Falsehood Knows No Bounds
The holy Chozeh of Lublin explained regarding the pasuk ולא בזה לא כי עני ענות שקץ, for He has neither despised nor loathed the supplication of the poor... that the Ribbono shel Olam doesn’t push away the humility of the poor man (ענות is also an expression of humility). One may ask, is there any greatness in it that this man is humble? What does this poor person have to be haughty about, anyway? We will answer this question with another question: How can it be that people who are completely empty, and have nothing to show for themselves, walk around with such great haughtiness—such that we can barely stand next to them? HaKadosh Baruch Hu created a monster called ga’avah... and He enabled a person to feel haughty despite having nothing to himself. How is this possible, you’ll ask?
The answer is that haughtiness is rooted in sheker. And since it is rooted in falsehood, it doesn’t matter what state a person is in... If it is sheker, a person can convince himself easily to be a ba’al ga’avah. One doesn’t need to be in a high position in order to feel haughty. Aren’t there people among us who nothing about halachah and still consider themselves talmidei chachamim?! It’s clear to them that they’re talmidei chachamim! They have some vort on the parashah, and with this they’re convinced that they’ve earned their place in the Mizrach of the Shul! They dress that way... they speak that way... and expect honor—not for themselves, of course—but for kavod haTorah.
