We Shall Do and We Shall Hear (2)

It is written, “And the man Moses was very humble.” Humbleness means lowness, when a person annuls himself before another. It is not necessarily external annulment, but internal, too. “External” means what is seen on the outside, that which is revealed, when everyone can see that he thinks nothing of himself, but regards his friend as being at a more important degree than his own. This is shown by the acts that he does before his friend.

And there is also internality, called “hidden.” These are the thought and the mind, which he must annul before his friend, as well. This is the meaning of what is written, “My soul shall be as dust before all.” The question is, “How can a reasonable and rational person say that his reason is annulled before each and every one, while he knows and feels about himself that he is at a degree that is a hundred times higher than his friend’s?”

However, there is a discernment called “part,” and a discernment called “whole.” The whole is higher than the part, and one must annul himself before each and every part by being part of the whole. In other words, individually, the whole of Israel are not so important, but with respect to the whole, each person is very important from the perspective of the whole.

One must annul his own needs before the needs of the collective. And since a person must annul his reason and his thoughts before the Creator, he must accustom himself on the outside. This is called “doing,” which is called, “We shall do.” And all those annulments will enable him to annul his reason and thoughts before the Creator.

Thus, it turns out that one who has more knowledge has more work annulling himself before the Creator. But one who is a fool doesn’t need to annul his reason, since he has no reason. It follows that the only merit of reason is that one has something to annul, and this is the only reason why one should aspire for knowledge. And one who is not ready for that, it is better for him to have no knowledge.