We are in the week of Tisha B’Av, and sometimes we have Emuna questions. It's hard to understand why we sometimes see people that are, or have been, oppressors of the Jews over the generations- and yet they seem to be enjoying great status in the world, anti-Semites, terrorists and the like. How are we to understand this? The Bet Halevi tells us, in his essay on Ga’avah, that we should be mitbonen / we should ponder the following principle, which is that Arrogance is the doorway and the gateway to the downfall of a person , as the pasuk in Mishleh 16,18 says, /לפ ני שבר גאון Before a downfall is arrogance. ולפני כשלון גבה רוח And before a stumbling comes an uplifted spirit, which means simply that a person is lifted up before they fall. The Chatam Sofer gives two examples of this from history. The first is Yaakov Avinu. Why did Yaakov send all of those gifts and presents and honors to Esav? To answer, he quotes Iyov 12: God causes the goyim to be uplifted, and He destroys them. God lifts them up with the purpose of destroying them. The honor and greatness bestowed on them is only there to hasten their downfall. He says that a nation and an individual, have a certain Mazal for how long they will last. They have to reach a certain height, and the more honor they get, the faster they reach that height. The second example he uses is Esther and Haman. Why did Esther invite Haman to the party? Because she knew this principle of לפ ני שבר גאון /before a downfall is arrogance. The Or HaChaim HaKadosh says that's why Moshe Rabbenu showed Datan and Aviram respect- because of this principle, that a person’s haughtiness will bring his downfall. That's on the negative side, and it can help us understand why we see our oppressors rising up. But on a more individual level, there are two similar pesukim in Mishleh that say the opposite ( 15,33, and 18,12) ולפני כבוד, עונה And before honor comes, there is humility. The sefer Shomer Amunim, in his derush on Bitachon, says that when a person suffers a loss, whether monetary or physical, there are two options: he can either accept with a full heart that it’s going to bring him greatness- and then he can grow from it, or the opposite- he can complain. He quotes the Sefer Chasidim (siman 13), that says, Sometimes somebody is supposed to receive a wonderful gift (whether spiritual or physical), but he's not worthy of it yet. So God causes something to happen to him that humbles him, and then he'll be ready to receive the gift and the greatness. He has to believe, he says, that for sure something great is going to grow from it. There are two sides of the coin: 1-When a person reaches a high level, that's a cause for his downfall/ Lifneh Shever Geon, 2-When God wants to gift somebody with something and give him kavod , it has to be preceded by humility. Humility brings uplift and arrogance brings downfall. Therefore, before God brings someone to his downfall, He gives him arrogance, and the opposite: When God wants to bestow kavod on somebody, He gives him cause to be humble. We sometimes suffer difficulties, but the goal is to make us humble, to give us a gift. That’s the way we are supposed to view Tisha B’Av. On the one hand, we look on the outside and see that as God is bestowing them with greatness, it’s ultimately for their downfall. And when we're sitting on the floor and humbling ourselves as Tisha B’Av is coming, that's a source for our eventual greatness. Have a wonderful day.