The first preparations that a person makes for kabbalas hatorah is hisgabus and hisatzmus batorah and an intensification of talmud torah. That's one hachana for kabbalas hatorah. Working on a sense of shiflus. Many talk about hisvadus and hitchabrus hachachamim beyachad. So of the three, let's perhaps spend a few minutes now talking about the second one about shiflus. In the hakdama to nefesh hachaim, so Rav Itzele writes in describing his father, he says, it's yadua that midarkei ha-anava ha-amitis if a person is genuinely an anav, so inyonei haguf be-einav nivzeh venimas. That's what Rav Itzele writes. Yadua that associated with, concomitant with, anava amitis is that inyonei haguf are nivzeh venimas be-einav. Emes is in Ruach Chaim in the beginning of Pirkei Avos, so Rav Chaim Volozhiner is quoted with an even more far-reaching formulation that not only is this concomitant, not only does this go hand-in-hand with genuine anava, but being moeis be-inyonei haguf as any kind of tachlis or interest keshe-la-atzmam as any kind of end or self-contained goal, not only does this accompany genuine anava, but this is at the core of what constitutes genuine anava and helps generate and intensify the degree of anava or shiflus that a person has. Ad kedei kach, ad kedei kach, that it says in Ruach Chaim that the way Moshe Rabbeinu was zoche to be עניו מכל האדם אשר על פני האדמה, in which zechus he was ra-uy to be mekabel torah was because by Moshe Rabbeinu nizdakech hachomer to such a degree and that hizdachus hachomer says in Ruach Chaim is attributable to that חשב עצמו כאילו גופו אינו. So what's pshat in that? Why is there such a, again not only correlation but more than correlation, the way the Ruach Chaim presents it it's even cause and effect? In the effect of shiflus is linked to the cause of the further away a person is from redifas hatanugim, the further away a person is from again מחשיב ענייני הגוף כשהלעצמם. Doesn't mean being mezalzel to a degree that is inconsistent with v'nishmartem l'nafshoseichem, that's inconsistent with the Rambam in Hilchos Teshiva talks about if a person is not of healthy body, a person can't pursue chochma. But why is it again that this again being moeis again in chomer keshe-la-atzmo is the driving force says the Ruach Chaim in shiflus? So lachora the explanation is or When we talk about a sense of shiflus, a person can, can feel shofel for a variety of reasons. A person can have an inferiority complex. A person who Rachmana litzlan has an inferiority complex feels shofel. A person can suffer from insecurity. Rachmana litzlan, a person who suffers from insecurity also feels very shofel. And v'chahena v'chahena, there can be different psychological dynamics which result in a person feeling shofel. But we all intuit that obviously none of that is what the Torah is lauding in Moshe Rabbeinu being עניו מאד מכל האדם אשר על פני האדמה. The Torah is not saying, that's not what, that's not the example we're being given and that's not the goal to reach. The shiflus which is a mitzvah, the shiflus which is an avodah, the shiflus which is a gevaldige madreiga that our whole lives we pursue to recognize and to feel is a shiflus which comes from a sense of שויתי השם לנגדי תמיד, from a sense of being in some sense of the word, being aware that one is במחיצתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא and the shiflus which is rooted in that. That's, that's, that's the source of the and the content of the shiflus we're talking about, not the shiflus of the, again, that we associate with those other psychological dynamics that we were referring to. To the degree that a person is shaku'ah, is attached to inyanim chomriyim k'sheleatzma, k'sheleatzma, not in any mitzvah sense, not in any בכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים sense, not in any bechol drachecha da'eihu sense, but k'sheleatzma. So that distances him from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. When a person distances himself from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so that k'sheleatzmo is a tremendous impediment to feeling, again, the genuine type of shiflus that we're talking about. A person, he can feel inferior, he can feel insecure, but that's not the shiflus which we're talking about. That's not what the Or HaChaim HaKadosh is talking about, that's not what any of the sefarim hakedoshim are talking about. And that's why you have this equation the Ruach Chaim suggests between the hizdakchus hachomer and the shiflus. The more a person, again, purifies shemen zach, the more a person purifies hachomer, the closer a person can be to the Ribbono shel Olam, so then a person can have the genuine shiflus. So it's a tremendous, besides an insight and understanding, just it has tremendous halacha l'ma'aseh implications as well. It's interesting, can you take the Chumash please? Thank you. The Baal HaCharedim, Reishis Chochma points out if you take a look in Parshas Eikev, in the context of the pasuk which contains one of the allusions to issur ga'avah ורם לבבך ושכחת את השם אלקיך. So what's the broader context of the pasuk? What's going on here in Chumash right before? The pasuk הישמר לך פן תשכח את ה' אלהיך לבלתי שמר מצותיו ומשפטיו וחקתיו אשר אנכי מצוך היום.
And in what might induce this, rachmana litzlan, the הישמר לך פן תשכח את ה' אלהיך לבלתי שמר מצותיו, פן תאכל ושבעת ובתים טובים תבנה וישבת ובקרך וצאנך ירביון וכסף וזהב ירבה לך וכל אשר לך ירבה.
And it's that, that again involvement in chomerius keshel atzmo without any hizdachachus, just the crude unredeemed involvement in the chomerius, and it's that which will generate the result of ורם לבבך ושכחת את ה' אלהיך. So the Reishis Chochma points out that basically what this idea that the Ruach Chaim is talking about is basically the pshuto shel mikra here in the psukim in Parshas Eikev. Now let's just take a few minutes to discuss two aspects of the need why shiflus is working on a sense of shiflus again as defined previously is so necessary as a hachana l'kabbolas haTorah. So we'll try to give two perspectives on that. Perspective number one. It's interesting that the chiyuv to cultivate the middah of anavah first of all you find in Hilchos De'os together with other middos that a person has to cultivate. But then you also find it in Perek Kinyan Torah amongst the ממח דברים שהתורה נקנית בהם. So Perek Kinyan Torah doesn't review every middah tovah that a person is supposed to have. It's not that Perek Kinyan Torah is saying you have to be a ba'al middos. It doesn't review מהו חנון אף אתה מהו נקרא חנון אף אתה היה חנון מהו נקרא רחום אף אתה היה רחום.
It doesn't review all middos. So it's not the point is not that you have to be a ba'al middos, that's a tnai kodem l'ma'aseh. That's true but that's not what Perek Kinyan Torah is trying to communicate. So why does it choose this middah? Similarly you find that Chazal tell us that Hakadosh Baruch Hu as it were illustrates exemplifies the middah of anavah vesanuso in at least two different occasions. At the time of brias ha'adam, na'aseh adam b'tzalmeinu, Hakadosh Baruch Hu kaveyachol was nimlach b'veis dino that a gadol should be nimlach b'ktannim mimeno. Hakadosh Baruch Hu illustrates anavah. And then again השרה שכינתו על הר סיני. So again two different times Hakadosh Baruch Hu teaches the same lesson. So it's not the pshat that it's always good to follow Chazal, stam that's also true. But the pshat apparently the inclusion of anavah in Perek Kinyan Torah, the fact that in addition to na'aseh adam b'tzalmeinu, the Torah says there's another message of anavah by matan Torah of השרה שכינתו על הר סיני tells us that the middah of anavah besides being part of the general profile that a ma'amin, that an oved Hashem should develop, that the middah of anavah is indispensable specifically in the context of talmud Torah. And that's why in addition to knowing na'aseh adam b'tzalmeinu, we have to know that השרה הקדוש ברוך הוא שכינתו על הר סיני. In addition to knowing that anavah is a chiyuv mitzad Hilchos De'os, we also have to know that it's a chiyuv מצד פרק קנין תורה. It's one of those mem-ches devarim through which Torah is nikneis. And that for at least two reasons. A, when when we try to learn Torah, so what we're trying to do is to be mevatel our daas to daas haTorah. That's what we're trying to do when we learn. We're trying not to impose anything on the Torah, but we're trying to let, let the ideas, let the categories, let the halachos, let everything emerge from the Torah and impose itself on us and mold our minds. To do that, a person has to be an anav. A person has to be an anav to do that. And second of all, the bakashas haemes for amittos shel Torah has to be that a person isn't looking to be omed al daato. That a person, bakashas haemes requires a sense of anavah. So for that reason, shiflus is a hachanah for kabbalas haTorah because without shiflus, without anavah, there can't be talmud Torah. Talmud Torah is to be mevatel our daas to daas Torah, to be this bakashas haemes, a person not to be omed al daato. But there's at least one other reason, stama many others, but one other that we'll just touch upon now for why shiflus is such a necessary hachanah for kabbalas haTorah. And again, to maybe to bring it to the surface, mention another comment of the Reishis Chochma. Reishis Chochma says in Sha'ar Anavah, he says you see that the Torah's mechayev anavah. Where do you see that the Torah's mechayev anavah? So he says because the Torah has lavin of לא תקם ולא תטר. You see the lavin of לא תקם ולא תטר, so you see that the Torah's mechayev anavah. Clearly the Reishis Chochma, again the loshon indicates it, it's not, it doesn't need detective work, the loshon if you look inside, the loshon of the Reishis Chochma indicates he's assuming it's a shayla in lo sitor. What happens, right? So Rashi quotes from the Toras Kohanim illustrating lo sitor, if a person agrees to be mash'il the kardom or whatever and says, איני כמוך הריני משאילך. Okay. So what happens if a person will lend it and will have the self-discipline not to say the aini kamoscha, but he feels it. That's what he's feeling, that's what he's thinking. He take the other guy turned him down when he asked for a favor. Now when the tables are turned, he's doing the favor and he has the self-discipline not to say aini kamoscha, but that's what he's feeling. That inwardly that's what he's thinking. So the Reishis Chochma assumes that the person would be over lo sitor, and Chazal don't mean necessarily that the person has to say the aini kamoscha to be over, but if that's what he's thinking, if that's what he's thinking. So if that's the case, it means that lo sitor requires that there be no grudge, kihu zeh, that lo sitor requires that we not have any kpeidah, not only that we suppress the kpeidah and silence it, but to be no kpeidah. That a person, his loshon is, not to be lishmor tina belibo. That's what the Torah doesn't allow, lishmor tina belibo. So clearly what the Reishis Chochma is saying is, but and sometimes lich'ora there seem to be good grounds sometimes to have a kpeidah. Sometimes it seems very warranted, maybe that's not the right word, but justified or legitimate to have a kpeidah. So the Rambam derech agav seems to address this point by saying that in yishuv... The Reishis Chochmah says no, that's why you see that what underlies לא תקם ולא תטר is anavah. That only if a person has a sense of shiflus is it realistic to think that he's going to be able to comply with לא תקם ולא תטר. Because otherwise it's natural, I mean, why shouldn't I have a kepeidah against you if you weren't nice, if you could've easily helped me out, you could've easily accommodated me and you didn't? So why shouldn't I have a shtikel taynah? Why shouldn't I feel something? And let's say it wasn't, let's say it was something takeh not so insignificant, not so trivial, where maybe the Rambam's consideration isn't so easy to bring into play. But ela mai if a person has a sense of shiflus, I think we once discussed the following mashal, right? משל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say you have a person who's in a long line in the bank. The person, it's the 30th of the month, ich veis, the Friday before a holiday weekend, whatever, one of the busiest times in the bank. There's a long line in the bank, long line in the bank. And then someone comes in and cuts the line. So people are outraged, right? And rightly so. We're standing, we've been waiting here 30 minutes, 45 minutes. And he comes, who does he think he is? What kind of yachsan is he? He comes and he cuts the line. What kind of business? So people are to varying degrees, people are upset. But let's say you have someone in the line, someone waiting in the line who's an illegal alien. Doesn't even have a green card, isn't even allowed to be here, doesn't have a visa, he's an illegal alien. So is he going to be makpid on the person who cut the line? He's not going to be makpid on the person who cut the line. The sense of shiflus he has because of his standing or lack of standing in the country doesn't allow him to, it doesn't in any way justify the guy who cut the line, and it's not as if you ask him does he think the guy who cut the line was right, but he's not going to be able to be makpid. He's not going to be makpid because of his own standing, he's not going to be able to be makpid. The provocation is there, but because of his feeling of what his standing is, he's not going to be able to be makpid. So again we said that the shiflus which all the sefarim are talking about, again, is a shiflus from כי גרים ותושבים אתם עמדי. That's the source of the shiflus. And that's what the Reishis Chochmah means that if a person has anavah, so then he can takeh be mkayem the לא תקם ולא תטר. He's not going to be makpid. The illegal alien isn't makpid about the guy who cut the line. Only the people who are here rightfully, either with visas or are citizens, they're going to be makpid. But the illegal alien, the כי גרים ותושבים אתם עמדי, he doesn't have that kepeidah. Kabbalas HaTorah has to be כאיש אחד בלב אחד. So the emes says that we all have, again, quote, legitimate reasons for having kepeidos on different people. Many, many legitimate reasons for different kepeidos. And with those kepeidos, obviously the כאיש אחד בלב אחד is an impossibility. With a sense of shiflus, then it becomes something which is possible and something which is real. It's interesting that according to the Baal HaMaor, the famous Baal HaMaor at the end of Pesachim, when explaining why there's no shehecheyanu in Sefiras HaOmer, because the mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer, the Gemara in Menachos says is zeicher l'mikdash, it's לאגמת נפשנו לחורבן בית מאוויינו. That it reminds us of churban habayis. That Sefiras HaOmer according to the Baal HaMaor is a period of אגמת נפש וחורבן הבית. So a different thing, Sefiras Ha'omer, the Sefer HaChinuch and all the other sefarim, it's a period of hachana for kabbalas hatorah, and the Ba'al HaMa'or strikes a different chord, strikes a different note. Sefiras Ha'omer is a time of heightened awareness of churban habayis, לאגמת נפשנו אגמת נפשנו על חורבן בית מאוויינו. But the emes is that the two converge. Churban habayis, the Gemara in Yoma, mipnei sinas chinam. Anytime we're supposed to be misabel, anytime we're supposed to have an awareness, it's supposed to trigger tikun, it's supposed to trigger teshuva. So the Ba'al HaMa'or's period of focusing on לאגמת נפשנו על חורבן בית מאוויינו actually converges with the hachana for kabbalas hatorah. And hachana for kabbalas hatorah again is כאיש אחד בלב אחד, part of the, part of the hachana. And again, and and one crucial, crucial ingredient for that, as the Reishis Chochma discusses, is the shiflus. And again, hem hem ha'emtzoyim for counteracting the, the sinas chinam as well.