Chasidut su Michea 7:78

And let us return to the first issue, "on three things the world stands, on judgment [din]" (Avot 1:18) - this is Torah, as there is that Torah is also called judgment in whichever way it will be, as explained above [for its own sake or not]. "And on truth" - that is the level of Yaakov, that is the average, that is compassion [rachamim], as it is written 'gave truth to Yaakov' (Micah 7:2) that through the raising of the holy sparks one awakens compassion and there is no need for lovingkindness, as explained above. "And on peace"- that is clinging to God, that one clings to the Blessed Creator since the name of the Holy Blessed One is Peace (Tractate Derekh Eretz Zuta, Section on Peace 11).

Michah 7,18: “Who is a G’d like You, forgiving iniquity, ‎and remitting transgression; Who has not maintained His wrath ‎forever against the remnant of His people for He loves ‎graciousness He will take us back in love and will cover up our ‎iniquities.”
Concerning the above statement of the ‎prophet, there is a debate in the Talmud Rosh Hashanah 17 ‎as to how the words ‎יכבוש עונותינו‎, “He remits transgression,” are ‎to be understood. According to one opinion the words are ‎defining the words ‎נושא עון‎, at the beginning of the verse, i.e. ‎while “weighing” our sins on a scale, G’d depresses the side of the ‎scales opposite it so that the sins appear lighter than in reality. ‎This would explain G’d’s being viewed as ‎מטה כלפי חסד‎, “tending ‎in the direction of loving kindness.” The other opinion cited ‎understands it simply as G’d “squashing” the sins together, as a ‎result of which our positive deeds would take up more space ‎than the sins so that the side of the scales on which the positive ‎deeds are weighed will become correspondingly heavier.‎

It is this thought ‎that Moses expressed in our verse when he said: “and ‎‎Hashem has guaranteed you this day that this nation be a ‎precious nation for Him, etc.”‎. ‎
If you were to ask that if G’d, Who is all knowing, obviously ‎knew all this in advance, why did He bother to create the gentile ‎nations altogether? The answer is that G’d created the other ‎nations ‎לשם ולתפארת ולתהלה‎, “for His name, glory and splendour,” ‎so that He would be able to glory in Israel’s accomplishments by ‎comparison. If there were no inferior people who had started out ‎with the same attributes as the Israelites, Israel’s ‎accomplishments would not be appreciated as outstanding. The ‎word: ‎תפארת‎, “splendour,” is an alternate adjective used in ‎connection with the garments of the High Priest, (Exodus 28,2) a ‎garment worn externally, meant to reflect the inner beauty of the ‎wearer. When the prophet Micah 7,19 speaks of G’d ‎יכבוש עונותינו ‏ותשליך במצולות ים‎, “squeezing out our sins and throwing them ‎into the depths of the ocean,” the image before the mental eye of ‎the prophet was that of the person laundering dirty linen, and ‎seeing that not only the dirt has disappeared but the result being ‎something splendid, ‎תפארת‎. Showing someone how a person ‎thoroughly soiled by his sins, has become rehabilitated is surely ‎reason for the owner of that “garment” to boast about the ‎‎“reincarnation” that has occurred, especially when it was ‎spontaneous.‎ This is also the meaning of Rosh Hashanah 17 where the ‎process of removing sins is described as occurring ‎מעביר ראשון ‏ראשון‎, usually translated as “removing the sins in the order in ‎which they have been committed starting with the first.” Our ‎author understands this to mean that G’d had used the first sin ‎committed by the repentant sinners as something to decorate ‎Himself with as His first garment. It is appropriate therefore that ‎once the sinner turns penitent, that not the last, but the original ‎sin he has committed should be “turned inside out,” by being ‎converted into a merit.
‎[When a sinner persists in sinning, the “garments” in ‎which G’d wraps Himself, far from becoming something splendid, ‎become symbols of His progressive distancing His essence from ‎such a sinner, of course. Ed.]‎

And this corresponds to Rosh Hashanah, to the blowing of the shofar, which is the aspect of arousal from sleep. As is brought in the Kabbalistic texts, Rosh Hashanah corresponds to sleep, and the shofar representes arousal from sleep, since, "The whole world was created in Tishri" (Rosh Hashanah 10b). This is the aspect of disorder, Tav-Shin-Resh-Kuf, and when disorder is aroused, you must submerge yourself completely in sleep, which corresponds to the sleep of night. Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the Ten Days of Repentance, and the essence of repentance is to repent from haughtiness, humbling oneself and truly sensing one's lowliness and unworthiness. As our Sages said, "One self-chastisement is greater than one hundred floggings" (Berachot 7a), and, "He forgives transgression for the remainder" (Micah 7:18) - "to the one who makes himself a remainder" (Rosh Hashanah 17b). Therefore the essence of repentance is humility and humbleness, for all sins arise from disorder, from separating the Malchut and possessing it with haughtiness. That is the source of all judgments, to which the evil inclination and the forces of evil are attached, from which all sins arise. The holy books speak about haughtiness being the cause of all sins, since, "Whoever is haughty is as if he worshiped idols" (Sotah 4b), and, "Whoever acknowledges idolatry is as if he denied the entire Torah" (Chullin 5a). We find, all sins come through haughtiness, G-d forbid, for haughtiness separates disorder from order, which is the cause of all sins. Therefore, the essence of repentance for all sins is humbleness, making yourself as dust to be tread upon, sensing your lowliness and distance from Hashem, lowering yourself and breaking your heart before Hashem. That is how G-d will forgive a person, as written, "G-d will not scorn a broken and oppressed heart" (Ps. 51:19), and "Who forgives transgression for a remainder" - "for one who makes himself as a remainder". This is because humility and humbleness, one makes himself as Mah, as nothing and naught. In this way, one returns to order, represented by Mah, through which all judgments, which correspond to sins, disappear. Therefore, on Rosh Hashanah, which is the first day of the Ten Days of Repentance, the first day of Adam's creation, we must "sleep" - we must completely submerge ourselves as if we have no knowledge at all, but only cry out to G-d and declare Him King, in complete sincerity, without sophistication. On Rosh Hashanah Adam and Eve were created, corresponding to order and disorder. It was their task to rectify all the worlds, representing disorder, into order, to bring 'Eve' into 'Adam'. Had they done that, everything would have been brought into order, without any suffering and judgments, which represent disorder. But they blemished with their sin, and in doing so, they separated disorder from order, for their main sin was haughtiness, 'I shall rule', which was the essence of the Primordial Serpent's enticement, as written, "For G-d knows that on the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you shall be like G-d" (Gen. 3:5). As our Sages said, "It told them, 'Every craftsman hates his fellow craftsman - G-d ate from this tree and created all the worlds'" (Genesis Rabbah 19:4). In other words, he aroused jealousy in them and a desire to rule: 'you shall be like G-d' - 'creators of worlds', as if to say, 'Why should you subdue yourselves to Him? If you eat from the Tree of Knowledge, you will be a Gd and a King just like Him!' All this is the aspect of 'I shall rule', in that one desires to draw Malchut/Kingship to oneself, and then everything gets in disorder, for the person himself is in disorder. That is why all generations of mankind became destined to die, for they had blemished order, corresponding to wisdom, the source of all sustenance, as in, "Wisdom sustains life" (Kohelet 7:12), as in, "Mah is our life?". With their blemish, they separated themselves from order, from wisdom, from Mah, the main source of sustenance, and death as opposed to life was the inevitable result. Their blemish also caused everything to become disordered, represented by all the blemishes and decrees that were a result of their sin, as written, "With toil you shall eat of it...thorn and thistle will grow for you" (Gen. 3:17-18), upon which Rashi comments, "When you plant wheat, the earth will give forth thorn and thistle". All this corresponds to the disorder they caused with their sin, which was haughtiness, 'I shall rule', which caused all things to become disordered, since they had evoked disorder upon themselves with their sin. Not only did they not rectify, elevate and refine the world of the judgments that are attached to disorder, bringing everything into order, which is what they were supposed to do on the day they were created - for elevating the entire world to its source, merging disorder into order, was the very purpose for which Adam and Eve were created - but they caused great damage with their sin. The serpent first entices Eve, since she represents disorder, from which the forces of evil derive their power. The rectification should have been by merging disorder into order, by Eve being subservient to Adam, but the serpent overpowered Eve, representing disorder, enticing her to separate 'Eve' from 'Adam', disorder from order, so that Adam would follow Eve's will, so that disorder would rule over order. But they immediately repented and began rectifying everything, a rectification that would not be completed until the coming of the Messiah.

Hanukkah and Purim are illuminations deriving from the three Biblical holidays. Only the three holidays explicitly mentioned in the Torah are considered “Written Torah.” Corresponding to them are the holidays are of the “Oral Torah.” These are lights that are received similarly to how the light of the moon derives from the light of the sun, as everyone knows. Thus, by virtue of the Jewish people accepting the holidays properly, each holiday leaves an impression on the congregation of Israel. And by virtue of this, [the Jewish people] established other, corresponding holidays. Hanukkah derives from the holiday of Sukkot, and Purim derives from the holiday of Shavuot. We hope that there will yet be another deriving from the holiday of Passover, as it says, “I will show him wondrous deeds As in the days when You sallied forth from the land of Egypt” (Micah 7:15).

A third nuance gleaned from the words: ‎החודש הזה לכם ‏ראש חדשים, ראשון הוא לכם‎; it is generally agreed that at the ‎time of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, G’d ‎employed His attribute of ‎גבורה‎, “might,” against the ‎Egyptians while at the same time employing His ‎attribute of ‎חסד‎, “loving kindness, “ toward the ‎Israelites. This is based on ‎כל בכוריהם הרגת ובכורך גאלת‎, ‎‎“While You killed all their firstborn You redeemed Your ‎firstborn.” (quote from the prayer ‎עזרת אבותינו‎, recited ‎every morning after the kriyat sh’ma. (The ‎phenomenon described here is known to Kabbalists ‎asגבורה שבחסד ‏‎, “might as a byproduct of kindness.”) The ‎catalyst that triggered G’d to display His might was the ‎loving kindness He felt impelled to show His people. ‎We find that G’d employed two opposing attributes at ‎one and the same time. To the question which of the ‎two attributes G’d gives preference to, the answer is ‎surely: “to the loving kindness,” as we have it on the ‎authority of Micah 7,18 ‎כי חפץ חסד הוא‎, “for He desires ‎loving kindness.” The expression ‎חפץ חסד הוא‎, implies ‎that even when G’d is compelled to display the ‎attribute of Justice, another aspect of the term ‎גבורה‎, He ‎does so only because otherwise His attribute of loving ‎kindness, ‎חסד‎ could not prevail under the existing ‎conditions. By applying the attribute of Justice to the ‎enemies of His people, He can show His people that ‎He deals with them by means of the attribute of loving ‎kindness, ‎חסד‎. When the Torah speaks in our verse of ‎ראשון הוא לכם‎, “it is first for you,” G’d informs the Jewish ‎people that as far as they are concerned the “new” ‎element in G’d’s relationship with different parts of ‎mankind is that seeing that they are from now on His ‎people, He will deal with them first and foremost on ‎the basis of the attribute of loving kindness. [The ‎patriarchs did not require this “concession;” in fact ‎Yaakov had volunteered after the dream with the ‎ladder to be henceforth dealt with on the basis of the ‎attribute of justice, and this is why he said “‎והיה ה' לי ‏לאלוקים‎, “and Hashem will henceforth be my ‎‎elokim, Judge.‎‏"‏‎ ‎‏)‏Genesis 28,21)]‎
G’d applying the attribute of ‎חסד‎ to the Jewish ‎people in the first instance is reflected in the first verse ‎of the Decalogue, where he introduces Himself with the ‎words: ‎אנכי השם אלוקיך‎, He is the attribute of Justice only ‎subsequent to being the attribute of Mercy, kindness.‎

And this is (Ps. 145:14), “Somekh Hashem lekhol-hanofelim/ Hashem is a support to all the fallen,” who are the aspect of those who have fallen from serving Hashem, and Hashem Yithbarakh supports them and awakens them from sleep through the Tzaddikim of the era, who are the aspect of Dawidh-Mashiach who attained the reversal from the aspect of Nefel to the aspect of long life, to always begin living anew, which this is the aspect of tefillin, the aspect of “Venifliynu” as mentioned. And thereby they enliven and establish all the fallen ones, that they should not be downcast and not despair of the deliverance of their souls, as mentioned. Until they merit to return to Hashem, and then the fall and descent becomes the ultimate ascent. For, the essence of the fall is specifically on account of this, in order that they should begin living anew, as explained elsewhere. That is, that his vitality and brains should begin again and be renewed, which this is the aspect of tefillin, the aspect of “Venifliynu” etc. as mentioned, hence the support of those who have fallen from the service of Hashem, that they should not despair. Rather, they should strengthen themselves anew each time, which this itself is the aspect of Dawidh-Mashiach, who attained the aspect of Nefel being reversed to the aspect of long life, that he should merit to begin to live anew each time, as mentioned. For, for them too the fall and descent becomes the ultimate ascent. As Rabbeinu z”l said elsewhere in LM (#261), that the fact that a man falls from his service, it is from Heaven — for becoming distant is the beginning of drawing close. Therefore he fell in order that he should become more alert, to draw close to Hashem Yithbarakh. And his advice is, “that he should begin anew, entering the service of Hashem as if he has still never begun, and this is a big rule in serving Hashem, that a person needs to really begin anew every day.” Hence specifically through the fall they begin to live anew, which is the aspect of tefillin, as mentioned. Which, this is the aspect of Dawidh’s longevity, which was reversed from Nefel to long life etc. as mentioned. For, all the support of the fallen is through the aforementioned great tzaddikim, who are the aspect of Dawidh-Mashiach, who lived new life at all times. Which, thereby they enliven all the fallen ones, to begin anew from now, and as explained above. And this is the aspect of the Redemption which shall be through Dawidh-Mashiach, who should come soon in our days, and then Kenesseth Yisrael will rise up from their fall, as our rabbis z”l expounded (Berakhoth 5) on this verse — which this is the reason why there is no Nun in Tehillah leDawidh etc. Even so, Dawidh again supported it prophetically [lit. by Ruach haKoshesh/ by the Spirit of the Holy], as it says, ”Somekh Hashem lekhol-hannofelim,” etc. In the West (i.e. Israel) they resolve it [the verse Amos 5:2, Naflah velo-tosif kum, betulath Yisrael/ She is fallen and shall lo longer rise, the virgin of Yisrael] thus: ”Naflah lo-tosif [lipol `od]/ It has fallen but shall no more [fall], Kum/ Rise” etc.! [Berakhoth 4b] For, the entire fall of Kenesseth Yisrael is their falling from their service, God forbid, which the Redemption depends on. For, the Redemption depends on nothing else but Teshuvah/ Return/ Repentance, as our rabbis z"l said (Yoma 80). And therefore the main support of the fall is by Dawidh specifically, who lives the aforementioned long life, as mentioned. Which, thereby he vitalizes, strengthens and supports all the fallen ones, that they should not despair, for Hashem is with them and close to them, in the aspect of, “Al tismechi oyavti li ki nafalti kamti/ Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; though I have fallen [specifically], I shall rise. Ki eshev bechoshekh Hashem owr li/ Though [or “when,” or “because”] I sit in darkness, Hashem is a light unto me” (Mic. 7:8). And then the fall and descent is the ultimate ascent, and is as mentioned. And this is the Kohen haGadol [High Priest] in the Beith haMiqdash praying on Yom haKippurim, “Velo tapil ishah peri bitnah/ And let no woman miscarry the fruit of her womb...” [YK prayer] “Velo ya`adei `avid shultan mideveith Yehudah/ And may there not depart a ruler from the house of Yehudah” [Yoma 53b]. For, he attained the reversal from the aspect of Nefel to the aspect of long life specifically, as mentioned. And therefore the Kohen haGadol would pray on Yom haKippurim this prayer specifically. For, Yom haKippurim is the essence of teshuvah/return, and the essence of teshuvah is to rise up from one’s fall, which is the aspect of Nefel, as mentioned. And to be strong to renew his days, in the aspect of (Lam. 5), “Hashivenu... chadesh yameinu keqedem/ Restore us... make our days new as before” etc. as mentioned, which is the aspect of Dawidh Mashiach’s kingship, as mentioned. Therefore after Yom haKippurim is Sukkoth, which is the aspect of, “Aqim eth-sukath Dawidh hanofeleth/ I will raise up the tabernacle of Dawidh that is fallen” (Amos 9:11), annulling the aspect of the fallen ones’ fall, God have mercy, and instead raising them up and vitalizing them, in the aspect of, “Somekh Hashem lekhol-hannofelim” etc. as mentioned. And therefore after Sukkoth is Shemini `Atzereth, which is the aspect of the Davidic kingship, as written (Sam. I 9:17), “Zeh ya`tzor be`ami/ This one shall have authority over My people,” as Rabbeinu z”l said elsewhere (LM #48), which is when Nuqva is `otzereth/ seizing the droplet so that it does not fall, as written in the Kavanoth, namely, as mentioned above.

They established [reading of] Ruth on Shavu'ot, to say that, by means of B'nai Yisrael being chosen through the Giving of the Torah, they are instruments to draw near the converts, because B'nai Yisrael are called the First of His Crop which is the fruit for which everything was created. This is as it says (Gen. R.), "B'reishit -- for the sake of Israel which is called 'reishit.'" The meaning is that "reishit" is the beginning and the inner essence, as it says (Prov.), "The 'reishit' of wisdom is the awe of God." Therefore it is called the Day of Bikkurim, when the fruit is ripe. But B'nai Yisrael "are excepted from the generality in order to teach to the entire generality" (Sifra, principles of R' Yishma'el), as it will be in the future (Zeph. 3:9), "For then I will make the peoples pure of speech, etc. [so that they all invoke Adonai by name and serve Him with one accord]." And then (Eccl. 7:8) "The end of a matter is better than the beginning of it" [see Ruth 3:10]. And in truth, according as B'nai Yisrael elevate from the nations, they are themselves exalted even more. And this itself is the meaning of putting "na'aseh" before "nishma," for B'nai Yisrael understood this, that they were chosen in order to draw everyone near, and they said (Ex. 24:7), "Everything that Adonai has spoken we will do." It is written here "na'aseh" and it is written there (Gen. 1:26), "Na'aseh adam," as it says (Gen. 12:5) "the souls that they had made," which Onkelos translated "that they had subjugated to the Torah", and it is through this that "we will hear." As it is with the particular -- as the improvement [tikkun] of the deeds, in order to draw each physical deed close to the spirit so that the soul shines in the person -- so it is in general -- as the improvement [tikkun] of K'lal Yisrael to draw near from the nations, so that the Torah shines in them. It is written (Micah 7:20), "You will give truth to Ya'akov, hesed to Avraham," for B'nai Yisrael are in truth God's portion and His Torah, but it is also part of the aspect of Truth to do hesed, to bring near those who are far off and who come for the sake of Heaven: "truth to Ya'akov" is the Torah, "hesed to Avraham" is that we should draw close also from the descendants of Lot -- Ruth the Moabite....

The author of the central paragraph in the mussaph ‎prayer on the Sabbath, which commences with the words: ‎תכנת ‏שבת ...צוית פירושיה עם סדורי נסכיה‎, refers to the fact that the Torah ‎in the Sabbath legislation not only spelled out the commandment ‎of how to observe this day with one’s body, by allowing the body ‎to “rest” (constructively), but also spelled out how to observe it ‎with our soul.‎
When referring to the creative acts that G’d abstained from ‎on the seventh day of creation on account of which we are asked ‎to sanctify the Sabbath, both in connection with the word: ‎זכור‎ ‎in our portion, and again in Deuteronomy 5,12 in connection ‎with the word: ‎שמור‎, we must remember that the “light” which is ‎described in the Torah as G’d’s first act of intervention in the ‎condition of the “world” before G’d created order from chaos, was ‎‎“direct” light, i.e. an emanation from the Creator, a light which ‎expands in all directions of the universe, performing its function ‎commensurate with the needs of the region or domain which it ‎reaches. It then assumes a character germane to that region or ‎domain. In other words, this ‎אור ישר‎, will assume a different ‎intensity in the regions inhabited by the highest ranking angels, ‎the ‎שרפים‎, from the intensity it assumes in the celestial regions ‎inhabited by a lower ranking group of angels known as ‎חיות‎. The ‎same is true when this ‎אור ישר‎, arrives in the regions of the ‎terrestrial parts of the universe, the region known as ‎עולם העשיה‎. ‎At the same time arrival of this “light” also resulted, as an ‎unavoidable consequence, in “reflected” light, a response by the ‎creature who had received it from the Creator. [Compare ‎pages 364/365 where this subject has been discussed previously. ‎Ed.] Each region of the universe receives the amount and ‎intensity of this ‎אור הישר‎ appropriate to its needs.‎
In kabbalistic parlance the nature of the ‎אור החוזר‎, the ‎‎“reflected light,” is perceived as the remnant of the original light ‎which did not remain in the universe as the various universes ‎were unable to ”digest” it so that they could not make use of it as ‎it was too intense and would have destroyed these worlds. Upon ‎the return of this “light” to the Creator, the ‎אין סוף‎, it will be ‎condensed, i.e. its power will be restrained, but in a manner that ‎in the words of Michah 7,18 make it “digestible” only for the holy ‎Jewish people-as described in connection with Exodus 14,21, see ‎pages (364-366).-‎
Our sages in Rosh Hashanah 17 alluded to this idea when ‎they explained the term ‎לשארית נחלתו‎, “to the remnant of His ‎inheritance,” (His own people) in Michah 7,18, as those Jews who ‎transform themselves into truly G’d fearing personalities. ‎Concerning these types of people my sainted teacher Dov Baer ‎has said that the expression ‎שארית נחלתו‎ applies only to those ‎צדיקים‎ who spend almost all of their lives trying to elevate ‎themselves to the level of sanctity of their Creator.‎
The root of the concept of sanctity, ‎קדושה‎, holiness, sanctity, ‎is found where the ‎צמצום‎, the voluntary restriction G’d imposed ‎upon His essence occurs, so that He would not be a destructive ‎force in His own universe. [If we in our parlance, following ‎‎Rashi, translate holiness as “something apart,” this is no ‎contradiction, but a reflection of the difficulty of translating ‎celestial terminology into language used in the terrestrial part of ‎the universe, the part we humans inhabit. Ed.]
When the Jewish people sanctify themselves by means ‎permitted to them, and in that process separate themselves from ‎the pleasures of this terrestrial world, they do so because they are ‎aware that the so-called pleasures of this terrestrial world are ‎intrinsically worthless, so that they try to elevate themselves to a ‎region outside the domain of the terrestrial, physical universe. ‎These “regions” are beyond our ability to define and therefore we ‎are unable to describe them adequately. Seeing that the nations ‎of the world have none of them been found worthy of being ‎שארית נחלתו‎ “a residue of His inheritance,” it cannot be expected ‎of them to show the least bit of understanding of this subject.‎
Suffice it to say that the subject matter we called ‎אור חוזר‎ is ‎the unabsorbed part of the ‎אור ישר‎, the “direct” light that had left ‎the Essence of G’d and dispersed in different regions of His ‎universes, any “excess,” making a “return journey” in ‎preparation for further use by its Dispatcher, the Creator.‎
This inability of the nations of the world to comprehend the ‎nature of the Sabbath is the reason that while they understand ‎the concept of the Sabbath being a day that symbolizes that the ‎Creator had refrained from overt creative activity, they selected ‎for themselves on an arbitrary basis a different day of the week, ‎one that had not been sanctified by the Creator for that purpose. ‎When the Torah, both in our portion and in Deuteronomy, ‎stresses the element of the sanctity of this “Day of rest,” for the ‎Jewish people, it alludes to the unbroken connection between the ‎Jewish people and the celestial regions, in spite of the fact that ‎our bodies (and, temporarily our souls) inhabit the terrestrial part ‎of the universe. [I have used some of my own wording in ‎the foregoing, for reasons of simplicity. Ed.]‎

(216) And he said: "many or few" - and this can also be explained through the aspect of knowing oneself, even if one is humble - this is "a fat tail with thorn" (Rosh Hashanah 17a) because there are two aspects of humility as explained in the first chapter of Rosh Hashanah: "'for the remnant of His inheritance,' (Micah 7:18) but not for all His inheritance, for one who regards oneself as a remainder" (Rosh Hashanah 17b). And the explanation of the Rif is that 'one who is lenient [with others] and thinks of oneself as nothing, to that person others are lenient. But regarding one who says that according to their thoughts it is not appropriate to answer, to that one others are not lenient, see there. And this is why the text says "are they small?", meaning, one who is small due to one's humility, one who is lenient and does not answer back to their denigrator, in any instance such a person should check themselves to see IF they actually think of themselves as great, similar to 'IF you lend money' (Exodus 22:24, and see Rashi there), which is an expression of THAT - in this case one's smallness comes from the fact that one actually sees oneself as great, and thinks that one should not answer [to the detractor] and this is not a good characteristic, rather, one should really think of oneself as nothing.