Rather, one should be very humble and lowly of spirit before HaShem and before people and give thanks to his Creator who granted him this advantage. And in the Song of Ethics [the Song of Ha’azinu, Moses' song before his passing, the song corresponding to the sefirah of knowledge as is known, the place of remembrance for humility], it is written, "Do you thus repay God, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father who acquired you, who made you and established you?"
[Do not become prideful about what God gives you; everything is from Him, "for all is from You, and from Your hand have we given to You."]
And the scripture praises humility, as it is stated, "The man Moses was very humble."
And it is said in the Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Shabbat [1:3]: “What wisdom made as a crown for its head, humility made as a heel for its sole. This means that the awe of God is both the beginning and the crown of wisdom, and similarly, humility made the awe of God the heel for its sole. Therefore, we see that humility is higher than all. It is written, "The beginning of wisdom is the awe of God," and it is also written, "The heel [reward] of humility is the awe of HaShem." And it is the way of the Shechinah to rest upon the humble, as it is stated, "I dwell with the contrite and lowly in spirit."
And it is taught in Tractate Sotah [5b] that anyone who humbles himself is considered by scripture as if he offered all the sacrifices [whoever wants to save themselves from offering all the sacrifices—which, in a new reckoning of the 613 commandments could all be included under the general commandment to build a Temple, "called a house of prayer for all peoples"—the advice is to be humble]. As it is stated, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit," and not only that, but his prayer is accepted, as the verse continues, "A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise."
[After all these quotes, he introduces his own insight:] And I have also preached [as we mentioned, his profession was that of a preacher] that [the Lord listens not only to the prayers of the humble but] even to the desires of their hearts. The Holy Blessed One hears their desires and fulfills their wishes, even though they did not pray for them, as it is stated, "The desire of the humble You have heard, O God; You prepare their heart, You incline Your ear." It does not say "the prayer of the humble," but rather "the desire." This means that which they think in their hearts [You prepare and fulfill].
Go out and see what King David meant when he said, "But I am a worm, and not a man, a reproach of men, and despised by the people," meaning that I should compare myself to a worm, which is under the dirt in disgrace, just as when a person dies, the dirt is above his head [similar to a teaching from the Choizeh of Lublin on the verse "I am comforted by dust and ashes." The Choizeh explained that he is so wicked and has so angered the Creator, that he has no place to hide, no comfort in the world. He has only one comfort: contemplating that in the end he will be buried in the earth and will become dust and ashes.] Therefore, he [David] was lowly before God and therefore was leaping and dancing before his Creator—as he said to Michal, "and I will be lowly in my own eyes," [out of his great humility, he leaped and danced with all his might, the might of "Blessed is the man whose strength is in You"]—and before people, when Shimi ben Geira cursed him, he said, "Let him curse" [as is cited in the Tanya, a source of the Tanya. He allows him to curse out of humility and the recognition that "it was God has told him to curse." How did he act this way, to leap and dance and let Shimei ben Gera curse him?] All of this was caused by his extraordinary humility.
Our Rabbis extensively criticized the arrogant in Tractate Sotah [5a], stating that they are called an abomination [this is why he concludes this commandment in his laws of idolatry], as it is written, "Every proud heart is an abomination to God," and [Heaven forbid] they will not witness the consolation of Zion, as it is written, "On that day, you will not be ashamed of all your deeds wherein you have transgressed against Me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you will no longer be haughty on My holy mountain. But I will leave within you a people humble and lowly [the prophet says that in the future, HaShem will leave in Israel only a "humble and lowly people"]. They will trust in the name of Havayah." And it does not mean a literally poor people [in material terms, without silver or gold], for it is written, "Surely the islands shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your children from afar, their silver and gold with them" [so what does "humble and lowly people" mean in the future? After all, "their silver and gold with them"!], but rather it means a humble people. And likewise, Yonatan translated [the verse "humble and lowly people"—he did not translate that we will be poor, heaven forbid; we will be wealthy, but he translated] "a humble people." And it says in the Book of Proverbs [29:23], "A man's pride shall bring him low, but a humble spirit shall uphold honor." And our sages said, "Be exceedingly humble in spirit, for the hope of man is worms." And the advantage of man over the beast is nothing other than to serve the Creator, who forms all, and to bring Him satisfaction [this is the advantage, and it must be said that this "nothingness" is the very "nothingness" that can be attained in the service of the Creator corresponding to the mazal of the Jewish people, which is “nothingness,” as taught by the Ba’al Shem Tov].
The Story of the Dream
[Now he writes the background for everything he has written here; this is the main point:] I preached the lesson of humility to the public as follows [that every Jew must be humble]. However, to establish this as a prohibition and to include it among the negative commandments was not my intention, and even our teacher Moses [the Rambam] did not include it, nor did he mention it in his enumeration of the prohibitions. When I reached the point of completing the list of prohibitions [at the end of the laws of idolatry], I was called in a dream during the vision of the night [like Joseph, the master of dreams]: "Behold, you have forgotten the main point, 'Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God.'" I reflected on it in the morning [after waking up], and indeed, it is a great foundation in the awe of God [it is not just something I preached repeatedly, but it is a great principle worthy of being made a commandment in the count of the 613]. So, I decided to include it with the help of the One who gives wisdom to the wise.
Afterwards, I examined the text in the first chapter of Sotah [5a] and found it written explicitly: From where do we derive a warning against the arrogant? Rav Nachman bar Rabbi Yitzchak said from here: “And your heart will become haughty, and you will forget Havayah your God,” and it is written, “Beware that you do not forget Havayah your God.” And as Rabbi Avin said in the name of Rabbi Ilai, wherever it says “beware,” “lest,” or “do not,” it signifies a prohibition."
(from a class given on 26 Av 5776)
