We continue with our series on humility.
Rav Wolbe, his sefer Aleh Shor (vol 1 page 134) talks about the concept of
ladders of self-improvement. We find this, he says, in sefer Mesilat Yesharim, where Rav Moshe Chaim
Luzzato cites a Gemara in Avoda Zara 20B
that says, Torah brings to one being
careful and being careful brings you to alacrity and so on. The Hovot
Halevavot has ten gates which are also a ladder of sorts.
Another of the ladders Rav Wolbe cites is the letter of the Ramban,
the famous Igeret HaRamban, which is also a ladder. He tells us that the ladder starts with talking softly. Talking
softly brings you to staying away from anger, staying away from anger brings
you to humility, humility brings you to fear of God. And Fear of God brings you
to be happy in your lot. From there, you come to the Shechina dwelling on a person. Wonderful ladder of the Igeret
HaRamban. Many might not appreciate Rav Wolbe's outlook of this as ladder of the Ramban. As we said, the
ladder really starts from humility. So
this is a beautiful concept, how humility is the first step. And of course, you can't jump right into humility, so
we'll go through it more in depth.
The first thing the Ramban says, in beautiful words, is to
תִּתְנַהֵג תָּמִיד לְדַבֵּר
כָּל דְּבָרֶיךָ בְּנַחַת, לְכָל אָדָם וּבְכָל עֵת
Accustom yourself to speak gently. All your words, to all
people, and at all times. There are lot of alls in there. I once learned
that the Ramban is trying to tell us, There are no exceptions here. All your
words means every single word you say, to all people, even that nudgy guy,
at all times.
So even if I'm on my way to my daughter's wedding and I'm a little
hassled, or I'm on the way to the
airplane, slow it down. All people, all time, all your words.
What is that going to do for you?
וּבַזֶּה תִּנָּצֵל מִן
הַכַּעַס,
And this will protect you from anger, which is a most serious character flaw, which causes one to sin.
Ok so let's say you got there.
You spoke softly. Then, if you speak
softly, you don't get angry.
Rabbi Ades says, We see
from here that your outside impacts your inside. Look how simple this. You're not angry yet, and you got yourself
to use that low tone, which in itself is soothing and will protect you from
getting angry.
And once we are protected
from getting angry, what happens next ? He uses beautiful words: Once you've
distanced yourself from anger, תַּעֲלֶה עַל לִבְּךָ מִדַּת הָעֲנָוָה,The quality of humility will enter
your heart.
He says, humility is the best possible trait there is.
The Ramban is telling us something very, very powerful: Anger,
which stems from arrogance ( you only get angry because things don't go
your way) is the antithesis of humility. Anger and humility can not coexist.
It's like fire and water. When you take away the water, the fire will burn. When
you take away the fire, the water will
move.
It's interesting that anger is compared to fire. The Zohar
says, don't burn any fire in any of your dwellings on Shabbat- and the
first fire is the fire of anger. And Humility
is compared to water. It says, just like water travels downwards, humility is about going down. Fascinating! Fire and Water,
anger and humility.
Another interesting point is that the numerical value of מקוה Mikveh is one more than
כעס/anger, because going to the mikveh
absolves one of the trait of anger; it purifies. That means it's almost a
natural reaction. He doesn't say, Remove the anger and then work on you're anava.
His words are,
וְכַאֲשֶׁר תִּנָּצֵל מִן
הַכַּעַס, תַּעֲלֶה עַל לִבְּךָ מִדַּת הָעֲנָוָה
When you distance (or save) yourself from anger, humility will go up
on your heart. Naturally, humility will into your heart.
And now that you're humble, תַּעֲלֶה עַל לִבְּךָ
מִדַּת הַיִּרְאָה, The Middah of Fear of Hashem will come into your heart.
What was stopping you from fearing Hashem was Ga'ava (Hey
I'm in charge) which is the opposite
of Yirat Hashem.
Taaleh, you are elevated.
This is not a regular ladder. This is an escalator. You put
your foot on one step, and it moves you up to the next one. So your humility will
cause your fear to go up. Why? Because now
that you're no longer arrogant, you start paying attention. Where'd I come
from? Where am I going? I am רִמָּה
וְתוֹלֵעָהas frail as a maggot or a worm when alive, even more so in death.
He continues, And who's going to judge you? When you start
thinking about all these things, you'll be afraid of your Creator. You'll
protect yourself from sin, and you'll be always happy with your lot because
somebody who is arrogant always wants more.
And then he says, When you continue to act with this trait of
Anava, and you stand meekly in front of men and you're
fearful from Hashem and from sin,
אָז תִּשְׁרֶה עָלֶיךָ
רוּחַ הַשְּׁכִינָה, וְזִיו כְּבוֹדָהּ, וְחַיֵּי עוֹלָם הַבָּא.
The spirit of Hashem's presence will rest upon you and you'll live
the life of the World to Come (I'll add in
this world) Unbelievable.
The man that has humility is living in Gan Eden on earth.
It's fascinating that the Ramban ends with the words,
Read this letter once a week and neglect none of it.
He says , Every day that
you read this letter, Hashem will answer your heart's desires. People think
this is some kind of magical segula: Read the letter of the Ramban
and Hashem will answer your prayers. No. It says, as we've mentioned many
times, that when a person is humble, Hashem answers his prayers. When a
person is arrogant, Hashem doesn't answer his prayers. More than that, when
the Shechina is in front of you, your prayers are answered easily. When you
go to the Kotel, Hashem's Shechina is there. One that becomes humble, says
the Ramban, the Shechina is on top of him, so of course his prayers
are answered. This is not some kind of magical segula. This is the
reality of becoming humble.
That's the beautiful ladder of the Ramban, that starts from humility and ends
with God's Shechina dwelling on you.
What a powerful, powerful concept, to understand and appreciate what we're doing in
our work on Anava.
