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16 Adar I 5782

“No one shall ascend with you, neither shall anyone be seen anywhere on the mountain, neither shall the sheep and the cattle graze facing that mountain.” (Shemos 34:3)

Rashi explains, “The first tablets, which were given in great fanfare and noise, were destroyed, while the second tablets, given in private, endured. For there is no better trait than modesty.”

“One must also set his heart to fulfill the instruction of our Sages: ‘Be lowly of spirit before every man.’ ‘Be thus,’ and do not merely act thus, in all sincerity, in the presence of every man, even in the presence of the most religiously irreverent people (kal shebekalim).” (Lessons in Tanya, Likutei Amarim, beginning of Chapter 30)

Rav Shlomo Carlebach tells a story of a chossid who fasted from Shabbos to Shabbos. When he came to visit the Vurka Rebbe, the Vurka Rebbe wanted to test him if he was for real. He invited the chossid a half hour before Shabbos to eat. With only half an hour left to his week-long fast, it would have been most reasonable for the chossid to tell of his great feat. Instead, the chossid silently agreed to partake in the meal. He would rather break his arduous undertaking inches from the finish line than attain any glory from it. (Secrets of the Deepest Depths)

This then is the truth, that none of our mitzvos should raise us above anyone else in our own eyes. One must go to extreme lengths to hide one’s holiness, however small it may be, because only that which is private will endure.

“In distress you called and I delivered you; [you called] in secret, and I answered you with thunderous wonders; I tested you at the waters of Merivah, Selah.” (Tehillim 81:8)

Then, when our service is in a way of “calling in secret,” He–the only One who has to know, the only One who really knows–will answer with “thunderous wonders.”