Many of these daily lessons come from longer classes that I give at different times during the week. When I was giving this class on a Shabbat in Deal Shul, Rav Reuven Feinstein shlita came into the class, on behalf of Torah U’Mesorah, and so we gave him the floor.
When I introduced him, since I was talking about humility, I told the following story, one of my favorites about Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Reuven’s father. Rav Meir Zlotowitz, the founder of Artscroll, was one of the great men of our generation and a great spreader of Torah. He was divorced from his first wife, and he took care of their three children, which was sometimes difficult.
(This was published in a book about him and was said at his second wife’s levaya). On one wintery night, the children were giving him a bit of a hard time being put to sleep, which he mentioned while on the phone with Rav Moshe. After his call, he went back to whatever he had to do, giving them supper and putting them to sleep etc. And then he heard a knock at the door. He opened it, and there was Rav Moshe Feinstein! At the time, Rav Moshe was in his early seventies, and was already one of the Gadolei HaDor.
And yet, he right came in. When Rav Zlotowitz asked what he was doing there, Rav Feinstein said he came to help. He read the children bedtime stories and did whatever else goes along with putting children to bed.
That's the hallmark of all our Gedolim.
They all have humility. After I told that story to introduce Rav Reuven Feinstein, he added two thoughts about humility from his father, that I’d like to share.
The first is that Rav Moshe would always say “Humility doesn't mean that you think you're a nobody, because then you'd never be able to get anywhere in life. Humility means, Of course, I'm a somebody. I have great talents, but these talents were given to me by God. My wealth, my wisdom, my strength are all gifts of God, and therefore I have to use them for Him. So, of course, when someone asks, Who's smart?
I raise my hand. Who's wealthy? I raise my hand. Who's strong? I raise my hand. But that doesn't mean it’s arrogance. I raised my hand, as in I lift up my heart in the service of God. I'm ready to go.”
That was point number one.
Point number two, which was really a beautiful point, is about a famous Gemara in which a rabbi’s son has a near- death experience. Afterwards, the rabbi asked him, “What did you see?”
And he said, “Elyonim L’Mata /I saw that those that were high in this world are down low there. And Tachtonim L’Mala/those that are low in this world are high in the next world.”
And Rav Moshe asked, “What exactly is the Chiddush? Didn't he know that we're living in a false world? That's not a chiddush.
He answered that the term is used Elyonim L’Mata/the high ones are below. Why doesn’t it just just say they’re below?
Why are they still called Elyonim? Because they're still the high people and they're below. And the tachtonim/low people are still called the low people, and they're above. What does that mean? He says the Elyonim, are the people that had a lot of talents. They're wise, they're strong, they're wealthy, they're Elyonim, but they didn't use their gifts properly. They used them for themselves. They were proud of them. They didn't attribute them to God. And therefore, those Elyonim walk around with a badge. Elyonim.
They could have done so much more. And so they’re below.
Then you have the group of people that are Tachtonim/lowly ones-they weren't the smartest, they weren't the wealthiest. They weren't the strongest, but they used their abilities to the maximum.
So, they get the stamp Tachtonim. They were not from the top of the class, they didn’t graduate in the top 10 percentile. They graduated in the bottom 10 percentile, but they used their efforts, abilities and talents to the maximum, and therefore they're high up there. They're still Tachtonim. That's their badge of greatness. You're tachtonim, but you're L’mala/up. And the opposite, the badge of shame goes to the Elyonim, the high and lofty, because they didn't use their talents and they didn't attribute it to God. They're L’Mata. They come down to the bottom.
These are important concepts to think about and appreciate. We could be walking around thinking, “I'm from the Elyonim Club.” But that doesn't guarantee that we’re L’Mala.
You’re only L’Mala when you take those talents, use them properly and attribute them to God.
Have a wonderful day.