Although humility is a desirable trait, the gemara enlightens us by saying that a Torah scholar should have an 1/8 of an 1/8 of gaavah. This is because people will disregard a Torah scholar if he is 100% humble. This is similar to a leader who requires gaavah in order to lead the people and not that the people lead and rule him. This is positive gaavah as it says ויגבה לבו בדרכי ה', his heart was elevated in the ways of Hashem.
The following are some allusions to this idea:
- The Gra tells us a hint to this in קטנתי מכל החסדים (humility), as it is the 8th Pasuk in the 8th Parsha (Vayishlach).
- R’ Heshel of Krakow illuminates our eyes with a fascinating illustration of this. The Midrash says Har Sinai was 500 Amos high. Hashem wanted to give the Torah on Har Tavor, the highest mountain which is four parsah. A parsah is four mil and a mil is 2,000 amos. In summary Har Tavor is 32,000 amos. Har Sinai, the smallest mountain was 500 amos. What is an 1/8 of an 1/8 of 32,000? 500! 1/8 of 1/8 of Har Tavor was Har Sinai.
- This idea is also shown to us in Chanuka. The Maharal points out that the word (אור) יהי yields a Gematria of 25. This alludes to Chanuka, the 25th of Kislev. The Gra tells us the 25th word in the Torah is אור alluding to Chanuka when we light the Menora.
The miracle of Chanuka points to Hashem so clearly since it was supernatural as according to the laws of nature, oil shouldn’t have burned for that long. Chanuka is 8 days. The 8th letter of the Torah is a ר (of the word ארב). ר symbolizes humility since when it is spelled out it spells רש, impoverished. Indeed, the pasuk אין כל רשול, the poor man had nothing. The letter ר has a numerical value of 200. 1/8 of 200 is 25. This alludes to the 25th of Kislev.
Rabbi Alt merited to learn under the tutelage of R’ Mordechai Friedlander ztz”l for close to five years. He received semicha from R’ Zalman Nechemia Goldberg ztz”l. Rabbi Alt has written on numerous topics for various websites and publications and is the author of six books including the recently released Dazzling Money Insights. His writings, some of which have been translated into Yiddish, Hebrew, German and French, inspire people across the spectrum of Jewish observance to live with the vibrancy and beauty of Torah. He lives with his wife and family in Kiryat Yearim (where the Aron was for 20 years [Shmuel 1, 7:1,2]) where he studies, writes and teaches. The author is passionate about teaching Jews of all levels of observance.
