Today's class is in memory of our dear father Gerry Wygoda - Gedaliah Chaim Ben Pesach Ze’ev, on his Yahrtzeit
By Moshe and Frieda Zamoszczyk
I would like to discuss a halacha in Shulchan Aruch that might not be very well known.
In the laws of Yom Kippur, ,סימן תרז it says
כל הקהל לוקים מלקות ארבעים אחר תפלת המנחה, שמתוך כך יתן אל לבו לשוב מעבירות שבידו:
The entire community gets 40 lashes after Tefilat Mincha, and because of this, he’ll pay attention to repent from his sins.
This may sound shocking to those who’ve never heard this before, but many old-timers have told me that they remember this from 67th Street in Bensonhurst, and they even recall the name of the gabbai that used to give the lashes.
What in the world is going on???
It doesn’t mean heavy duty lashes, it’s really more like taps on the back. But what is the significance of this?
Rav Chaim Pilaggi, in Moed L’Kol Chai, explains by quoting a pasuk in Malachim that discusses Achav, who is known as “the wicked king Achav.”
And yet G-d says about him,
הֲרָאִיתָ כִּי נִכְנַע אַחְאָב מִלְּפָנָי יַעַן כִּי נִכְנַע מִפָּנַי לֹא אָבִיא הָרָעָה בְּיָמָיו בִּימֵי בְנוֹ אָבִיא הָרָעָה עַל בֵּיתוֹ:
Have you seen, Achav has humbled himself, (and) because he has humbled himself, I will not bring the evil in his days
Unbelievable!
Achav’s humility protects him.
Rav Chaim Pilaggi says that somebody who says, “Lashes? I should bare by back? I should go to the Mikveh?? Come on!”
That’s a mistake, says Rav Chaim.
He shares what it says about the above Pasuk in Pirkei Dvrei Eliezer:
Achav sent for Yehoshafat to give him lashes. He fasted begged and prayed and that is why Hashem gave him a level of reprieve. להודיעך כח התשובה-To let us know the power of Teshuva.
But the power of Teshuva requires humility beforehand; It requires humbling oneself. That’s why G-d brings difficulties upon people- for the end goal of making us humble.
Rav Ades said an unbelievable thought: (this is a mashal-we aren’t talking about anyone in particular)
Sometimes it happens that a person goes into the hospital for a small thing, and it gets worse and worse. What’s going on?
He explains that the person was sent to the hospital by Hashem to humble him. But this person thinks he checked into a hotel. He demands room service. He doesn’t like the way his bed is made. But he’s not in a hotel! He’s in a hospital!
Hashem brings situations upon people, in order to humble them. That’s the end goal. There’s a tremendous cleansing power in humility.
Rabbi Ades said he once visited a great man, who was in his older years, was in great pain, and was in a wheelchair. He went to visit withRabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. Rabbi Ades felt bad that this man was in so much pain, but Rav Shlomo Zalman said, “Who knows? That one groan of humility that he gives now will cleanse his entire life.”
We don’t know the power of humility.
That’s why G-d humbles us. Because we need humility.
I would suggest that everyone currently feels humbled. That’s obviously what Hashem wanted- for us to feel humbled.
But with humility comes power. As long as a person is arrogant, he can’t rely on G-d. Arrogance means, “I did it.”
Humility is the prerequisite of Bitachon, for relying on G-d.
So now that we finally feel humbled, we should feel empowered.
Rabbenu Bachya, in Kad HaKemach, on the topic of Geula says
Look at the power of humility in front of Hashem.
Even an evil person like Achav was given a reprieve. It says that there was never someone as bad as Achav in the eyes of Hashem, and yet, with the humility factor, he was given that reprieve.
The Pele Yoetz says the power of humility is unbelievable. He quotes this pasuk about Achav, and quotes from the Mekubalim that say
עיקר קיבול תפלות תלוי בהכנעה
One of the main ways for our prayers to be accepted is humility.
That’s why, Rav Wolbe says, that the first thing we do in our Amida is to bow.Bowing indicates humility.
The reason we fast on Yom Kippur is because when we fast, we’re humbled. We realize we are so feeble that if we don’t eat for 24 hours, we get knocked out. If for 48 hours-we can’t move!
Me? Powerful me? If you don’t fill me up with gas I’m knocked out?
I’m like a little baby... If I’m not fed, pampered and rested, I’ll start crying... that’s the big powerful me?
The Pele Yoetz quotes a story that happened. A group of Sadikim prayed with tremendous kavanot, but it was revealed to them that although their prayers were very wondrous, they lacked the humility factor and so they wouldn’t have worked. It was only because one of them had humility that their prayers were answered.
That’s the power of a person who’s humble.
There’s a famous story of the Baal Shem Tov, that Rabbi Ozeiry told over in Yad Yosef on Rosh Hashana. The Baal Shem Tov had a great man who would blow the shofar for him. He told the man all the techniques and notes of what to think when blowing, and he instructed the man to write it all down, so that he could have it all in mind while he blew.
Sure enough, when the time came to blow the shofar, the man misplaced the paper. After the prayers, he went over to the Baal Shem Tov and told him he felt terrible that he’d lost the paper. The Baal Shem Tov told him that actually it was it was the best tekiot ever. “But I lost the paper,” the man protested.
The Baal Shem Tov said that he had prayed that the man should lose the paper, because losing the paper humbled him. Although all the different kavanot to have while blowing are like keys to open the gates of Heaven, humility is like an ax that just chops down all the barriers.
So, while the man hadn’t had the keys, he had the ax. That’s the power of humility.
B’ezrat Hashem, we will go into the High Holidays in a humbled status.
When a person is humbled, he is powerful.
Have a wonderful day.