Podcasts about anava

Notes Avui la Sílvia ens proposa un exercici per practicar adjectius: ella diu el començament d'una frase i l'Andreu l'ha de completar amb un adjectiu, el primer que li vingui al cap. Tot seguit, n'han de trobar el contrari. Entremig, comentaran matisos importants dels adjectius que vagin sortint. Episodi en directe Acompanya'ns el pròxim 23 de juliol a les 17 h a la llibreria Ona per al segon episodi amb públic! Podreu remenar llibres en català, protegir-vos de la calor, practicar el català i passar una bona estona amb nosaltres.

Chukas - Balancing Between Gayvah and Anava

What Is Anava?

What Is Anava?

YITRO: ANAVA Will Build or Break You | STUMP THE RABBI (260) https://youtu.be/_GxvLF6HMgISince Parashat Yitro's main focus tends to be that we receive the holy Torah at Mt. Sinai, the lessons learned from Moshe and Yitro can often be underappreciated. The truth is that these verses that precede Matan Torah are one that every baal teshuva and convert to Judaism should engrave into their heart. Why? ANAVA--The Midah that will either build you to have a wonderful life, or break you into a rollercoaster full of bitterness and misery. This discussion will the foundation of our shiur, followed by the questions and answers by the live online audience. Enjoy, Learn, Share and Be Holy.#Anava #Humility #MosheRabbeinu #Yitro #AmazingStories #IslamQuranExposed #Ungrateful #OrthodoxJudaismExplained #TenCommandments #ParashatYitro #Shabbat #ShabbatShalom #Judaism #Jewish #RabbiYaronReuven #Islam #Expose

YITRO: ANAVA Will Build or Break You | STUMP THE RABBI (260) https://youtu.be/_GxvLF6HMgISince Parashat Yitro's main focus tends to be that we receive the holy Torah at Mt. Sinai, the lessons learned from Moshe and Yitro can often be underappreciated. The truth is that these verses that precede Matan Torah are one that every baal teshuva and convert to Judaism should engrave into their heart. Why? ANAVA--The Midah that will either build you to have a wonderful life, or break you into a rollercoaster full of bitterness and misery. This discussion will the foundation of our shiur, followed by the questions and answers by the live online audience. Enjoy, Learn, Share and Be Holy.#Anava #Humility #MosheRabbeinu #Yitro #AmazingStories #IslamQuranExposed #Ungrateful #OrthodoxJudaismExplained #TenCommandments #ParashatYitro #Shabbat #ShabbatShalom #Judaism #Jewish #RabbiYaronReuven #Islam #Expose

En el quart programa «Todas las huellas importan» hem parlat amb Anna i la galga Vela Anna va adoptar a la galga Vela, estava en adopció després de ser salvada, anava a rebre un tir del seu propietari. Ara, Anna i Vela són una magnífica parella, els quals ajuden als humans que ho necessiten. Si voleu contactar amb el programa per a qualsevol consulta, el podeu fer enviant un WhatsApp al: 695 163 037. A continuació, podem escoltar el programa.

Al 'Què t'hi Jugues!' analitzem l'actualitat amb el periodista, Lu Martín

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La medicina

Welcome to our Bitachon series. We were going through Sha'ar HaBechina now, and he's bothered by why is it that we're not all jumping for joy over all the great things that are in the world, if tov Hashem lakol . And his third reason was that things don't always go right, and we don't appreciate that and therefore, we don't see the goodness. And today we'll spend some time on appreciating when things don't go right. The Ramchal in his sefer Derech Hashem , volume two, chapter eight, says, we all know that all God wants to do is good. That's why He created the world. And He loves us like a father loves his son. But this very love sometimes brings with it a need for discipline. Like the pasuk says, כי כאשר ייסר איש את בנו, like a man chastises his son, Hashem Elokecha meyasreka , God chastises you. And therefore, we have to realize, he says, that the judgment and the justice is coming from a source of love. And God is not coming like an enemy that has a vengeance, but like a father that wants the best for his son. In his sefer Da'at Tvunot , the Ramchal writes in letter 154 that because it comes for love, God's musar , even when it's done, is always softened and sweetened. It doesn't come in cruelty in an overpouring of wrath. But God tempers it in a way that it's palatable. The Reishit Chochma in the section on Anava , chapter five, quotes the pasuk in Iyov where Iyov says, Hashem natan , God gave, v'Hashem lakach , and God took. יהי שם השם מבורך, God should be blessed. And he makes a diyuk and he says, Hashem took and Hashem ... Hashem gave and Hashem took. It should say, Hashem gave, Hashem took. What do we need the 'and' for? And he says when Hashem gave, it was just He gave without any questions. When he takes, and Hashem means He and His court of judgment, which means God has a whole court of judgment to decide whether He should take. It's much harder to take than it is to give. And therefore, we have to bless Hashem and understand, in his words, משפטיו עמנו הוא לטוב לנו. All of God's judgments are for our best interest, l'taher nafshoteinu , to purify us. And he quotes our pasuk again of tov Hashem lakol . And that's why Nachum Ish Gamzu used to always say, gam zu l'tova , because he understood that even the judgment is ultimately for good when you realize that, when you realize it's coming from a good source. I want to end with something that's a little kabbalistic but it's a very nice piece. There's a sefer called Sefer Yetzirah . Some say it was written by Avraham Avinu , that goes through the 22 letters of the alphabet. And it breaks it down to the following three units. The first three letters are the unit of the mass that created the world, Alef Mem Shin , which stands for Alef , avir ; Mem is mayim , and Shin is for eish . Those are the building blocks of the world: water, wind, and fire, leaving out earth. The next letters are what he calls the seven kefulot , the seven letters that have a dagesh in them, which is beged keferet . Even when we don't have a dagesh in the Reish , the Zohar has it as that. That's my second unit, which is the seven days of the week. The third unit is the 12 months of the year. So if I subtract my Alef Mem Shin , which was the first three letters used for the mass, I subtract the next seven, ten, seven letters: Beis , Gimmel , Dalet , Chaf , Pey , Reish and Taf , I subtract the 10, I'm left with 12 letters of the alphabet, 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. So I start with a Hey . That's the first letter that hasn't been used yet. And the next 12 letters, starting with the Hey , correspond to the months of the year. Hey is Nissan , Vav is Iyar , Zayin is Sivan , Ches is Tammuz , Tes is Av , Yud is Elul , Lamed is Tishrei , Nun is Cheshvan , Samech is Kislev , Ayin is Teves , Tzadi is Shvat , and Kuf is Adar . We can give a whole class on this, to whet your appetite. We know Nun , these also corresponds to the letter, the letters in Ashrei . We know there's no nun in Ashrei , because nun refers to nefila . falling. Cheshvan has no holidays, it's the nun letter. Nissan , which is a time we talk about God's greatness, Hagadol , הדר כבוד הודך ודברי נפלאותיך אשיחה we speak about the wonders of God, Haggadah shel Pesach . Now, what is Av ? Av is tet . What's what is the pasuk of Av ? Of all the psukim of Ashrei , the last thing you would think of is our pasuk we've been talking about from the beginning, טוב ה' לכל ורחמיו על כל מעשיו. The month of Av is symbolized by Tov Hashem lakol . And even the number nine is the nine days of Av , which are seen the worst nine days of the year, are really tov . They're the nine of the tet of the letter tov . Because even the worst of times, it's the month of Av . Av is our father. כאשר ייסר איש את בנו, ה' אלוקיך מיסרך like a father chastises his son. So this is the final hurdle that we have in being happy people. Either A, we always want more. B is that we we are used to the goodnesses. And C is we have the difficult challenges. And we have to overcome all three.

Anava!

What Is Anava?

Welcome to Daily Bitachon . We are working through the pesukim of the Bikkurim , which are pesukim of Hakarat Hatov . As we said, this pasuk is Hakarat Hatov for the difficulties. . וַיְעַנּוּנוּ , simply translates as They pained us. The Egyptians pained us. We go back to the pasuk in Shemot , וַיִתְּנוּ עָלֵינוּ עֲבֹדָה קָשָׁה וַיָּשִׂימוּ עָלָיו שָׂרֵי מִסִּים לְמַעַן עַנֹּתוֹ בְּסִבְלֹתָם, / They placed taskmasters upon them, to pain them in their load. וַיִּבֶן עָרֵי מִסְכְּנוֹת לְפַרְעֹה אֶת־פִּתֹם וְאֶת־רַעַמְסֵס. And they built treasure cities for Paroah Pitom and Raamses. What does Vayanunu mean? Literally, it means to be pained. The root of , וַיְעַנּוּנוּ VayAnunu , is Anya or Oni , which means to be pained . It's also lashon Ani/ poor and of Anava which is to be humbled . And it happens to also connect to Ve'Anita which is to announce and proclaim , which is seemingly not related. So, what's the connection between poverty , pain , and humility ? The answer is that a poor man is called poor because he's humbled. A pained man is called pained because he's broken, he's humbled. So, the Egyptians humbled us. The heavy work was there Lemaan anoto / To humble us . That was the Egyptians' goal, but it was also God's goal. As we've mentioned in the past, the Chida tells us the purpose of Galut Mitzrayim was to cause the Jewish people to become humble. We see this throughout the Haggadah. Lechem oni , Ha lachma anya , the bread of humility; Matzah symbolizes humility . Chametz symbolizes gaava / arrogance . For the seven days of Pesach , we only eat matzah . Matzah is humility . The purpose of all challenges in life is to humble us, to make us realize that we're not in charge, to make us realize that Hashem is in control and we need Him. So when we have challenges and we realize that we can't do it on our own and we turn to God, that is God's purpose in sending the challenge. The challenge is not there because God wants to, Has V'Shalom, hurt us or pain us or break us. Rather, Hashem wants us to come closer to Him. Arrogance is the opposite of connection to God. Humility is the act of connection, and that's the goal. The goal is to get us to become humble. That's why the next pasuk after this is וַנִּצְעַק אֶל־יְיָ אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֵינ וּ/ We cried out to Hashem our God. Mission accomplished! Once we get the message and realize the purpose of the suffering, it goes away. Because the goal is not to suffer. There is a famous Midrash that Hashem told the Jewish people, at Kriat Yam Suf, Hashmi'eini et Kolech / I want to hear your voice. And the reason the Egyptians were chasing us after we left Egypt was that Hashem said, I don't hear your voice anymore. I don't hear you calling out to me like you called out to me in Egypt. You already feel like you're independent. This happens to everybody. While going through the tzarah , we're screaming out, " Please help us! Hashem help me, just get me out of this." But once the problem passes, that's it. We say, Thank you, God, but I don't need You anymore. That's human nature. It's the way of human beings. We want to be in charge, so we need constant reminders to humble us. And those reminders come in many different shapes, colors, and forms- All things to remind us that we are not in charge . And that's the vayanunu . That's the inui , that's the pain. David Hamelech says, א֭וֹדְךָ כִּ֣י עֲנִיתָ֑נִי וַתְּהִי־לִ֝֗י לִישׁוּעָֽה׃/ I praise You that You pained me and You were there for a salvation . David Hamelech praises Hashem for the pain . That's the Vayanunu . Rabbi Ades asks, Why do we pray? If Hashem gave us a problem, it's a problem. It's what it's supposed to be. So why are we praying ? He says, the answer is because the problem is there to humble us. And when we pray to Hashem, which is the way that we show that we're humble and that we need Him, then the problem goes away. So, as long as you don't pray, the problem is the right thing for you because it's going to push you to pray. But once you pray, the problem can go away. This answers the very philosophical question of Why pray ? If everything Hashem does is for the good, this is what I need . No, you don't need this headache. You need humility . The headache is there to get you to humility. So of course you need the headache to humble you. But once you're humble, you don't need the headache.

What Brings Geulah?

Welcome to our Daily Bitachon lesson. We are starting a new, pre-Pesach Hagadah series. We're going to start with Ha Lachma Anya, which is divided into three units. Unit number one is, הא לחמא עניא דיאכלו אבהתנא בארעא דמצרים/ This is the bread of of affliction that our forefathers ate and lay on the land of Mitzrayim . Unit number two is כל דכפין ייתי ויכול. Anyone that's hungry should come and eat. כל דצריך. Anyone that has any other Passover needs. ייתי ויפסח should come and fulfill his Passover needs. Unit three, השתא הכא. השתא, This year. לשנה הבאה בארעא דישראל. Next year we're going to be in ארץ ישראל. השתא עבדי, this year we are slaves. לשנה הבאה בני חורין, next year we're going to be free. Unit number one is about humility. הא לחמא עניא. Ha Lachma Anya i s the Lashon of Anava. The goal of Galut Mitzrayim , was to make us humbled. We spoke about this at length when we spoke about humility. The goal of the Galut is to humble ourselves. Matzah represents humility . Chametz , which grows and is bloated, represents Arrogance . Therefore the first step we need to make towards our ultimate redemption is to become humble. There is a famous midrash that says, ענוים ענוים, הגיע זמן גאולתכם. Humble ones, oh humble ones, the time of redemption has come. The redemption will come when we are humble. The Mashiach is referred to as Ani, a poor or humble man that's riding on a donkey. Humility is a prerequisite for the Geula . The Chida speaks about this at length and tells us that in order to receive the Torah we have to be humble. Har Sinai is low and humble. He says that the level of Torah that's going to be revealed in the time of Mashiach is so great that we have to go through these centuries of Galut to further humble ourselves in preparation or that great revelation of the times of Mashiach. That's unit one- humility. Unit two is אהבת ישראל. כל דכפין, ייתי ויכול. Anyone that's hungry, come in and eat. כל דכפין, anyone that's needy, come and get your meal. It's not enough for us just to be humble. We also have to be giving and take care of our fellow man. Of course, humility will bring one to get along with other people but we have to take the humility to the next stage. Humility brings about two things. Number one is, getting along with people. But that's not enough. We also need to have Bitachon. We have to rely on Hashem. When a person is humble, he realizes he's not in charge. The person who's a Baal Ga'ava cannot rely on Hashem, because he's relying on himself. He thinks he can do everything. He thinks he doesn't need any help. But the humble man can rely on Hashem. Therefore, after this unit on the bread of affliction, it branches off into two roads. Firstly, humility brings us to Ahavat Yisrael . We're able to invite in those that are needy. Additionally, humility brings us to rely on Hashem and have Bitachon and say This year we are here, this year we are servants. Next year we'll be in Eretz Yisrael. Next year we'll be free. That's Bitachon , because we realize we're not in charge, and that was the whole message of the Matzah . The reason we have Matzah, and the reason everything is centered around the Matzah is that we didn't have a chance for the bread to rise. We rushed out. When you rush out, it's because you're not in control. When you're in control, you plan. But we rushed out because we were not in control of anything. Hashem did it all. And so too, with the final Geula ,. The Navi uses the phrase Pit'om Yavo / It will come suddenly. It's going to happen with speed because we're not in charge. The Rambam starts off his Hagaddah with the words בבהילו / In a rush. We rushed out. And we're going to rush out of this Galut as well. That is the opening paragraph. We're setting the stage. It's a stage of humility. And out of humility is born Ahavat Yisrael and Bitachon . And for all those Bet Halevi enthusiasts, you know that he wrote three essays. One of them was on Bitachon , one of them was on Ahavat Yisrael , and one of them is on Anava - and that's because these three points are all interrelated. And they're all necessary for the Geula. Rav Yaakov Hillel shlita says that these essays were hiding until our generation, the final generation, to help us get us ready for the Geula -with these three fundamental points: Bitachon , Ahavat Yisrael and Anava - and those are the three fundamental points that the Haggadah of Pesach starts with.

Welcome to our humility series. I want to share a beautiful piece from the sefer Amud Avoda/Pillar of Service to Hashem, written by Rav Baruch of Kosov, a great Hasidic Rabbi, in his essay on Anava . He brings up a question based on the Gemara in Nedarim in 38A which says, Hashem only rests His Shechina on someone who is strong, smart, wealthy, and humble. The Rambam, in his commentary Shemonah Perakim , explains that smart means obviously someone wise in knowledge, and strong doesn't mean he has muscles, it means he overcomes his Yetzer Hara. And he says wealthy means that he's happy with less. The Rambam is obviously coming to answer the question that's asked by the Alshich, which is, " I understand why I need wisdom and humility. But why do I need wealth and strength (for the Shechina to dwell on me) ? He quotes this question from Maram Alshech in Vayikra 21,9 and his answer is, If a person is very weak and very poor and doesn't have any great speaking skills, am I going to say that this person is humble?? What does he have to be proud of? Conversely, if somebody is powerful, influential, wealthy and can do whatever he wants, and still he doesn't respond when he's insulted, that person can be referred to as humble. You need to first have the ability to stand up for yourself. Therefore, he says, in truth, humility is enough to bring Hashem's Shechina down on a person. As we've seen in the past, Moshe Rabbenu had the highest level of Nevuah because he was humble. But if a person is not smart, powerful and wealthy, there's no way for that humility to be expressed. True humility is when the person that has all of those qualities and realizes that the qualities that he has, he received from Hashem. As we know in all Middot, we emulate Hashem. The Gemara in Megila 31A says that Rav Yochanan says, Wherever you find God's greatness, there, you find His humility . The Gemara says this is said in the Torah, repeated in the Navi, and tripled in the Ketuvim . For example, the pasuk says, God is all powerful and He takes care of the widow and the orphan. So we talk about His greatness, and with that always comes His humility. Why is that the package? He explains that it's because that's the point. Humility is only humility when we first see the greatness. And only because God is so great and so powerful, is His humility that much greater. The greatest thing it says about Hashem, says the Tomar Devorah, is Mi El Kamocha/who is a God like You? Which means, Who is like God that is so powerful and yet holds back from letting out His anger . God should stop the world based on what's going on. But God tolerates, and the Tomar Devorah quotes that God has referred to as the God that takes insult. So God is so humble because He's so great. With this, the Noda B'Yehuda, in his second volume of Or HaChaim (siman כ )says, that's why we read in the Shacharit of YomKippurim , the Haftara of Yeshaya 57:15 that talks about God as כֹ֨ה אָמַ֜ר רָ֣ם וְנִשָּׂ֗א so says the High and the Lofty. And then it says, What do I look at? I look at the humble person. He says we read this on Yom Kippur because we want to say how great and powerful God is. And yet we ask Hashem, Please have that trait of humility. Yes, You can destroy and wipe us out, but have mercy. Take a little bit more insult (as if to say) and give us another good year. The Amud Avoda quotes a song called HaAderet V'Emuna, which goes through different qualities of God. One of the lines says, Strength and humility is to the God Who is the life of all worlds . Why the strength and humility packaged together? And again, it's the same point. The Amud Avoda goes on to explain another beautiful point: We say about Moshe Rabbenu two interesting things: first in Devarim 34 10, וְלֹא־קָ֨ם נָבִ֥יא ע֛וֹד בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל כְּמֹשֶׁ֑ה There is no prophet that is like Moshe Rabbenu Then, in Bamidbar 12,3, it says וְהָאִ֥ישׁ מֹשֶׁ֖ה עָנָ֣ו מְאֹ֑ד מִכֹּל֙ הָֽאָדָ֔ם Moshe was the most humble of people He says the two hinge on each other. Because Moshe Rabbenu was such a great prophet, his humility was true humility because he has so much to be proud of. And it goes both ways. Not only was he a great prophet because he was humble, but he was also the ultimate humble person because he was the greatest of prophets. He says it's a constant cycle. Moshe Rabbenu, because he recognized how great Hashem was, further humbled himself. The greater that he realized God was, the more humble he became himself. The more a person understands God, the more humble he becomes. So it ends up that something very counterintuitive is going on here. The people that have so many qualities- he's a hacham/wise he's gibbor/strong he's an ashir / wealthy- Yet he could be an Anav . Why? Because he realizes at the end of the day, these are all gifts from God. Beautiful. On the other hand, a person could be a Baal Ga'ava without having any qualities. What a paradox- the person that has all the qualities is humble, and the person without any qualities can be arrogant! There's a beautiful story told of the Chatam Sofer. A young man once came to him for advice, " How do I deal with my arrogance? How do I deal with my Ga'ava?" The Chatam Sofer replied, " Good question, please sit in my my room for a few minutes and I'll think of an answer for you." So the young man sat there watching, as people came to the Chatam Sofer with their questions. The first fellow said, " Rabbi, I need help. My daughter is of age. She needs to get married. I don't have any money for the wedding. I need a hundred thousand dollars ." The Chatam Sofer said, " Go ask that young man over there at the other end of the room. " So the man asked, and the young man answered, " I don't have any money. How can I help you?" The next man walked in with a very difficult, intricate halachic question. The Chatam Sofer again told him to go ask that young man at the other end of the room. So the man started asking the question and the boy said, " This is way too complex. I can't answer that question. " A third man walked in, looking for advice on a certain business challenge from the Chatam Sofer, who was brilliant, and had help from above. Again he said, " Ask that young boy at the other end of the room." And again, the boy said, " I don't know anything about business." After they left, the Chatam Sofer called the boy over and said, " Young man, you don't have money. You couldn't help that fellow. You don't really know that much Gemara, because you couldn't answer the question. You don't have much business acumen because you couldn't help that man either. What are you arrogant about?" And the answer is, like we've quoted from the Steipler, Arrogance doesn't make any sense. Middot don't necessarily make sense. It's just built into the person-whoever you are and whatever you have, you can become a Baal Ga'ava. Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz once said he was watching a garbage truck go by with a driver, and a guy standing on the back- to put the trash in. He heard the driver say, " Ha! I'm not the guy in the back putting the garbage in. I'm driving the garbage truck! " The Rabbi said to himself, That's what you're arrogant about? You're the driver of the garbage truck! He says, that's all you need. Arrogance can grab onto anything. So you can be arrogant with nothing and you could be humble with having everything in the world. It's an interesting way of looking at it.

Welcome to our Anava series. The Midrash Raba Bereshit 81:2 tells the following story: Rabbenu HaKadosh, also known as Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the redactor of the Mishna, was passing by the town of Simonia , where the residents of came out to greet him and made a request. They said, " Rebbi, provide us with a person who will teach us both the Tanach and the Mishna and we'll judge our disputes." Rebbi gave them none other than Rav Levi BarSisi. When Rav Levi came to the town they constructed a large platform for him and seated him upon it so that he would address them, at which time the words of the Torah became hidden from his mouth. In other words, he forgot some of his learning. They asked him three questions on the laws of chalitza and he was not able to answer them. They said, Well, maybe this rabbi is more of an expert in Aggada, in the Musar aspects and not so much in Talmudic law. So they asked him a question on a pasuk , and again, he wasn't able to answer. When Rav Levi saw how dire the situation was, he got up early the next morning and returned to Rabbenu HaKadosh, hoping that Rabbenu HaKadosh would relieve him of his post, seeing the difficulty he was having. Rebbi asked him, " So how'd it go? How's it going in your new position?" He said, " Please, don't even bring it up. Don't remind me of my troubles." What happened? "They asked me these questions,and I wasn't able to answer them. " Rebbi said, What questions did they ask you ? Rav Levi repeated the questions and gave all the answers. Then he repeated the question from the pesukim and gave those answers. Rebbe then asked, " So why didn't you answer them like you answered me?" Rav Levi said, " They made a large platform for me and seated me upon it, and my spirit became conceited and the words of the Torah became hidden from me." Unbelievable. Why did this happen? Rav Yerucham Levovitz, in his sefer Da'at Chochma UMussar (vol 2, page 53) has an essay called Kedushat HaTorah/the Holiness of Torah . He writes, I was just in the town of Vilna and I was hosted in a house that was directly opposite of the university. I was looking at the students as they were going and coming from the school and I saw something strange. As they were walking in, they were combing their hair, making themselves look good. And on the way out, they were also doing that. The boys and girls were lightheadedly coming and going. And I assume that it was pretty similar when they were inside the classes as well. That's the way they learn their secular wisdom. It seems not to bother their studies, because they're graduating and everything is going fine. Maybe it bothers them a little bit, but it's not so terrible. On the other hand, let's look at how our study halls look. What if we would have that going on? It's a total contradiction. In a situation of lightheadedness, you can't learn Torah. You can't even think Torah in situations where it's unclean or unbecoming, because it disturbs the Torah. He says, You know what that shows me? That Torah comes from heaven. It's holy, it's pure. And therefore it doesn't tolerate anything that is contrary to holiness impurity. Which is why, as we said, You can't learn Torah opposite something that's not clean. You can't pray opposite something that's unclean. That's how holy our religion is. The nature of the Torah is kodesh kodashim. We have to make ourselves befitting to receive the Torah. We have to make sure that we're all shiny clean, not externally shiny and clean, but internally- we have to be shiny clean. Otherwise, the Gemara will not stay with us; Our learning will not stay with us. He says, Torah, due to its holiness and its purity, does not tolerate anyone with bad Middot. A drop of arrogance, or a drop of being makpid/ being exacting is enough to make it leave. As we may know, there are 48 ways to wisdom and most of them are character refinements. After this, he quotes this story of Rav Levi Bar Sisi, and says that because of a little bit of arrogance that he felt, he started to forget his learning. This is unbelievable. We don't find this in any other realm. Torah is compared to water, as we've said. Just like water flows downward, the Torah flows downward, like it says in Shir HaShirim 1:19. Therefore a person has to make himself fit for the Torah. A drop of arrogance, a drop of conceit, a drop of holiness , and it leaves. He says, professors have no problem standing on the highest of platforms with their hearts full of all kinds of abominations, with Middot that are off. It doesn't bother them at all. Why not? Because Torah is min Hashamayim . Torah is holy. That's why we need that refinement. What refinement are we talking about? The ultimate refinement is the refinement of humility . That's why we see that all the Gedoleh Yisrael are extremely humble. There's a famous story about Rav Akiva Eiger. Somebody wrote him a letter and he wrote back to the man with all kinds of great titles, "To the great leader in Israel, to the light of our nation." The person he was writing to was a simple rabbi, and when asked why he had addressed the rabbi this way, Rabbi Akiva Eiger replied, " Well, I see people write like that to me. I thought it was proper etiquette, so that's the way I wrote to him." Rabbi Eiger was not saying to himself, " Of course I'm the Gadol Hador and that's why they write like that to me. " He figured it was probably the way you're supposed to do it. This was the way of all our greats. It's not a coincidence. Rav Akiva Eiger was a giant of giants. When he asked a question, we call them bomb questions. And on the side of the Gemara there's a little gloss and a little sign that looks one of these warnings of a nuclear reactor. We used to say it's like a nuclear bomb, his questions. And he sometimes ends off his questions with, " God should enlighten my eyes," as if I'm the proble m. My glasses are foggy . They train us in Yeshiva that when you don't understand something, you don't say. Tosafot doesn't make any sense . You say, I don't understand this. Okay, very nice. That's good for me. But the greats say, " Oh, how lacking I am. I don't understand this Tosafot. I don't understand this Gemara. I have a weakness . This is what makes the great leaders great. It's not that they're great leaders and by the way, they're also humble. No, without the humility, they wouldn't have their Torah. They wouldn't be able to do it. And that, Rav Yerucham Levovitz says, is the message of that story. That's why it's very scary when we sometimes see people that know a lot of Torah but they're very arrogant people. What's going on? The answer is, quoting a term that the Chassid Yaavetz uses, " He's not a learned person. He's a Yodeah Torah." He knows Torah but that doesn't mean he's a Talmid Hacham . Similarly, there's a Gemara in Masechet Megila 28 B, where someone was asked to give a Hesped for a person that knew a lot of Torah. They asked Rav Nachman to give a eulogy, and his answer was, What should I say at the eulogy? That a basket full of books has been gone? I heard this from my Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Abba Berman. This man learned a lot, but the learning did not become part of him. It was just knowledge . If a person does not have the proper Middot , its not that he can't have knowledge , but that knowledge is just like secular knowledge. The reason Rav Levi Barsisi's Torah left him is because his Torah was Torah Kedosha which can not tolerate bad Middot. If it's just knowledge of Torah, that's a different story. That's the importance of humility when it comes to holding your Torah.

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 וְתוֹלֵעָה as 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 .

Welcome to our class on humility. When it comes to working on and thinking about a specific Middah , there is always a possible danger that something could ruin the Middah or ruin the effort. In the third gate of the Hovot Halevavot, the Gate of Serving Hashem (fourth chapter), he talks about the ten levels of service of Hashem. The ninth level (which is pretty close to the top) is people who serve Hashem for the right reasons, yet lack an important piece of information. שלא נשמרו ממפסידי העבודות, They aren't careful from guarding themselves from the things that could cause their service Hashem to be lacking. He quotes a pasuk from Kohelet (10:1) זבובי מות יבאיש יביע שמן רוקח /The flies of death can ruin the best of oils and quotes one of the pious men telling the students, " I'm afraid for you, for the greatest of sins ." They asked, What is the greatest of sins? And he said, הגבהות (החונף) והגאוה, כמו שאמר הכתוב Feeling exalted, being a flatterer, and having Ga'ava/ arrogance, as it says תועבת ה' כל גבה לב:‏ ,/ An abomination to God is anybody arrogant. This is scary. A person can do everything right and it can backfire, specifically when a person is working on humility. He might say, " Wow, look who I am. I'm working on humility." He ends up becoming arrogant from that! Rav Wolbe, in his letters, (vol 2, page 129), hints to this Hovot Halevavot and says, When a person works on Middot, every step of the way, he feels that his actions are coming from arrogance that's born from the Flatterer, which are almost the exact words of this Hovot Halevavot. And he says, I have a tradition from my rabbis that we should never think we're doing anything. Whatever we do is only to train ourselves. We're apprenticing, we're interning. When I'm trying to be Mechaven in my prayers, I'm just training myself in how to do it. Whatever I'm working on, it's just a training session. He says, Hitlamdut / an internship or training doesn't drag arrogance . In Aleh Shor (vol two, page 194) he says something similar: When it comes to apprenticing, it's impossible to become arrogant. If I'm doing something good, I can become arrogant. But if I'm just training, I haven't really done anything because I'm only in training. When I'm in training mode, I'm always looking to see what I can fix. My critical eye is going over me every step of the way. A therapist, a doctor, whoever's in training, they know they're in training. Like the nine interns following the big professor through the hospital. They're not arrogant. They know that they're interns. He stresses that we must understand this, and that the only success a person will have in working on themselves is if they have this attitude. Otherwise it's just going to backfire. You might say, " Look at me! Not only am I working on Bitachon, not only do I work on Hessed, I'm even working on Anava! Do you know how great I am?!" He says, If a person does not understand this concept that you're in the internship stage , you're just training, you're in the minor leagues, then you're better off not doing this. You'll be a good Jew without it. It's not for you. It's too dangerous. Furthermore, in Aleh Shor (vol 1, page 65) Rav Wolbe says we are supposed to think, "I just want to get a little bit better, or a little bit more truthful in my approach," One should not think, " I made it ," or " I got it ." Like the example of the poor man who knocks on the door and comes in in the middle of the meal. He is served whatever they're up to. He's not going to say, " Ooh, look who I am!" You're just an intern. You're apprenticing. It shouldn't get to your head. Mesilat Yesharim , in chapter 11, talks about different manifestations of Ga'ava . He says there's a certain type of arrogant person who says in his heart that he's so great and so honorable that honor can never separate from him, and therefore he doesn't even need it. To show that, he'll go to the extreme in humility. But in his heart, he lifts himself up and says, I'm so high up and so respected that I don't even need respect . I'm so great, I don't need someone to tell me how great I am . I have so much of it. I don't need anyone else to pat me on the back. A slightly different type of arrogant person says, "I want to be clearly designated as a person with many great qualities. It's not enough that people say for example, that I'm wise, or I'm kind. He want them to add to the list of his great qualities that I'm very humble. He becomes arrogant in his humility! He wants honor for showing that he's running away from honor! He sits in the back of the shul, and he acts in a very humble way to show that he's the ultimate Anav . Don't call me Rabbi, it's okay, he says. But in his heart he thinks, There's no one wiser and more humble than me . אֵין חָכָם וְעָנָו כָּמוֹנִי בְּכָל הָאָרֶץ" So both the Mesilat Yesharim and Hovot Halevavot are warning us that working on oneself and working on humility can backfire. That's why we go back to Rav Wolbe who tells us an important rule: One must always put on his training cap. He's an intern. He doesn't know anything. He's a humble person in training. The sefer Or Yisrael by Rabbi Yitzhak of Peterberg, in the section Kochvei Or ( (אות י brings down a pasuk from the Gemara in Berachot 61 that says that Yetzer Hara is compared to a fly. And they quote our pasuk זבובי מות יבאיש יביע שמן רוקח / The flies of death can ruin the best of oils. Why is the Yetzer Hara compared to a fly? The Or Yisrael answers, Because as many times as you yell at him, swat at him or blow on him, he doesn't go away. You have to keep sending away. He keeps coming back. That's the Yetzer Hara. He doesn't give up. And that's why even when we're working on something good, and we're trying to send him away, he comes right back. You have to be always aware of him. That's the only way to fight him- to take your fly swatter and keep swatting away. He gives a nice hint- the Gemara in Berachot 10A says that the Isha Shunamit , when describing Elisha, said, I know he's holy. How did she know? One of the reasons is that she never saw a fly on his table. There were never flies around him. He says this is a mashal - There were never flies meant he was able to keep chasing away the Yetzer Hara.

Welcome to our Anava series. A while back we said that the goal of Yetziat Mitzrayim was to make us humble. Somebody recently shared with me a sefer Tiferet Shlomo , on Parashat Beshalach , that says, Anytime a person wants to merit any level of greatness, he has to start off with the understanding that, 'I am not fit for this.' It's not my merit, but rather than merit of my forefathers that opened the path for me, and set me on the road. The Gemara in Berachot 10B says, כל התולה בזכות עצמו תולין לו בזכות אבותיו כו' ע"ש. If you think that you're worthy on your own, God will reciprocate and say, "I gave this to you because of your forefathers. " The very fact that you take credit makes you less worthy so you need the merit of others. But when someone says, I don't have merit, that in itself is the merit, because humility is the merit! As the pasuk in Devarim 7,7 says לֹ֣א מֵֽרֻבְּכֶ֞ם מִכׇּל־הָֽעַמִּ֗ים חָשַׁ֧ק יְהֹוָ֛ה בָּכֶ֖ם / God likes you because you are not great, but you humble yourselves. That's why we always say Elohenu V'Elohei Avotenu / Our God and the God of our forefathers, which means the whole Elohut / the whole connection to God comes because we realize it's Elohenu avotenu . It's not enough to simply understand, I got it from my father. No, the fact that you make the statement and realize it's from your father, is how you create your connection. Conversely, somebody who lifts themself up and thinks I'm worthy on my own, is going to go down, as we see in many cases in history The Tiferet Shlomo points out that Az Yashir starts with, כִּֽי־גָאֹ֣ה גָּאָ֔ה ס֥וּס וְרֹכְב֖וֹ רָמָ֥ה בַיָּֽם׃ He threw the horse in the rider. Why do we say that? Because Paroah was the one that said, I am a god. So Hashem is showing us what happens to those that think they're gods. The Jewish people were saved specifically because they were humble. He then goes through the Nusach HaTefila that we say every morning. ממצרים גאלתנו כו' וים סוף להם בקעת כו' על זאת שבחו אהובים כו' שירות ותשבחות ברכות והודאות למלך אל חי וקים . God took us out of Egypt… He split the sea….Those beloved ones sing songs Wonderful! We are talking about Keriat Yam Suf and we are going to say Hashem Yimloch L'Olam Vaed- that's our daily introduction to our prayers. You have to have Keriat Yam Suf on your mind, so that you are ready to pray. You're supposed to make Keriat Yam Suf alive every day of your life. In middle of that discussion, we say רם ונשא כו' משפיל גאים ומגביה שפלים . Ram V'Nisah God is great. He brings down the arrogant What does that have to do with anything? Then we go back to תהלות לאל עליו ן Why, in the middle of my discussion about God saving us from Mitzrayim , do I have this little Mussar on Anava ? He explains, That's the point. Without the Anava, they never would've gotten out of Mitzrayim . And without the Anava you can't connect to Hashem. So every single day, I'm not just Zecher LYetziat Mitzrayim as a philosophical concept. Rather, with that Zecher LYetziat Mitzrayim comes my daily dose of Anava , and then I'm ready to pray. And he says, we see this built in to the famous Rashi on Zeh Eli V'Anvehu, Rashi15B, which says שראתה שפחה על הים מה שלא ראו / So the Jewish people saw tremendous things and yet they remained humble. That's what we want to say. מוציא אסירים ופודה ענוים / God took those out of jail and He redeems the humble. Why did He take them out of jail? Why did He redeem them? Because they were Anavim . And he says, an unbelievable thing ועונ"ה לעמו הוא אותיות ענו"ה /We say God answers ועונה Onah which has the same letters as the word Anava humility ענוה indicating that what caused Hashem to answer us is our Anava . In Arbit, we say the same. בוקע ים לפני משה זה אלי ענו ואמרו. God split the sea for all the Jewish people . He says, Moshe is the symbol of humility. משה עניו מכל אדם. ( Bamidbar 12,3) The sea was split in the merit of Moshe Rabbenu, in the merit of Anava . It says זה אלי ענו ואמרו Answer ענו has the same letters as ענו Anav humble They saw these great, great revelations and they still remained anav . That's one explanation. Annu/ Anav, they remained anav . The other explanation is because they were Anav they were able to say is Zeh Eli, which is Kabalat Ohl Malchut Shamayim. You can't accept the yoke of God's kingdom unless you're humble. Another unbelievable explanation- It says in the war with Amalek, Shemot 17, וּמֹשֶׁה֙ אַהֲרֹ֣ן וְח֔וּר עָל֖וּ רֹ֥אשׁ הַגִּבְעָֽה׃ Moshe and Aharon went to top of the mountain. And in Bamidbar 23, 9 it says, Bilam says וּמִגְּבָע֖וֹת אֲשׁוּרֶ֑נּוּ / I see them from the mountains, Rashi says that refers to the Avot , who are considered the mountains. So says Moshe and Aharon went to top of the mountain, when going to fight Amalek. Amalek is all about Ga'ava , and we fight him with humility, by realizing we'll go on top of the mountain. There is a phrase from the Rishonim, the Kananas al gavei Anak/The Jewish people are like dwarfs on top of giants. So before we go to fight against Amalek, we can't stand on regular ground. We're going up on the mountain, as if to say I'm a dwarf and I'm standing on top of a giant. That humility is what caused us to win against Amalek. And that's why at Keriat Yam Suf, we aroused Zechut Avot. As it says in Shemot 14,30 וירא ישראל . /And Yisrael saw. But Tiferet Shlomo says we can read it as, they saw Yisrael, their grandfather referring to Yaakov Avinu. I'd like to add that Rav Wolbe says Shema Yisrael also means Listen Yaakov . When the tribes were standing around Yaakov Avinu's bed and they said, Shema Yisrael/ Listen, our father Yisrael. And that's what we're saying every single day. When I say Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad , it's not because of me , it's because of Shema Yisrael, because of my grandparents , and that in itself is a statement of humility. It's not just Zechut Avot. It's the expression of humility, that I need to come on to them. This is a fascinating thesis by the Tiferet Shlomo. It says in Devarim 26,7 ונצעק אל ה' אלהי אבותינו We cried out to the God of our fathers, וישמע ה' את קולנו . and He heard our voice. And I was always bothered that it starts our our fathers and then our voices. But based on what we said before from the Gemara, that if you are humble and you say, I need my parents zechut, then Hashem says, well then I could do it on your zechut alone. As it says in Shemot 2,24 (שמות ב, כד) וישמע אלהים את נאקתם ויזכור אלהים את בריתו את אברהם את יצחק ואת יעקב. He heard their groans and He remembered the Brit with Avraham Yitzhak and Yaakov. When he wanted to hear their cries, Hashem said, Oh, they're arousing zechut Avot. They're not doing in their own merit, then I'll answer them. Shemot 2,25 וירא אלהים את בנ"י Hashem saw Benei Yisrael. This is an unbelievable explanation. He saw that there were Bnei Yisrael, He saw that they realized they needed zechut Avot, and וידע אלהים God knew. The simple explanation is, that this refers to the interference with intimacy. because that's something that only God could know. But he adds, Only God knows when you are praying, if you're praying because you think you're worthy, or you're not. Every single day before we say Az Yashir, we quote from Nechemia 9,9 ותרא את עני אבותינו / You saw the poverty, you saw the humility. And again, quite clear, the only way God heard our prayers at Yam Suf was because he saw the עוני , he saw the humility. As Rashi says at Zeh Eli , לא אני תחלת הקדושה / I'm not the beginning of Kedusha מימי אבותי it's my forefathers. He offers an unbelievable explanation of why Keriat Yam Suf needed Anava . Because when it came to time for Keriat Yam Suf Moshe wanted to pray but Hashem said it's not about praying. And he uses the term that's a Zohar that says, בעתיקא תליא מילטא / it's dependent on the Atika /the ancient One (on God). There are different explanations of what that means (Zohar volume two, page 52B.) The Nefesh HaChaim, Rav Chaim Volozhin says, Atikah means you need bitachon , it's not about prayer, it's about relying . But the Tiferet Shlomo explains it's about humility . Keriat Yam Suf needed humility. What does humility have to do with, with Hashem being called the Atikah/ the ancient One? In creation, Hashem hides Himself. The word Olam is from the Lashon of He'Elam/hidden . God is referred to as Sanua . He is hidden . We don't know where He is. And in Keriat Yam Suf, we know the wind's blew as the sea split. Why not let the sea split in a very open way? Because all miracles are done in a way that the nature is also involved. Noah had to get on an Ark. Why? An ark can't hold the whole creation. The answer is Because God is humble in His miracles. So if we want miracles to happen, we have to emulate God and also be humble. That's what it means by בעתיקא תליא מילטא The whole KeriatYam Suf was dependent the on humility of the Jewish people, to emulate the humility of God*. And that's why it says in in Tehilim (113,6) המשפילי לראות בשמים ובארץ . God humbles Himself every time He comes down and looks at the heavens and earth. Through the Anava , Hashem brings down the miracles. Again, if we want to arouse the humble God's miracles, we too have to be humble. I once heard an unbelievable explanation from Hacham Yeuda Moalem, one of the Roshei Yeshiva of Porat Yosef (there is a sefer written on him called Gaon HaAnava) He was humble, beyond humble. He says that when the sea split, it split at different times for different peoples. He asks, Why did it split for one person at one point, and for another person later? He says that it says that when the water hit Nachshon's nose, it split. And everyone is different. Someone who walks with his head down low, who's humble, the water hits his nose earlier, so the sea split earlier. Someone who walks with the head high in the air, is arrogant (Of course this is being said in a a figurative, joking way) and if the person is arrogant, his head is high up in the air, so it took longer for the water to reach his nose, and longer for the sea to split. He says the same is true in our lives. If we want our symbolic sea to split our problems, we have to lower our noses a little bit. We know there are two things that are as difficult as Keriat Yam Suf- Parnasa and Shidduchim , and both of those things are humbling. When does our sea split? When we're humbled? Oh, you have a business? You you know what you're doing? Not so simple. Oh, Everyone's going to want want my family. Everyone will want my son or daughter. Let's see.. The shidduch process is humbling. Why is it humbling? Because we need you to put your nose down for the sea to split. That's the way we arouse Hashem's mercy. If you want to see the miracles of the humble God, we too have to reciprocate with humility. * For a source that Hashem is considered humble, a pasuk in Mishleh 8,30says, וָאֶהְיֶ֥ה אֶצְל֗וֹ אָ֫מ֥וֹן I will be by Him an Amon Amon can mean different things, and one of which is craftsman. The Midrash in Bereshit Rabba 1,1 uses the term Amon M'Tsuna/ humble craftsman. Rav Wolbe used to quote this on this concept that God is called a Humble Craftsman.

Welcome to our class on Anava . We've been talking a lot about working on humility. Rabbi Chaim Friedlander's sefer Siftei Chaim , on the topic of Middot (page 133) asks a powerful question. He points out that the Mesilat Yesharim bases his sefer on the ladder of levels that are described by Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair, starting with Torah. Learning Torah brings to Zehirut/being careful, which brings one to Zerizut/being fast, which brings to Nekiut/being pure and goes on to Prishut/separating oneself physicality , purity and Hasidut/piousness. All the way at the end is humility . Humility is one of the last of the levels. It brings to one to Ruach , Hakodesh etc, and then we reach perfection. So seemingly, if we go step by step up the ladder, if we haven't yet conquered purity and piousness, how are we even talking about humility, which is so high up? To answer, the Siftei Chaim quotes a mashal he heard from Rav Yerucham Levovitz, the famed Mashgiach of the Mir in Europe, who says: When a person goes to a feast of kings, there are many, many portions and courses. There's the first course, the second course, the third course . I was once told that at the queen's table in England there are four forks and three knives! There are so many different hors d'oeuvres, appetizers, entrees, desserts… But what happens if a poor man walks in during the meal when they're up to the third course? Do they say, " Let's go back to the hor d'oeuvres ." No. He doesn't even ask for that. Whatever they're up to at that time is what they give him, and that's enough for him at that point. He's not worried about courses or etiquette or about the proper way to do things. He's hungry . That's the mashal . The nimshal is that we are poor when it comes to Avodat Hashem. Yes, 'wealthy' people of old such as Rabbi Pinhas ben Yair and others, of course had an order. He's like the chef telling you how you're supposed to serve the meal. Each one is going to lead to the next one. Yes, you want ices after the hors d'oeuvres to cleanse you palate, and yes, you want to have tea at the end. But a person who is spiritually poor has to grab whatever they give him, even if it's out of order, and even if he doesn't understand exactly what he's doing and why he's doing it. He has to take what he can get. The Gemara says, ' This world is like a wedding, Grab and eat. Grab and eat. ' What does that mean? It means sometimes you're not eating in a specific order, with all the rules and regulations. You're just grabbing and eating. That's the way it is with our Ruchaniut/spirituality. I'll grab and eat, I 'll nosh on this and that. This is similar to the story that the Chafetz Chaim witnessed once. A girl was selling apples in the marketplace. Someone came and knocked over her basket of apples and they were rolling all over the street. Ruffians started grabbing the apples. The girl was just standing there crying, until a wise man told her, Grab something for yourself also . When the Chafetz Chaim heard this, he said, That's what's going on in our lives. The Yetzer Hara turned over the apple cart and he's grabbing away everything from us. So grab something back for yourself . We don't have to do everything exactly according to the proper system. We, too, can work on humility. We may not have the full depth and the understanding that we'd have if we did it with the recommended approach, on the regular road. Here's an example of another Middah . He says, hessed - we all know what kindness is. We do kindness, but if you want to really dissect it, true kindness means that I am not an egoistic person. I'm not someone that's focused on myself. I'm giving because the other person needs and all the other niceties- we'll call it the icing on the cake to do a hessed properly . But just because you can't have a cake with icing, that doesn't mean you have can't cake at all. Sometimes you might only have the icing, but if you're hungry, you'll take cake without the icing or icing without the cake. You can't be picky. At the end of the day, it will give you nourishment. It might not give you exactly what you need, but, as the famous saying goes, Perfect is the enemy of good (quoted by Rabbi Frand at the Siyum HaShas, and attributed to French philosopher Voltaire). This means that sometimes people try to do something exactly the way it's supposed to be but end up do nothing. It's like a very perfectionist housewife saying, If I can't have the perfect meal, I'm not going have any guests at all. That's really counterproductive. Just because you can't have all the niceties, with waiters and china and a ten course meal, that doesn't mean you shouldn't have guests at all. It's the same thing when it comes to working on our Middot, says Rav Yerucham Levovitz. We might not have everything perfect, and it might not be the way it's supposed to be, but perfect is the enemy of good. Therefore, when we're working on humility, don't say, how can I work on humility? I'm far, far from it. You can also have a connection to humility. The Chafetz Chaim once met a baker and asked, " How's business? " The baker replied, " It's so hard to be a baker. The housewives are so picky and they're always complaining, 'It's too hard… it's too soft.' "Then a few years later he met the baker again and asked how business was. This time the baker said says, " Business is great!" The Chafetz Chaim asked what had changed, and the baker replied, " Well, it's wartime. There's a shortage of bread. If anyone can get any bread, they're thrilled and happy to take the it. There are never any complaints." The Chafetz Chaim said it's the same thing with Ruchaniut . In the days of old where there was plenty of spirituality, and plenty of people serving Hashem, in a world that was much more pristine, of course in Shamayim, they were picky. The chef in Shamayim's kitchen was very picky and very exacting, Everything had to be organic, everything had to be fresh, everything had to be Whole Foods. But in you're in a time of famine, no one gets picky on what they're going to eat or serve. If they get picky, they die. Like the sad story in Masechet Gittin , of the wealthy woman who sent her aid out to buy fine wheat in the marketplace. There was no fine wheat left but by the time he came back to tell her, and she sent him out to buy a lower grade of wheat, there was none of that left either. She then sent him for barley and the same thing happened, and on and on until eventually there nothing was left to eat at all. So smart people realize, and Hashem's Bet Din up there is quite smart, that w hen there's a famine, we're happy with what we can get . We don't have the perfect meal. We don't have the right silverware, we don't have the right ingredients, nor the right dishes. But it's like making sprinkle cookies with your children on a day off, with all their germs and mess…They're so proud and you're so proud. Well, that's the way Hashem looks at our Avodat Hashem today. So make your little cookies, put some Anava sprinkles on them and be proud.

Welcome to our humility series. Today we are going to explore the contrast of arrogance and the proper outlook. We know we should not be arrogant, showy, boastful people who take credit for our accomplishments and feel that we're special. That is Gaava , which should not be confused with something called the Rommemut HaNefesh/an uplifted soul, a feeling of how special I am. I come from good stock. I have Tzelem Elokim, I'm not an animal. I'm a human being. I have a certain royalty to me. That's not a feeling of Ga'ava . What's the difference? Ga'ava is I'm better than somebody else. Like it says of Hashem, Ki Ga'oh Ga'ah /He is arrogant bove the arrogant. His kiseh kavod is above the most arrogant of the wild beasts- the lion, the domesticated cow, the eagle. They're the most arrogant and Hashem is above them all. That's the term of Ga'avah . But there's another term used of Hashem, הַמֶּלֶךְ הַמְּרוֹמָם לְבַדּוֹ מֵאָז. /Hashem is the King that was uplifted alone from way back when. What does that mean? The Maharit, Rav Yosef of Trani and the Bet Aharon explain that this means that even before there was a world, where there was no one compare oneself to, Hashem was Ram . That's what we also have to be. I'm not great if I look at myself, where I come from and what my sources are and see that I'm royal. I'm not comparing myself to you. That's an inherent greatness and that is a prerequisite to having good Middot . Rav Yehezkiel Levenstein says that when a person has that feeling of Rommemut , he doesn't need to start looking down on others. He has an inherent greatness. He doesn't need to become great by pushing others down. The Elder of Kelm says that the force against the Jewish people is Amalek . What did Amalek do? We left Mitzrayim b'Yad Rama/with an outstretched hand, with Rommemut They were like a bubbling bath. They were on the top of the world. But along came Amalek, and like a person that jumps into the bubbling bath, cooled them down, didn't let them feel their Rommemut , or feel how special they were. Amalek wanted to take away the feeling of Beni Bechori Yisrael. That's what Amalek came to do. So how do we fight off Amalek? Says the Elder of Kelm, וכאשר ירים משה ידו, :Moshe Rabbenu lifted up his hands and כשישראל נושאים לבם לאביהם שבשמים, the Jewish people lifted up their hearts. He says this means שהתחזקו ברוממות נפשם they strengthened themselves in the exaltedness of their souls. And they looked and had they honor then V'gavar Yisrael. He adds that later Amalek was Haman, who also tried to break the Jewish people, להכניע רוממות הנפש מישראל, to break that exaltedness. But it didn't work. How did we fight back? לא יכרע ולא ישתחוה, Mordechai would not bend, he would not bow. We have to realize that this is not just about Amalek the person or Haman the person. Bereshit 6, 5 says וְכָל יֵצֶר מַחְשְׁבֹת לִבּוֹ רַק רַע כָּל הַיּוֹם: / The Yetzer of his heart said only bad all day . So simply it means that all day the Yetzer Hara is giving you bad ideas of what to do. The Nefesh HaChaim, in Shaar 3,Perek 8 says this means that the Yetzer Hara's trick is to say all day to you, You are no good. He wants to break you. He wants to make you feel shafal . And once he breaks you, you'll do anything. You need to have Rommemut HaNefesh. But part of his ploy is to make you think that being shafal/ being lowly is how you're supposed to feel. The Imrei Emet says something unbelievable about the words רק רע כל היום The last letter of רק is ק The last letter of רע is an ע . The last letter of כל is ל . The last letter of היום is מ , which spells עמלק Amalek. We all have an Amalek inside of us that wants to tell us all day, " You're no good. " But don't think that's Anava . It's Shiflut . And the Nefesh HaChaim in Shaar א perek ד וזאת תורת האדם כל איש ישראל אל יאמר בלבו ח"ו This is the Torah of the human being, to ant Jewish person, Don't say in your heart, Who am I? What's my strength? What's my power? What can I do? Who am I? " No, you have to realize, he says, and put steadfast in your heart. Every deed, every speech, every thought that you do every second of the day has impact. ומה רבו מעשיו ומאד גדלו ורמו. How great are your deeds! How powerful they are! Rabbi Ades once said, Imagine a man sitting in front of the control tower with all kind of buttons and levers, and that's the place where they hit the button to launch a nuclear attack. Will he sit there and they'll say, " Who am I? What am I? What can I do? " It's not about you, it's about what you connected to, where you're positioned. You're a Jewish person! Your soul came from beneath the Kiseh Hakavod. You're powerful. And this is throughout all our writings. Mesilat Yesharim chapter 19, when talking about praying for the Bet Hamikdash to be built, says, "if a person says, מִי אֲנִי וּמָה אֲנִי סָפוּן שֶׁאֶתְפַּלֵּל עַל יְרוּשָׁלַיִם What am I? What's my value? I'm going to pray for Yerushalayim? My prayers are going to cause the Galut to come and the Yeshua to happen? And he says, Yes. The answer is Man was created alone, because everyone has to say, בִּשְׁבִילִי נִבְרָא הָעוֹלָם" I am the only one to pray for the churban. I am important. I'm the only person in the world. We have to walk around with these feelings of Rommemut HaNefesh . The Sefer Kol Mevaser on Parashat Yitro quotes Rav Bunim of Peshishcha who said, Every Jew has to have two pockets . In one pocket, it should say, " בשבילי נברא העולם / For me the world was created And in the other pocket should say אנכי עפר ואפר , /I am but dust and ashes If you're getting a little too carried away, remind yourself I am but dust and ashes And if you're getting a little down, you have to take out the בשבילי נברא העולם / For me the world was created. It's a balance. You have to have both. So much so that Rav Hutner brings down in that in the Gemara in Masechet Rosh Hashana 26 B, there's a discussion of How the shofar of Rosh Hashanah is supposed to be. Should it be bent or should it be straight? One opinion says, כמה דכייף איניש דעתיה / the more you bend yourself in humility, the better it is And another opinion says, No כמה דפשיט It's better to be straight. What are these two approaches? Rav Hutner, in his sefer on Rosh Hashanah, Maamar 15 says that, yes, there's a concept of bending yourself. That's important. It's Rosh Hashanah. There's Kabalat Ohl Malchut Shamayim. accepting the yoke of God's kingdom. I am going to humble myself and bend myself. But that could be dangerous. We don't want you to feel like you're a piece of dirt. So the other side is, you have to stand up straight, stand with your head high and say, I belong to the army of Hashem. I'm a proud card-carrying Jew. That's not a contradiction to Anava . You can know who you are, know your family, know your roots, know your greatness. And at the same time, after all that, you say, but did I do it? It's a gift that Hashem gave me. It's the car that God gave me to drive. It's not my car, its all His gifts. It's the talents that God gave me. Anava doesn't mean walking around lowly. That's the Yetzer Hara talking to you. When you walk around feeling down and low and it's not allowing you to produce, then you know it's coming from that Rak Rah Kol HaYom. You have to see what it's producing, what it's causing. He wants to break us. And that's why we sometimes think that it's the Yetzer HaTov saying, " You have to be humble. You have to be xyz.." No. You are great. And there's nothing wrong with saying you're great. And there's nothing wrong with saying Bishvilli Nivrah Olam . There's nothing wrong with saying Banim Atem Hashem Elokechem I once asked one of the gedolim, Rav Berel Povarsky, what a healthy person that's feeling depressed should do. And he said, " What should you do? You say the Beracha Ohev Amo Yisrael- God loves you. You're part of the Jewish people. The Creator loves you." Those are the thoughts that a Jewish person has to have. Rav Haskel Levenstein says, the more Rommemut you have, the better your Middot will be, the less you'll be brought down, the less you'll be stuck over pettiness and silliness. Rav Ades says he was once on a plane, looking out the window at all the cars in the parking lot getting smaller and smaller and smaller. What happened? Who was shrinking all the cars? Of course, he was saying that in jest. The cars didn't get smaller, he said. I got higher. And when you lift yourself up, you see that all the things that are seemingly important, that people get busy with, are really small. You lift yourself up and the challenges disappear. Rav Yerucham Levovitz once said, " How many people have to go for therapy to get out the sandbox and stop playing in the sand? How many people have to go therapy to stop playing with their dolls? How'd you stop?" The answer is, You matured. You grew up, you became uplifted. It says in HaAzinu Devarim 32,2 thar the Torah is compared to a wind that blows through the grass, and just like the wind strengthens the grass and makes it grow, it lifts you up, it makes you greater, it makes you above. Now, someone might say, and again, the Yetzer Hara talking, "what do you mean? Ma Anu, We say every morning, what are we? Ma Hayinu/What's our life? Ma Hasdenu/What's our kindness? Ma Sidkatenu/What's our righteousness? Ma Yeshuatenu/What's our salvation? Ma Kohenu/What's our strength? And we go on..: and we say, רוֹב מַעֲשֵֹיהֶם תֹּהוּ וִימֵי חַיֵּיהֶם הֶבֶל לְפָנֶיךָ It's hot air, man is nothing more than an animal… it sounds horrible, But you have to continue. Now we go into a whole different story לְבַד הַנְּשָׁמָה הַטְּהוֹרָה שֶׁהִיא עֲתִידָה לִתֵּן דִּין וְחֶשְׁבּוֹן לִפְנֵי כִסֵּא כְבוֹדֶךָ: We're Your nation the the children of Your convenant, of Avraham Yitzhak and Yaakov, that You love them and You're happy with them. And we're called the Yisrael Yeshurun, and therefore we have to be thankful and praise You and bless You, אַשְׁרֵינוּ מַה טּוֹב חֶלְקֵנוּ וּמַה נָּעִים גּוֹרָלֵנוּ וּמַה יָּפָה יְרֻשָּׁתֵנוּ: How lucky we are, how fortunate we are, We come to shul in the morning and we stay late at night and we say, Shema Yisrael.. what a positive switch. You can't get stuck in the What are we?Of course there is truth to that. What is our strength? And what is our abilities? But we have a Neshama, and that gives us Rommemut. These are the thoughts that we have to have. And they're not contrary to Anava.

The 156th episode of The Jewish Drinking Show features Nadav Jesselson, co-founder and general manager of Anava Vineyards, speaks on Israel's first "vineyard as a service". Support the Show.Thank you for listening!If you have any questions, suggestions, or more, feel free to reach out at Drew@JewishDrinking.coml'chaim!

What Brings Anava?

What would you do if you were ridiculed in public? Today we explore the profound power of silence in the face of shame, as discussed in the Orchos Tzaddikim, Ways of the Righteous. We reflect on how choosing to remain silent amidst public mockery can lead to divine favor and inner peace. Drawing wisdom from the Talmud, we hear about the spiritual light that shines upon those who practice this humility, transforming Busha (shame) into Anava (humility) and ultimately leading to a deeper sense of self-worth and dignity.We also uncover the signs of a noble character in children, focusing on modesty and humility as key indicators. Our discussion takes a historical turn as we look at King Saul's humility and how it was treasured by our sages. As we conclude our journey through the gate of shame, we prepare to transition into the gate of arrogance, eager to unravel more insights. This episode is a rich exploration of virtues that remain deeply relevant in our daily lives. Don't miss out on this meaningful conversation that promises to enrich your understanding of humility and dignity._____________This series on Orchos Tzadikim/Ways of the Righteous is produced in partnership with Hachzek.Join the revolution of daily Mussar study at hachzek.com.We are using the Treasure of Life edition of the Orchos Tzadikkim (Published by Feldheim)Recorded in the TORCH Centre - Levin Family Studios (B) in Houston, Texas on June 4, 2024.Released as Podcast on July 5, 2024_____________DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!_____________SUBSCRIBE and LISTEN to other podcasts by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe: NEW!! Prayer Podcast: https://prayerpodcast.transistor.fm/episodesJewish Inspiration Podcast: https://inspiration.transistor.fm/episodesParsha Review Podcast: https://parsha.transistor.fm/episodesLiving Jewishly Podcast: https://jewishly.transistor.fm/episodesThinking Talmudist Podcast: https://talmud.transistor.fm/episodesUnboxing Judaism Podcast: https://unboxing.transistor.fm/episodesRabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection: https://collection.transistor.fm/episodesFor a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at https://www.TORCHpodcasts.com_____________EMAIL your questions, comments, and feedback: awolbe@torchweb.org_____________Please visit www.torchweb.org to see a full listing of our outreach and educational resources available in the Greater Houston area!  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

What would you do if you were ridiculed in public? Today we explore the profound power of silence in the face of shame, as discussed in the Orchos Tzaddikim, Ways of the Righteous. We reflect on how choosing to remain silent amidst public mockery can lead to divine favor and inner peace. Drawing wisdom from the Talmud, we hear about the spiritual light that shines upon those who practice this humility, transforming Busha (shame) into Anava (humility) and ultimately leading to a deeper sense of self-worth and dignity.We also uncover the signs of a noble character in children, focusing on modesty and humility as key indicators. Our discussion takes a historical turn as we look at King Saul's humility and how it was treasured by our sages. As we conclude our journey through the gate of shame, we prepare to transition into the gate of arrogance, eager to unravel more insights. This episode is a rich exploration of virtues that remain deeply relevant in our daily lives. Don't miss out on this meaningful conversation that promises to enrich your understanding of humility and dignity._____________This series on Orchos Tzadikim/Ways of the Righteous is produced in partnership with Hachzek.Join the revolution of daily Mussar study at hachzek.com.We are using the Treasure of Life edition of the Orchos Tzadikkim (Published by Feldheim)Recorded in the TORCH Centre - Levin Family Studios (B) in Houston, Texas on June 4, 2024.Released as Podcast on July 5, 2024_____________DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!_____________SUBSCRIBE and LISTEN to other podcasts by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe: NEW!! Prayer Podcast: https://prayerpodcast.transistor.fm/episodesJewish Inspiration Podcast: https://inspiration.transistor.fm/episodesParsha Review Podcast: https://parsha.transistor.fm/episodesLiving Jewishly Podcast: https://jewishly.transistor.fm/episodesThinking Talmudist Podcast: https://talmud.transistor.fm/episodesUnboxing Judaism Podcast: https://unboxing.transistor.fm/episodesRabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection: https://collection.transistor.fm/episodesFor a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at https://www.TORCHpodcasts.com_____________EMAIL your questions, comments, and feedback: awolbe@torchweb.org_____________Please visit www.torchweb.org to see a full listing of our outreach and educational resources available in the Greater Houston area!  ★ Support this podcast ★

Who Has Anava?

Many with celiac disease often report feeling isolated, awkward, and disheartened as they navigate the world on a gluten-free diet. But the future is bright, and there are tools you can use to maneuver the social landscape and cope with the burden of a chronic illness. In this Town Hall celebrating both Celiac Awareness Month and Mental Health Awareness Month, Dr. Anava Wren discusses her work on the social and psychological impacts of celiac disease, and shares her top tips for combatting that isolation. Dr. Wren is a pediatric celiac psychologist and Clinical Associate Professor in the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology at Stanford University Medical Center. She is also the Director of the GI Psychosocial Services & IBD/Celiac Psychological Health Programs. She has been a leader in Stanford Medicine Children's Health Center for IBD and Celiac Disease since it was founded in 2020. This Town Hall is possible thanks to our sponsor, Crunchmaster. Crunchmaster crackers are made from simple, wholesome ingredients, and are certified gluten-free. Thank you Crunchmaster! To hear more episodes of Celiac Straight Talk, head to https://www.beyondceliac.org/news-events/podcast-series/.

Programa 4x85. Avui us portem una hist

Programa 4x85. Avui us portem una hist

Anava and Joela Grundy, 5th grade students at Columbia River Gorge Elementary, competed at the USATF Junior Olympics Regional XC Meet in Athol, Idaho, on Nov. 18. https://tinyurl.com/37zr8jym #WashougalSchoolDistrict #AnavaAndJoelaGrundy #ColumbiaRiverGorgeElementary #USATFJuniorOlympicsRegionalXCMeeet #BoostersMileageClub #WhisperRunning #Washougal #ClarkCountyWa #ClarkCountyNews #ClarkCountyToday

Programa 3x159. En Jean-Michel Basquiat potser

Programa 3x159. En Jean-Michel Basquiat potser

La Tina Mu

La Tina Mu

What Motivates Me?

Welcome to another spiritual visualization meditation. Join me as we journey into the four letters of the Hebrew word Anava, ענוה, humility, and discover the secrets of humility in the wisdom of the Torah that lie within these letters. Words and numerical values used in this meditation: ענוה - Anava - humility יום - 56 - day לילה - 75 - night   על פי אמרי נועם זיע"א על התורה   Please like & subscribe! Thank you. Music credits: Aetheric Dreams - Eternally - https://youtu.be/7QDhmw9s0XI Abel Mendoza - Ambient Pads - https://youtu.be/Ze8wx5hvlm8 I Surrender - Ambient Depth Music - https://youtu.be/EA4DhGQMmKk Self Care - Lee Rosevere - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn_gF0v0sW4&t=0s

Programa 3x113. "I have a dream!" La veritat

HEBREW: Shiur Inyanei Anava V'Shiflus At The Sephardic Kehilla Center In Toronto - ליל ג יב כסליו ה'תשפ'ג - בעברית - שיעור שנמסר בבית הכנסת הגדול הספרדי בטורונטו

This presentation covers the correlation between the Torah/ Old Testament histories of the world and the cyclical conspiracy of the Free Masons to control the world thru Shadow Societies to control all of humanity and act like Gods. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/beyondtopsecrettexan/support

Professional & Business success require confidence & often publicity but does this mean that Tzniyus (modesty) and Anava (humility) are thrown out the window? In Podcast #8 Career Coach Tzvi Broker and Rabbi Gerzi teach how to walk the tightrope between exhibiting healthy confidence in our careers and falling into ego. Email us with comments and questions. Option to have the sources quoted from this podcast emailed to you too. Be in touch! pilznoworkinspired@gmail.com https://pilznoworkinspired.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqH7... https://www.facebook.com/PilznoWorkIn... Does work and dealing with finances leave you feeling inspired? For many people, work and finances are things that just need to get done and more often than we hope, stressful! Join Rabbi Yehoshua Gerzi Founder of Pilzno- Work Inspired and the Arba Yesodot Program and Career Coach Tzvi Broker weekly as they uncover the Torah's guidance for achieving financial and career success while living with more balance, fulfilment, and peace of mind. Each episode will bring to center stage topics the pain points we experience in our super busy, fast-paced, multi-faceted lives and give practical tools on how to thrive in our jobs or businesses.

How Should I View Success?