Parshat Vayikra:
One of the most painful stories in our long and difficult history is the saga of Yeravam ben Nevat and the split of the ten tribes away from Yehuda and Binyamin. Although the revolt was predicted and supported by the holy prophet Achiya due to the idolatry that had festered under King Solomon’s rule, Yeravam took the Israelites on an even worse path to evil.
For those doing Daf Yomi, in this week’s study the Talmud tells us that when Yeravam became king of the ten tribes, he was concerned about the thrice yearly pilgrimage that the Israelites would make to the Temple in Jerusalem which was the capital city of the rival country of Judea, headed by Rechavam the grandson of King David. What was the problem? The rule was that only the king of Judea was allowed to sit in the Temple, whereas he, the king of the ten tribes would have to stand, like the regular people.
Yeravam was concerned that when the people would see him standing while Rechavam sits, they would say Rechavam is king and Yeravam is a mere slave. On the other hand, if he didn’t turn up at all his people would see only one king! He could not cope with this situation and his great arrogance and concern that his honor would be damaged led him to set up golden calves at the crossings into Judea and told the people, on the pain of death, to worship them instead of heading to the Temple. His arrogance forced him down a path that led to the most heinous mass transgressions.
Throughout his reign, Yeravam fought wars against Rachavam. Apart from the Jewish casualties in this ‘civil war’, he also brought his friend, Pharaoh Shishak, into the conflict, and the verse tells us that Pharaoh reached Jerusalem and ransacked the Temple, taking many of its holy golden treasures back to Egypt.
The story doesn’t end there. The Talmud continues to describe a golden opportunity that was presented to Yeravam to do Teshuva which he ignored. Hashem pleaded with Yeravam (in a dream) saying, ‘Change your ways and Me, you and the son of Yishai (King David) will walk together in the World to Come.” Yeravam replied, “Who will be first, me or the son of Yishai?” When Hashem responded, “The son of Yishai”, Yeravam shockingly said, “In that case, I’m not interested”!
Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz, in his work Sichot Mussar, points out that if you look carefully at what Hashem originally said to Yeravam, it would seem that had Yeravam done Teshuva, he would actually have been ahead of King David, because the order was, ‘Me, you and the son of Yishai’. But the implication wasn’t enough for Yeravam.
Conceited people are desperate to hear others relate their praise. Although Yeravam heard the implication, he wanted to hear G-d clearly enunciate the fact that he was greater than David and would go first. Since he was searching for honor, the response was – David will be first – as the Talmud tells us, one who runs after honor, honor runs away from him.
In contrast to his behavior, the first word of this week’s Parsha, Vayikra – He (Hashem) called out (to Moshe) – is written in the Torah with a small Aleph at the end. Why? The Baal HaTurim explains that Moshe was tremendously humble (as the Torah itself testifies at the end of Parshat B’haalotecha) and he didn’t want the verse to imply that he was so important that Hashem treated him with such honor as to ‘call out’ to him before speaking to him.
Moshe therefore wanted to omit the Aleph, leaving the word as Vayikar – ויקר, which means, ‘He happened upon’ by chance, a term that is used in reference to Hashem’s communication with the wicked Bilaam. But Hashem commanded him to keep the Aleph in, and he followed the instruction but kept the Aleph small out of his humility.
Our Sages inform us that humility is an essential trait in climbing the rungs towards a deep, meaningful relationship with our Creator, whereas the opposite trait of arrogance destroys that relationship; in King Solomon’s words, ‘The haughty person is an abomination to Hashem’.
The Chafetz Chaim states that arrogance is one of the seven primary drives that makes us speak Lashon Hara. If we look down on people we will very easily come to mock them, hang around with our friends sharing the latest story about them that puts them down. Although we will never reach Moshe’s ‘heights’ in humility, we should at least try to find something to look up to in everyone we meet.
Painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard: Jeroboam (Yeravam) Offering Sacrifice for the Idol