The Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection is the one-stop shop for the Torah inspiration shared by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe in one simple feed. The Jewish Inspiration Podcast, Parsha Review Podcast, Thinking Talmudist Podcast, Living Jewishly Podcast and Unboxing Judaism Podcast all in one convenient place. Enjoy!
00:00 - Intro/Outro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Thinking Talmudist Podcast.
00:14 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody, welcome to the Thinking Talmudist. Before we begin, I'd like to dedicate today's class to the Refor Shalema, to the speedy recovery of David ben Simona. David ben Simona. This episode is sponsored by Yossi and Ashleen Azulay in their honor. So today's Talmud should be a merit, and all the Torah that we study and, hopefully, are inspired should go to the Refuah of David ben Simona. Amen. Okay, we are in Tractate Sotah 5a.
00:49
The past couple of weeks we talked about the terrible, terrible evils of anger, the evils of anger, sorry of arrogance, of arrogance, of haughtiness, of arrogance of haughtiness. So the Gemara now resumes that discussion and the consequences of that haughtiness, of that arrogance. Okay, rebbe Lezer, we're right in the middle of the page. Rebbe Lezer, omer, omer, rebbe Lezer. Rebbe Lezer said kol adam she'esh, bo'gasos roch, any person who possesses a haughtiness of spirit and arrogance is deserving to be cut down like an asherah tree. What's an asherah tree? It's a tree that is worshipped. It's called an asherah tree and we know that that tree needs to be cut down completely because it's used as an idol. So you destroy it. So, someone who is arrogant, meaning they're making themselves lofty, they're making themselves like they are. What is, you know, pesach, pesach. We mentioned this previously. But what is Pesach Pesach? We eat matzah. Why do we eat matzah? Because when the Jewish people left Egypt, yada, yada, yada right, they didn't have time for the bread to rise and therefore they eat this flat bread. Give me a break, come on, really. That's what it's about. No, the idea behind it is that what is the leavened bread? It's filled with air. Someone who's arrogant is filled with air. They're just puffy like bread. You know what Pesach is all about. Recognize that everything is from Hashem. Make yourself like that matzah. No ear, no seor, sheba, isa, no yeast in the bread, just plain emunah, just plain connection with Hashem. Recognize. So now, when someone does make themselves all puffy, what's that? That's arrogance. They're filling themselves up like I'm bigger than you. I am bigger than you know.
03:16
My grandfather would quote from Reb Yitzchak Kuttner, the great famous Rosh Yeshiva of the Pachad Yitzchak, but also the great famous Yeshiva of of the of the Pachad Yitzchak, but also the great famous Yeshiva of Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn, new York. So Rabbi Yitzchak Kuttner would say that someone who's arrogant we just think someone who's arrogant is just like they're arrogant, because, no, you don't understand to what degree. They're so arrogant that they would ideally like to remove God from his throne and sit in his place. We think like, no, that's a far reach, that's not. No, he's just a little bit arrogant. He has a little bit of money, so he thinks he made it in life. No, no, no, no, that's not what it is. Someone who's arrogant wants to pluck God off his seat and say I can handle this, this is my. You know, that's really the seed of arrogance and the danger of arrogance. So he says it's got to be cut down like an Asherah tree.
04:21
Now what is the obvious follow-up to this? What do we learn in our Talmud studies? Prove it, prove it. You say that it's like an asherah tree. Prove it. Don't just give me a nice phrase. Why? Because a tree? No, no, no. Give me proof. Give me proof.
04:43
The ksivacha virami hakom agduin. No, no, no, no. Give me proof. Keder ksiv hacha Virami hakom agduin. It is written here regarding arrogant people, those of lofty stature, will be cut down, b'ksiv hasam. And regarding the asherah tree, it says v'asherahem tegadei un. It's written over there. And their asherah tree shall be cut down. So because we know that the arrogant are cut down and the asherah tree are cut down. We link the two and now we say someone who's arrogant will be cut down like an asherah tree, and it's using the same word, same verbiage, and therefore the gadeon gad-eim. And therefore we see from this that a person should be very, very, very careful about their arrogance to ensure that it doesn't lead them astray.
05:40
Now we continue, my dear friends, another teaching. Now we continue, my dear friends, another teaching. Rabbi Lazar says why? Very serious, like, oh my goodness, wow, pretty serious. She-nemar ha-kitzu ve-rananu shokh ne-afar Awake and sing you dwellers of the dust, which is what is going to be said to those who are, you know, in the earth already. Those who have already passed, wake up, time to get back up again. That's the resurrection of the dead. Those who have already passed, wake up, time to get back up again. That's the resurrection of the dead. Shokh ne ba'af alonemar. It does not say those who lie in the dust, el shokh ne afar, rather dwellers of the dust. From this we infer mi sh'nasah shachayn la'afar b'chayav, that he, who is a dweller to the dust in his life will be resurrected. But the haughty, who's not like a dweller, who's not like a simpleton who makes himself higher than others.
07:00
Such a person doesn't fall into that category and his earth will not be, his dust will not be disturbed. So there's something very, very incredible about this whole piece of Talmud. It gives another third teaching and perhaps a few more that need to be investigated here. And what we need to understand here is the danger of arrogance. We mentioned this two weeks ago, I believe, in a previous episode of the Thinking Tomatist podcast. What is arrogance? We just said feeling puffy, feeling elevated. But there's one more step to that, and that is feeling bigger or better than someone else. Feeling bigger meaning, excuse me, do you know who I am? Do you know who I am?
08:01
You know my brother was once with his class class. You know, many times they do this. They take eighth graders and they, before they go into high school in yeshiva, what they do is they take them to go see some righteous scholars. They go see see some rabbis. They go see some people who are uplifted and hopefully they are indeed righteous, hopefully they are indeed. My brother went with his class and they went to some rabbi and a boy touched the desk of the rabbi. He just put his hand there. A bunch of kids standing around and they're standing to visit this rabbi and the rabbi blew a fit that they were touching his desk and I was like maybe they shouldn't go to that rabbi.
08:42
Maybe he's not. Maybe he's a little bit too filled with arrogance. Maybe he has a tremendous amount. It's very possible he has a tremendous amount of Torah knowledge, but maybe he skipped over this Talmud. Maybe he didn't internalize the idea of humility and took this haughtiness to the next level. And it's every single. You think like, okay, he's a Torah scholar, he should know better.
09:08
Every human being is still a human. It doesn't make you superhuman that you've studied Torah. You have to internalize it and you have to make it part of your life, and that's why the Torah teaches us these lessons. You have to internalize these messages and it's a lot of work to do it. It's not a simple thing. We don't just one day arrive at being a humble person. It's going to take a lot of testing from Hashem. Hashem is going to try us here and try us there and try us more and more and here, a little bit here and a little bit there, until we're able to. You know, at first it'll come with people humiliating us and we're like excuse me, who do you think you are? And then we're like you know what. Maybe I should be a little bit more humble, maybe I should be a little bit more cautious. But then you have again. Arrogance is very dangerous and it's a very, very, very slippery slope, because once someone is on that trajectory, it becomes extremely difficult to get down from there and to be properly cognizant that everything is a gift from Hashem. You have money. Hashem gave you that money.
10:18
You know that I was just forwarded an article about the element of luck in financial success Luck in financial success and this guy not a Jewish guy writing this article was saying that it's. The dangerous word in Wall Street is luck, Because you can't attribute anything to luck. It has to be that it's my brilliance that got me this money you kidding, not luck. Well, luck is a different word for the hand of Hashem. How many times do people make investments and they're terrible, awful investments? I thought I dotted my I's, crossed my T's, everything was perfect, and then it fell through. Everything fell apart, or I didn't pay enough attention, and it was extremely successful. It was my luck. Well, there is no such thing as luck. There is the hand of Hashem and the more we're able to recognize that, the more humble we will be, the more we will recognize that everything we have is a gift from Hashem.
11:26
The third teaching from the Gemara here about arrogance the Amar Rebbe Lazar. And Rebbe Lazar said Anyone who has the haughtiness of spirit, the divine presence, laments over him. She nemar ve'gova, me'meroch m'merchok gi'yeda. For though Hashem is exalted, he views the lowly, but the arrogant he grieves over from afar, meaning Hashem loves the closeness. Now the commentaries here say that the Asherah tree is not only cut down. Afar, meaning Hashem loves the closeness. Now the commentaries here say that the Asherah tree is not only cut down, it is completely uprooted. It needs to be completely uprooted. The verse states and you shall obliterate their name from the place, the haughty person will similarly be cut down and consigned to oblivion. So this is not something that we do. Hashem doesn't need our help and our assistance in this, but rather this is something that Hashem does. Hashem says don't try to take my seat Right, I run the world, I created the world and listen to the Yigdal prayer podcast that we will discuss this in greater depth.
12:54
A haughty person is treated like an Asherah because, as the Gemara states above, any person who is possessed of a haughtiness of spirit is regarded as though he worshipped idols the Talmud we just spoke about last week and worshipping an asherah is idolatry. So it's the same thing. So the results are the same. Just like an asherah, someone who bows down to a tree, makes it into an idol, we uproot it completely. What happens to someone who is arrogant? They're serving idolatry themselves and therefore they get the same punishment uprooted completely. Okay, the Talmud now continues to elaborate on the first part of the verse.
13:41
Darush Rabavira Abavira expounded V'yitema, rebbe Lazar, and some say it was Rebbe Lazar who said Bo u're'e shalokim midas ha'kodesh baruch hu midas basavadam, come and see how the manner of a creature of flesh and blood is not like the manner of the Holy One, the Almighty. We're different. In what way are we different? Midas basavadam, the manner of flesh and blood, the creatures of flesh and blood, gevoa roi esagavoa.
14:14
An exalted person views another exalted person as someone whose society is desirable, apari, the, the uppity class, but an exalted person does not view a lowly person as such. Ie politicians, they're only in it for the big money, for the big pharma, right? Okay, I'm not going to get into the whole conspiracy thing here. I'm not going to talk about it, right? But really, the people who are up on the one percenters. They only see the one percenters. What's about the rest of the people? The people who are struggling to make a living, the people who are struggling to pay for yogurt or for bread for their children, to put food on the table, to have the basics? Very hard for someone who's arrogant to see someone who is lowly of. Okay, it's like they're statistics.
15:13
Avol midas ha-kaddush boruchu einokein. But the manner of the Holy One blessed is, he is not like this. Hu gavoah veroah eshashafel. Hashem is exalted and yet he views the lowly, she-nemar ki-rom. Hashem v'shafel yireh. The verse states for, though Hashem is exalted, he views the lowly, the downtrodden, those who are beaten, those who are the underdog. It's an amazing thing. We mentioned this, but this is another perspective on it. You look, in the Torah, god always favors the underdog, always the downtrodden.
15:57
Abraham had two children. His first was Ishmael, his second was Yitzchak, who was the favored child, yitzchak. Yitzchak had two children. His first was Yishmael, his second was Yitzchak. Who was the favored child, yitzchak? Yitzchak had two children Yaakov and Esav. Who was the favored? Esav was the older, yaakov was the younger. Who was the favored Yaakov? Yaakov had children Reuven, shimon, levi, judah, and a younger one named Joseph, who was the favored Joseph, who was the favorite Joseph Moshe had an older brother too. The Jewish people are always the underdog.
16:33
When the Jewish people go all the way up to the top, hashem slaps us right back down. Stay humble, stay humble, Stay quiet. We don't need to show off to the world our successes. We don't need to show off to the world our might. Now we need to be strong. Yes, we need to have a strong people. We need to have a strong people. We need to have a strong, vibrant community. Wherever we are, we need to be politically astute and engaged. Yes, that's important. Of course, we rely only on Hashem, not on our personal power, not on our personal strength. Everything's from the only on Hashem, not on our personal power, not on our personal strength. Everything's from the hand of Hashem. But a Jewish community also needs to stay humble, and it's something that the Jewish people have a difficult time doing. They have to flaunt their success. They have to drive the nice cars. They have to drive the nice cars. They have to build the nice homes, and it's like go look, go, look around the world, you'll see it's unfortunate. We have to stay humble. We're meant to be a light to the world. People are supposed to look at us.
17:58
I want to share with you an amazing story. I've said this a few years ago. It's a legend. I don said this a few years ago, it's a legend. I don't know that it's true. I heard it. It's a story that went around a lot after this person passed away.
18:10
So I remember back in 1986 or 87, the US News World Report which we got religiously in our home. That was our intake of news. It was the US News World Report. It was before you had phones and internet and at your fingertips you had news. So the front cover had a picture of two religious Jews, the Reichman brothers. They were the second wealthiest people on earth after the Rockefellers. They were worth, I think it was 22 billion dollars back in 86. You imagine what that is today. It's like you know, elon musk levels right either way, very, very, very wealthy people and they gave a tremendous amount of tzedakah, tremendous, tremendous amount of tzedakah. I mean people came to them.
18:59
In fact, one of the sons I heard say the following story that when he was about 10 or 12 years old, his father called him into his office. It was a very, very prominent rosh yeshiva, head of a yeshiva. And uh, he says to his son, pull out the checkbook and we'd write a check for a hundred thousand dollars. He's like what? What do I need? You have a secretary here that she can like you know? He says no, I'm not going to be here forever. You're going to take over. You have to learn how to write charity. You have to learn how to give charity. You have to learn how to write such checks and start from a young age. Learn how to write the checks, learn how to give it properly.
19:39
I heard there's an institution, not, I heard there's an institution. Without getting into details, there's an institution in Toronto that lived by a miracle, lived by a total miracle Institution, a great Torah institution, and every day of payroll, the secretary would call the rabbi and she'd say rabbi, you know today's payroll. He says, yeah, okay. He says you know we're short $30,000. He's like, well, by when do we need it? He says by three o'clock. He says, well, now it's 12 o'clock, call me back at three o'clock. You know, and someone overheard this conversation and asked the secretary like, is this a normal thing? She says this happens every single month. He calls him at 12 o'clock. He says why are you calling me now? Call me at 3 o'clock and every single month at 3 o'clock. There's enough money to cover the salaries for all the rabbis, for all the educators, for everyone.
20:39
How? Every time it comes from a random place. Every Every time it comes from a random place. Every single time it comes from a random place. Where does it come from? Every time it's a different person. What happens? People would come and borrow money from the Reichmans and some were able to pay it back, religiously, properly, but some weren't. They'd go back to him and say you know, it's like. You know, I was hoping to be able to pay you back the million dollars I borrowed, but it's been a struggle.
21:10
You know, whenever you do have the money to pay it back, just pay it back to this institution. Just give it to them and tell them what the accounting is, and they'll you know, give it to them and tell them what the accounting is and they'll, you know, give it to them. And he says, every single month they'd get another random phone call from someone they'd never heard of in their life. He would say you know, I owe Mr Reichman a million dollars. I only was, you know, thank God, was able to come up with $100,000 towards my loan. I'm sending it over right now. You know, one after another after another, miracle after miracle. But that's the type of acts of kindness that they did to help, you know, help people and help institutions and be very, very charitable.
21:49
So legend has it that, you know, people leave two wills. One is before they're buried and one is after they're buried. And before they're buried is like where they want to be buried and how they want to. You know the whole, you know all the details of their preparation. And then, after they're buried, what their will and testament, what they want, their family and so on, dividing all their money, whatever it is. So he left in his first will. He said I'd like you to bury me with my socks. Very odd request. They went to the rabbi. The rabbi was like you can't do that you can't do that, sorry, no exceptions.
22:30
In halacha Everyone gets buried the same way. You don't get buried with socks. There's a shrouds, there's a proper way that people are buried. So they opened up his second after his burial. They opened up his second will and they said you see, even your socks you can't take with you. And people think that everything is going to be forever. I'll live forever. I'm going to take my money forever. I'll take my success forever, I'll take my.
23:01
We're all temporary, we're a little blip on that map, and the more we're able to internalize that message, we're able to realize. You know what? Be God-like, care about the simple person, care about the person who's downtrodden, just like the Almighty does you know who? In the Torah do we find that Hashem has a promise that anybody who messes with them, god will rain His wrath on them. Three people who? Three who's that Very good? The orphan, the widow and the convert. Why? Because they're on the lowest level of confidence, of feeling secure, of feeling like. You know, it's like it's very difficult. Someone who's an orphan, missing a parent or two parents, a widow broken without her spouse, someone who's a convert, comes in without any family. Everyone thinks they're crazy. You're crazy. You converted to Judaism, they lose everything.
24:19
Shem warns I personally. I personally will take revenge with anybody who hurts their feelings, with anybody who harms them, with anybody who, even unintentionally. Be so careful. Be so careful. Why? Hashem says by me, it doesn't go by what the world values. Everyone is a precious gem. The world has some way of thinking that if someone has more money you know, you've heard this in this class, anybody who's been a participant here you know I despise the use of the word success when people talk about oh, very successful, yeah, he's very successful. The guy's on his whatever number, marriage right, has a billion dollars, a trillion dollars. That doesn't make him successful. Only a guy who works hard and has a great relationship with his children, great relationship with his spouse, great relationship with his spouse, that is success. Someone who's humble A person should never, ever, ever say I've heard these words sadly, tragically, so many times where people are just like they're right off. There's certain children I you know two children I don't talk to. They were a mistake, they're like, not significant to my life, I don't want to talk to them. Ever Tragic, it's truly tragic.
25:53
Our Talmud here teaches us be like God. Our job is to emulate God. Why are we called Adam as human? Adam, we know because Adam was taken from the Adama, from the earth. But if you change around the vowels, the word Adama is Adame, which means to emulate. Our job as Adam is to emulate God. Emulate God. God worries about his downtrodden God worries why? Because they're not downtrodden to God In the eyes of humanity, they may be downtrodden In God's eyes. That's his precious gems. Don't mess with my precious gems. It's such an important thing for us to change the way we look at things and not look at it with a dollar value, but look at it with a holiness value, with a godly value. Okay, some more about the evils of arrogance, my dear friends, omar Avchizdo.
27:03
Avchizdo said and some say that it was Marukva who said this again, why does the Talmud go into the details of who said what? I saw a quote, a quote on Elon Musk's Twitter or X feed yesterday, when I hear an amazing, amazing quote. I think he took it straight from the thinking Tom at his podcast. I think he may be secretly listening to us and taking this quote. He said the truth is not intimidated by questions. That's the Torah. The Torah is not intimidated by questions. Falsehood is intimidated by questions because then it falls apart. The truth, the Torah, the MS, no problem, every day of the week, ask all you want, it's not going to change anything. It'll crystallize, it'll clarify, it won't break it apart, it'll strengthen it. That's our job. To ask questions Endlessly, ask questions, endlessly. Ask questions. Okay, again, this is Rav Chisda, in the name of. Some say it was Marukva who said it. It's very important for us to have the exact linkage. Who is the source of what we're talking about?
28:39
Concerning any person who possesses haughtiness of spirit, amar HaKadosh Baruch Hu, the Almighty, has said Ein Ani Vehu Yecholim Lador Ba'olam, I and he, god says, cannot dwell together in the same world. It's either me or him. Ani Vehu Ein Yecholim Lador Ba'olam. We cannot dwell in the same world. Why? He who slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I cut down? One with haughty eyes and an expansive heart, him I cannot bear. This is God telling us. This is not the way. This is in Psalms 101, verse 5. I'll decree also, don't read it as also, but rather with him, I cannot bear. I cannot bear. God does not want to be in the world with another arrogant person. What does that mean? Let me give you an example of what this means.
30:00
Imagine a father very, very wealthy man. What does that mean? Let me give you an example of what this means. Okay, imagine a father very, very wealthy man has a high school boy in high school, a son in high school. Now, what's every boy in high school want to do? He wants to show off a little bit, get some attention from the right people. So he gets himself a nice car from daddy's money, builds himself a nice house with daddy's money and does a very, very beautiful grand opening event for his house, calls all his friends, all his buddies from school it's going to be the party house and he shows everybody around all of the rooms. He says look at this and I built this, and I built that, and I built this and I built that, and all of these things. His father comes and he looks at what the son is presenting. He's like what you built, what you built nothing, you took my money and you're taking credit like this. Is you, you, you accomplishing? When we take credit for things? Think of intellect. Who gave us?
31:19
intellect. Who gave us a functioning body? Oh, you're so great because you won an Olympic medal. Oh, wow, the arrogance. Who gave you a heart? Who gave you legs? Who gave you a heart? Who gave you legs? Who gave you everything? You have the gift from Hashem and you're taking credit Like it's you who did something.
31:46
Gomorrah says I can't dwell with people who that's the way they live their life, because such a person is living without recognition of reality. Such a person is living without recognition of reality. Such a person is living without a recognition of like. How disconnected can you be Not realizing that everything is the hand of Hashem? What credit do you get? It's a really incredible Talmud.
32:18
The Gemara mentions a different version of Rabbi Chisra's dictum. It says there are those who teach this interpretation of oh so ito, regarding those who slander, rather than those who are arrogant, which really fall into the same category, the only people who can really speak. Lashon hara speak negatively about other people is if I feel elevated above other people, if I feel a sense of arrogance, I speak negatively about other people. Look at me, I'm so great, but look at them. Oh, those awful people, those awful right. Oh, those awful people, those awful right. She-nemar me-lashni b'seyser, re-ehu oso atzmis. He who slanders his neighbor in secret, him I will cut down. So some say it's referring to specifically arrogance and some say it's specifically for slander. Okay, important for us to see that there's another angle, another perspective here. Further comments about arrogance. Omar Rabbi, alexander. Rabbi Alexander said kol odom shiesh bogasos o ruach, concerning any person who possesses a haughtiness of spirit, afilu ruach kim'o ocharto.
33:35
Even a light wind agitates him. Meaning they're very irritable. Someone who's arrogant. What does it mean when someone's arrogant? It's like I own the world, you live in my world, I own the world, you live in my world. So when you stop your car or talk to someone and you're in their way, they get very irritated. My world, you're blocking me in my world. I own this place. That's the frame of mind that they're living with. Even a light wind agitates them. Oh, it's so cold. It's ridiculous this weather, the frame of mind that they're living with. Even a light wind agitates them. Oh, it's so cold. It's ridiculous this weather. Oh, it's like to me, the funniest conversation people can ever have is about the weather. There's literally nothing you can do about the weather. Why would you talk about it? I don't know it's going to get cooler, it's going to get hotter. It's going to get this. It's going to get hotter, it's going to get this. It's like the classic I have nothing to talk about, conversation, let's talk about it. I don't know, just like. To me it's always intriguing to see a conversation like that.
34:51
Sh'nemar barusharim kiyam nigrash, as it states. How do we see this? It says For the wicked will be like the driven sea, just like the sea contains many revios of water, and a light wind agitates it, and a light wind agitates it. Odom shiesh bo el revias achas. But a man who has only one revias of blood, meaning the volume of blood. How much blood do we have in our body? Gemara says it's a revias. It's a quantity of one revias is between three and five fluid ounces. I think we have more blood than that, but how many of that do you have in the ocean? Billions and billions and trillions of ounces of water, and a little wind blows the whole water, right? So too, someone who has arrogance, a little wind will blow them and agitate them. Al-achas, kama, v'kama. How much more so will we be agitated by the light wind? We'll be spewn out like so much mire and mud.
36:09
So the Gemara is very, very concerned and alarmed about one who is haughty, who is arrogant, because it's very dangerous. It's dangerous for us to live a life that is arrogant, where we feel that we're above other people or that we can take credit for everything like we did something. The Gemara discusses whether any degree of haughtiness is appropriate or permitted Never appropriate. Is it never appropriate to take credit for something? I will share with you that I actually came back after my second or third time that I was in the former Soviet Union. I went there as a single boy, 17, 18 years old, and I ran some really fun projects and when I got back, people were giving me a lot of acknowledgement for the work I was doing and I asked my grandfather is it arrogance to feel good about the compliments people are giving me? It feels good. Is that arrogant? He said do you boast about what you're doing? I said no, people see what I'm doing and they're acknowledging. He says well then, enjoy it. Soak it up, right, enjoy it. But the problem is is when people are the ones to toot their own horn. When people are so full of themselves, all they can see is their own self. Someone who's arrogant, takes all the air out of the room. There's nobody else. Someone who's humble takes no air in the room, which is why we see that the ark, the ark was a miracle.
37:50
The ark that was in the middle of the Holy of Holies was a miracle Because the measurement of the room, let's say it was 10 feet, just to make it simple, it was 10 feet. So what's if you had a box in the middle of the room of 10 feet by 10 feet that was 5 feet. How much room would you have on each side? Math, it's 10 feet and in the middle you had a box that was 5 feet. How much room would you have around it? Two and a half feet, right, doctor? You with me? Yeah, two and a half feet on each side.
38:26
But that's not the way the measurement worked. When you went into the Holy of Holies and you measured from the wall to the ark, it was 5 feet. From the wall to the ark, it was 5 feet. From the wall to the ark, it was five feet. You measured the ark itself it was five feet. You measured the whole room it was 10 feet. It was humble. It didn't take up space.
38:49
When a person is humble, they don't take up space. Someone is arrogant. No room for anybody else, don't leave me. Anybody who sat by a dinner table with someone who's arrogant. The only thing you hear is this person talking about I did this and I'm going here and I'm doing that and I have this client and this successful thing and that thing, everything. Nobody can talk and everything. Then anybody says they have to one-up everybody. Everybody feels small. Someone who's really great makes everyone feel big. They're able to compliment, they're able to be magnanimous, they're able to be happy for others. Someone who's arrogant is bitter Just about me. Me have to be possessive over everything that's going on around them, making sure that it's all about me. Make sure everybody knows that Really, really damaging thing.
39:58
So the Gemara now continues and the Gemara discusses whether there's any degree of haughtiness which is appropriate or permitted. Amir Rabichia Rabichia Barashi. Amir Rav Rabichia Barashi said in the name of Rav Talmud Chocham Tzorch, shehebo Achas, mishmona Bishminis, a Torah scholar, must have one-eighth of an eighth of haughtiness. One-eighth of an eighth of haughtiness. Rabbi Huna said in the name of Rabbi Yeshua, and that haughtiness crowns him as the beard does the stalk. What does this mean? Let's look at what the commentary says so. Rashi identifies this as an uchla, which is a small dry measure that the gemara means one-fifth of a quarter kav. However, rashi and the Rishonim define uchla as one-eighth of a log. They apparently had a different text in Baba Basra. Either way, it's a very, very small volume of arrogance.
41:21
It is essential that a Torah scholar possess a very small degree of haughtiness so that frivolous people not sport with him, they won't play around with him, and so that they accept even his unpopular teachings and rulings. It means you have to have some. It's not haughtiness, but a recognition of. I'll give you an example. I'll give you. I think this will be a good example. Let's just finish the Kumara and I'll remind me, if you can please. I have to tell you the story. I said it maybe five, six weeks ago, but it's worthwhile repeating it over Chaim Ozer. So if you could remind me, please, so I don't forget.
42:01
A related remark Amar Rav Arav said Bisham to the Isbe in a state of excommunication is one who possesses it, a full measure of haughtiness. Bisham to the Lesbe and in a state of haughtiness. B'sham toh delesbe, and in a state of excommunication is one who does not possess even a tiny degree of it. So here he says that someone who is so humble, the people of the town won't fear him and therefore will not have the power of influence when it's needed to properly rebuke people, to guide, to mentor the community, to give them criticism. That's not going to have any weight if someone is too humble. A person has to have a right balance. This is something that we've talked about numerous times, but there's a dissenting opinion, and then we'll get to this.
42:54
Omer Rabinach Bar Yitzchak, omer Rabinach Bar Yitzchak. Omer Rabinach Bar Yitzchak said Lo mino v'lo miktzato. A person should not desire neither all of it and neither part of it of arrogance. Don't have nothing to do with arrogance. Nothing Run to the opposite extreme Mi yizutu dikhsiv be For is it insignificant that it is written about arrogance? Every haughty of heart is an abomination of Hashem. An abomination If that's the case. If it's an abomination, don't even have even a tiny drop of it. Don't touch arrogance. Arrogance, terrible, never. Okay, that's another opinion, but we'll talk more about this in the coming weeks.
43:40
But I want to talk about two things here. First, I want to tell you that story, but I also want to tell you like. This is that in every single trait, even acts of kindness, kindness, kindness is a great trait. Can anybody find a negative to kindness? What's a negative to kindness Is that you're so kind you don't feed your children. I'm so kind with everybody else, helping everybody else out, but I'm not there for my wife and children. That's not kind. That's a terrible act of kindness. I'm kind for the whole world, but not for my own. It's okay.
44:15
They don't need to be minimalists Fine, they don't need To be minimalist fine, they don't need it. Now, torah tells us you have to have balance with everything, with the good and with the not good. When someone is arrogant, there is a measure that you have to stay away from with all your might. But there's a slight measure that's important to have not to be a pushover, not necessarily arrogant. The world calls it arrogance, but it's not necessarily arrogance. It means having a backbone. Now, having a backbone doesn't mean that you're a pushover. Having a backbone doesn't mean that you are an arrogant person. It means that you're not a pushover and it means that you're going to be able to stand strong and firm when need to, to help others so that others can grow, so that others can be inspired. It's important. So story Rabbi Chaim Moser had a court case that was brought to him Again.
45:28
I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but I think it's when we talk about this topic. I think it's very worthwhile repeating it. The court case was about who had the rights to print the Talmud, and it was a disagreement between two companies. Obviously, each one felt that they had the rights. Who had the copyright? And anybody has the right to print it. The question is you can't just go take this art scroll, a beautiful Talmud, and just start photocopying and selling it in the store. That's a copyright infringement and you could, and probably should and would, get sued because you're stealing from the publisher. They spent a lot of money to produce this and you're just copying it. You've got to be very careful.
46:15
Either way. They had this big disagreement in who had the right to print the Talmud. And they came in front of the bezden of Reb Chaim HaZer, who was the leading Torah scholar in Europe, and he sided with one of the sides. He listened to the whole case and he sided with one of the sides. He gave his ruling case and he sided with one of the sides. He gave his ruling.
46:42
The other side put out a rumor saying that Rabbi Moser was being, you know, showing favorability to one side because she was a widow and she, you know whatever. They were saying that he wasn't being just and he wasn't being fear. And later they say that about the leading rabbi, the jewish people of the generation. That's a pretty severe. Later the people realized what a mistake they made in talking like that about the great reprimander and they came to ask forgiveness. Reprimander said if you just hurt my feelings, I can forgive. I can forgive. No problem, I'm not, you didn't hurt my feelings, I can forgive. I can forgive. No problem, I'm not, you didn't hurt my feelings, I represent the Jewish people. I can't forgive the honor of the Jewish people. That means he understood that in his position he represents not only the community that he was leading, but the entire city state, the entire country. He represents not only the community that he was leading, but the entire city state, the entire country. People from all across Europe would come to Reb HaMozer to ask him questions. He felt the responsibility. I represent them. He's not arrogant for his own honor. I represent the Jewish people. That's an honor I can't forego. That's not my honor to give away. It's like when people say, oh, I forgive so-and-so for doing something to someone else. Well, right, you have to forgive, it wasn't done to you. All right, my dear friends, let's grow and let's be inspired. I plan to start a new series, God willing, in the coming weeks, of the 13 attributes that Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, the great Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, the Musser Master, would tell his students. These are the 13 traits that you should acquire and, God willing, we're going to go through one by one. We're going to go through each of those traits. We're probably going to do that in our Sunday night class. You'll see more information about it.
48:49
This is the Thinking Talmudist podcast. Dear friends, please, if you like these podcasts, please share them with your friends, Rate them with whatever Spotify and Apple so that they can show it to other people. That's what it goes by. It goes by. You know you like it. They say, okay, maybe someone else will like it, Maybe someone else will like it. And they keep on pushing it. You get the merit of the Torah study. It's like free, interest-free Torah. My dear friends, have a great Shabbos. Thank you, Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you next week.
49:31 - Intro/Outro (Announcement)
Please help sponsor an episode so we can continue to produce more quality Jewish content for our listeners around the globe. Please visit torchweb.org to donate and partner with us on this incredible endeavor.