Pirkei Avos- Mishna Daled

רבי לויטס איש יבנה was from the third generation of תנאים. He learned in יבנה and was a
תלמיד חשוב there.

מאד מאד הוי שפל רוח- על האדם להיות ענו ביותר
שתקות אנוש- שתקות גופו במותו
רמה- תולעים יאכלו את גופו

The משנה is coming to teach us to have ענוה ביותר. We learn this from the words ''מאד מאד''.

Story- the ח''ח didn’t take a donation because he felt that he didn’t fit the title in the letter. It’s not enough to be humble. A person has to be exceedingly humble- ''יפה ענותנותא לישראל''.

רע''ב -מאד מאד הוי שפל רוח in all other מידות we’re supposed to take the middle road- the שביל
הזהב, the דרך האמצעי/ הממוצא. When it comes to ענוה, there’s no such thing as being a little humble or having a little bit of גאוה. We have to be totally humble and have absolutely no גאוה. A person should turn to the opposite extreme of גאוה because:
1. גאוה is exceedingly disgusting.
2. The majority of mankind stumble in גאוה and don’t separate themselves from it, therefore we have to distance ourselves.

ר' יונה How can a person feel a גאוה when at the end the worms will be greater than him?
When it comes to מידות, a person should choose the קו האמצעי, for example in נדיבות and כילות and in אכזריות and רחמנות- we know that ''כל המרחם על האכזר, סופו להיות אכזר על הרחמנים''.
There is no מידה that is worse than גאוה:
1. Most עבירות are enrooted in גאוה. Often, if a person feels too high or mighty, he may be חוטא.
2. גאוה causes שכחת ה'- ''ורם לבבך ושכחת את ה' אלוקיך''.

Sheet There are some מידות that one shouldn’t take the middle road with, but rather go from one
I side to the opposite extreme. One of these מידות is גאוה. A person can’t just be a big ענו, he
has to be שפל רוח. By משה it doesn’t just say that he was an ענו because that’s a level, not a
שבח. It says that he was an ענו מאד. It’s the way of צדיקים:
1. When insulted not to insult back- people would insult back because they’re worried about their כבוד, which shows גאוה.
2. When they hear people embarrass them, they don’t say anything in return.
3. Do it from אהבה.
4. They’re happy with their יסורים.
Someone who does the above four things, he’s like the sun when it comes out. What’s the connection? The moon came before ה' and said, ''איו שני מלכים משתמשים בכתר אחד''. The words of the לבנה were an עלבון to the sun, and ה' made the moon smaller. Those who insult, ''וחרפה תשוב אל חקם''- reflect the בושה on them, and become smaller. The sun, ה' מגדיל כבודו and it became bigger.

ר' זאב Why is there a double לשון of מאד מאד? A person has a נפש הבהמי and a נפש הרוחני. A person
מבאסקאוויץ is able to have גאוה- מצד מעלות נפשו הרוחני. The טענה is giving him a warning- מאד. A person can also feel גאוה- הגשמי מצד מעלות נפשו (pretty hair, big eyes…) so the טענה is giving him a warning- מאד.

פסקי With most מידות, the best דרך is the דרך האמצעית. By ענוה, a person has to be שפל רוח. תלמדי
השל''ה חכמים are considered like ספר תורה חי. We have to have כבוד התורה, therefore we have to have כבוד toward חכמים תלמדי. A תלמיד חכם has to have ענוה, but shouldn’t be שפל רוח because the ציבור has to have כבוד towards him. Story- כתב סופר at his son’s wedding.

רמב''ם What’s a גזירת שוה? When you have one word in the תורה and the same word somewhere
Sheet II else, they become equal. A גזירת שוה is the rule of equality.
1. An עובד ע''ז and a בעל גאווה are equal. Proofs:
a. ''תועבת ה' כל גבה לב''
b. ''ולא חביא תועבה אל ביתך''
From here we can learn that someone who has גסות הרוח, it’s like he serves ע''ז. Story-
ר' אליהו לופיאן repeated the פסוק of ''ולא חביא תועבה אל ביתך'' so that he shouldn’t have גאוה.
2. Someone who has גאוה, it’s like he’s עובר on ג''ע
a. ''תועבת ה' כל גבה לב''
b. ''כי את כל הטועבות אל'', and after it’s מפרט all the אסורים of עריות.
3. Someone who’s a בעל גאווה, it’s as if he’s the idol itself- ''חדלו לכם מן האדם אשר נשמה באפו כי במה נחשב הוא''- withhold from yourself גאוה, that today you’re living but tomorrow you could be gone, because if you don’t, you’re considered like the בָמָה itself.
4. A מתגאה is worthy to be killed, he abuses his right to live- ''אין אני והוא יכול לדור בדירה אחת''.
a. ''ורמי הקומה גדועים''- those that are of elevated status, they have to be destroyed.
b. ''ואשריהם תגדעון''- you have to remove the בעל גאווה just like you have to remove the trees that are used for ע''ז.
5. Haughty people won’t awake by תחית המתים. We learn this פסוק from ישעיהו- ''הקיצו ורננו כל שכני עפר''- only those that wereשכני עפר in their lifetime will awaken.

רש''י We always have to keep in mind that we were created from earth and we end up back in the earth. If a person frames his mind with this reasoning, which is the מסובב, he’ll acquire the effect- ''מאד מאד...''.

נודע ''יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו''- the גמרא tells us that when משיח comes, ה' will שחט the יצה''ר. The צדיקים will rejoice because the יצה''ר will appear to them like a huge mountain and they’ll rejoice that they were able to scale it. The רשעים will cry from frustration because the יצה''ר will appear to them as a hair strand and they’ll be upset that even that they couldn’t conquer. Man’s hope is to conquer his יצה''ר and withstand the temptation of being חוטא. The means of doing so is reminding one’s self about the יום המיתה that it strengthens his ענוה- who am I to be mean to someone else or be חוטא before ה'.

תוספות תקוה= קו מדה. Throughout our lives, a person can do great things and take credit. We can allow גאוה to seep into the realm of our accomplishments. The measuring rod throughout the course of our lives is our מעשים, but a person has to measure his מעשים against the רמה. The earthworm is מחי' us- it loosens up the soil so nutrients can permeate the ground. Also in the fall, the earthworm decomposes leaves, which makes fertilizer, which we need to sustain us. When a person does a מעשה נורא, you should condition your mind and say ''תקות אנוש רימה''.

כנסת רמה is from the לשון of ''למה רמיתני''- it’s a לשון of deceit. It says in משלי, ''רבות מחשבות...''. ה' carries out all the plans of man. All man’s hopes are שקר and only what ה' wants will happen. How humbling to man that no matter how hard you plan, only what ה' wants will happen.

חתם When a person goes up after 120, he’ll be asked questions. The סניגרs and קטיגרs will be standing there- ''אוי לנו מיום הדן ואוי לנו מיום התוכחה''. The person may try to come up with a פתחון פה- my יצה''ר attacked me with renewed vigor every day, like a strong lion. I was like a נמלה compared to him. Man’s whole hope to come out victorious on the יום הדין will only be fulfilled if he led his life like a רמה- conducted himself with ענוה.

יכהן פאר The גמרא in ברכות tells us ''קשה רמה למת כמחט בבשר החי''- just like a needle pricks live flesh, similarly the רמה that eats his flesh will prick. A person has a גוף and a נשמה, and a רוח is מיחד the two so that the רמה somehow pricks. To the degree that during your lifetime you prick your friend, the רמה will prick you in your קבר- ''במדה שאדם מודד מודדין לו''. In order not to have the prick of the רמה, we have to be ''מאד מאד הוי שפל רוח''- someone that’s an ענו won’t be a בעל גאוה and prick his friend.

ר' בונים A person has to lead his life with the imagination that before him are to pockets. In one of them is a paper that says ''ואנכי עפר ועפר'' and in the other is a note that says ''בשבילי נברא העולם''. How can we maintain a balance of the two? One of the בעלי מוסר said that if you don’t know your shortcomings, it’s a פחד but if you don’t know your values, it’s a פחד שבפחד. A person has to realize that his מעלות are from ה' and that you have them in order to serve Him.

אור יהל When משה came to be מנחם אבל to אהרן when נדב and אביהו died, he said, “there’s a פסוק that says that ה'’s משכן will be sanctified by His honor”. This can be understood to mean by His honorable ones. משה said, “I thought it would be either of us but now I see that it’s through נדב and אביהו so they’re greater than us”.
Why would משה, who was the ענו מכל אדם, say that he thought that it would be him who was chosen- isn’t this גאוה? משל- a king says to one of his servants that he wants to honor one of his קרובים and the servant assumes it’s him. If you don’t know the values that ה' gave you, you’re not an ענו, but a fool. So what is an ענו? You know what you have but you know that it’s not yours. It’s ה'’s and He’s given you the ability.
So it’s not that משה said, “I’m so great,” rather that ה' gave him this כח to be his קרוב. He recognized his מעלות and חסרונות and that they were from ה'.
So why are we still מתגאה and think that we are superior? There’s a פסוק, ''וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך''. The source of דעת is ה'. It’s the חלק אלוקים ממעל. The נשמה is the דעת as it says, ''ויפח באפו נשמת חיים ויהי לנפש חיה''- ה' made אדם alive with the נשמה and made him into a נפש חיה- a רוח ממללא (because our דעות are expressed through speech). So our נשמה contains our דעת and it’s up in שמים because the נשמות come from under the כסא הכבוד, so that’s ''וידעת היום''. What’s your לב? It’s the חלק הנפש בגוף האדם- a physical housing for the נפש. The גוף comes from the ארץ. So to transfer between ''וידעת היום'' and ''והשבות אל לבבך'', the דעת has to travel from שמים to ארץ. You have to work very hard to do this- you have to do it ברגילות to make it really travel the distance.
Don’t have גאוה- you have a כח, but don’t be מתגאה over it because it’s not yours. A ת''ח also can’t have גאוה because everything he has is from ה'- ''והחכמה מאין תמצא''. A ת''ח without מידות is worse off than a carcass.
משה knew that he had כוחות, but he recognized that they were from ה'.

Now, ר' יוחנן בן ברוקא discusses the ענין of חלול ה'. He was the תלמיד of ר' יהושע בן חנני' (say about his mother ''אשרי יולדתו''). He lived in the third generation of תנאים. He said that one who is מחלל ש''ש privately will get punished in public and ה' is מתיחס with the מזיד and the שוגג the same way when it comes to the עון חלול ה', therefore it’s a very severe עון.

The מצוה of קידוש ה' as an עשה is ''ונקדשת בתוך ב''י'' and the עבירה of חלול ה' as a לאו is ''לא
תחללו את שם קדשי''

There are three עבירות that are יהרג ועל יעבור:
1. ע''ז
2. ג''ע
3. ש''ד

People were created for one reason- to serve ה'. If we’re not ready to give up our lives for Him then we’re not totally given over to Him. We have to be ready to be מוסר נפש for ה' completely. When there’s a time of שמד, you must give up your life for any מצוה in the תורה. If the מעביר (one who’s forcing someone to transgress) is doing it for his הנאה, it’s more lenient then if he would be doing it just to show ה'. It’s also more lenient if it’s in private than public. What are the דינים?
1. ג' עבירות חמורות-יהרג ועל יעבור
2. בשעת השמד- יהרג ועל יעבור
3. Not בשעת השמד, in private, solely for the הנאה of the מעביר- יעבר ואל יהרג
4. Not בשעת השמד, in private, למען ההעברה- יעבר ואל יהרג
5. Not בשעת השמד, in public, solely for the הנאה of the מעביר- יעבר ואל יהרג
6. Not בשעת השמד, in front of at least ten men, למען ההעברה- יהרג ועל יעבור

יהרג ועל יעבור is upholding a קדיש ה'. A קדיש ה' is required for everyone to do. The only thing to be מכפר on a חלול ה' is:
1. תשובה
2. יו''כ
3. יסורים
4. Only after all that, מיתה.

רמב''ם Someone who is known to be a גדול בתורה andמפורסם בחסידות who does something this is not anעבירה but something that’s inappropriate for him to do, it’ll cause a חלול ה'. For example:
1. Not paying up immediately
2. Joining theעמי הארץ inקלות ראש
3. Speaking in a way that’s notבנחת
4. Acting withכעס andמחלוקת
All this is worse and worse according to yourמדרגה . Instead, we have to do good things that will make people be impressed with you and people will want to be like you. That’s a.קדוש ה' Story- theח''ח wanted to make a birthday party when he turned eighty in order to make a קדוש ה'. Story- ר' נחום הרודנה fell in gutter while collectingצדקה and didn’t want to die so as not to make a חלול ה'.

ת''י -כה Not everyone is included in this in נפרעין ממנו בגלוי. For example, there is a person that תקפו יצרו- he gave intoתאוה but wasn’t חוטא להכעיס. He can’t beעומד the נסיון but he has בושה, so he does it in private. He gets paid back in private. If this person sins in public, he gets paid back in public. Who is theמשנה talking about? Someone who is פושט טלפיו כחזיר– pretends that he’sכשר when he really isn’t. He is aחונף and hypocritical. He isאחד בפה ואחד בלב. He isחוטא andמחלל ש''ש in private intentionally to trick people- he’s מחכיש ה'. But in public, he acts like aצדיק because he’sחס on his כבד. He will get paid back in public even though he wasחוטא in private. They everyone will know that he’s really not a צדיק.

תוספת יו''ט What does it mean that ''ואחד שוגג אחד מזיד בחלול ה' ''? The שוגג is more lenient than the מזיד so it can’t be the same punishment for both. Where it says ''אחד'', id doesn’t mean the same punishment but that it’s both punished in public.
''חלול'' is from the ל' of חול, חולין- regular, a חסרון in קדושה. Someone who makes a חלול ה' acts in a חול way to ה'.

רוח חיים חלולים means hollow, so that’s what חלול means here.

A person who says that in a certain aspect of his life ה' isn’t there is מחלל ש''ש במחשבה because ''מלא כל הארץ כבודו''. Even every footstep we take is a דבר רוחני.

Sheet II Make ה'’s name beloved onto others- וְאִהַבְתָּ, so that ש''ש should become beloved through your life. A person should learn תשבע''פ and תשבכת''ב. He should serve a ת''ח so that he can see him live. You should also act nicely to others so that they’ll say, ''אשרי... אתפאר''. Someone who learns תורה and serves a ת''ח but doesn’t conduct himself honestly and act like a mensch, people will say on him, ''אוי...יצאו''.