunnies and it sort of like softens it oh don't have lazy bunnies you know don't have don't don't be an angry bunny you just put the word bunny afterward it sort of softens it okay so when her her husband gets all tens I have the anger bunnies Okay it reallys I think that would make me more oh not a bunny okay how does anger here open the window a little little more I don't know what's with Cooks It Up the 90 little little bit there we go how does anger come from arrogance anyone want to do the math for me how does what's your name Dave Dave Dave what Teran Dave Teran how does anger come from arrogance because anger anger is is a self-centered action everything is if you get angry it means something you're you're you take offense to it some way so arrogance is self-centered it's it's usually very egotistical egotistic excellent It's a self-centered thing how could you do this to me how could you come late how dare you on on my time my stress with a capital m and a capital Y on my time you come L on my suit you should you bump me you you bump me who are you look at me you bump me anger comes from arrogance because if you were humble some B say okay look people people are trying to get through they in a rush well maybe he's going to something important I mean I know what I'm going through right now something I could understand right you spilled what I never spilled I never spilled I also spilled I want spilled on someone else and he spilled on me it happens right humbleness diffuses the situation arrogance infuses it okay what's another bad here the tree what about laziness how could laziness come from htin let's do the math how could laziness cuz even though you know you have to do certain things right when you are lazy or you just stay in bed or you just neglect certain activities you you're thinking that your own you know your own will your own thoughts are more important than actual responsibility that's right usually we are responsible to other people right either if I come late to a meeting I'm lazy I don't pay my bills right what whatever it is my laziness comes from just my feeling of H I'd rather just be sitting and relaxing because there's a certain arrogance to it arrogance like it's really about me so if I have to inconvenience someone else well that's their problem that's not my problem I have the right to sleep I have the right to eat I have the right to relax and if it comes at your expense oh so be it what about honesty we mentioned before right how do the math how is honesty often a pro a a outcome of arrogance I would think if only if you use it for an advantage if you if you if you're like overly honest just so you can get something that you want oh the opposite I mean I mean dis manipulative I me dishonesty how how does dishonesty come from being arrogant because you're wondering how a certain decision will affect you or how people are going to look at you it's all about yourself then again when you're being you have to be yeah you like you can uh start to justify things like I'll just tell him alive and even though it's going to end up being good but it'll only be good in your eyes right or in or the way I I play out the scenario it's going to be good right just dishonesty or I can be dishonest uh by by giving myself up the traits that I don't really have cuz I want to show off in front of you I'm the best skier I am an amazing this and I'm a fantastic that you're not really you're okay maybe not even okay but the arrogance makes you lie lie in the resume right so arrogance arrogance is the root source of all ofs so you don't often come to a class where they speak about being a Bala because it's like one of those things we hear about Lara a lot hear about learning Torah a lot we don't actually hear a lot about arrogance versus humbleness but it's something that we have to work on because we're able to work on being humble then Torah can come into US Torah can be absorbed by us Torah leaves a person who is there so what that means is a few things in some very very religious households and in some synagogues by the way in the men's in the men's room they don't have mirrors they don't have mirrors and I find it annoying sometimes but I understand why because when I'm standing in front of the almighty the last thing I want to worry about is if uh a few of my heroes are going this way instead of that way that's the last thing I want last thing I want to worry about is am I dressed to the nines I'm in front of the Almighty I have to stand humbly before the Almighty I once heard from a great great Rabbi that a person can get any pray they want answered if they use the following formula here's the formula goes like this Almighty I am requesting such and such from you the lottery this job this girl I'm requesting such and such from you I am not requesting it from you because I deserve it I don't deserve it but I am pleading to you like a beggar pleads at the door of a Poss ible donor please help me not for my marit not for my but really because of you and if a person were to come humbly before the almighty with that formula that asking this great R says that your prayers will be answered the reason that our prayers are not answered is because we play Let's make a deal with the almighty okay if you I'll D in if you give me this if I stay in Yeshiva then you'll give me that we play Let's Make a Deal and and hasem says do look whatever you give me I've already given you life I've already given you health I've given you family you've never gone hungry a day in your life so I've already given you so don't play Let's make a deal with me instead come to me humbly come walk humbly with the almighty and if you're able to do that if you're able to walk humbly then when you ask for something Hashem will say oh it's interesting we used to have people who would live near our home when I lived in Brooklyn and there were different kids from different backgrounds and there were certain kids that were very motivated to be good to to help out at certain kids that we were not motivated and my wife and I were on speaking why were we more motivated to help out certain kids and others and we understood the reason why was that there were some kids who used to come in a very arrogant kind of a way it's sort of like we could saying yish it's come it's coming to me this this is coming to me and when a person comes to you with that kind of attitude you don't really feel like helping them but people who come with a humbleness and they don't want to bother and they want to be so that's a person you're motivated you feel like oh they're not sticking up for themselves I want to come I want to help them I want to stick up for them one of the most endearing character traits a person can present is humbleness it's one of the most endearing character traits so that is um I'm going to leave 10 minutes for questions but that is that is the issue of being humble and my blessing each and every one of you is that we can work in this in whatever way that we're able to be humble it's a very famous uh interesting line of the gamar the gamar says how much arrogance is one person allowed to have are you allowed to be arrogant at all are you allowed to be arrogant at all you have to be completely like a sh you have to be completely like a dormant so the gar says that if you're a Torah scholar you're allowed to have a of G an eighth of an eighth of arrogance now that's sort of a strange formula an eighth of an eighth it's sort of like an e e of what 16th isn't it a 16th of what this this is funny I have a little daughter and 64 what does that mean sorry I have a daughter and there was we had a pie at home so uh so she wanted a piece of pie so I said to her okay what would you like should you want this piece I'll cut here or you want this piece I'll cut here but the first cut hadn't been made so I said do you want me you want me to cut here or do you want me to cut here which piece do you want I like she's looking at me like confused like there has to be one cut made in order for me to show you want a cut here or cut here you understand but the First Cut Is is uh irrelevant because there's no way of measuring how big it is because there's only one cut so whether I cut here whether I cut here doesn't make a difference right there got to be one cut already an eighth of an eight what does that mean of what of what the pie is not cut in so the Von says you know what it means what he says look in the eighth para and the eighth verse in the eighth para what's the E par in the Torah so turn to and he says look at the eth par and let's count the let's get to the eighth p okay 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and the words of the eth are of of the E translated it means I have been diminished by all the kindness and by all the truth that you have done for your servant says Yem I I I'm humbled by the great kindness Almighty that you've done for me that's the amount of arrogance that you're allow to have to know everything that we've done we don't deserve it and we're diminished by the great kindness everything that Hashem has given us from the moment we were born and even from before the time we were born until now that's the most arrogance we're allowed to have as a matter of fact AB ainu was a very humble man is he was so humble that he told and I am a what isra mean means I am dust and Aphra means ashes I'm dust and Ashes that's all I am and it says in the gar that said you think you're so humble your dust your ashes your dusty ashes you're not so humble wait until mosh comes along because mosh is going to say something even more humble than you how can you be more humble than dust and Ashes comes along says and I am I don't know what that's even more humble I'm like nothing I'm not even dust I'm not even ashes I mean dust and Ashes you're Le dust and Ashes say I'm nothing I'm what I'm nothing it it is a great level to be on to learn how to be humble it's a great high level to learn how to be humble most people are not humble there is a Yeshiva in Europe called naric I don't want ever he that naric Yeshiva and naric was a was a Yeshiva was a very interesting Yeshiva that they would train how to be humble each day people would learn and teach themselves how to be humble and they would do sort of outlandish things to Humble themselves so one of the things they would do it's going to sound nuts but they would do they would go into a store that would sell food and they would say hello I'd like to buy a hammer and the everyone in the store turn around the storekeeper look at him and say what do you want look around so bread milk you want to buy a hammer are you nuts where are your brains he would do this and he walk out with his tail between his legs but he would do it on purpose to sort of train himself it's okay to be looked out it's okay to be humble they would work this it was called the naric way that's why nowadays whenever you have a when you whenever you're really humbled people say oh you got the naric treatment right a little bit humble there's a famous story about naric where they would learn muser each day they would learn mus for an hour and muser they would character development and one of the things they would tell themselves is how humble they have to be so they would sit there and say over the same thing again and again tried to ingrain what they were saying in themselves so very often they would take a verse from the Torah or so one of the things they used to say in they would say back and forth they would say anyone know what that means means I am a nothing I am a nothing they would try to really really ingrain in themselves as degree of humbl one day this guy comes into the Yesa it's his first day there he's looking around and his mus it's time to learn mus so he sits down and he and he begins to say to himself I am nothing I'm nothing so two guys are watching him and one guy says to the other look at this guy he just came into the sh already and nothing takes a while to become nothing you know look is enough already people say it's a joke that's you get it it takes a while to become become that humble now having said all that our way is not the naric way completely we feel a person does have to have a feeling of selfworth especially in today's day and age where there's enough putting us down there's enough reasons to feel bad about ourselves this world especially the uh liberal left media wants us to feel bad about absolutely everything that we do everything we think oh no you sho and you took a plastic bag do you know how long the plastic bag is going to take to decompose you villain you and you drove here in a car why couldn't you find a car pool to shop right right oh and you bought styrofoam cups this is too much I can't speak to you any longer right and you have to feel guilty about everything we're in the we're in the world of guilt and therefore say feel like a world of guilt we are in the world of guilt and uh and not only that we have to feel bad for making the slaves of the African-Americans we have to feel bad for what else we have to feel bad we have to feel bad about uh the abortions that are going on we have to feel bad that in in we're not doing enough for darur so let's go out that we have to we just just feel bad you don't know what to feel bad about I'll give you stuff to feel bad about just to make sure you're feeling bad today good morning world what have I done wrong so today psychologists and and rabbis are saying you know what it's okay to feel some s some sense of selfworth but just make sure that you're feeling it and you're channeling it for good purpose make sure you're channeling it for the almighty to make it a better world and that's why we even say that if you're doing something good with your life if you're doing something good you can tell other people about it and you don't have to worry about being arrogant because maybe people will learn from your good deeds that's why in sh you know you ever have these uh appeals and Sho appeal and Sh okay we're making an appeal for the building fund okay anyone okay Mr cone in the back donates $180 $10 Mr cone Boom the next hand goes up Mr Green steam 360 Mr Klein $18 a okay Mr Green bomb $1,000 an audible gas from you $1,000 okay now right we do that in order to encourage people to do M to do some people still okay Anonymous $10 well that's but we do to encourage people so that's why we say and will'll end with this in D and we say every month when we D to Hashem in order to have a good month we say the following words it should be's will and we down for all these things and all of a sudden we say wife a life of wealth and a life of Honor we actually D for a life of Honor how does that jive with everything that I've told you until now the answer is that we all need to have some sort of feeling of selfworth we're allowed to D for it as long as we know the middle path as long as we understand that honor is very very dangerous and the more we run after it the more it will run away from us but the more we run away from honor the more we run away from taking the credit Hashem put the mechanism in the world as such that you will get the honor that is coming to you have no fear it will come and uh again it's my blessing to each and every one of you you should be able to stay away from the honor that Pharaoh was seeking that great honor that is the Highlight in the whole mark of a person who is dishonest with themselves and takes the credit and instead to be like mosu to be like H to be like all the great raban in our history who ran away from honor were not looking for credit we not looking for that kind of respect and Hashem will make sure that what's due to you you will get I'll end with a little little a oneliner there was a fellow who turned to his Rabbi and said to the rabbi Rabbi I don't get it you told me if I run away from honor honor will pursue me so since then I've been running away from honor but honor has not pursued me the Rabbi says yeah you've been running away but you keep on turning around to make sure he's following you have a great day