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Parashat
Ekev
How Can
We Transform our Pitfall of Pride Into Prayer?
In the Good Old Days Having Less Made People
Appreciate More
In the olden
days when specialties were scarce, people appreciated the little things so much
more. I recall reading a novel about life in the Shtetel in East Europe. There
was a poor family with many children and one day they got a specialty item for
all the kids to share. It was one orange! It really touched me how much
excitement just one orange segment elicited in each family member. When I
worked on translating my father’s memoirs into English, I was also amazed at
how few commodities and toys children grew up with when he was a boy. This was
not in a Shtetel, it was rather in the Western World less than a hundred years
ago. Here is one of my father’s testimonies – taking place in the late nineteen
thirties and early forties. You can learn from it how having less made the kids
appreciate more and become more inventive:
“There were a lot of innovative games that could interest both boys and girls. For example, puzzles and rebuses, building kits and paper dolls with various outfits, and much more. I still remember a brainteaser. Out of eight matches you had to form two squares and four triangles… “Some boys were technically inventive and built ‘crystal devices.’ These were primitive listening devices, which we boys had great pleasure in. Occasionally, we also wanted to play football. This took place on ‘The Meadow,’ about a 15-minute walk from our home. where some of us also had a school garden. It was a magnificent open space with large green areas, and playgrounds, though mainly designated for the younger children… The girls played with marbles, swapped glossy pictures, skipped and played hopscotch and of course, they also played with dolls. When we played with the girls it was mostly hide and seek. There were plenty of hiding places, and this game often lasted many hours. Where I live now in Holte, (a suburb of Copenhagen) there are roughly 500 apartments with playgrounds for the little ones in several places, but children are rarely seen there. One hardly ever sees older children playing together the way we did when I was a child. A change must have occurred in the children’s recreational patterns” (Dr. Salomon Vainer, My Memoir: The Story of a Danish Jew who Fled the Nazis p 52-54).
Is it ‘My power, the Strength of my Own Hand That Brought Me This Great Wealth’?
The Torah foretold the times of material overflow we are living through today, with one of our main problems being how to get rid of all the extra clutter. Since the industrial revolution, we have learned so many clever ways of productivity, which tempt us to forget that Hashem is the only One who gives us the strength to succeed in anything we accomplish.
Bound to Turn to Hashem When Being Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Hashem is squishing us hard these days so that we will understand how our ability to be successful is totally dependent on G-d, as it states in Song of Songs:
Arrogance is one of the worst character traits
that turns away the Divine Presence. Therefore, our sages directed: “Hold
yourself very, very lowly” (Pirkei Avot, Chapter 4, Mishna 4). They also
declared that whoever allows his heart to be arrogant, has denied the basic
principle of the Torah, as it states, “Your heart be haughty, and you will
forget Hashem your G-d” (Devarim 8:14). Furthermore, they said,
“Whoever is arrogant should be placed under a ban of ostracism. This applies
even if he is only somewhat arrogant;” (Rambam,
Hilchot Deot, Chapter 2, Halacha 3). Whoever passes (מֵּפִיק/mefik)
a shield over himself at a time of arrogance, (whoever suppresses his yetzer
hara as though it were covered with a shield when he is arrogant, troubles will
be closed and sealed from him, as it is stated: “The channels (אֲפִיקֵי/afikei)
of his strong shields of pride are closed with a narrow seal. (Iyuv
41:7); (Babylonian Talmud, Iruvin 65a). This implies that by subduing
our yetzer hara at a time of arrogance our troubles will be closed and sealed
before us. There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. Being
confident isn’t the problem, the problem arises when confidence turns into self-sufficient
arrogance, which makes us forget the Almighty without Whom we would be
completely helpless. When we are confident that Hashem is on our side, we can
be secure enough that we won’t need to go out of our way to show how amazing we
are.
· Remember Where You Came from and Where You are Going – We are all mortal beings totally dependent on Hashem’s blessing to accomplish anything in life. When you feel pride creeping into your heart, recall how we all came from a putrid drop of semen, and how our end is that our flesh will be consumed by worms. Meditating on our short-lived time in this world, and how the body eventually decomposes will remind us that Hashem imbued us with life so that we serve Him. Only by recalling our Divine purpose in the world will our souls gain eternal life.
· Attribute All Your Successes to Hashem – When you worked really hard on something and applied all your abilities to finally succeed, there is a great temptation to feel that “it was my own hand, that brought me this great accomplishment.” When that happens, it is important to turn inward and recall that every one of your own doings would be naught if it wasn’t for Hashem, Who imbues you with your talents and abilities to work hard.
· When Someone Compliments You for Your Great Abilities and Successes – remind yourself that Hashem is using you as his messenger. My spiritual healing teacher taught me to recite (תהילים פרק צג פסוק א) הָשֵׁם מָלָךְ גֵּאוּת לָבֵשׁ לָבֵשׁ/Hashem Malach Ge’ut Lavesh – “Hashem is King He is robed in grandeur” (Tehillim 93:1). Always testifying that all our achievements emanate from Hashem’s greatness.
· Pray to Hashem for Continued Success and War Victory – Remembering how Hashem took us out of Egypt is one of The Six Remembrances that we must remind ourselves of daily. This is to imbue us with the strong emunah that just as we were weak and helpless then, but Hashem saved us from all our enemies, so will Hashem continue to save us even now whether we are physically strong or weak!
· We are Used to Thanking Hashem for Everything He Does for Us – I suggest, to also thank Him for everything we do. Whenever you feel pride in yourself – you may want to thank Hashem in the following way: “Thank You Hashem for everything I do!” Affirming in this way that all our successes are Hashem’s working through us.
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