To be powerful is to be able to exert control over a
certain measure of reality.
Rabbi Shimon Kessin tells us that gaiva is the antithesis
of d’veykus and is directly related to the way a person sees G-d. The essence of G-d is that He is existence
and that’s why he controls it
.
The baal gaiva is of a different mind.
The root of arrogance is a distorted view of your
own power. In the case of an arrogant person
this power is derivative of an
illusion that he has achieved some kind of control over a small piece of said reality
(a square inch). Maybe he’s rich. Maybe he’s smart.
Whenever G-d is not part of the equation then there
has to be arrogance because you can’t have humility without G-d and it’s
impossible to touch base with Numero Uno without giving up the square inch.
And given this attitude, the arrogant man and G-d becomes
an either/or proposition, for as Rabbi Kessin lets us hear, that square inch is
omnipotence and the battle for the square inch is the battle of who is G-d. If you think that you can control the square inch
then in your eyes you are G-d because to take the square inch out of the domain
of G-d dethrones Him as G-d.
To claim the square inch is the essence of arrogance
and therefore the bottom line of the whole relationship that a person has with
G-d is about who dominates that square inch clearly and without reservation.
Given this context, is it not manifest that to be
humble is nothing more than to understand the true reality of things in
contradistinction to our de rigueur false perceptions?
Rabbi Kessin lets us know that the battle for the
square inch is nothing less than the battle for life and if one learns Torah he
will be constantly reminded as to Who controls that turf because the Torah seeks to
remove the sense of self importance that a person has about himself.
And with the removal of this sense of self
importance comes the realization that the most important thing that we have to
understand in our lives is that we do not control the square inch and that the
tachliss of a person is to come to the recognition that G-d is none other than the G-d of the
square inch. And when we acknowledge
that G-d rules even the square inch, that’s the greatest concession.
The greatness of Moshe Rabbeinu was that he conceded
the square inch to G-d. As for the rest
of us, the battle is not over until we die because then it’s obvious Who
controls that square inch.
