If I am Here, everyone is Here

[edu]

At http://www.aish.com/sp/pg/104477379.html a question is raised how could Hillel who was very humble make the statement, "if I am here everyone is here".
Although I feel there are better answers available I will present the viewpoint of
http://www.aish.com/sp/pg/104477379.html until someone suggests a better answer:

The Talmud considers Hillel to be the paradigm of humility:

 "The Rabbis said, One should always be humble like Hillel and not strict like Shammai" (Talmud, Shabbat 30b).

Presumably, if we want to learn about humility, Hillel should be a good role model to follow. But the Talmud also says this about Hillel:

"They said about Hillel the Elder, when he came to celebrate the Pouring of the Water (in the Temple), he would say: If I am here, everyone is here. And if I am not here, then who is here?" (Talmud, Sukkah 53a)

What kind of a statement is this to make for someone supposedly humble? If I’m here, let the festivities begin? If I’m not here, there’s really nobody else worthwhile around here? How can this be an expression of humility when it seems so arrogant?

Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski explains the conflicting relationship between arrogance and self-confidence:

"… arrogance is never the consequence of recognition of one's true skills and talents. A person with a healthy self-esteem has no need for the praise and approbation of others. Arrogance is invariably a desperate attempt of a person who feels negatively about himself to escape from his feelings of worthlessness. He craves honor and seeks praise to assure himself that he is indeed a worthwhile person, in contrast to his feelings…"

(Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski, Let Us Make Man, “Self Esteem, Humility and Vanity”)

True humility is an honest recognition of the gifts and strengths you have and the responsibility that entails in putting them to use.Rabbi Twerski points out that arrogance and hunger for power are just the flip-side of lack of confidence. If you feel worthless inside, you are always in need of external validation and the feeling of power over other people. If on the other hand, you know your strengths and abilities, you are no longer obsessed with other people’s approval, you don’t need to focus on yourself, but rather you are now able to get out of the way and get the job done. The gifts God gave you don't say anything about who you really are – after all, what did you do to receive them? But they do say a lot about what you are capable of doing. In the words of Spider-man, "With great power comes great responsibility."

True humility is an honest recognition of the gifts and strengths you have and the responsibility that entails in putting them to use. When Hillel the Elder said, “If I’m here, everything is here,” he meant: “Based on my abilities and talents which God gave me and for which I take no credit, if I am here, everything can take place now. I have all the ability and therefore obligation (response-ability) to take care of whatever needs to happen at this particular event.”

Insecurity stems from not appreciating the special strengths and gifts God has given you, and results in the need for external validation and approval of others. That in turns leads to arrogance, a false sense of self that ineffectively strives to fill the inner void of feeling good about oneself.

Developing Real Self-Esteem

Real self-esteem derives from a different source entirely:

“Part of belief in God is bitachon, trust, which is the belief that God loves us and is close to the Jewish People. That the Jew has a special relationship with God like a child with his father, who is loyal and trustworthy and it is in His ability and it is His will to benefit all who trust in Him.

“Trust is feeling in your heart that God loves you like a father loves a son, who wants only your good in every case. And integrate in your heart that you are a child of God, before you sinned and even after you have sinned. And that surely God will have compassion on you even if you are not worthy…

“This is what the Sages meant when they said: ‘In the merit of Emunah, belief in God, our forefathers were redeemed and in its merit they will be redeemed in the future’… that in the merit of the belief that we are God’s ‘firstborn son’ and have a special relationship with Him, and that no matter our spiritual state, we are always considered the king’s child, this is the secret of the redemption, for all of Israel as a whole, and for each individual’s personal redemption as well.” (Netivot Shalom, Rabbi Shalom Noach Berzovsky, Part 1, 2nd essay)

Rabbi Noach Bersovsky connects belief in God (Emunah) with the acquisition of a true sense of self and value.

Coming to the realization that God indeed exists is the first step in developing a relationship with Him. The second aspect of belief is to know that God loves us as His children, unconditionally, just like you love your children, or your parents love you. Even if we are sinners, imperfect, and have bad tendencies and character traits. Even if we consistently fail at reaching our goals and don’t seem to be living up to our potential, God loves us anyway. God created us with infinite potential and greatness in the form of our souls, and this is what should give us real self-esteem. If we are inherently Godly, beautiful, precious and good, we have value no matter what. And we can reach great heights because of that innate power.

This is what is meant by the statement “In the merit of Emunah our forefathers were redeemed (from Egypt) and in the merit of Emunah they will be redeemed in the future.” They were not redeemed because of their deeds, since the Jewish people at the time were on the lowest possible spiritual level. They were redeemed because they believed they were the children of God and that His love was unconditional.

That belief in themselves gave them sufficient energy and confidence to work and to attain spiritual heights, to the point where they could receive the Torah and experience a direct revelation of God only 49 days later on Mt. Sinai.

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So too, we as individuals can reach our own personal redemption if we focus on the belief that we are the children of the Almighty, that we have at our essence a pure soul that yearns for Godliness, and that will be the impetus to work on ourselves and change.

If we see ourselves as failures, as inherently flawed, incompetent and hopeless, what are the chances we will be motivated to become better? This only leads to despair that we will ever add up to anything, so we just give up trying. However, if we remember that we are a child of the Almighty who loves us even when we are going off track, and that we are inherently good and full of potential and abilities, there is a much greater chance that we will stop the inappropriate behavior, get out of the rut and work on improving our character.

This is true trust. It is at the root of our self-esteem and at the root of our ability to love ourselves and eventually to love others “like yourself.”

I repeat, if someone has a better answer to explain the statement of Hillel who was very humble, please do so.

[muman613]

I found this from OzTorah (Rabbi Apple) :

http://www.oztorah.com/2012/09/if-i-am-here/

If I am here

The sayings of Hillel are often catchy and always complex. An example is found in the Talmud (Suk. 53a). Articulating his happiness at participating in the observances of Sukkot, he said, “If I am here, everyone is here”.

It can’t be a declaration of selfishness or egotism, suggesting that nobody else matters, since the same Hillel said, “If I am only for myself, who am I?” (Pir’kei Avot 1:14). Something to do with the whole community must have been on his mind, but what?

The key words are clearly “I” and “everyone” – but in what sense? Hillel’s words may have been the origin of the famous statement of the Kotzker Rebbe, “If I am I, then you are you – but if I am not I, then you are not you”. Enshrined in the word “I” is my distinctiveness, my uniqueness, my personality.

If I run away from what I am in search of a different background, a different way of life, I am no longer me. If I want to abdicate from the real facts, to escape my limitations, to say, as children sometimes say to their parents when they resent something they are told, “I wish I had a different mother and father”, “I wish I had a different family”. It is like a lulav saying, “I wish I were an etrog”, or an etrog saying, “I wish I were a lulav”. It is like a leopard wanting to change its spots.

Hillel may be telling us, “You can only be you: I can only be me.” Society is made up of people who have their own identity, their own place, their own role. They can make minor adjustments and improvements, but unless they show a basic degree of self-acceptance there can be no stability in society. If I and you are each ourselves and in our right place in the world, then I am I and you are you.

My late father was an auctioneer for a while and his auction catalogues bore the words, “The goods are sold with all faults if any”. That’s who we all are – individuals with all faults if any. If I am here, the real I, then you are here, the real you… and so is everyone.

[muman613]

I am still here, and nobody else is here...