אלה תולדות נח נח איש צדיק (נח ו: ט)

Rashi says:”תולדותיהם של צדיקים מעשים טובים – the children of Tzaddikim are their good deeds.”

A renowned Tzaddik whose parents were simpletons frequently visited the Sar Shalom of Belz, Reb Shalom Rokeach zt’’l.  On one of his visits to Belz, the tzaddik surmised that the Sar Shalom holds himself haughty because of his holy and renowned ancestry.

The Sar Shalom zt’’l sensed the tzaddik’s qualms and approached him with a question: “According to your beliefs, one who is born with yichus (lineage) is more chosuv (high status) than someone born to simple parents?”

Mortified, the tzaddik didn’t respond.

The Sar Shalom zt’’l explained: “Chazal teach us, ‘חייב אדם לומר מתי יגיעו מעשי למעשי אבותי – a person is required to reach the level of his parents’ deeds.’ Therefore, those whose parents are on an exalted level of Torah are constantly disheartened since they know they haven’t yet reached their parents’ level, and therefore they can’t boast about their yichus.

Like Shlomo Hamelech, the son of Dovid Hamelech, wrote at the beginning of his sefer:  שיר השירים אשר לשלמה – and didn’t write בן דוד since he couldn’t boast about his yichus.

Whereas a tzaddik, whose parents are simpletons, is permitted to boast about himself, for he knows that his deeds rise above his parents…”

The tzaddik understood that the Sar Shalom tz’’l had read his thoughts, and not only was the Belzer Rebbe humble about his past, he didn’t brag about it either. 

Filed under Parshas Noach | The Holy Sar Shalom