Understanding Your Middos - 89 Fire – Conceit

The Element of Fire And Its Middos

We will now begin to study the element of fire in our soul. 

Fire is hot and dry. The heat in fire enables fire to connect with the element of wind, which is a naturally warm element.[1] The dryness of fire enables fire to connect with earth, the driest element. Fire is the opposing force to water, which is cold and moist – water is thus the total opposite of fire, which is hot and dry.

The middos which result from the element of fire, as Rav Chaim Vital writes, are: gaavah, conceit, and ka’as, anger. These are the two root middos which stem from fire. These “root” traits of fire have three “branching” traits: (1) Hakpadah (grievance), 2) Kavod (seeking honor), which includes serarah, seeking control, and (3) Hatred.

The trait of hakpadah/grievance is a branch of anger, while serarah/control and kavod/honor are branches of gaavah/conceit. The trait of hatred branches out from both gaavah/conceit and anger.

These are the middos which all branch out from the element of fire in the soul. As mentioned, the “root” middos of the element of fire are conceit and anger. We will begin by examining the trait of gaavah/conceit.

Gaavah\Conceit Can Be Used For Good or Evil

As we have mentioned, every middah can be used for either good or evil, so there can be evil conceit, or holy conceit (gaavah d’kedushah).

The concept of gaavah d’kedushah/holy conceit is that a person must feel elevated in his heart when he serves Hashem, as it is written, “And his heart was high in the ways of Hashem.”[2] The constructive and holy kind of gaavah is when a person is aware of his elevated status as a Jew and this encourages him to serve Hashem better. On a deeper level, we also find that Hashem makes use of holy trait of gaavah. There is a verse, “Hashem rules, He wears pride.”[3] Thus, Hashem “wears” the trait of gaavah as a garment. This is the higher root of the trait of holy gaavah.

Fire: A Wish To Rise From One’s Current Level

What is the concept of gaavah all about? Since gaavah comes from fire, let us examine the nature of fire, which contains several nuances. The main aspects in fire are its heat and its dryness, but it also has some other aspects to its nature: fire rises, it can destroy, it can spread, and it has some other natures as well which we will hopefully elaborate upon later, with the help of Hashem.

To begin, we will focus on the first aspect of fire, which is that it naturally rises. This is called aliyah, ascension.

Fire is a flame, a shalheves, and a flame naturally rises by itself. Thus, fire in the soul causes in a person a wish to rise above others. When a person feels lower than where he should be, he may wish to rise higher above where he is.

Two Kinds of Rising – Gei’ah and Yuhara

Gaavah (conceit) is sometimes termed gei’ah (in the verses of Torah),and it is sometimes called yuhara (in Aramaic).

Conceit is called gei’ah when a person simply wants to rise higher above his current level; this is the nature of fire to simply rise, which is called aliyah (ascension).

Conceit is called yuhara when a person wants to rise in relation to someone else. The word yuhara comes from the word ohr, light, because yuhara is when a person wants to rise above another person’s ohr/light. He becomes aware of another person’s high spiritual level, another person’s ohr/light, and he burns with a desire to go above the other person’s ohr/light. This kind of gaavah is not coming from the aspect of aliyah/ascension in fire, and it is rather coming from a different aspect of fire, which is called he’arah, “illumination”.

Thus, the trait of gaavah can either be stemming from the aspect of aliyah/ascension of fire, which is called gei’ah, or it can be coming from the aspect of he’arah\illumination of fire, which is called yuhara.

Wishing To Be On A Higher Level Vs. Seeking Transcendence

There are a few different aspects to examine, when it comes to the nature of fire to rise.

Fire, wind and water are the three active elements. It is brought in our sefarim hakedoshim that the three active elements correspond to the three main parts of the body – the head, the stomach, and the geviyah (the torso). The head, which is the highest point of the body, corresponds to fire (the highest element), the stomach corresponds to water (the lowest element), and the torso (the middle section of the body) corresponds to the element of wind [which mitigates between fire and water, hence wind is the “middle point”].

Gaavah is about wanting to go from a lower point to a higher point. If a person is at a lower level and he wants to rise to the higher level because he wants to get to the higher level, this is holy gaavah. The focus here is on the fact that a person wants the higher level. But if a person’s desire to rise to a higher level is mainly because he wants to be above the point where he is now, this is how we identify it as the evil kind of gaavah.

The Vilna Gaon writes that holy gaavah is when a person wants to get to a higher level, because he desires his root, which is represented by the head, the highest point of the body; it is a yearning of the soul to return to its root, because everything in Creation has a desire to go back to its root. But if a person wants to rise to a place that is not really for him to be in – and this is represented by the point above the head, which is the hair - this is the evil kind of gaavah.

Three Sources For Wishing To Go Higher: In The Liver, In The Heart, or Simply Conceit!

There are two sources in the body where gaavah can stem from and cause in a person a wish to go higher. Gaavah can start either in the liver, or in the heart.

When gaavah starts in the liver, it is when a person wants to rise higher than his current level and simply be higher. The other kind of gaavah, which starts in the heart, is called gas ruach, (haughty of spirit). The Rokeiach writes that the “Ruach” levelof the soul (which contains our emotions) resides in the heart, and it wants to rise higher from the heart. The wish to rise can also be coming simply from the nature of gaavah, whether it is coming from the liver or the heart. 

Thus, there are three kinds of gaavah. A person might want to rise higher from his current level (which is gaavah of the liver), or he might wish to rise because of the Ruach in his heart which wants to rise above its normal level, which is gas ruach; or it can be coming from the nature of gaavah itself, which is the desire to rise.

Evil Conceit: Esav, Hair, and Transcendence

When a person has evil gaavah, he wants to rise higher above his current level, but it is not a holy aspiration; rather, he wants to transcend the human limitations and be above it. Instead of wishing to rise to the “head” of the body, which is the highest point in his reach – he wants to rise above the head; he wants to transcend even the highest level, because his motivation is not about spiritual perfection and returning to his root state, and it is rather a wish for transcendence. Such gaavah is an ambition to go above the body, above the head – which the hair. We will explain why this is evil.

The hair represents Edom (Esav), who was born hairy. Hair is called saar, which is related to the word sar (overseer), a hint to the “overseer of Edom” (sar shel Edom) which wants to rise above all people, one of the main evil forces of impurity that exist. Esav is called ish sair, “man of Seir”, which can also be read as “man of hair”, because he wants to get to the hair – he represents a haughty ambition in a person to go above the highest point so that he can be above everyone else.

This wish to rise is evil, for he does not want to get to his own highest point, which is his head; rather, he wants to go higher so that he can be higher than all other people. The hair is above the head, and Esav wants to get to the “hair”, not just the head – he wants to be above a person; he wants to be above all people. This agenda, Esav’s agenda, represents the evil kind of gaavah that can exist in all people.

Esav is also called the evil kind of “fire” (and Yishmael is the evil kind of “water”). But Esav doesn’t want to simply rise due to his dominant fire. He wants to go above the head - not just to rise to the head. He wants to be above human limits; he does not seek human perfection; he does not have a desire to return to his root, and he wishes instead to go above the root, where he will feel exalted and glorified. That is the way how gaavah (with regards to its aspect of the wish to rise) is used for evil.

Chazal state that Avshalom, the son of Dovid HaMelech who rebelled against his father, was conceited through his hair, and therefore he was punished through his hair [his long hair got him tangled in the trees and killed him].[4] The evil gaavah of Avshalom resembled the gaavah of Esav, a desire to aim for the “hair”, a desire be above human limits – represented by his affinity for hair.

Gaavah Stemming From The Liver: Inner Heaviness

When evil gaavah is coming from the liver, it is a desire to go above one’s current level, and not because the person wants to simply be on a higher level than where he is now. Rather, he wants to rise above his current level because he has an agenda of haughtiness.

This kind of gaavah is referred to by Chazal in the admonishment that one should not walk in a poised, upright position.[5] Such a person’s walking is slow and heavy, carefully planned [so that onlookers will stop to be in awe of him; he has this agenda of getting others to notice his self-proclaimed prominence]. This is the kind of gaavah which stems from the liver. It is gaavah from the viewpoint of a person’s current level, because he is currently at a lower level, and he wants to be above it, when in reality, he is not on the higher level.

The gaavah which stems from the liver is a gaavah stemming from a lower point. In this kind of a gaavah, a person will perform slow, heavy, and carefully planned movements so that he can make others aware of his importance. Although he is performing movements, his movements are not coming from the nature of movement in the soul, but from inner heaviness that he has developed in his soul, which is called “kavaid”, heaviness. The liver is called the kaveid, which is related to the word “kaveid”, heavy. Hence, when a person’s movements are slowed due to his gaavah, such gaavah comes from the inner “heaviness” that comes from the liver.

Gaavah Stemming From The Heart: The Desire For Transcendence

The second kind of gaavah we discussed is called gas ruach (when is when a person’s Ruach wants to rise from his heart and go to the head). This is when a person wants to go above his ideal level – he wants to transcend human limits. The Ruach, which is present in one’s heart, might wish to go above where it is and go to the head. When this happens, the nature of the trait of gaavah itself, which has now become activated in the person, will take this wish even further and it will want to rise even above the head is the desire to go above the head.

When this desire in a person is channeled towards holiness, it is the desire in a person to wish to return to his root, which is the Creator. The rule is that everything in Creation yearns to return to its root; our soul yearns to return to its creator, which is the Creator. So when a person wishes he could rise above his level and go all the way to the highest point – his root where he came from, the Creator – this is the holy way to use the gaavah that stems from the heart (as well as the trait of gaavah in general - with regards to aliyah, the wish to rise).

The Good and Evil Uses of Desiring Transcendence

Now we will see how the desire for transcendence – when a person’s gaavah seeks to go above his head – can be used for either good or evil.

Chazal state that if a person eats before davening, he is acting with gaavah, because he is taking care of his own needs before he has even gone to meet the King, Hashem.[6] This is haughtiness on his part.

The Gemara says that “Hashem cries in the inner domains of His heart, over the gaavah (pride) of the Jewish people that has been taken away and given to the non-Jewish nations, ever since the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash.[7] This is the holy gaavah of the Jewish people, which is connected with the Beis HaMikdash.

As mentioned earlier, the word gaavah is from the word geviyah, which refers to the guf, the body. The kind of gaavah which comes from one’s geviyah, his guf, is gaavah coming from the element of wind in the soul, for the element of wind is parallel to the geviyah [and water is parallel to the stomach, and fire is parallel to the head]. Thus, the element of wind is in the geviyah of the body, thus, gaavah is titled so from the word geviyah. When a person wants to rise above the guf \body and go the head, this is gaavah stemming from his element of wind [This can be used for either good or evil as we will see].

The Beis HaMikdash is called the “neck of Yisrael”.[8] The neck is the connecting point between the head and the head. When gaavah is in the heart, it wants to go the head, but how will it get there? Through the neck. The Beis HaMikdash represented this holy gaavah, where gaavah ascends from the heart to the head, though the neck. It is called the gaavah of Hashem, and it is also called the gaavah, the holy pride,of the Jewish people, as cited earlier from the words of the Gemara.

Understanding Gaavah D’Kedushah (Holy Pride)

When a person in the times of the Beis HaMikdash would bring a korbon (sacrifice), he did so with a lev nishbar, a “broken heart”. He didn’t just have a lev nishbar, a “broken heart”, but a ruach nishbar, “broken in spirit.” After bringing the korbon, he was uplifted. He felt his ruach (spirit) soaring higher. So the korbon was, in its deeper essence, a way to go from one’s heart to his head, for the purposes of holiness. The person started with a “broken heart”, and used the Ruach in his soulto rise higher. This was the holy trait of gaavah d’kedushah which begins in the heart and ascends to the head.

Gaavah stemming from the liver is usually evil. Every evil power can also be used sometimes for good, but usually, it is used for evil. [So it is difficult for a person to use gaavah d’kedushah if the gaavah stems from the liver.] But if gaavah stems from the heart – when a person seeks to rise to his “head” from the geviyah/ruach that is in his heart, it can be used for either holiness or evil.

When a person has gaavah to rise to the “head”, it can often be a desire to really go above the head, which is the hair. This is like the story in the Gemara of the nazir who looked at his hair through the reflection in the river and realized that he was a baal gaavah because of his long hair. He had gaavah through his hair, and this is like the gaavah of Avshalom, who was haughty because of his long hair. The gaavah of Avshalom was the kind of gaavah in which a person desires to go “above” the head. What is the root of this? It is written, “Wisdom illuminates the face.” [9] The chochmah/wisdom of a person is revealed by the face. The chochmah of a person also surrounds one’s head, because the Gemara says that there is flame above the head of a fetus.[10] So when a person wants to ascend to above himself, this wish to ascend higher is the holy kind of gaavah.

Gaavah is evil when a person wants to transcend his human limitations, and gaavah is good and holy when it is coming from the soul’s desire to connect to its root, which is above one’s own soul. Fire wants to rise and connect to its root.

The Gemara says that the bigdei kehunah (the Kohen’s clothes) atones for different sins.[11] The mitznefes, the turban, atones for the sin of gaavah. The mitznefes was placed above the head, by the hair, thus, it atoned for the kind of gaavah which seeks to rise above the head, which stems from fire itself. It atones for the very root of gaavah, which is the desire to rise above the head – the gaavah that Esav and Avshalom had.

Mitznefes is from the word tzofeh, seer, which can also means navi - to look and see higher. Thus, the mitznefes atoned for the root of evil gaavah, which is the desire to rise above the “head”, the desire for transcendence of human limits for non-spiritual motives.

Such gaavah, though, can be used for holiness when a person wants to rise above his soul and connect to his soul’s root – the Creator.

The Gemara says that there are four animals on the Maaseh Merkavah (the Holy Chariot) on Hashem’s Throne, and all of them are called ge’im, “conceited.”[12] The lion, the eagle, etc. are all conceited kinds of animals. However, since they are depicted on the Throne of Hashem, they represent the holy kind of gaavah. How? Holy conceit is when one rises in order to connect to the source, Hashem, Who is above all, for Hashem is called ge’oh ga’ah, “exalted above all”.[13] Since all of these animals are depicted on Hashem’s Throne, it shows that the gaavah of these animals represents the desire to go above everything and to thereby connect to our Source, Hashem. Hashem has gaavah over all ge’im, He is exalted above all those who are exalted, and the meaning of this is, that Hashem is the root, above all.  The holy gaavah of Hashem is the revelation of the truth - that He is above everything.

The Sages teach that “Hashem cries on the inside, over the gaavah (pride) of the Jewish people which has been given to the nations.[14] Hashem is sad (so to speak), that our holy gaavah has been removed from us. The depth of this is as follows. Exile is a situation of a lowly state for the Jewish people, for their holy gaavah has been taken away from them. The deeper meaning of this is that in the exile, the Jewish people aren’t connected to their root, Hashem. The exile is essentially that the Jewish people have become “lowered”. Their status of holy gaavah has been removed from them.

When Yehudah went down to Egypt, the Sages teach that this meant that the sons of Yaakov lowered Yehudah’s royal status. This hints to the root of exile, the lowering of Yehudah, the lowering of the Jew - the lowering of the recognition of one’s holy status as Jew.

Holy Gaavah/Conceit vs. Evil Gaavah/Conceit

Thus, gaavah d’kedushah (holy conceit) is when a person wants to connect to his root – he wants to go above himself because he is longing to connect to his highest source, the Creator. When this desire in a person is misused, it becomes evil and it is merely a haughty desire in a person to transcend human limits.

Holy Gaavah Will Be Completely Revealed In The Future

The first time in which the term gaavah is mentioned in Torah is when the letters of gimmel and aleph are combined, which is written by HaMalach HaGoel, the prophecy about the redemption which Yaakov blessed the sons of Yosef with. This shows us that gaavah is actually the root of geulah\redemption – holy gaavah, that is. The gaavah of Yisrael has been taken away and given to the non-Jews during exile, and this is what Hashem cries about. Thus, the geulah will essentially be a situation in which the true gaavah will be returned to the Jewish people – the recognition of our holy status, when we will be completely connected with our root: Hashem.

(Esav and Yaakov were called the two nations that fought in Rivkah’s womb. Normally, there is a rule that Esav and Yaakov fight, for “Esav hates Yaakov”[15], and their fight began in the womb. However, there can be an exception to this rule. Rabbeinu HaKadosh and Antoninus were close friends[16], and this was the tikkun (rectification) of the pirud (disparity) that exists between Yaakov and Esav.)

The Beis HaMikdash is called the holy gaavah of Yisrael. But the first two temples were not yet the completed kind of holy gaavah, because they were within the exile, where our holy gaavah has been taken from us and given to the nations. We were supposed to come into Eretz Yisrael and have the future Beis HaMikdash, but because we sinned in the desert, we were destined for exile and we did not enter the Land with complete holiness. The true holy gaavah wasn’t revealed yet, and it will only be revealed in the future Beis HaMikdash.

In summary, there are three kinds of gaavah. The gaavah found in connection with the Beis HaMikdash represents the holy way to use gaavah to rise above the head – the desire to connect to our root above: Hashem.

The Ohr HaChaim says that had Moshe built the Beis HaMikdash it would never have been able to be destroyed. The Mishkan he built was hidden, not destroyed. The Mishkan corresponds to the third Beis HaMikdash, which will never be destroyed. The Beis HaMikdash represents the holy use of gaavah from the heart, of the ruach which resides in the heart, which wants to rise to the head, for a holy purpose.

The Beis HaMikdash was destroyed by fire, and it will be built with a fire. It will come down from Heaven in a fire. It will be the complete and holy gaavah of Yisrael, when “Hashem and Yisrael are one” - the gaavah of Hashem, the gaavah that is above man, will be unified with us. The third Beis HaMikdash represents the point that is above the head - the revelation of the true gaavah, which is the point above man’s head.

Complete Holy Gaavah Is The Combination of Conceit and Humility

The opposite of gaavah is anavah, humility. Moshe was the most humble person ever. Had he built the Beis HaMikdash it would have been forever. Dovid HaMelech’s Beis Hamikdash was destroyed. The third Beis Hamikdash was rooted in Moshe’s Mishkan, because “the end is contained in the beginning”. This will be the complete holy gaavah, which is called the “ge’oh gaah” of Hashem. Thus, the depth of holy gaavah is when anavah (humility) is fused together with the holy gaavah.  

Now we can understand the following deep point. Gaavah (conceit) is rooted in the element of fire, which rises. With holy gaavah, however, the person is not just seeking to rise. The person is also seeking to be lowered, which is the trait of anavah/humility. It is really ‘two sides to the same coin’. The gaavah of Hashem is called levush, a “garment” which He clothes Himself in, as it is written, “Hashem rules, He wears pride,”[17] because sometimes Hashem “wears” gaavah as His garment, and sometimes He “wears” anavah as His garment.

Holy Gaavah – The Combination of Fire (Conceit) and Earth (Humility)

Based upon the above, we can now understand the following.

Earth is an element which naturally lowers itself, gravitating downward. The trait of holy gaavah, which involves anavah/humility (lowering). Thus, holy gaavah is when one’s fire becomes connected with his element of earth (humility). Since fire is the highest element, and earth is the lowest element, holy gaavah is the trait that connects the element of fire with all the other elements.

In the future, when we will all reach the complete revelation of holy gaavah, this will connect all the elements together. When we merit the Resurrection of the Dead in the future, the dead will get up from the earth. Simply speaking, this means that they will be revived by dew, which is the element of water. But the deeper understanding is that there is a warmth which will awaken them. We find that the prophet Elisha revived the dead by screaming at them, waking them up from their slumber. This screaming generated a warmth in the dead who were in the earth, bringing the dead back to life. Warmth is a property of fire. Thus, it is fire which will ultimately rectify the “earth” (the dead), bringing about the Resurrection of the Dead, connecting together all of the elements.

On a deeper note, this is the secret of oneg, holy pleasure. The word oneg contains the letters ayin, gimmel, nun. The letter ayin stands for anavah (humility), the letter gimmel stands for gaavah (conceit), and the letter nun represents the idea of when things get turned around (as we see from how the letter nun in the Torah sometimes appears upside-down). This is a hint that when we turn over gaavah into its opposite trait, which is anavah/humility, there is a revelation of a true, complete oneg (pleasure). This will be revealed in the future.

In addition, the Hebrew word for “fire”, which is delaikah, is equal in numerical value to words gaavah (conceit) and anavah (humility), because the holy “fire”, the holy gaavah/conceit, is when gaavah/conceit and anavah/humility are combined together.