HUMILITY WITH A HINT OF EGO
AVROHOM YAAKOV
As part of the purification process of a person afflicted with tsora’as, the Torah tells us that “... the kohein shall command to take for the person undergoing purification two live, pure [kosher] birds, cedar wood, crimson thread and hyssop.” (14:4)
Rashi comments “What is his cure that he may be healed? He should lower himself from his arrogance like a worm and like a hyssop.”
There are a number of questions that this instruction raises.
Why not come out directly say that a person should debase himself? Why the roundabout instruction?
And why include cedar wood, the mightiest of all the trees and therefore indicative of ego and haughtiness if the intention is to teach the person humility?
The Apta Rov explains that in some aspects, ego is important. When it comes to Torah observance, a person needs to have an ego, not to allow the nay sayers to negatively impact on us. Jewish pride – particularly in times such as we are experiencing at this juncture of time – is vital. Therefore, mixed in with the humility of the hyssop is cedar wood.
The Sfas Emes notes that if the Torah had instructed openly that humility was required, no doubt it would have become a mitzvah and people would show pride in fulfilling the mitzvah to be humble. “Ich bin gornisht!” (“I am nothing”) would become a badge of honour and an inherent contradiction to humility.
Therefore, it was not possible to explicitly command humility.
The truly humble person does not virtue signal nor bend over backwards all the time. They know when to bend and when to stick to your guns.
