This week we are talking about humility as it connects to Bitachon and why it's necessary for our high holidays. The Gemara in Masechet Sotah says that ‘ A man's prayers are not heard, unless he places himself like flesh.” What does that mean-‘ Like flesh ?’ Rashi explains that flesh is soft, not tough or hard like a rock. The humble person is soft. A pasuk is quoted to prove this point, where it says, “ Every month and every week, all flesh will come bowing down. ” Bowing is a sign of humility, and it only comes if you’re like flesh . And if you’re like flesh, then your prayers are answered. As Rashi explains, “ like flesh ,” means you’re soft, but the Maharal explains that the fundamental of prayer is a person realizing that he is what he calls an Alul , and God is the Elah . God is the cause . And you are what came about through the cause. You're directly connected like a mother and a child. The mother's the cause for the child, and the child reciprocates to the mother as such. That is the source for God responding to us- Like a mother responds to her child. She's the cause for the child, the child looks at her as the cause, and therefore there's a reciprocal relationship. When a person looks at God like He is the cause , and I am not a cause for anything, which has to do with our bitachon that we get everything from Hashem rely on Him, that's what ‘ I'm like a piece of meat,’ means. I'm not even developed yet. I don't have any of my own input. I'm not a self-made man. I'm a slab of meat. I'm not Machshiv myself to anything. Hashem sees that and He fills in my lackings. That's where prayer comes in. This is extremely important. As we start off the prayer season of the high holidays, we need to have this important fundamental of understanding that we are just a slab of meat. We are not developed at all. The Gemara in Sotah continues and says that when talks about a person who has Tzara’at, it mentions Adam , a man that has on his flesh, over and over…a man , a man , a man . But when it talks about being healed, it says, U’Basar ….A flesh that has shchin on it, will be healed . The Gemara says that when the term Adam is used, it means that you're a man , you're a somebody , and then there's room for Tzara’at , because it says Tzara’at/leprosy comes to people who are arrogant. But the person who's basar / flesh , who is humble , he is healed from his problems. Rashi explains that the person who's soft and humble is easily healed from sufferings and problems because he's soft. The person realizes he made a mistake. When something goes wrong, it gets fixed. But when someone is tough and hard, in Rashi’s words, ‘ There's no healings for his disease.’ So as a new year comes along, we want to be healed from any problems that we're having. How do we heal ourselves? We heal ourselves with U’Basar. If we feel like flesh , if we feel soft , that's the way that we heal ourselves. This is an important principle, being soft and easygoing. Yesterday we spoke about the rabbi whose wife upset him on Erev stodgy Hashanah. He worked on himself and he got blessing. When a person comes up with a challenge and a situation where someone is bothering him or, or insulting him or whatever it may be, it's an opportunity for blessing. It's an opportunity to be humble and bring the beracha. It's not uncommon that on the last day of the year, people go through all kinds of upsetting situations, in order to give them the opportunity to overcome them. Similarly, it says that Erev Shabbat is a time where there's all kind of confusions and situations that cause people to get upset on Erev Shabbat. It says that the Satan comes Erev Shabbat to get people into arguments and get them upset. Simply, we could say it's a short day. But even when it's a long day, people have to use the shower, and there’s a rush, or time limits, and people get upset. But that's all a coverup. It's really the Yetzer Hara trying to get you upset. Why? Because Shabbat is a time of beracha. Hashem wants to bring us the beracha, so He gives us opportunities to have situations when we might be tough, but rather than become tough, we are soft. When you're soft and easygoing, that's what brings the beracha . God listens to our prayers and our suffering ends. Have a wonderful day.