The Narcissistic Instinct
Now, before we continue, before we get to the subject, we have to first answer the question that’s niggling in our minds. If you’re still awake, then it should be bothering you. It’s the question of ga’avah, arrogance. Ga’avah, everyone knows, is the לָּכ ׁ ̆‡ֹר ̇‡ָּטַח – it’s considered the top in the list of sins; it’s a big sin on its own and it causes most other sins. And so we understand that it’s serious business. To say ‘me, me’, it’s not so simple.
And yet we know that ga’avah is a natural instinct of human beings. Don’t we see little babies who stand in their cribs and when they jump up and down and you applaud them so they do it with redoubled energy because they see they have a grandstand. They want to be important. It’s an inborn instinct.
Now, the rule is that רָׁ ָ̆י םָ„ָ‡ָה ̇∆‡ יםƒ ֹ̃ל¡‡ָה הָׂ ָ̆ﬠ – when Hashem made man, He made him right (Koheles 7:29). He didn’t put anything wrong in a man. All the tendencies, all the passions and urges, all the natural instincts are for a good purpose – only that a yetzer hara comes to a man and makes him misuse his instinct.
You know, a sefer Torah is a very good thing to have; it’s a beautiful gift if someone would give you that. But suppose you would get angry and you pick up your sefer Torah and hit somebody over the head with it; then it’s not so good anymore. But it wouldn’t be the fault of the one who gave you that gift.
Think Big
And therefore you have to understand that ga’avah was put into man for a purpose. It’s a very good middah to have ga’avah. You hear that chiddush? Ga’avah is a gift from Hashem. Only that the yetzer hara tells you to misuse it, to hit your fellow man over the head with it, to put him down or to lord over him. Oh no, you should never use that instinct improperly. And yet, at the same time you must listen to it as it pounds in your breast.
What is it saying? What is it pounding about? Ga’avah says, „ֹעו יƒס¿פַ‡¿ו יƒנֲ‡ – I am all important (Yeshaya 47:10). And the truth is you are! Only that the yetzer hara comes along and wants you to misuse it, that it should come at the expense of others. But the truth is, you have to know that in Hashem’s eyes you are all-important. That’s the truth! Don’t make any mistake about it because misplaced humility is unhealthy. You’ll only accomplish big things if you think big.
About Yehoshafat, one of our great kings, it was said, ם≈ּׁ ַ̆ה י≈כ¿רַ„¿ּב ֹוּבƒלּהַּב¿‚ƒּיַו – his heart became proud in the ways of Hashem (Divrei Hayamim 2 17:6). He’s praised for that, that he was high-minded, proud. Proud? The answer is he had the instinct of ga’avah: “I’m somebody!”
Not the pshat that I’m going to belittle other people. It’s not „ֹעו יƒס¿פַ‡¿ו, that no one else matters. It’s not pshat that I’m going to try to make other people smaller than I am. No. But I’m going to be something; I’m going to make something from myself because I’m important. That’s the ga’avah Hashem is waiting for! ם≈ּׁ ַ̆ה י≈כ¿רַ„¿ּב ֹוּבƒלּהַּב¿‚ƒּיַו! I’m going to walk in the ways of Hashem and make myself as perfect as I can. I’m important enough to aim high.
The Humble Ox
When a person doesn’t think so, that’s not humility; it’s the humility of an ox. Here, you see a little boy six years old, seven years old, and he’s leading a big bull, an ox. Now, the boy weighs at most a hundred pounds; the ox, about two thousand pounds. And yet the big ox is submissive to the little boy. The boy gives the ox a whack on the behind and tells it to keep moving. ‘I’m the boss here,’ the boy is saying. And the big ox doesn’t make trouble because he doesn’t understand what he’s capable of.
Now, that’s good for an ox; after all that’s all we want from him, to be a good ox. We don’t want trouble from two thousands pounds of ox. But a person who’s going to be that way, he’s going to be lacking in the gaavah of ‘walking proud in the ways of Hashem’.
The Human Ox
The Chovos Halevovos said there is a wrong humility which is falsely given that name. That just means you have an inferiority complex. It’s a complex; it’s a sickness and a weakness, not a virtue. Some people – I’m the same – are too bashful sometimes to demand things that they deserve, things they have a right too. That’s a weakness, not humility. And if a person won’t accomplish things because of that weakness, it’s a fault. Everyone has an obligation to recognize his self-worth and live up to his greatness – to be high-minded in walking in the ways of Hashem; not to aim low but high. That’s the ga’avah that Hashem looks for; when you know who you are, when you recognize your worth.
Now, you want to know how important you are? You want to know how much is expected from you? You’re important enough that all of Yetzias Mitzrayim was for you. Hakadosh Baruch Hu took you out of Mitzrayim so that you should become great, so that you should serve Him. He created the world for you so that you should accomplish. Of course, it was done for you and for him and for him and for him and for him too. But not because it’s a klal; not because it was a nation. He did it so that each one individually should say, “It was for me.”
The Burden of Importance
Not for me that I should be the owner of the world, the ruler of the world. No, that’s not it. It’s made for you means that you’re responsible for the world. If there are a million people or a billion created at once, they would say ‘So, I am responsible? Look how many people are in this world. How much responsibility comes to my share? A grain.’
But now he knows that the entire universe is on his shoulders. ‘The world was created for me’ means that as far as Hakadosh Boruch Hu is concerned you’re what matters in this world; Hakadosh Baruch Hu is looking at you and only you. I’ll quote from the Gemara in Kiddushin (40b): ֹוּבֻר רַחַ‡ ןֹוּ„ƒנ םָלֹעוָה∆ׁ ̆ יƒפ¿ל ר≈מֹו‡ ןֹעו¿מƒׁ ̆ 'ר¿ּב רָזָﬠ¿ל∆‡ 'ר – the world is judged according to the majority. If the majority are good, then the world gets a good verdict. If not, then it’s the opposite verdict.
And the individual too; he’s also judged by his majority. ֹוּבֻר רַחַ‡ ןֹוּ„ƒנ „יƒחָּיַה¿ו – Every person is judged whether he is a tzaddik or not according to majority; majority of his deeds.
יוָר¿ׁ ַ̆‡ ַ̇חַ‡ הָו¿ˆƒמ הָׂ ָ̆ﬠ – If he did one mitzvah, he should think how fortunate he is, ̇∆‡¿ו ֹמו¿ˆַﬠ ̇∆‡ ַיﬠƒר¿כƒה∆ׁ ̆ ּ̇כו¿ז ףַּכ¿ל םָלֹעוָה לָּכ – that he tilted the scales in his own benefit and in the benefit of the whole world. רַבָﬠ ֹלו יֹו‡ ַ̇חַ‡ הָר≈בֲﬠ – But if he did one wrong thing, oy vey for him, הָבֹחו ףַּכ¿ל םָלֹעוָה לָּכ ̇∆‡¿ו ֹמו¿ˆַﬠ ̇∆‡ ַיﬠƒר¿כƒה∆ׁ ̆ – because he tilted the scales of the world to the side of guilt.
The Rigged Election
Of course you’ll say, “Well, that’s improbable. One person in the whole world should be the deciding factor? An election in which one person will turn the tables, it’s quite improbable.”
But listen to what it means. The Torah wants us to know that it’s possible that one act that a person does can save the world or chalilah plunge the world into misfortune. The fact that it doesn’t turn out so because of the law of averages has nothing to do with the fact that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has made things in such a way that it could be that way. And He did that because He wants you to know how important you really are. You’re not one little speck in the mass of humanity.
You know, if you are a foolish fellow, someone who falls for every prank that the atheist evolutionists play on the world, so you might think that man is an accident that came along later after all the other things came into existence. And so what is he? He’s only a drop of protoplasm on a little speck of dust floating in space.
That’s the attitude of the world. Of course it’s sheker v’chazav and it’s anti-Torah, anti-Hashem, but even more, it underrates by infinite magnitudes the importance of every individual. An individual is so important that Hashem made it that it could be that his one movement can destroy or save the world.
The Vote That Counts
Will it ever happen that you’ll be the deciding factor? Probably not. But the idea is that whatever you do is important in the Eyes of Hashem – and those are the Eyes that matter – as if you’re the only one. And therefore we are learning something here, that a person should know how greatly important he is in the world!
That’s what the Zohar says, ֹמו¿ˆַﬠ םָ„ָ‡ ה∆‡¿רƒי םָלֹעו¿ל ֹוּב יּלוָּ ̇ ֹוּלֻּכ םָלֹעוָה לָּכוּלƒ‡¿ּכ – A person should always see himself as if the entire world depends on him (Tzav 9:71). It’s not like people think that it’s just a good attitude that we should acquire, an incentive to act with a little more responsibility by imagining as if the whole world depends on you. No; it’s the plain truth – you have to feel that the entire existence of the world depends on you because that’s how important you are.
Don’t say there are other people who are upholding the principles of the Torah, other people who are doing what’s right. No! You’re the one! If Yetzias Mitzrayim was made only for you, if briyas ha’olam yeish mei’ayin was made only for you – you, sitting here right now – it means that you’re very important!
And Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, “I’m going to hold you responsible. Don’t think it’s a hefker world that has no connection with you. No. The entire universe is waiting that you should make something from yourself; and if you don’t it’s considered in my Eyes as if you wasted My universe.”
Raining On The Party
Because if you make all the preparations for somebody – let’s say someone prepared a big party for you and he brought in a caterer and he rented chairs and he made every arrangement and invited guests. And now everything is ready for you. But you don’t bother coming; or you come but you sit in the corner doing nothing. You spoiled the whole thing!
