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Rabbi Moshe Haber Path of the Just/Perashat Balak: The Arrogance of Image and the Speaking Donkey 7.11.25 · Rabbi Moshe Haber - Daily Mussar/Weekly Perasha

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  Breathe. His last few lines, we did just
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  say amesiation in the last lines are on page 280, Qaramu Zakaram
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  Dash writes. Kevin said once he had said I'll
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  see the damage and see the person who's walking with a
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  certain level. He's walking with his heels,
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  which means he's walking head up.
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  Gava is arrogant Mehmesh Pegada. He's busy with his clothing
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  smoothies to make sure he looks very, very good.
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  Very busy with his outside appearance, Mr. Selbasado.
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  And he's obsessed with his hair. Oh man, and the size she invites
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  it by the midage. He said, says there, surely I
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  own this person. Which means every person is
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  extremely busy with his outward appearance.
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  What others think then the answer has got full control over
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  him. So he said yesterday it seems a
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  little extreme. OK, just cause the guy likes
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  fine things in life and he likes to look good, it's not a reason
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  to say that he's in the control of you and said what exactly
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  does this mean? So we explain and the idea is,
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  is that people are busy with their persona.
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  What happens is a person gets busy with image and then he sees
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  other people look at him and he likes to what other people want
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  so that he would look at him as an impressive person and then he
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  starts to feed to that image. So now once I am seen as an
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  impressive person, I'm seen as a hashouf guy.
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  I sought to carry myself according to that picture and
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  now I'm living with the mindset that I am Hashouf and now it
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  becomes my DNA told everybody, including told the people that
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  are close to me. I used to be a regular guy and
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  now when I go back home, I'm carrying myself because I I like
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  the fact that people see me as Hashouf.
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  Now I go home and I still think I'm hashou person.
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  Now with the kids and your wife and your family and the basics
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  and the simple things. Now he's only carrying yourself
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  a different way, and now your mind and your life is all
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  catered to the same image that's made-up.
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  And it becomes an obsession and it becomes fully the focus of
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  our life. And the answer has got us
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  because everything we're going to do is based on this.
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  How many sins can come from arrogance?
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  Well, what can come from arrogance is complete
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  destruction. Why?
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  Because I'm obsessed with keeping up this image.
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  And now as someone insults me, they're poking on my image.
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  If someone doesn't give me enough cover word, they're
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  hitting on my image. I woke into a room.
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  I expect I have a certain sense of who I am.
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  The conversations all about me. Everything I do is meant to feed
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  into this image. And now my entire life is built
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  on this sort of mindset. All because of that one mistake,
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  which was literally taking and obsessing over my DNA when I
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  decided to become a person that has an image and has a person
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  physically says it's the reason this is important.
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  I want to show you this and because an opera shot this week,
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  we have maybe one most classic stories and it's almost comical,
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  which is the Basuk says at the top, I share my sham opens up
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  the mouth of Piaton, the mouth of the atone.
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  What's the atone? The donkey, right.
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  That's the Basuk says I have to find this Mishnam Mishnam
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  Vicarbo writes that the mouth of the atone they voted for a
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  donkey to speak. We know is an unbelievable
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  miracle. We know it's not at all
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  practical and the Mishnah says that there were 10 things that
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  God created been a shamashot major miracles.
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  I read the Mishnah. I said I'd the vary in the blue
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  body of Shabbat Shamashot 10 things that Hashem created
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  during twilight right before Shabbat, the creation of the
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  world, right, the world six days of creation going into Shabbat.
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  Each day was a massive creation. And then right before the end of
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  the six days right before Shabbat started, Hashem created
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  10 miraculous things for our future. 10 things that the whole
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  homage are based on, for example.
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  Oh yeah, just on that point. So if it's bet you created
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  they've been a special, then we know it's not Shabbat.
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  Yeah, a good point, right. But we have to know we don't
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  know how many so much so it is nice.
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  You got a point by that very good very Lorraine P Artists God
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  created the opening in the land in the in the ground and one day
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  Konoch would go down Pia Pere created the opening of where the
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  well would be in the desert. Pia a tone one of the miracles
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  were the mouth of the donkey by Keshit.
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  God created the the rainbow Bahman, the man Vah Maltaire,
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  the staff with Moshebian will use for all the miracles by
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  Shamir the something that's can be used to cut miraculous a
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  snake that's that's going to cut the stone for the better.
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  Migdash Akhtab, a bhaktab A lahot different things for the
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  writing of the lahot. All right, these are all very
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  significant items. That's right.
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  One opinion says good, another right the place the barrel of
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  mush have been a different things.
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  So I wonder why in this list is the mouth of the donkey, which
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  means whether that donkey is selfish, was around from 3000
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  years prior, or the existence of that mirror that that type of
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  creation that a donkey could speak was caring for them.
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  I wonder what may Hashem go with such great lengths by the
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  creation of the world to prepare for a miracle that one day a
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  donkey would say a few words to his master, to Balaam and Al
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  Prasha. What's the story?
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  Balaam is asked to curse the Jewish people.
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  Hashem basically tries, tells him not to, tells not to.
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  He goes anyway, right? And then he has to travel with a
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  donkey, keeps moving different direction because there's a
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  Malachian Angel in front of him with a knife, with a sword, and
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  then don't. He has to stop.
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  And Balaam hits a donkey, but and Hashem opens the mouth of
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  the donkey, donkey speaks, stop. Not at all normal.
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  It's not practical. It's not physically possible.
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  It's a miracle. Why would God go such great
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  lengths from the creation of the world from day number six and
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  prepare a miracle years later to allow a donkey to speak?
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  Everything else we have in our list are impactful to the world.
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  They're all part of the future. Here's a moment, everything
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  where a donkey's going to speak to his master.
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  It's comical. Almost every kid knows about it.
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  It doesn't make any sense. It's at that time point why
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  would God go that far? This is the important thing
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  about ego and arrows. The answer is to understand
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  where Bilam was holding. Bilam was a man who had the
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  ability to curse. Powerful man.
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  He had the ability was considered a prophet equal to
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  the love of Musira Beno and the ability to curse.
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  Now he was also the most popular man in the world, the most
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  sought after man in the world. But the Basuk says they sent
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  people to him. The Vidas writes that he was
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  getting messages constantly. Everyone was asking him.
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  They wanted his services. Everyone wanted to belong
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  services to curse to the other nations.
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  They all wanted him as their protection.
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  So he's the most sought after man in the world, popular man
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  with a gift. What happens next is the real
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  essence of belong. What happens next?
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  Once it's being sought after, he starts to like it, has to enjoy
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  it just to feed on, feed off of it.
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  What does he do? For example, they offer him
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  money. At one point he says if you give
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  me all the money in the world, all the money in this house,
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  whatever it is, it wouldn't be enough.
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  As she writes, he really meant to say money's not going to
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  help, I need Hashem's help. That's the humble way of saying
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  it. But he stated in a way saying no
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  money is enough for my service. I deserve endless money.
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  Arrogance right there. Another example, when they came
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  to visit and they said Balaam, they want to know can you come
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  across the Jewish people? Balaam said he needed to wait
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  over. I think he said the word.
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  Let me show you the words he says sleep over here at night.
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  He says these words. He has to stay overnight.
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  When he answers this question. Lino Paul Ayla.
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  But she voted Hamdivar, stay overnight tonight and I'll give
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  you the answer tomorrow where I shall.
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  What? What God says about cursing or
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  she says, really he needed to wait there all night because he
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  did not have prophecy during the day.
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  He needed the night time to know whether he has a capability to
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  curse the Jewish people. But he said it in a way.
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  Listen to the arrogance in Milahan.
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  I'm not sure if God allows me to go with low people like you.
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  Maybe I need bigger people to come.
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  Shamma and Kivador, Kivadi, la tete la aloch Ellaim Sarim
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  Gilimican. Maybe you need greater officers.
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  Here's a guy who has really has to be humble because ultimately
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  his talent and his gifts are fully from Hashem and he's not
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  sure if Hashem is not allow him. And he says things in a way to
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  build up his image to make him seem like something
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  unbelievable. Number 1, he says you might need
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  to give me more money. I might deserve more for my
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  services. I'm such an important person.
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  I'm the most so I have the person whore and #2 he says you
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  got to stay overnight. I need to see if this is
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  respectful enough. Maybe I deserve more impressive
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  officers. So a guy who was meant to be
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  humble because he has a gift, has God-given instead of builds
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  and compounds and develops and expands his arrogance, his ego,
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  his image, to make himself seem like the most important thing in
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  the world? To make himself be projected to
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  the world as someone who literally has such an
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  unbelievable level and stature that no one's enough of him.
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  No emissary, no messenger, nobody's enough for him.
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  He's so important. He's building this image and
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  this persona and his belief in himself.
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  That's a balames as a Mishnam pick out of what says he's a man
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  who has the greatest Gava. He's the definition of Gava,
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  this man. Now let's get back to the donkey
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  speaker. Why is it important for Hashem
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  to allow a donkey to speak, to make a miracle from the
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  beginning of time, preparing for this moment to show all of us?
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  Look at the result of arrogance. When a person believes that they
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  have a gift, when the person believes that they are special,
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  and that's sort of arrogant sort of way.
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  Not only does Hashem indicate to him that he's not as special as
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  he seems, God takes him all the way down to the greatest level
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  of humiliation possible, where Hashem tells him, you see this
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  donkey, I can make him speak. You know what that means what
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  that means that means that your gift is not your gift.
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  Your power of speed, your power of cursing is nothing to me.
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  It's all God-given. You think you're impressive,
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  even a donkey. I can make speak so your talent
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  is not at all your talent. Your image is not at all your
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  image and this fake arrogance is all self-made and at all zero in
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  a minute. I could take it from a big high
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  flying balloon all the way down to the ground.
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  And the lesson is that a person who has arrogance, who allows
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  arrogance to build and develop and compound and by the way, but
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  not a reason to be arrogant. He did have a gift at the whole
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  world once. He did have a talent that was
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  seen as the protector of the world.
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  He was considered something unbelievably talented.
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  It's still he let it reflect himself.
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  He let himself literally say, read the back of your card.
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  All right. He let himself start reading who
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  he is and because of that, he allowed himself to become
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  something in his mind that was supernatural super early.
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  And Hashem tells him you're as natural as it gets because you
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  see this donkey, he could speak. How does he speak to all my gift
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  as not your own talents or from Hashem.
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  So the purpose of Hashem allowing a donkey to speak is a
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  lesson to all of us. Never get ahead of yourself and
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  to believe that our gifts, our gifts, if you're humble, if you
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  have understanding that Hashem does give us talents and these
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  talents are meant for a purpose to be used to help others, the
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  do fathers, then you can go to great heights.
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  But if a person is the opposite and they absorb the medal of
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  Belam, then they hit the bottom of the barrel to go to great
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  lows. And this is the message of
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  arrogance. And This is why Messiah Shanim
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  says, and that Yetzeda has has an arrogant person in his
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  clutches, because then a person believes and reads whatever he
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  says about himself. And he starts to like when
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  people make him into a big deal, he lives for that.
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  That becomes his entire existence and he can function
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  like a regular normal person in society.
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  And he takes away his ability to develop, to expand, to become
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  something special. Is the idea on top of this here?