For the Ilui Neshama of Avraham ben Ester ZT’L.
Ga’ava, as every Jew should know, is the worst Middah to be
a big shot in. This characteristic trait, the trait of having pride in oneself
and believing that we are in control and only because of my own effort alone am I succeeding, is probably the top 3 worst
Middot to obtain. The Orchot Tzadikkim brings down in his book the issue of
Ga’ava firstly because of its danger to one’s spiritual health. If one’s
spiritual health is in danger then they are going to end up being physically unhealthy
as well.
So what should we do? The Orchot Tzadikkim brings down an
entire section that explains the balance between obtaining a tiny bit of pride
in ourselves, which we need in order to continue living and distancing
ourselves from ultimate pride that boosts our ego and distances ourselves from
Hashem. He says one will distance so much from Ga’ava to the point of extreme
that the person will stop praying because he thinks if he prays people will
believe he is a big tzadik and the person will start wearing ripped clothing so
people won’t think he is a big shot. All these ways are terrible.
So he says to pray in length and open your heart to Hashem,
to be stringent on the good and cautious regarding the bad, and he should do
all Mitzvot in private and in public. If one will respect him for this he
should not be scared that it is the yetzer hara who is trying to make him
forget about Hashem and become arrogant, rather he should say to himself: at
the time of the Mitzvah I did not do it for respect and for my reputation so I
am not paying attention to it. And on and on. The Orchot Tzadikkim says the
entire chapter of Ga’ava is only but a drop of water in an entire ocean of how
much one needs to run away from Ga’ava and run towards modesty and behaving in
the line of The Torah.
B’H we should enter the end of the week with Kedusha and
Tahara to prepare for Shabbat Kodesh.
Shabbat Shalom!
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