The Power of Silent Endurance: How Humiliation Cleanses the Soul and Elevates a Person

Public opinion is not measured by the standards of Torah. What is considered valuable according to Torah standards is often the opposite of what people value in this deceptive world.

If you are striving to align yourself with the obligations of the Torah and submitting to its authority, then in the eyes of the Torah — which are the standards of God Himself, you are of immeasurable worth. God “operates,” so to speak, by the rules of His Torah. Therefore, why should you be disheartened that human beings follow values that oppose Torah truth?

A Person Who Becomes a "Korban" (Sacrifice)

Rabbi Moshe Cordovero (Ramak) would often say that of all forms of repentance in the world, the most exalted way to cleanse sins, iniquities, and transgressions is through enduring insults, shame, and verbal abuse. This surpasses all types of physical afflictions and self-imposed fasts.

When a person afflicts himself through fasting, he weakens his ability to learn Torah, which is forbidden for someone who is incapable of handling it. Similarly, other forms of self-affliction have limitations. When a person bears humiliation, however, he can eat, drink, and continue to serve Hashem, while his sins are cleansed through the embarrassment endured.

Would a person prefer losing his wealth or his home? Would he prefer the loss of his children? Would he accept sickness and suffering? Surely not. If a person was told that he would need to face death, Gehinnom, or reincarnation in undesirable forms, he would immediately pray to be saved.

When sins and iniquities demand atonement, insults and humiliations are a small price to pay, and they cleanse sins far more effectively than suffering bodily afflictions or loss.

Thus, the Talmud states, “Fortunate is the person who suffers humiliation and does not respond.”

This World is the Opposite of the World to Come

The Tomer Devorah (Chapter 2) writes: The best way to heal oneself from arrogance is to constantly reflect on one's sins and desire purification through rebuke and suffering. The best form of suffering is verbal humiliation, because it doesn’t weaken one’s body or prevent Torah learning as physical afflictions do.

One should therefore desire and cherish insults, for by enduring them with silence and patience, his sins are cleansed without causing physical harm or loss.

This world is the opposite of the World to Come. Those who experience humiliation and degradation in this world will merit greatness in the future, both spiritually and physically, in the days of Mashiach, the Resurrection, and the World to Come.

Know as well that “insults” do not necessarily refer to extreme cases of public shaming. Even a small, offhanded remark that wounds a person’s pride can serve as a great atonement. A single misplaced comment or casual insult that causes someone to feel hurt, if borne silently and with faith, becomes an immeasurable merit.

All it requires is for the person to remain silent and to recognize that this insult is sent from Heaven as a tikkun (rectification), as King David said when Shimei ben Gera cursed him: “Leave him be, for Hashem has told him to curse.”

The Chida writes that because David endured that humiliation, he merited to become the “fourth leg of the Divine Chariot” alongside the Patriarchs. For the price of a moment of silence, one acquires eternal spiritual greatness.

Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein and the Joy of Endurance

Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein, spiritual mentor of the Mir and Ponevezh Yeshivas, suffered countless humiliations during his life but always strove to elevate himself through them.

It is told that once a student found him in an unusually elevated state of joy. The student asked, “Rabbi, what is the cause of your great happiness?” Rabbi Yechezkel answered: “Someone humiliated me terribly today, and Hashem helped me remain silent and not respond at all. Therefore, I rejoice greatly and am filled with joy!”