<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; text-align: justify; background: white;" _mce_style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; text-align: justify; background: white;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;"><span class="contentpasted0"><span style="color: black;" _mce_style="color: black;">On October 14, 2012, Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian-born aerobatic flyer, broke multiple world records. He became the first person to break the sound barrier in a freefall reaching a top-speed of 846 mph (or 1,357.6 kph) without the use of any heavy machinery. At the time, this was the highest freefall parachute jump from 24.2 miles above Earth’s surface, which comes out to about 128,000 feet). &nbsp;</span></span><span style="color: black;" _mce_style="color: black;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; text-align: justify; background: white;" _mce_style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; text-align: justify; background: white;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;"><span class="contentpasted0"><span style="color: black;" _mce_style="color: black;">After stepping on the edge of his specialty-built capsule, suspended thousands of feet up high in the stratosphere, Baumgartner looked down at Earth below him, and with genuine humility, he said some of the most powerful words: “<em>I wish you could see what I can see. <strong>Sometimes you have to be up really high to understand how small you are.</strong> I’m coming home now</em>.” And he jumped.&nbsp;</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; text-align: justify; background: white;" _mce_style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; text-align: justify; background: white;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;"><span class="contentpasted0"><span style="color: black;" _mce_style="color: black;">Greatness and humility are built upon each other; they are two sides of the same coin. There is no such thing as a truly great person that is not humble or a truly humble person that is not great. Great people see themselves as “small” simply because they see that their greatness comes from a Higher Being, i.e., Hashem. When a person is able to recognize that his talents, strengths, and abilities are gifts from the Divine, given to him with his particular mission in mind, that’s when a person is able to soar to lofty levels of greatness and be humbled by this opportunity.&nbsp;</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; text-align: justify; background: white;" _mce_style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; text-align: justify; background: white;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;"><span class="contentpasted0"><span style="color: black;" _mce_style="color: black;">In Parshas Vayeira, we find that Avraham Avinu referred to himself as <span lang="HE">עפר ואפר</span><span lang="HE"> </span>– dirt and ashes – which symbolizes his trait of humility. But we also find that Avraham Avinu viewed himself as great, as important, as an <span lang="HE">אדם חשוב</span>. Where do we see this? I believe it’s tucked away in a Rashi on the words: <span lang="HE">את שני נעריו</span><span lang="HE"> </span>– <em>his two lads</em> (22:3). Avraham took two lads – Yishmael and Eliezer – with him on his trek to do the Akeida. Rashi says: <span lang="HE">שאין <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;" _mce_style="text-decoration: underline;">אדם חשוב</span></strong> רשאי לצאת לדרך בלא ב' אנשים…</span><span lang="HE"> </span>– the reason why Avraham took two people with him is because “an important person is not allowed to travel alone.”&nbsp;</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; text-align: justify; background: white;" _mce_style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; text-align: justify; background: white;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;"><span class="contentpasted0"><span style="color: black;" _mce_style="color: black;">If you think about it, the mere fact that Avraham Avinu kept this halacha and took two people with him when he traveled is the greatest proof that he viewed himself as an <span lang="HE">אדם חשוב</span>, a great and important person! &nbsp;</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; text-align: justify; background: white;" _mce_style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; text-align: justify; background: white;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;"><span class="contentpasted0"><span style="color: black;" _mce_style="color: black;">So yes, Avraham Avinu viewed himself as a great person, but that did not in any way detract from his viewing of himself also as <span lang="HE">עפר ואפר</span>. Even more, perhaps it was because of his greatness that he saw how small he was.&nbsp;</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; text-align: justify; background: white;" _mce_style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; text-align: justify; background: white;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;"><span class="contentpasted0"><span style="color: black;" _mce_style="color: black;">Sometimes a person has to be up really high and realize his immense greatness and <span lang="HE">חשיבות</span> to know truly how small he is in the grand scheme of life, and come to the understanding that he is on a life journey with a mission and a purpose, gifted to him from the Creator Himself.&nbsp;</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;" _mce_style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, times; color: black; font-size: large;" _mce_style="font-family: times new roman, times; color: black; font-size: large;">Have a holy Shabbos!</span></p> <p>@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536869121 1107305727 33554432 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536858881 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-language:HE;}span.contentpasted0 {mso-style-name:contentpasted0; mso-style-unhide:no;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}</p>