We have been talking about humility this past week, and the need to not take credit for our deeds. One of the sources for humility is in this week's Parasha (chapter 17) where we tell the king to become a haughty above his brethren . לבלתי רום לבבו מאחיו The Ramban says this is a source for the sin of arrogance, in that if we're telling the king (who, so to say, has a right to be arrogant because he's the leader) not to be arrogant, surely other people should not be arrogant. He goes on to say that Only God deserves greatness and uplifting , and only He should be praised. Rabbenu Yonah, in Shaar Teshuva (third gate, letter 34) also brings this pasuk down and says that it's a warning To remove the trait of arrogance. And someone who's great should not be arrogant with someone that's smaller, even the king . He says this is from the worst of traits. As it says, Ga’avah/arrogance is abomination of God. He goes on to say that what we should be proud of is only, as we said this week, serving God, fearing God, relying on God, loving Him and cleaving to Him. Those are the things we can be proud of. As the pasuk says, “ This is what man should be proud of- knowing Me.” In his list of Knowledge of God, serving God, fearing God, loving God, cleaving to God and relying on Him are all included. Those are the fundamentals of our religion to be proud of. Otherwise, in all other areas of wealth and power and strength, as we said, “ We didn't do it. God did it.” And therefore, only God is worthy of praise. But there's another source for arrogance in this Parasha (chapter 8, 11- 14), where it says, “ הִשָּׁ֣מֶר לְךָ֔ פֶּן־תִּשְׁכַּ֖ח.. Be careful lest you forget Hashem your God and become arrogant So if it says you're not allowed to be arrogant here, where there's a clear pasuk referring to arrogance in general, why base the mitzvah on the rule with the king? The Sfat Emet in Parashat Ekev answers that the the first pasuk is saying, “ Don't be arrogant in front of God. Don't forget about God.” So fine. That's one thing. I'm not going to be arrogant in front of God. I realize God's in charge. I'll humble myself. I'll bow in the Amida . I'll give Him the credit.” But there is another type of arrogance- an arrogance over people, and that's a whole separate story. I might humble myself to God, but that doesn't mean I'm going to humble myself to people . There's a story told by the Sfat Emet, (possibly in jest), about a rabbi who was saying Vidui- Ashamnu, Bagadnu etc” and crying. The Mesader sees him and thinks, “ Wow, I thought this rabbi was a holy rabbi. Look how he's bawling when he says that he laughed and made fun of people. Look at how he's bawling at all these things... I thought he was a good guy.” And the Mesader decides not to give the rabbi Aliyat Shish i that week, or the next week. Eventually the rabbi starts to wonder what's what's going on, and asks the Mesader about it. The Mesader answers, “ Well, I saw the way you were crying and bawling in Vidui, and realized that you're not so good after all .” The rabbi says,” No, I was crying and bawling to God. When it comes to God, I'm a nobody. But as far as the rest of the congregation, I deserve Shishi, I'm better than them!” Of course, whether this really happened or not, the message is that sometimes we can humble ourselves in front of God, but we don't humble ourselves in front of people. We want to be humble both in the eyes of God and the eyes of people . Therefore we need two separate pesukim , to realize that when I look at somebody else, and think of my success (and maybe his lack of success), or that I'm smarter than him, I'm wealthier than him, or whatever it may be, like the Ramban says, if anything, we should think the opposite. If you're smarter than him, and you know more, then you're more guilty than he is, because when he makes a sin, it's by mistake. When you do it, it's on purpose. And that's why there is a this double warning on arrogance, not to God, and not to people. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.