(לג) וְשָׁ֣ם רָאִ֗ינוּ אֶת־הַנְּפִילִ֛ים בְּנֵ֥י עֲנָ֖ק מִן־הַנְּפִלִ֑ים וַנְּהִ֤י בְעֵינֵ֙ינוּ֙ כַּֽחֲגָבִ֔ים וְכֵ֥ן הָיִ֖ינוּ בְּעֵינֵיהֶֽם׃
(לג) וכן היינו בעיניהם. שָׁמַעְנוּ אוֹמְרִים זֶה לָזֶה, נְמָלִים יֵשׁ בַּכְּרָמִים כַּאֲנָשִׁים (סוטה ל"ה):
(33) וכן היינו בעיניהם AND SO WE MUST HAVE BEEN IN THEIR EYES — We heard them say one to another; “There are ants in the vineyards that look like human beings (Sota 35a).
(לג) כחגבים ולאו דוקא כחגבים אלא קטנים ביותר וכן דרך המקרא לדבר ויושביה כחגבים.
(לג) ונהי בעינינו כחגבים. שנפל לבבנו. וזה אות לנו שלא נכבשם כדכתיב בשאול (שמואל א׳ כ״ח) וירא שאול את מחנה פלשתים וירא ויחרד לבו מאד. פי׳ ע״י שנפל מורא בלבבו. חרד לבו שאות הוא כי לא יצליח. וע׳ ס׳ בראשית ל״ב א׳:
(לג) כחגבים - הנמוך נראה לגבוה ממנו הרבה כחגבים, שהם נמוכים מאד. וזה מוכיח: היושב על חוג הארץ ויושביה כחגבים.
(33) כחגבים, anything low considers itself as like a grasshopper when compared to something much taller. We find proof of this in Isaiah 40,22 היושב על חוג הארץ ויושביה כחגבים, “compared to the One Who is enthroned above the vault of the earth views its inhabitants as if they were grasshopper.”
Psychological projection is a theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against their own unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others
Projection is just what it sounds like. Imagine the old design of the movie projector in which the film was passed over the light, sending the image on the film to a projecting lens, which then reflected that image onto a screen.
That’s exactly how it works psychologically. Some issue has been pushed into the unconscious. But that issue has energy and is constantly looking for release from its prison in the unconscious. So, it projects it through the lenses of the eye—a convex psychological eye that can only look at the external world rather than the internal one—and the issue is suddenly seen in someone else.
Others people's projections can make us feel insecure:
The problem is that when people project their “stuff” onto us, they tend to act as if their projection has something to do with who we really are. They treat us, in other words, as if their projection were valid. And, particularly if we are vulnerable, we tend to believe that perhaps they are describing something real about us—something that we may not even be able to see.
This is when I hear clients say, “They say I’m … and I guess I am.” Particularly when these projections come from significant family members, we tend to be so vulnerable to their influence, and they tend to repeat their projective words so frequently that it becomes very difficult for us to believe that what they are saying is not true
As we become adults it is possible to look back over our childhoods and begin to see how we took on these projections—simply because by now we can see our parents clearer.
So, here’s a challenge: Look back at your identity as a child and the identity you have now, and make a list of all of the projections you incorporated into your identity.
כל הפוסל פסול ואינו מדבר בשבחא לעולם
One who casts aspersions on others is suspect himself to have the very same defect he is publicizing about others.
"If you spot it,you got it."
Becoming aware of your projections enables you to become more conscious about yourself. It can transform your negative reactions towards others by realizing that much of your reactivity is coming from a deeper place within. As you look into the mirror that the other person is reflecting back, you can discover the missing parts of yourself that you may have once seen as unacceptable.
Golda Meir and those at the founding of the State of Israel were surrounded by five Arab armies -- larger and better equipped, intent on their destruction. But in the Israeli's own eyes, they were invincible. And so they were.
Limitations in life are so often of our own creation. We think we cannot do something, and so we cannot. We need to learn to see beyond the limits that our personal thinking imposes upon u
ShlahHakdaosh: when the leper announces: “Unclean! Unclean!” what he is actually doing is proclaiming everyone else to be unclean. The infirmity and shame is so difficult for the leper himself to bear, he instead goes around telling others that they’re the ones who are afflicted...they’re the ones who are the outcasts. To this the Talmud—not Freud, not Jung, but the Talmud— adds that “a person who insults others generally projects his own defects onto them.” This is what the leper is doing...projecting his own defects, which are too painful, too humiliating for him to own up to, upon everyone else around him.
The story is told of a German soldier who paid a visit to Picasso’s art studio as he was completing his massive 11 X 26 foot mural called Guernica, a panoramic, frightening interpretation of a German aerial assault on Spain in 1937. Surveying the mural, the German soldier said to Picasso, “Did you do that?” To which Picasso responded, “No, you did.” Today, Picasso’s Guernica hangs in the entry way of the UN Security Council chamber. We can only pray that it inspires deep reflection and honesty by those who pass beneath it. And let us begin to address the deleterious effects of projection in our own lives and relationships by contemplating Dr. Nemiroff’s recommended questions: Why am I so critical of certain people? What prevents me from getting along with them? How can an honest engagement with these questions improve our rapport with others, as we hope and pray for larger scale healing and tikkun in the world around us?
* Projection can also happen with Hashem; we don't want to care about yiddishkeit anymore so we say hashem doesn't care about us
Baal Shem Tov is simply giving us the most common reason why we may see faults in others. It is a defensive maneuver to minimize the awareness of our own faults, and the self-recrimination that would result from such awareness.
Most people are quick to criticize others for their faults. How wonderful the world would be if we followed the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings, and did as he did; namely, when noticing a fault in others, direct our attention inwardly to discover where we can make changes that would lead to self-improvement.