"Lest his heart rise in haughtiness above his brothers" --
"The Torah hints here at the prohibition of pride, for it
seeks to prevent this [trait from developing towards one's
fellow man]. So much more so should a common person not be
haughty towards his fellow man since there is no warrant for
it" (Ramban).
Outside of the Torah, no human could conceive of demanding
such a thing from a king: "`Lest his heart rise in
haughtiness above his brothers.' Must a king then feel equal
to his subjects? To regard himself as on par with them? How
is this possible? And why? A king is, in truth, elevated and
exalted above his subjects!"
The Ramban has an answer: "For in order to be exalted and
elevated, his heart must be more lowly than those below him,
warns the Torah. Pride is a disgusting trait; it is despised
by Hashem, even in a king, for vanity and superiority do not
befit him. Superiority belongs only to Hashem. Therefore, let
man not glory in false vanity, for, as the prophets have
warned, "Let not the clever man boast . . . Only in this
shall the seeker of praise be praised: in the measure that he
aspires to understand Me.'"
There are two elements included in the Ramban's words. First,
one should not glory in a borrowed uniform. Everything --
even dominion and power -- is borrowed, or temporary, by man.
Only to Hashem belongs greatness and exaltation, since He is
the Kingmaker; His is dominion. He alone impoverishes or
enriches, casts down to the abyss and raises up; He uplifts
the lowly to heaven and debases the proud to the earth. It is
impossible to subscribe to this belief and still maintain
self-pride.
Not only does pride constitute an ethical debasement but it
denotes inner corruption. It testifies to a lack of sincere
faith in that everything in this world is temporal and
impermanent. It indicates a sense of self-importance. Chazal
say that whoever is vain, repels, as it were, the very
Shechina! This is because he declares that he can
manage without heavenly assistance. He can stand on his own
feet. Were he not imbued with this feeling, he would not be
so proud and haughty.
Has he then forgotten that the ornament he wears is borrowed
from a gemach?
Second, says the Ramban, "And in Him shall man glory, as it
is written, `For only in this shall the boaster boast -- in
the measure that he aspires to understand Me.' What point is
there altogether in boasting of such negligible things like
royalty, greatness . . . So what? Of what importance are
these compared to eternal values? Everything pales with the
realization that this world is a mere corridor to the next
world. Where is there room for pride? Vanity should be a red
warning light for something gone awry. Pride is altogether a
symptom of a false approach to life. Can a person of normal
outlook boast if he found a more comfortable seat in a bus,
or a more plush and upholstered place on a train? Where is
there room to boast? So you have a window seat -- for the
duration of the brief trip. Wait until you reach your
destination; wait and see if this was anything to boast
about!
*
One who is all-absorbed in the pursuit of "learning to
know/approach Hashem" will not find any element of
superiority in any other sphere, for everything will fall
short of his consuming goal; everything will be subsidiary to
the primary aim in life. Even royalty will pale.
This is why even a king is told to maintain a heart that is
lower than that of his subjects. It is forbidden for even
royalty to occupy a place of importance in sufficient measure
to constitute pride. This is proscribed because it is an
inherent contradiction to the tenets of faith. He must not
forget that everything is subsidiary, even null and void, in
comparison to the all important principle of aspiration,
which is to draw closer to Hashem through his intellect and
intuition.
Only in Hashem can we glory, and in the measure in which we
can approach G-dliness. This is the only subject where one
can develop reverence and envy, for only this warrants it.
Everything else, no matter what, is borrowed, assumed and
falsely appropriated, temporary and subsidiary. Whoever
creates a halo around anything else or develops jealousy or
aspirations towards them is undermining the true goal and
implanting error and deception in his life.
Humility and shying away from glory have always been the
outstanding characteristics, the pivotal traits, in the
personalities of great people. They have been identifying
hallmarks. Wherever simplicity and self effacement abide,
there can we find a bastion of greatness, for they are
mutually dependent. Pride and vanity are living witnesses of
misguidance, error, distorted values, of forgetting our
impermanence and superimposing picayune things to primary
goals. This is small-mindedness incarnate. Greatness consists
of proper vision, a true perspective on the world, a truly
graded ladder of priorities, a concentration upon values and
disregard of unreal consequences.
*
Maran Hagaon R' Shach shlita once said that it is not
difficult to see where a person is headed. When a spaceship
is directed towards the moon, the closer it approaches, the
larger looms the moon and the smaller is the earth. Every
added kilometer dwarfs the figure of the earth and augments
that of the moon.
What were to happen if the astronaut suddenly experienced the
very opposite? This would clearly prove that the flight had
changed direction and was no longer headed for the moon!
A person whose direction faces upwards, whose head is in the
heavens, so to speak, can easily see if he is approaching his
goal: for the closer he gets, the more the earth recedes and
the smaller he appears to himself, as well. When one becomes
inflated with self importance, when he becomes larger and
larger, it is an indication that he is facing earthwards and
headed downwards!
