We continue with our discussion of humility as it connects to Bitachon, using the Bet Halevi’s essay on humility. He starts off by saying that arrogance is a terrible sin, although he doesn't tell us what the sin is. This is similar to the beginning of his essay on Bitachon, where he writes that bitachon is a great mitzvah, but he doesn't tell us where it shows up in the Torah.
Some of the opinions, such as Ramban and Rabbenu Yona, say the sin shows up in the pasuk לבלתי רם לבבו מאחיו where we are told that the king is not supposed to have many wives, great amounts of money, or many horses, because all of these things will cause him to become arrogant, and if a king can't become arrogant, it surely applies to simple people as well.
The Rambam discusses this transgression of the king and the laws of kings (chapter 2, halacha 6) and adds some beautiful hiddushim. He says:
The Torah commands him (a king) that his heart should be humbled and empty from arrogance. Like David Hamelech, who was tremendously humble, humble, said about himself, “My heart is empty (meaning I have no arrogance). He can't act in an arrogant way over the Jewish people. He quotes the pasuk mentioned above.
What should he do?
He has to be Chonen/ compassionate and merciful, to those big and small. His going in and going out is just about their needs. He's here for them. This is what a Jewish leader is. He should be concerned with the respect of the smallest of the small and when he speaks to the to the kahal, he should always speak softly, with soft words. He quotes a pasuk from Divrei HaYamim 1, chapter 28, pasuk 2, when David Hamelech wanted to get the people involved in building the Bet Hamikdash, he said, “Listen, my brothers, my nation, I want to build a house...”
Look how David Hamelech speaks in a humble way.
Furthermore, when the elders gave advice to Rachavam they said, “If you want to be successful, you have to serve them. Serve them, be humble to them and speak to them good words. That's the advice of the elders ( in the end he didn’t listen to them, he followed the advice of his young friends, which was contrary to the elders).
Act to them with extreme humility, he adds.
The Rambam is of the opinion, which is brought down in the Gemara, that Moshe Rabbenu was actually called the king, as we see from Korach, who said, “You became a king and your brother became the Kohen Gadol.” So Moshe Rabbenu was a king, and Rambam says, “There's no one greater than him.
And yet he says, “What are we?” Your complaints are not against us, it's against Hashem. You have to carry their load, and they're difficult. They're complaining, they get you angry…
Like the nursing mother carries her baby. That is the description he gives of a Jewish leader- that love, compassion concern for a baby that you're holding, that is the humility of the Jewish leader. He's called the shepherd, as it says in the pasuk in Tehilim (chapter 78, pasuk 71) where it says,
מֵאַחַ֥ר עָל֗וֹת הֱ֫בִיא֥וֹ לִ֭רְעוֹת בְּיַֽעֲקֹ֣ב עַמּ֑וֹ וּ֝בְיִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל נַחֲלָתֽוֹ׃
God chose David and took him out from from the sheep to to be the shepherd of Yaakov's nation and the Jewish people, God's inheritance and David Hamelech shepherded with a pure heart.
He continues, Like a shepherd that gathers the sheep with his arms and carries them in his chest.
All of this refers to a king, a powerful king. He's supposed to be concerned with the smallest of the small, talk to them softly, care about their needs, and treat them like a shepherd.
From this we say, “If that's the way a king has to act, imagine how someone who's not a king, how a regular person has to act and how humble he has to be, to all people?! “
That is our beautiful Torah, describing to us the way a Jewish person needs to act.
Have a wonderful day.