I would like to share two thoughts on Parashat Naso, both of which relate to Ga’avah/arrogance, which, s we’ve been discussing, relates to Bitachon. The Parasha starts off with the words: נָשֹׂ֗א אֶת־רֹ֛אשׁ בְּנֵ֥י גֵרְשׁ֖וֹן גַּם־הֵ֑ם לְבֵ֥ית אֲבֹתָ֖ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָֽם׃ Lift up the heads of the children of Gershon, also them, to their households, to their families. Simply, this means Levi had three children, Gershon, Kehat and Merari, and Merari is counted second. So we say, “ Lift up Gershon, also them.” Also them means not just Kehat but Bnei Gershon as well. But the sefer Binah Leltim has a novel way of reading this, which is that ‘ You want to lift up the Bnei Gershon because of their family and their lineage, but Gam Hem/ they have to lift themselves up as well.’ It's not enough to say, “I come from a special family and therefore I can rest on the laurels of my family without doing anything myself. ” It’s really a Ga’avah issue. He says that one of the reasons for Ga’avah is that a person says, “ No one's more important than I am. Look who my family is. Look how hashuv/important I am.” That's a mistake, because ultimately, it's up to you to do your work. Yechus/lineage is a Ga’avah pill. It’s really nothing to be proud of, because what did you do? It’s one thing if you accomplish on your own- you can maybe look at that as if you did something, but your family? Did you choose your family, that now you're so important? Because of who your grandfather is, that makes you important? As if the other guy chose a simpleton for his grandfather and your grandfather is someone special … That's one lesson we can take from this Parasha-Don’t bloat yourself based on your lineage. You have to lift yourself up as well. The second lesson is from the Nazir. He commits to abstain from wine, haircuts and contamination from the dead for 30 days. But in middle of his 30 days, suddenly, without his planning, he mistakenly becomes contaminated from the dead. Now he has to start again, and he has to bring a Korban Hatat/a sin offering . Why does he have to bring a sin offering? Because he pained himself for being a Nazir. The question asked is, he pained himself for being a Nazir whether he became contaminated or not. Every Nazir inherently pains himself. So why is this man called the sinner? The Emek Davar answers that the fact that he became contaminated means he took upon himself a level that he wasn't fit for. He went too far, and that's why God contaminated him. It’s like Hashem was saying, “ You know what? You're not ready to be a Nazir. You must bring a sin offering. ” This is another important principle related to Ga’avah- people sometimes take on levels that are above them. The Gemara uses the term Nechsi KiyuHara /sometimes it looks like you're showing off. Sometimes you do things that are not befitting. For example, you're in a synagogue and you decide to put on two pairs of tefilin- but no one else is doing that. That might be something you have to ask the rabbi of the shul about; Is it befitting? If the rabbi's not doing it and you are, it might look a bit arrogant. It's when people do things that are not on their level, even though they're good things to do. The Hovot Halevavot in Shaar Ahavat Hashem (chapter 7) says that when a person makes any growth, it has to be slow. Don't go to extremes too fast. He uses an interesting analogy. He says, too much oil in the candelabra causes the light to go out. Too much oil is no good. It’s the same with serving Hashem. The Gaon of Vilna says, in his sefer Even Shlomo , that sometimes a person accepts something upon himself and then he backtracks because it’s too hard. BThen he blames God, thinking, “ Why didn’t You help me? I was trying to be good.” And the answer is, it's not God's fault, it's your fault because you tried to jump without walking first. Rav Chaim Volozhin says, in his sefer Ruach Chaim, that when a king asks his servant to walk up a flight of stairs, he doesn't expect him to jump 10 steps at a time. He expects him to walk one step at a time. What's pushing him to do more than he's supposed to do? Sometimes he’s driven by arrogance. So that's our second lesson. To review- 1-Arrogance can cause you to rest on your laurels and do nothing, Or 2-Arrogance can cause you to say, “ I’m deserving to do more,” and you do too much. The Mesilat Yesharim says that what's interesting about arrogance is that it is manifested in different ways. One way that arrogance can manifest itself in person sitting in the last row of the synagogue saying, “ I'm so humble .” He could be acting humble as a sign of arrogance! So arrogance is something that we have to be careful of. It can show up in doing too much, or it can show up in doing too little. It’s a life's work to constantly realize that you are not doing things, Hashem is doing things, and put the arrogance on the side. Have a wonderful day.