Now, because of that greatness, there comes another Torah corollary that’s also of the greatest importance, and that is as follows: Because man is so tremendous, so full of potential to accomplish great things, just because of that, man is also the most arrogant of all creatures in the world. He's the biggest ba'al ga'avah.
Because man is so great therefore it’s easy for him to fall into the error of being tempted to view himself in that light. Every person, no matter what status he may seem to be, is subject to the temptation to be conceited in such a way that makes him a peril to the world and surely to himself.
Arrogance is an extremely great pitfall. Of all human beings’ tendencies and traits, the most dangerous is the tendency to feel his greatness. The seforim say: “Haga'avah rosh kol chatas”, arrogance is the head, the top, of all sins. What does that mean, “the head”? Don’t we know there are bigger sins than arrogance? The answer is that gaavah is the source of all sins; that’s what it means “rosh kol chatas.” If you'll analyze every form of wickedness, it's due to a man's conceit. He thinks he deserves everything! He’s always right! He can do! He’s not wrong! He’s important! He’s capable! He thinks the world of himself!
And actually it’s true; נו≈מ¿לַˆּב םָ„ָ‡ ה∆ׂ ֲ̆ﬠַנ! He actually has within him an endless greatness, almost infinite potential. It’s so great, so powerful and tremendous, that it’s capable of misleading him and ruining him.
Creating a Hitler
I'll give just one example. Everybody knows there was a madman in Europe who took into his head to destroy many millions of people. Now to us it seems entirely insane. How could such a thing enter a person's mind? Why should he kill millions of people? Even if he has a peeve, a grudge against somebody, he won't be satisfied until millions and millions and millions are destroyed?! It’s meshugeh!
But the truth is that it’s a sign of the greatness of mankind; because he's so great, his ideals and capabilities and she’ifos are correspondingly just as great. Because man is great, he imagines great things, tremendous plans. And just because of that, his wickedness can be endlessly great. Man’s greatness and arrogance are capable of creating a Hitler.
But we’re not interested in Hitler now; we’re concerned about our own gaavah because we are faced with that same pitfall. You know, there are people who are tyrants in their home; even in the yeshiva and kollel you find such things. Some people are tyrants in the workplace.
The Arrogant Storekeeper
I once went into a store many years ago to buy some little toys for my children. And there was a Syrian young man, a big fat fellow sitting behind the counter. I remember he was eating a candy bar. It was a very big store, a whole department store, and he was sitting on his throne right next to the cash register. And all day long the music of the register was ringing in his ears; he was on top of the world!
Now, I had rundown heels in those days. I was a very poor man in those days. And so when I walked in he turned to his girl secretary, the cashier, and he said “Look at those heels.” And he chuckled. He laughed at me.
Now, where does an attitude like that come from? From many things. But the foundation of it all is his greatness. He really is great and that becomes a pitfall. And it’s an attitude that we all have – to a certain extent that’s all of us.
Antidote to Arrogance
Now if that’s the case this is going to give us the key to understanding many things that take place in history and in our lives; but we'll start with what we began this evening. Here is a Jew who is getting malkos for some sin and he's bending over a block; he's holding onto it and he's being whipped. What's the purpose?
The purpose is to counteract his arrogance! It’s intended to humble him. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not venting His anger on him; He is helping him. It’s a medicine that's being administered as an antidote to his conceit, to shame him into submission to Hashem; to shame him into submission to his purpose in the world.
The Torah says ך∆ינ≈ﬠ¿ל ךƒחָ‡ הָל¿ ̃ƒנ¿ו – your brother will be put to shame before your eyes. Only shame? Doesn't it hurt too? Thirty nine lashes by a hefty shliach of beis din who is brandishing that whip with all his koach is only a matter of shame? No; absolutely it hurts but the embarrassment is the most important achievement. That whip is putting him down to size, making him think less of his arrogance. It makes him small.
The Strongest Medicine
Now if you study a little grammar with me for a minute, we'll understand it. The word makkah is hifil, to hit, from nun chaf hei, nachah; and nachah means to deduct. If you know Hebrew, nun chaf hei means to deduct, like nikui. And so makkah, to hit means to deduct. It’s deducting something from you; just like the doctor who takes a patient who has a tumor and the doctor is deducting the tumor from his patient. It hurts, but he's saving that man's life. And so when the beis din is giving him makkos, they're deducting from him his arrogance. They're hitting him in order to make him humble. He's becoming an anav.
Now you might say why is it necessary to hit him so many times? Why hit him at all? They should talk to him; tough words. “Who do you think you are that you can transgress a law of the Torah?! You think you’re so important you can do what you want?!” Talk mean and loud words to him! That should be enough.
No, that won’t do the job. Because you have to know who you're talking to. You're talking to a very great personality! You’re talking to Man! And because of his greatness, you won't make him small merely by your words; you have to administer a strong medicine. Of course, words are also important, but the medicine must be given to him in such an extreme way that the words will make an effect.
Canceling Magic
Now, this explains a common phenomenon in this world, and that’s the subject of sickness.
The Gemara (Brachos 10b) tells that there was a book of remedies and Chizkiyahu Hamelech was ganaz sefer refuos; he took this book out of circulation. He concealed it. And the Chachomim praised him for that.
Now, we don't understand that at all. Remedies for various illnesses? What’s wrong with that?
There are two peirushim on this. One peirush is the Rambam's peirush. The Rambam says it was a sefer talismaos, it was a sefer of certain magic remedies. And because Chizkiyah didn't want the people to resort to magic remedies therefore he took that book and he concealed it. “Forget about magic,” Chizkiyahu said.
Canceling Conceit
But others like Rashi say no, it wasn’t magic remedies. It was a book of real effective remedies, real medicine. And yet, Chizkiyahu concealed it for a reason. What could be a good reason for that?
Now pay attention to Rashi's words. Rashi says illness is sent upon people in order to humble them. Not only Rashi; all of our great men say that. Rav Saadya Gaon in his Emunos V’deios says the same thing. The purpose of suffering is lehachnia es halev, to confer the great gift of humility. Suffering lowers pride. Suffering is an antibiotic for conceit and arrogance.
Because of the greatness of man, that explains the necessity for such things. A man is liable to great temptations in this world, to forget about other people, even to forget about Hashem, because he is so great. And therefore Hakadosh Baruch Hu has to remind him from time to time; He has to give him a little slap here and a little slap there to remind him, “Quiet down. I'm bigger than you are.”
The Purpose of Illness
And that's why sickness comes, to humble you. A man is sick, he is on the operating table, and he sees a doctor taking out a whole boxful of various scissors and knives and soon they'll put him to sleep and start cutting him up and so he'll be thinking, “When I get out of this alive, I'm going to be a better fellow. I'll be better to my wife. I'll be a better neighbor. I'll be more pliable. I'll start listening to the rabbi in the synagogue when I get out of here.”
But not merely to make you humble toward your fellow man. That's also a big achievement but the most important humility is to be humble to your Creator: “I'm going to listen to Hashem when I get out. If He lets me out of this place alive, I'm going to be humble before Hashem.” That's the real purpose of the operation.
That's the purpose of all illness. That's the purpose of a cold. If a person chalilah gets a cold it’s for the intention to make him more humble. You know when you have sniffles and you're coughing and sneezing; you have a sore throat, sinus trouble – you shouldn't have it – but the purpose is to make you feel low. You're too high. It’s to push you down a little bit. It's an effective medicine. Any illness, any pain, is for the purpose of making a person lose his arrogance. Our Sages tell us that again and again. Hakadosh Baruch Hu bestows a great benefit on mankind from time to time by humbling them.
Fainting and First-Aid
That's why a sick man in the language of Tanach is called a dal. לָּ„ ל∆‡ ילƒּכ¿ׂ ַ̆מ י≈ר¿ׁ ַ̆‡ – Happy is the one who has interest in a sick man. The sick man is called a dal. Dal means he’s low. Why is he dal? He's low because the illness makes him low. Sometimes he's so low that he can't get up. He has to lie down.
Why is he lying down? There are two reasons why a person lies down when he’s ill. One is because Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants a man to get well and when he lies down it puts less stress on his heart. The blood, instead of being pumped up and down, it's pumped horizontally with less stress on the heart. When you lie down, there's less stress on your organs and you can recover more quickly.
That's why people faint. Fainting is a yeshuah. It's a salvation. It's first-aid when you faint. You shouldn't faint but it's first-aid, because then everything stops; everything quiets down and your body has a chance now to recuperate a little bit.
But there's another reason why people lie down when they're sick or when they faint. Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to show you that you're not such a big shot. When you’re lying in bed and your head hurts and your stomach hurts and you’re sniffling and coughing, you can’t be a big shot – it’s impossible.
The Real Great One
I once fainted on the street. I never dreamed I would faint. I used to see people faint on the street and ambulances came. But to me it would never happen. I'm a big shot. And then it happened. An ambulance came and they put me on the stretcher. I said, “Take me home. I want to get out of here. I don't belong here.”
“Nothing doing,” they said. “You have to go to the hospital.”
I wanted to get up and go home. “No, you can’t get up!” I learned the lesson that I’m not a big shot. What do you think, Miller? Fainting is only for other people? That’s a valuable lesson. I learned a valuable lesson that day. A man becomes humbled by means of sickness and that’s what really makes him great because now Hashem is in his mind more; he’s lower down and he recognizes the real Big Shot.
