"And You Shall Take a Bunch of Hyssop" (Exodus 12:22)

"By means of the hyssop, which is the lowliest of trees, He redeemed Israel" (Midrash Rabbah, Bo 17).

The essence of a person's greatness is only lowliness and humility, for only one who is "lowly to the dust" will rise at the resurrection of the dead and merit eternal life, as we say in the Shemoneh Esrei prayer, "And He keeps His faith to those who sleep in the dust." The more a person is in a state of lowliness and humility, the more he will merit the resurrection of the dead and eternal life. The more points of lowliness we gather each day, the more we will merit eternal life and the pleasure of the World to Come, as it is written, "Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust" (Isaiah 26).

With every humiliation a person receives, he gathers more lowliness. The more a person is humiliated and disgraced, the more he should rejoice in it. If you know that someone is going to humiliate you in the street, it is worthwhile to go and immerse in the mikvah beforehand, because through humiliation comes such a great light that it is worth immersing so that you will have the vessels to receive this great light. Through humiliation comes such a great light to a person that could not be attained through any mitzvah in the world. Humiliation turns a person into "nothing" (ayin), and through it, a person merits such a Divine light—such a great light, an infinite light, a light that is above all worlds, encompassing all worlds and surrounding all worlds. By gathering as many points of lowliness as possible, we will merit more Divine light and more infinite light.

King David says in Psalms, "Purify me with hyssop and I shall be pure; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow"—purify me with hyssop! I want to be hyssop; I want to be humiliated, for everyone to trample upon me, for everyone to laugh at me and degrade me. Only this is true teshuvah (repentance). I must know that I am the worst of all, that I have committed more sins than anyone, that I have corrupted more than anyone. I only ask, "Purify me with hyssop and I shall be pure; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow." I want to be hyssop like the hyssop of the wall, hyssop that everyone tramples upon and degrades; I want to be hyssop all my life.

There are two levels of teshuvah. There is a level of teshuvah where a person is humiliated and remains silent; this is called "those who are insulted but do not insult, who hear their shame and do not respond"—they humiliate him and he is silent, he does not answer, "And Aaron was silent." But there is a higher level of "those who act out of love and rejoice in their sufferings," where one merits to ascend to a higher level. When they humiliate him and degrade him, he is happy all day, singing and playing music, receiving the insults with joy, with love, with songs. Every humiliation is an ointment for his wounds, a healing for his wounds. When they humiliate him, he feels that they are applying and anointing ointment on his wounds. His entire body is a wound and a bruise, "from the sole of the foot to the head there is no soundness in it," and he feels that every humiliation is a cure for his illnesses. Every humiliation is pure water—"And I will sprinkle pure water upon you, and you shall be purified."

Lowliness and humility are without limit. When a person is given humiliation, they turn him into the infinite; they turn him into no-thing (ayin). Now that he is without limit, he can feel the Divine light. They say about him, "This person is nothing, he is worthless, he is a liar, he is a hypocrite," and the more they say, the more he becomes "nothing," and then all successes and all abundance come to him. A person receives one humiliation—that is a million successes. After the humiliation, the successes do not end and the abundance does not cease; he becomes a provider for all the people of the land. He merits infinite abundance, "And Joseph was the provider for all the people of the land." Joseph became the provider for the whole land because after they sold him and humiliated him, he became "nothing" and all the abundance passed through him. So, the more humiliations a person receives, the more abundance and success he has.

Sometimes, when a person is humiliated, he says, "They are humiliating me because I am a tzaddik! Because I serve Hashem!" This is pride. One must not derive pride from humiliation; rather, one must truly think, "They are humiliating me because I deserve it, because I am not a tzaddik or a chassid, I do not study Torah properly, I do not guard my eyes—I am truly wicked!" One must admit the truth. If someone says to you, "You are wicked!" you should think, "Blessed is Hashem, he told me the truth." A person must admit the truth. At the time when someone comes and reminds me who I am, I should kiss him, kiss the soles of his feet, because he told me the truth. There is a saying, "Hate the lover and love the hater." You must love the haters. A person needs as many people as possible to talk about him and humiliate him. The lovers are nothing! You must hate the lovers; your lover only flatters you, blurs your vision, and leads you into illusions that you are a tzaddik, that you are fine—"Hate the lover!" But "love the hater," the one who rebukes you and humiliates you—him you should love! Him you should place on your shoulders. So what if there is someone who tells you the truth? What have you really gained from friends who honor you and flatter you?

Rebbe Nachman brings in Likutey Moharan, Torah 260, that through self-sacrifice, yichudim (unifications) are made. And when there are no tzaddikim who perform these yichudim, when there is no one who rises at midnight, no one who cries at midnight, and no one who serves Hashem with true self-sacrifice, then there is no choice but to perform the yichudim through souls that are killed, through killings. But there is another way to perform these yichudim, and that is by receiving humiliations with love. A person who receives humiliations with love saves the generation from killings. Every time a person receives a humiliation with joy, let him know that he is now saving a Jew from being killed. And the more famous and important he is, and yet they humiliate him and speak about him and he receives it with love, the more he saves the generation from killings. And there is a tzaddik who does this intentionally, who looks for all sorts of tactics so that they will speak about him and humiliate him. The Rebbe says, "He does this with his will and his intellect." Through this, he performs the highest and greatest yichudim. This is called sacrificing his soul for the sanctification of Hashem. He sacrifices his name, for the name is the soul, and everyone speaks about him things that never were and never happened, and thereby he saves all of Israel from bloodshed. For by the fact that they spill his blood every moment and every second, and he receives everything with joy and love, through this he saves Israel from all the decrees and all the calamities that are supposed to come upon them, Heaven forbid. Therefore, every person who sees that they are humiliating him, simply receive it with love, for who knows from how many decrees he is saving Israel.

Rebbe Nachman said (Sichot Haran 255), "The one who argues with me, I cannot hate him." I cannot hate any opponent, any hater. How is it possible to hate an opponent? They do me such favors, such favors they do for me, and I see clearly with my own eyes the favors they do for me. For when they argue with me and speak about me, such lights are opened for me that I truly want to kiss them and hug them.

A person receives a humiliation and in that moment he has received a million dollars. It is told that when Rabbi Zusha and Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk arrived at an inn, there were some drunkards there who began kicking each other until they saw Rabbi Zusha. He was further inside than Rabbi Elimelech, and they began to beat and kick Rabbi Zusha, almost breaking all his bones. Then the Noam Elimelech said to Rabbi Zusha, "My brother, you are taking everything! You are taking all the blows for yourself. I also want blows, humiliations; I also want the World to Come. What about me? Am I not a person? Don't I deserve a little? I also want to merit, give a little to me too! Why is everything for you?" For a whole hour he pleaded with him, crying before him to switch places with him—finally, he convinced him. The Noam Elimelech went inside so that they would beat him, and Rabbi Zusha went outside. And as they switched, the gentiles, the drunkards, said, "Enough beating the one, let's beat the other one who is outside!" And they beat Rabbi Zusha again. Rabbi Zusha said to Rabbi Elimelech, "You see? Everything is destined for me; no person touches what is prepared for his neighbor by even a hair's breadth."

With one insult, a person's sins from thousands of incarnations are atoned. With one insult, a person's infinite iniquities are truly atoned. With one insult that a person is insulted, he can merit what he would not merit with thousands of labors. Every humiliation is worth thousands upon thousands of fasts, thousands upon thousands of mortifications. This is instead of entering into fire, instead of entering into furnaces of fire. A person does not know what kind of tikkunim these are—"No eye has seen, O God, but You."

Courtesy of the Tzimah Nafshi newsletter 052-763-9126