Humble like the Wilderness Oseh Atzmo Kamidbar, Hefker

(7) "And God spoke to Moses in the Sinai Wilderness" (Numbers 1:1). Why the Sinai Wilderness? From here the sages taught that the Torah was given through three things: fire, water, and wilderness. How do we know it was given through fire? From Exodus 19:18: "And Mount Sinai was all in smoke as God had come down upon it in fire." How do we know it was given through water? As it says in Judges 5:4, "The heavens dripped and the clouds dripped water [at Sinai]." How do we know it was given through wilderness? [As it says above,] "And God spoke to Moses in the Sinai Wilderness." And why was the Torah given through these three things? Just as [fire, water, and wilderness] are free to all the inhabitants of the world, so too are the words of Torah free to them, as it says in Isaiah 55:1, "Oh, all who are thirsty, come for water... even if you have no money." Another explanation: "And God spoke to Moses in the Sinai Wilderness" — Anyone who does not make themselves ownerless (hefker)like the wilderness cannot acquire the wisdom and the Torah. Therefore it says, "the Sinai Wilderness."

...

(Proverbs 29:23) "A person's pride will bring him low, but one who is of lowly spirit will obtain honor"...

Another opinion: "A person's pride will bring him low," this is [Mount] Tabor and [Mount] Carmel. They came from the ends of the earth, prideful, saying: "We are lofty, upon us the Holy Blessed One will give the Torah." "But one who is of lowly spirit will obtain honor," this is [Mount] Sinai which lowered itself saying: "I am lowly." For this reason the Holy Blessed One lifted God's presence upon Sinai, and gave the Torah upon Sinai, for Sinai merited all of this honor. As it says (Exodus 19:20): "God descended upon Mount Sinai..."

Prayer -- is opposite to the lust for unbridledness (hefker), wildness, and prikat ol (removal of the yoke of G-d's law) which is found among immoral people, as written "the vile person says 'there is no G-d'" (Tehilim 14:1). "Fasting" is opposite lust for food. "Charity-giving" is opposite the lust for amassing possessions. "Kindness" is the opposite of jealousy and love of harming other people (i.e. cruelty), as written "For they cannot sleep unless they are doing evil, and they are robbed of their sleep unless they cause someone to stumble" (Mishlei 4:16).

The Gemara continues the discussion of arrogance, and its converse, humility. The verse states: “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 him 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 offered differing interpretations of this verse. One says that the verse means: 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. The Gemara comments on this: 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 He, disregarded all of the mountains and hills, and rested His Divine Presence on the lowly Mount Sinai, and He did not choose to raise Mount Sinai up toward Him. God chose to give the Torah on Mount Sinai, as it was a symbol of humility due to its lack of height, and He lowered His Divine Presence, as it were, to the mountain. Rav Yosef says: A person should always learn proper behavior from the wisdom of his Creator, as the Holy One, Blessed be He, disregarded all of the mountains and hills and rested His Divine Presence on the lowly Mount Sinai. And similarly, when appearing to Moses, He disregarded all of the beautiful trees and rested His Divine Presence on the bush (Exodus 3:2). Rabbi Elazar says: Concerning any person who has arrogance within him, it is fitting to hew him down, as a tree designated for idolatry [asheira] is hewn down, as it is written here with regard to the arrogant: “And the high ones of stature shall be hewn down [gedu’im]” (Isaiah 10:33), and it is written there with regard to trees designated for idolatry: “And hew down [teggade’un] their trees worshipped as part of idolatrous rites [asheireihem]” (Deuteronomy 7:5). And Rabbi Elazar also says: Concerning any person who has arrogance within him, his dust, i.e., his remains in his grave, will not stir at the time of the resurrection of the dead, as it is stated: “Awake and sing for joy, you who dwell in the dust” (Isaiah 26:19). It is not stated: You who lie in the dust, which would indicate that all the dead will be awakened in the future, but rather: “You who dwell in the dust,” indicating that only one who became a neighbor to the dust in his lifetime by living with extreme humility will stir at the time of the resurrection. And Rabbi Elazar says: Concerning any person who has arrogance within him, the Divine Presence wails over him. As it is stated: “For though the Lord is high, yet regards He the lowly, and from the haughty He is pained from afar” (Psalms 138:6). Rav Avira interpreted a verse homiletically, and some say that Rabbi Elazar interpreted as follows: Come and see that the attribute of the Holy One, Blessed be He, is not like the attribute of flesh and blood. The attribute of flesh and blood is that the elevated sees the elevated, but the elevated does not see the lowly. But the attribute of the Holy One, Blessed be He, is not like that. He is elevated but sees specifically the lowly, as it is stated: “For though the Lord is high, yet regards He the lowly” (Psalms 138:6). Rav Ḥisda says, and some say that Mar Ukva says: Concerning any person who has arrogance within him, the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: He and I cannot dwell together in the world...

Rav Ḥiyya bar Ashi says that Rav says: Despite the opprobrium assigned to one who exhibits the trait of arrogance, a Torah scholar must have one-eighth of one-eighth of arrogance. Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, said: And this minute measure of arrogance crowns him as the awn of bristle-like growth on the top of the husk. 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. Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: Even a Torah scholar should not have any arrogance or any part of arrogance, i.e., not even one-eighth of one-eighth. He explains why arrogance should be avoided entirely by asking: 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)? Ḥizkiyya says: The prayers of a person are heard only if he casts his 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. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The Hebrew word for person, adam, written: Alef, dalet, mem, is an acronym for efer, dust; dam, blood; and mara, bile, alluding to man’s insignificance. Similarly, the Hebrew word for flesh, basar, written: Beit, sin, reish, is an acronym for busha, shame; seruḥa, putrid; and rimma, worm, also alluding to his insignificance. There are those who say that the letter sin of the word basar actually is referring to a different word, sheol, the netherworld, as it is written with the Hebrew letter shin. The letter sin is phonetically similar to the letter samekh, the first letter of the word seruḥa, but is orthographically similar to the letter shin, the first letter of the word sheol. The dispute is whether the acronym should be based upon the pronunciation or upon the way it is written. Rav Ashi says: Any person who has arrogance within him will ultimately be diminished in stature, ...

The verse states with regard to Joab: “And he was buried in his own house, in the wilderness” (I Kings 2:34). The Gemara asks: Is that to say that Joab’s house was a wilderness? Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Joab’s house was like the wilderness; just as the wilderness is freely open to all (hefker), so too, Joab’s house was freely open to all, as he generously opened his house to the poor and made them feel like members of the household. … Rav Yehuda says: Not only would Joab feed the poor, but he would even give them treats of types of small fish so they would lack for nothing.

13th-14th c., Spain

When God gave the instructions to build the Tabernacle, God had used the expression ועשית “you are to make, etc.” with every single item except in the case of the Ark where he said: ועשו, “they are to make the Ark” (25,10). The reason was so as not to allow any Israelite to say to another Israelite that he did not also have a share in the Torah.

This was also one of the reasons that the Torah was given to the Jewish people in the desert, a region which is ownerless, has not been claimed by anyone as their own. The moral message is that the words of Torah are “ownerless,” no one has an exclusive on them, there is no law of copyright protecting the Torah. A person could not claim that seeing he was a natural born Jew that he had a claim to Torah not shared by converts who joined Judaism after the Torah had been given to the Jewish people. This is part of the meaning of Deut. 33,4 תורה צוה לנו משה מורשה קהלת יעקב, “Moses commanded us the Torah, it is to be handed down as an heritage to the Community of Yaakov.” The Torah chose the word קהלת יעקב to teach that anyone who joins the community of Yaakov has an equal claim to that heritage. Any convert has an equal claim to Torah provided he makes it the focus of his study and observance. When the Torah defined the purpose of the Torah, it wrote “in order that האדם, should perform its laws and live thereby.” The Torah did not write: “in order that a priest, a Levite, or an Israelite should perform its laws and live by it,” but it chose the all-embracing term האדם, (Leviticus 18,5).

2nd C.

"and they encamped in the desert": The Torah was given openly, in an ownerless place. For if it were given in Eretz Yisrael, they could say to the nations of the world: You have no portion in it. But it was given openly, in an ownerless place, and all who want to take it may come and take it.

(R. Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk, 18th c.)

The Torah only stands firm in one who makes oneself like a midbar hefker before those who are poor of mind and rich of mind, and he doesn’t think of himself as better than his friend. On the contrary, he should be completely nullified before his friend, and it is through this that they become united and bound up one with the other.