Sefer Chesed L’Avrohom (Radomsk) notes that the word “diglo” (his division) has the same letters as the word “gadol” (a big person). This is a hint to when a person reaches the age of “gadlus” (adulthood). Accordingly, the pasuk can be understood to be saying that if a person wants to grow up and become a respectable adult, the way to do it is by following “the flag of his fathers’ house.”
In other words, one should look towards the Avos Hakedoshim, who personified what it means to serve Hashem and reach great levels of holiness, but who still considered themselves lowly and always acted humbly. By learning how to act this way, one can become a respectable, upstanding adult.
Ahavas Hatorah Through the Mesiras Nefesh of Parents:
According to this explanation, we can understand the pasuk to be saying that the future of Jewish children depends on the mesiras nefesh of their parents. If they devote themselves to instill their children with love of Torah and yiras shomayim, the children will thrive. Thus, the pasuk is saying that a child will come to serve Hashem properly as an adult if he can look to the flag of his parents, meaning to learn from their example and benefit from their influence.
When Rav Aryeh Leib Kalmanowitz zt”l (the father of Rav Avrohom Kalmanowitz zt”l, Rosh Yeshivas Mir) was an elderly man, he stated that he only attained a high level of Torah and was only able to disseminate Torah as a result of mesiras nefesh his parents put forth to educate him in the ways of Torah in his youth.
He related that when he was a child, he came home from cheder one day and happily related that the Melamed had said that they would begin learning Gemara the next day. He said that every boy was supposed to come to cheder the next day with a Gemara Bava Metziah.
His parents’ faces lit up with joy upon hearing this. A short while later, however, they realized that they had a problem. His father, R’ Osher, told his mother, “Our financial situation is very tight. We are just managing to put food on the table, but we don’t have money for any extras. How will we pay for a Gemara Bava Metziah?”
Both of them had trouble sleeping that night; however, in the middle of the night, they both came with ideas for how to get the money.
The next morning, his mother hurried to the sefarim store and, with much joy, she asked the storeowner for the newest and nicest Gemara Bava Metziah. She was shocked to see her husband suddenly coming towards the storeowner with a Bava Metziah in his hand, about to hand over some money to pay for it. She asked him, “Where did you get that money? Last night, you told me that you had no extra money for a Gemara?”
Her husband turned to her and asked the very same question.
His wife replied, “When I was a kallah, your mother gave me a gift of a valuable silk scarf. That scarf was very important to me and I never considered selling it, even in our most difficult times. But now that our precious son needs a Gemara and we have no money to purchase one, I decided to sell my scarf for the sake of his Torah learning.”
Her husband then said, “I did the same thing. I sold my valuable gold watch that your father gave me when I was a chosson so that I could buy a Gemara to enable our son to learn Torah.”
The two parents argued about who should have the zechus of buying the Gemara, until they concluded that each should pay half. The joyfully returned home with the new Gemara in their hands. This image left a huge impression on the boy that lasted for the rest of his life and instilled him a burning desire to learn more and more.
A Fool Cannot Heal Himself:
The Orchos Tzadikim (Shaar Ha’anavah) writes that a wise man must heal himself from the trait of gaivoh and accept to cling to the trait of anavah. He states: “Rise up and don’t stop healing yourself from haughtiness and trickery. Don’t desist because you see many of your peers acting this way who say to those who rebuke them that everyone has gaivoh and that everyone is corrupt in business and tricks others. Don’t say that there are many better people than you who do such-and-such and, therefore, you can be like them and you will share their portion.”
He says that such a mindset is foolish. He compares it to someone who has an ache in his eyes but refuses to take a medicine that is known to work and instead says, “Why should I take the medicine? If I go blind, so be it! There are many good blind people in the world. I’ll be like them.” Of course, that is ridiculous.
So too, one shouldn’t look to others who act improperly and say that he can be like them. One who does so will not attain any level of avodas Hashem. Rather, one should do what he knows is right and he should take the “medicine” that Hashem ordains in order to make him a better person.
