We will read together a few lines from the Iggeret HaRamban and reflect upon it a little bit. I'm not entirely sure where the line is between what's pshat in the Ramban and where the Ramban is a little bit of a point of departure for what we'll discuss. שמע בני מוסר אביך ואל תיטוש תורת אמך. תתרגל לדבר כל דבריך בנחת לכל אדם ובכל עת. ובזה תינצל מן הכעס שהיא מידה רעה להחטיא בני אדם. וכן אמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה כל הכועס כל מיני גיהינום שולטים בו שנאמר הסר כעס מלבך והעבר רעה מבשרך ואין רעה אלא גיהינום שנאמר וגם רשע ליום רעה. וכאשר תינצל מן הכעס תעלה על לבך מידת הענווה שהיא מידה טובה מכל המידות טובות שנאמר עקב ענווה יראת ה'. ובעבור הענווה תעלה על לבך מידת היראה כי תיתן על לבך תמיד מאין באת ולאן אתה הולך ושאתה רימה ותולעה בחייך ואף כי במותך ולפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון לפני מלך הכבוד שנאמר הנה השמיים ושמי השמיים לא יכלכלוך אף כי לבות בני אדם ונאמר הלא את השמיים ואת הארץ אני מלא נאום ה'. וכאשר תחשוב את כל אלה תירא מבוראך ותישמר מן החטא ובמידות האלה תהיה שמח בחלקך וכאשר תתנהג במידת הענווה להתבושש מכל אדם ולהתפחד ממנו ומן החטא אז תשרה עליך רוח השכינה וזיו כבודה וחיי עולם הבא.
The Iggeret HaRamban is a very remarkable document. We all want, we all need hadracha in avodat Hashem. We sort of wonder what it would be like if we could go into a time machine and be able to be mit'abek be'afar raglehem of the avot ha'olam, but the truth is that the Ramban speaks to us through the Iggeret, clearly giving just basic hadracha in avodat Hashem. And what's the basic hadracha? So the first point is: לדבר כל דבריך בנחת לכל אדם ובכל עת. To always speak softly, calmly, by definition with restraint. If a person is speaking softly and calmly, by definition there is restraint there, which undercuts any anger which perhaps otherwise would well up within the person. When a person secures himself, insulates himself from the adverse effects of ka'as rachamana litzlan, so then a person can develop midat ha'anava. And midat ha'anava is the foundation for everything, the foundation for yirat Hashem. ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלוהיך שואל מעמך. Now on the one hand, it's a pasuk in Mishlei, so I guess Shlomo HaMelech deserves the credit for the chiddush, not the Ramban. But m'idach gisa, the pasuk only establishes the sequential relationship between anava and yirat Hashem. Where the anava and yirat Hashem... to be found or where they’re positioned in the path of avodas Hashem is not clear from the posuk. For instance, if you take Ramchal’s ברייתא דרבי פנחס בן יאיר, so anava isn’t the starting position. It isn’t the foundation of everything. And the Ramban learns pshat no, עקב ענוה יראת השם, that anava is the yesod hayesodos. anava is the yesod hayesodos in a person's avodas Hashem. Now to try to recognize what the chiddush is here, I think if we were sort of reflect without the hadraucha of the Ramban and we would ask what's the path, what's the derech to attaining yiras Hashem, so I think we would say that a person has to encounter Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that the source for yiras Hashem is going to be outside a person. Outside a person, a person encounters Hakadosh Baruch Hu, a person whether it's the Rambam’s description in perek bais of Yisodei Hatorah of being misponein bema'asav u'v'ru'av, whether it's in some other form, but the key to a person's avodah is encountering Hakadosh Baruch Hu and that's going to engender the yiras Hashem. Says the Ramban here a tremendous yesod. Ramban says it begins with a person. That first a person has a sense of shiflus and from there follows the yiras Hashem. So this seems a little bit counter-intuitive. A person comes to yiras Hashem not from without. It's not some external encounter which engenders it within a person, but it's from within. Mitoch atzmo a person is בא לידי יראת השם. And that's what the posuk of עקב ענוה יראת השם is expressing. Now to understand this, because it seems counter-intuitive at first, so we have to ask ourselves the following question. What's most real to a person? What metzius is most real, most vivid, what metzius does a person live and feel more than any other metzius? Again, the question is not what metzius objectively is most real, the question is what metzius does a person feel and live and experience most vividly. So the answer is for everyone, everyone, for every one of us, is that what's most real is a person's own existence. That's what's most real for all of us. And not in a pejorative sense, not in the sense that we usually use the term, a person by definition is self-centered. Again, not with the selfish connotation that we usually use that phrase, but a person is by definition self-centered in the sense that my life is my consciousness. And by definition, a person's existence, again, not in the pejorative sense of the word, not in terms of what his agenda is necessarily, not in terms of what his preoccupations should be, but in terms of his experience, a person's existence is and has to be self-centered. It's interesting, it's interesting that the Ramban is the one who says in the Peirush al haTorah that ve'ahavta lere'acha kamocha is derech haflaga. That when the Torah says ve'ahavta lere'acha kamocha, the Torah doesn't mean that you should love someone else as you love yourself because it's impossible. There's no such thing. Ramban says if you think that you love someone as the areas in which you love yourself. Your self-love is that you want to have a parnasa, so ahavas Yisrael, ahavas harei'a is you should want a parnasa for your friend. Your self-love is that you have she'ifos, you have yearning in ruchanius and avodas Hashem, so ahavas harei'a is that you should love your friend in that area as well and ka'yotzei bazeh. But you don't. And the Ramban says what's more, al pi din, it's supposed to be that way and that's the Ramban quotes chayecha kodmin. Chayecha kodmin. So by definition, a person's existence, again self-centered, not in terms of what a person's preoccupation, not in terms of what a person should be concerned about, but just in terms of a person of who he is, of what he is. Right, we all have different, different sort of definitions of what's history and what's basically current events. So I don't think of the Yom Kippur War as history. Yom Kippur War is in my lifetime. I remember when when when we first heard about the outbreak of the war. So for you, it's history. It's history. Everyone's, everyone's, everyone's perception of the world, of life, by definition, it has to be again, not self-centered in any negative or pejorative sense of the word, but just self-centered because you live through your consciousness. And therefore what's most real to a person is his own life, his own existence. Now once we recognize that, so this has tremendous implications for avodas Hashem. Dehainu. A person can be holding, just to oversimplify, in one of two places. A person can be holding in a place where he wants to know מה לי ולעבודה הזאת? Why should I be exerting myself? Why should I be working hard? Why? Why? Why? There seem to be many other things which compete for my attention in life. So why should I be focused on avodas Hashem? Or a person either because betiva he has more of a predisposition to ruchanius or he's already learned and Torah has had this effect, this elevating and sanctifying effect on the person, that the person already feels that lechach notzar to be oved Hashem and the person's question is: Well, how do I do it? What's the starting point? Either way, the answer has to be, again on whichever level the person is and on whichever level he's asking the question, the starting point has to be from within himself. From within himself because that's what's most real. And that's why Chazal say מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות,
Chazal address those in the first category, לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות אפילו שלא לשמה כי מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.
Kimedumeh that this is how the Rabbeinu Bachya in Chovos Halevavos should be understood, when Rabbeinu Bachya says that the mechayev for avodas Hashem is hakaras hatov. Kayadua. So it's on the surface, it's troubling. That's it? Hakaras hatov? The mechayev for avodas Hashem is not so fundamentally different than the mechayev you have to feel grateful to me if I give you a nice birthday gift? That's it? Okay, so Rabbeinu Bachya explains that the truth is that whatever people do isn't really altruistic, only the Ribbono Shel Olam does things which are really altruistic. Okay, so he distinguishes. But af pi chen, is that all there is to it? So mistama the way the Chovos Halevavos should be understood is Again at the stage where a person needs an answer to that question, so the answer has to be something within himself because that's the starting point. If the person's question is not why should I be Oved Hashem? It's something he intuits, it's something he feels. But the question is how do I, how? So the Rama tells us שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד. So how? How does a person remain constantly aware of Hakadosh Baruch Hu? How is it possible to keep a Machshava omnipresent in one's mind, in one's consciousness? So the answer is that there's one thing of which we never lose sight. There's one thing where without effort we're constantly aware, and that's of ourselves. A person never loses sight of himself. A person is always aware of himself. If, Rabbosai, if our self-image, if our self-definition involves Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So then the same way a person can't and therefore doesn't lose an awareness of self, a person can't and won't lose his awareness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. To the extent to formulate it in keeping with the Ramban here in the Igeres. To the extent that a person has a sense of Shiflus. That again as the Ramban says: כאשר תנצל מן הכעס תעלה על לבך מידת הענווה. And the Anava, this sense of Shiflus that a person has, what's the content of the Shiflus? A person's behavior engenders within him a sense of Shiflus, but what's the substance of the Shiflus? If I'm angry, I'm angry about something. If I'm happy, I'm happy about something. If I'm scared, I'm scared about something. If I have a sense of Shiflus, there's a Tochen to that Shiflus, not just, a person just can't just be happy, and you can try but it doesn't work. You can't just be angry, you can try that also, it doesn't really work either. There has to be a Tochen to a sense of Shiflus. If I have a sense of Shiflus, so what is the substance of that Shiflus? The Ramban says: the substance of that Shiflus is מאין בואך ולאן אתה הולך ולפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון.
If that's the way, let's say Rachmana Litzlan, to give an example of something the Ramban is not talking about, absolutely not. Let's say you have people who have a person Rachmana Litzlan has an inferiority complex. So he always feels that way. He always feels that way, consciously, subconsciously, whatever. Okay, that's something that he needs to understand about himself in terms of self-understanding. But the person carries that feeling with him and it impacts how he feels, how he acts, because that's part of his self-definition. That's part of how he feels about himself. So that's, right, that's from a psychological perspective. That's not a healthy self-definition or feeling of self. But if a person's feeling of self is that I'm Shofel because I'm Shofel before Hakadosh Baruch Hu. In a healthy sense, a person has that sense of Shiflus. So then the same way a person doesn't lose touch with himself, with his own existence, a person doesn't lose touch with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Such a tremendous Yisod the Ramban is telling us here. And that's the Pshat how the Ramban understands the Pasuk of עקב ענוה יראת ה' is that the path to Hakadosh Baruch Hu begins with oneself, because what's most real, again, to every single person is himself, his own existence. And if a person finds Hakadosh Baruch Hu within himself, so then, then a person can aspire to being constantly mindful of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Then he'll see Hakadosh Baruch Hu elsewhere as well. That's what the Ramban is saying. In, in a different way, I'll just read you a couple of lines, and in Bilvavi you have the same idea. I'll just read you one, one place in which you have it. יאמר לעצמו אני נברא ויש כאן משהו שברא אותי. אני נברא ויש כאן מישהו שברא אותי.
Again, the starting point is a person's own sense. He's not emphasizing the shiflus the way the Ramban is, he's emphasizing that a person has a sense of being a nivra. But the nekuda is, is again, there are obviously important differences, but the nekuda is the same, that it begins that one's own self-awareness involves Hakadosh Baruch Hu. One's own self-awareness involves Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So then one can takeh hope to the more real that is, the further along one is to being always mindful of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's one point that emerges here in the Iggeres haRamban. The second point is, Ramban here is clearly operating, I mean, we associate it with the famous formulation of the Sefer haChinuch of אחרי הפעולות נמשכים הלבבות, that a person's actions through a person's actions he can engender within himself feelings, he can internalize certain ideas. And that's clearly the approach that the Ramban here is outlining for us. Ramban says again, you begin, it doesn't say begin by, by meditating on gadlus haBorei and internalize that. Begin practically. Begin לדבר כל דבריך בנחת לכל אדם ובכל עת. Practically. And then when he elaborates a little bit more, על כן אפרש לך איך תתנהג במידת הענווה ללכת בה תמיד, כל דבריך יהיו בנחת.
Again, everything a person says should be said softly. וראשך יהיה כפוף ועיניך יביטו למטה לארץ. And lekhol again, all these, then he, he branches out as well, but the initial, initial steps are all pe'ulos, all pe'ulos. Now the reason for this is not that the Sefer haChinuch or the Ramban or the Rambam for that, right, the Rambam already has it at the end of perek alef of Hilkhos De'os also, right? When the Rambam says that, that to get to the derekh hamemuza'as, so how does a person, how is he kove'a benafsho the mida memuza'as ben shenei haktzavos? So the Rambam says by again and again and again doing those ma'asim which reflect the mida hamemuza'as. So it could be that I have to force myself to do it. It doesn't, it doesn't happen naturally. When, when I give, when, when I give the right amount of tzedakah, it's not happening naturally. Maybe, maybe I want to give too much, maybe I want to give too little. It's not happening naturally. But if again and again and again I, I do what reflects the mida hamemuza'as, so that engenders within the person a mida memuza'as. The Rambam has it already also, the yesod of אחרי הפעולות נמשכים הלבבות. None of which is to suggest that the Rishonim didn't recognize that, that there's a reciprocal influence. and relationship as well. It's certainly the case that הפעולות נמשכות אחרי הלבבות. It's not just that the levavot are nimshachim, but there's certainly a reciprocity and it's certainly that the way a person will act also will flow from within. But it's obviously easier for a person, at least initially, to be able to modify the pe'ulot than it is to directly modify the lev, which is why Ramban says that the path begins by trying to again influence our behavior, that we should behave in a way which is indicative of shiflut, because if it's indicative of shiflut, so then it's going to engender within us this sense of shiflut. Certainly, as is clear I think from the hemshech of the Ramban, again this isn't to the exclusion of thinking and trying to internalize through thought and through reinforcing thought. But what's most beyadeinu la'asoto, what's easier, relatively speaking, is to be able to carry out our pe'ulot the way they should be done. And that's what the Ramban says: if a person is be-nachas, a person speaks and carries himself in such a way that it bespeaks anavah, so then it's molid within himself a sense of anavah. And then the content of that anavah—so why am I shafel? Why do I feel shafel? The substance of that, it becomes part of his own self-awareness, which is always with him, that he's before Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and that's the hadrachah the Ramban gives us for avodat Hashem.