Chapter 4 of Pirkei Avot begins with the well-known statements by Ben Zoma regarding who is wise, wealthy, and respectable. Rav Chaim Volozhin, in his commentary on Pirkei Avot called Ruach Chaim, learns from this passage, and indeed much of the ensuing chapter, the importance of humility in the wise and the teachers of Torah. He predicates this discussion on the rabbinic notion that wisdom is only given to those who are already wise (Berachot 55a), and that it derives from the statement in Mishlei (9:10) that awe before Hashem is the beginning of wisdom.
R’ Chaim stresses that any time one is involved in the performance of a mitzvah, he must be concentrating on fulfilling the will of Hashem as commanded to him and second-guess himself as to whether he is truly worthy of the tremendous merit deriving from the performance of this mitzvah. He must never become bold or arrogant or think of himself as superior to other people by virtue of the mitzvot he performs or the Torah he learns and the wisdom he attains. Indeed, when this matter is raised explicitly later in the chapter, R’ Chaim goes on to speak at greater length about the importance of not becoming arrogant as a result of learning Torah.
The truly wise individual learns from everybody because he or she recognizes that all wisdom comes from Hashem and that He teaches us through all the interactions we have. We don’t become truly wise because we are more intelligent or more skilled at navigating sources, but because Hashem sees fit to reveal His wisdom to us. So if an arrogant person encounters somebody who seems to be lower in stature or education than himself, he will be inclined to look down on that individual, but such a person never becomes truly wise because his temperament is unsuited to wisdom. The wise person never looks down on another; he is open and eager to learn what is available to be learned from everyone he meets. In fact, the more humble a person is and the more willing to learn, the more wisdom that person is sure to accumulate.
R’ Chaim quotes Tehillim (119:99): “Your testimony is my conversation.” This means that at all times, the Torah (i.e., the testimony) is in fact teaching itself (conversing), and the student of Torah is eager to be taught and doesn’t ever imagine there are special qualities in herself by virtue of which she is more suitable or deserving to accumulate wisdom. R’ Chaim references Moshe Rabbeinu who didn’t want to accept the mission Hashem gave to him because he felt he was unworthy, and thus begged Hashem to send someone better suited for the role. This is how the truly wise always approach the tasks that are given to them: They are eager to perform their duty, but they do not seek or expect honor or praise for fulfilling it.
Later in the chapter, R’ Chaim speaks of the terrible yetzer hara that challenges scholars of Torah and teachers in particular because people are eager to give them honor and praise. They must never lose sight of the fact that the honor all belongs to and derives from the Torah – that none of it is their own. In fact, in the first chapter of Berachot (17a), we learn of the tefillah of Mar, the son of Ravina, who prayed, “First let my spirit be like the dust that is trampled by everyone, and only after to open my heart to your Torah.” This is because the truly wise individual fears that if given too much honor, he might come to arrogance which will prevent him from having the proper attitude conducive to learning Torah.
Perhaps if the one who wants to be wise begins to believe of himself that he is special, then he will no longer be prepared to learn from everybody, and he will not be able to increase the wisdom that would otherwise come to him. This tzaddik, the son of tzaddikim, therefore davened to Hashem to prevent him from becoming proud so that he wouldn’t fall into this trap and so that his heart could remain open to Torah.
