We’ve been trying to impress upon everybody the importance of humility when it comes to the high holidays. There's a Gemara in Masechet Berachot (and Masechet Yoma) that quote prayers of different rabbis of the Amoraim . Rava would say a prayer every day. Rav Hamnuna would say a prayer on Yom Kippur, which we will quote. אֱלֹהַי, עַד שֶׁלֹּא נוֹצַרְתִּי אֵינִי כְּדַאי, וְעַכְשָׁיו שֶׁנּוֹצַרְתִּי כְּאִלּוּ לֹא נוֹצַרְתִּי. עָפָר אֲנִי בְּחַיַּי, קַל וָחוֹמֶר בְּמִיתָתִי, הֲרֵי אֲנִי לְפָנֶיךָ כִּכְלִי מָלֵא בּוּשָׁה וּכְלִימָּה. יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ ה׳ אֱלֹהַי, שֶׁלֹּא אֶחֱטָא עוֹד, וּמַה שֶּׁחָטָאתִי לְפָנֶיךָ מָרֵק בְּרַחֲמֶיךָ הָרַבִּים, אֲבָל לֹא עַל יְדֵי יִסּוּרִין וָחֳלָאִים רָעִים״. אלוקי עד שלא נוצרתי איני כדאי Before I was conceived, I was not worthy. ועכשיו שנוצרתי כאילו לא נוצרתי Now that I was conceived it's as if I wasn't conceived. עפר אני בחיי ק"ו במיתתי I am dirt during my lifetime and even more so in my death. הרי אני מלפניך שלא אחטא עוד וכו' והיינו וידוי דר' המנונא זוטי I stand in front of you, God, like a vessel full of shame and embarrassment, It should be Your will that I not sin in the future, whatever I have sinned in the past, please erase in Your mercy . This is the Vidduy of Rav Hamnuna that we have instituted in our prayers. You can see the stress on the humility. When a person stands in front of God on Yom Kippur and says Vidduy , he has to be humble and realize his value. The Gaon of Vilna, on his commentary on Berachot 17a, explains that saying” I am dirt,” has a certain saving grace. What does that mean? We tell God in Tehilim 103,14 כִּי־ה֭וּא יָדַ֣ע יִצְרֵ֑נוּ זָ֝כ֗וּר כִּי־עָפָ֥ר אֲנָֽחְנוּ God knows our Yetzer Hara , Remember that we are dirt. When a person realizes , “I have a Yetzer Hara I'm not showing off. I'm not bragging. I know I'm weak. I'm a human being with my faults, I am humble because I know my makeup, then God remembers, says, “ Oh yes, you have the Yetzer Hara. I understand that and therefore I will look at you forgivingly.” But if a person looks at himself as “ Wow, I'm great, and doesn’t realize that he is of dirt and he is made of the Yetzer Hara , then what is his saving grace to excuse him from his sin? He’s saying, “ God, remember I'm afar/dirt, ” but he doesn't seem to be acting in a humble way that's recognizing his weaknesses and vulnerability. The Sefer Rashbetz on Pirkei Avot, where it says “God just judged the world with goodness, with mercy.” God says to this person, “ I understand. I created you with the Yetzer Hara, ” like it says, “ the sin is waiting by the door.” So God knows good and well that we're made of dirt, but we have to remember it, and that's where humility comes in. Besides being a perek of tehilim, it's also part of our services for Avinu Malkenu services for the Aseret Yeme Teshuva : Avinu Malkenu Zachor Ki Afar Anachnu Our father our King,remember that we are dirt that's a reason for us to be forgiven, The Chida , in his sefer Devash L’Fi , on the topic of afar/dirt , says we're actually asking God to remember that we're humble. How does that help? He explains that the Arizal says that the Satan, the prosecutor, does not have the ability to prosecute against a humble person. Therefore we say, remember that we're humble and that should cause the prosecutor to be quiet. So, we have definitely pushed the need to continue to work on humility as one of the secrets to success in the high holiday season. Have a wonderful day.