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Why does the Torah (תורה) say Matan Torah created both elevation and embarrassment, when Avos teaches an embarrassed person cannot learn? Embarrassment before God creates honest self-knowledge that makes us invulnerable to human criticism. Once we accurately see our limitations compared to divine perfection, we become free to learn without fearing what others think.
Rabbi Zweig addresses a fundamental paradox from the Torah (תורה)'s description of Matan Torah at Har Sinai. The Torah states that God revealed Himself in such an awesome manner both to elevate the Jewish people and so that "the fear of God should be on your face." The Talmud (תלמוד) explains this refers to a sense of bushah (embarrassment) that should characterize every Jew whose ancestors were present at Sinai. This creates two apparent contradictions: first, how does embarrassment lead to elevation, and second, how can embarrassment be the goal when Pirkei Avos teaches that "lo habayshan lomeid" - an embarrassed person cannot learn. To resolve this paradox, Rabbi Zweig shares a story from Maimonides about a pious man who considered his most humiliating experience - being urinated upon by gentiles while traveling in steerage - as the happiest day of his life. This teaches that when a person becomes truly self-aware and abandons false self-projections, they become invulnerable to external humiliation.
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