On Sotah 5 is a discussion on the nature of humility and arrogance.
“For thus says the High and Lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, also with the one that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57:15)
Rav Huna and Rav Ḥisda disagreed on its meaning. One says: Together with Me is the person who is contrite and humble. In other words, God elevates the humble.
And one says that the verse means: I, God, descend, and am found together with the person who is contrite and humble.
Rav Huna and Rav Hisda disagree about the meaning of the verse. One says that God lifts up the humble, while the other says God descends towards the humble one. An important concept is embedded here:
God desires proximity to humility.
The debate is: what does God do about that desire?
The Gemara uses this debate to describe why Mount Sinai was chosen as the place of the giving of Torah:
And it stands to reason that the meaning of the verse is like the one who says:
I am with the contrite person, as the Holy One, Blessed be God, disregarded all of the mountains and hills, and rested the Divine Presence on the lowly Mount Sinai, and God did not choose to raise Mount Sinai up toward God.
The Gemara chooses one answer: God comes down to humble people. God could have raised up the mountain but chose not to. A humble person is desired such that God will do the moving.
The Gemara then continues by describing the eternal consequences of arrogant people: they should be “hewn down” like idolatrous trees, they will not be resurrected, and God will wail over them. Yikes.
However, it is not that simple.
One of the things we learn growing up is the importance of self-confidence. Be courageous! Be yourself!
How does that play in?
Rav Ḥiyya bar Ashi says that Rav says: a Torah scholar must have one-eighth of one-eighth of arrogance.
Rav is suggesting here that a bit of arrogance is valuable.
Rashi explains that the reason for this is that having a bit of arrogance is good so people will take you seriously and won’t ignore you. And honestly, he has a good point.
In fact, there’s a great text that suggests that the evil inclination has some importance in keeping us motivated to do creative things. It isn’t exactly the same thing, but the point is that some negative qualities can have a positive impact.
Rava said: A Torah scholar who has arrogance should be excommunicated, and one who does not have arrogance at all should be excommunicated as well. As such, he must have only a minute measure of arrogance.
Rava here suggests that extremes to either end are no good. Finding a balance is key.
However, the Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak will have none of it.
Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: A Torah scholar should not have any arrogance or any part of arrogance. Is it a small matter that it is written with regard to arrogance: “Everyone that is proud of heart is an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 16:5)?
Hearts like flesh, full of healing.
Here’s where this week’s Torah portion, Tazria-Metzora comes in.
Ḥizkiyya says: The prayers of a person are heard only if they cast their heart to be like flesh, by being free of arrogance. As it is stated: “And it shall come to pass, that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, says the Lord” (Isaiah 66:23).
Rabbi Zeira said: Concerning leprosy of the flesh, it is written in the verse with regard to it: “And when the flesh has in the skin thereof a boil, and it is healed” (Leviticus 13:18), but concerning the leprosy of a person, it is not written in the verse with regard to it: And it is healed.
Both verses discussing leprosy of a person make no mention of healing (Leviticus 13:2, 13:9). This indicates that one who sees himself as flesh will be cured, but one who holds himself in high regard will not be cured.
There is a lot to unpack here, and I have a few questions:
What does it mean to make one’s heart like flesh?
Why is prayer relevant here?
What is the difference between the leprosy of flesh and the leprosy of a person?
To dig into it, I want to bring the wisdom of Rabbanit Michelle Farber, in her Daf Yomi class:
Transcript of relevant pieces (bolding mine):
“…[the] concept of humility is you make yourself like flesh. What is flesh? Flesh is soft. You make yourself soft, not hard like a rock. [Because acting] like a rock [is constantly saying] I’m great. Periodically, people will come to bow in the Temple and it says, yavo kol basar [all flesh will come], it doesn’t say yavo kol adam [every person will come], only one who is rakh, soft like basar will be able to come…
When it talks about the leperous marks on people, it says, I’m reading in Rashi now, “if the flesh has a boil on it and it heals.” It says flesh and it heals. What do you see here? Flesh heals. The one who makes his or herself soft and not arrogant will heal. But when it says adam [a person]… and it starts describing when one has this leperous mark, or another pasuk [verse] when you have a leperous mark in a person, in those pesukim [verses] it doesn’t say v’nerpa [and it will be healed].
So you see here the difference btween adam and basar. Adam is more arrogant, basar is used as a term to kind of put people down, but in a good way, with humility and softness.”
What Rabbinit Farber highlights for us is the nature of flesh. It is soft and it heals.
So what?
To pray in Hebrew, להתפלל, is a reflexive verb that really translates to judge or reflect on oneself. This means that to pray is to be on the journey of self-awareness.
It is this journey that is the bigger picture of this discussion.
All of this comes in the context of arrogance and humility. To understand that journey of awareness is to understand how we move from negative traits to positive ones.
And with that in mind, we can understand “healing” in our context, not just as physical or even emotional healing but as personal growth.
In the text of the Torah itself, they are talking about recovering from an illness. But what does it mean to recover from arrogance? Further, leprosy represents our relationship with arrogance. The Talmud continues and makes a direct link between arrogance and leprosy.
Pulling all of that together, we are left with this:
By being people who are reflective and soft, we perpetuate a virtuous cycle of self-reflection and humility.
If we lean into arrogance, we make ourselves hard, like rocks, driven by shame and pride, internalizing harm and causing harm to others. This is why we are told, “leprosy of a person does not heal.”
Our Gemara ends with this:
And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi also says: Whoever appraises their ways in this world, i.e., whoever carefully considers all their actions before deciding on the proper mode of conduct, merits and sees the salvation of the Holy One, Blessed be God…
To be our best selves, to have our prayers heard, and to be close to the Divine, we must continue to look inside and choose who we wish to be.
What should we choose?