Uplifting Neshamos:
The Medrash Rabbah (34:1) states: “’If your brother becomes destitute...’ This is as is stated (Tehillim 41:2): ‘Ashrei maskil el dal. Praiseworthy is he who looks after the poor.’”
The Bais Aharon explains the connection between these two verses by saying that this is an explanation of how tzadikim are able to uplift neshamos from low places to great heights. He says that when the pasuk refers to a brother who is “destitute’, it means someone who has fallen to a low level of ruchnius. He explains the words “u’mata yado imo” to mean that the tzadik should treat himself as an equal to that person. Even though he is a tzadik and his brother is sinful, he should consider him his equal. This concept is known as “yeridos hamochin” – lowering one’s own head to be equal to others. Once a tzadik does this, he can support his brother and lift him up together with himself.
In this vein, Rav Shlomo of Karlin zy”a would say that if one wants to lift his fellow Jew out of the mud and filth, he must first lower himself down into the mud to be with him.
The Medrash juxtaposes the pasuk of “ashrei maskil el dal”, as these words can be translated to mean: Praiseworthy is one who looks into the lowly person by going down to his level and finding the good in him.
