True humility knows all is Hashem's

ברש"י עץ ארז שנתגאה. ואזוב שישפיל עצמו כו'.

In Rashi: the cedar wood [represents] one who exalted himself, and the hyssop [teaches] that he should humble himself, etc. (Rashi, Vayikra 14:4).

Rashi explains the purification of the metzora: the tall cedar alludes to the arrogance that caused his affliction, while the lowly hyssop signals the humility he must adopt to be healed.

ולמה עץ ארז אצל הכפרה שזה הוראה על מה שחטא וקילקל.

And why is the cedar wood [placed] together with the atonement — for this indicates what he sinned and ruined?

The Sefas Emes questions why the very symbol of his sin, the proud cedar, is included in the atonement ritual itself rather than only the hyssop of humility.

אך כי השפלות צריך להיות עי"ז עצמו שנתגאה.

But [the answer is] that the humility must come precisely through that very thing about which he exalted himself.

The cedar is included because true humility is not achieved by avoiding the matter of one's pride, but by confronting it head-on — finding lowliness in the very thing he had been arrogant about.

שצריך לידע. אף שיהי' מה שהוא. כשנתגאה ונדמה לו שיש לו להתגאות. הרי הוא שפל כתולעת ממש.

For he must realize that, whatever he may be, when he grows haughty and imagines that he has grounds to be proud, he is in fact as lowly as a worm.

No matter how genuinely great a person may be, the very moment he feels he has something to be proud of, that pride itself reduces him to the level of a worm. The arrogance is the proof of his lowliness.

כי כל הרצון מהש"י להגיע לזה לידע כי הכל ממנו ית'. וכשחסר זה הכל הבל.

For the entire desire of Hashem is that one arrive at this: to know that everything is from Him; and when this is lacking, all is vanity (hevel).

The whole purpose Hashem has for a person is that he recognize that all he possesses comes from Hashem. Without that recognition, even his greatest attainments are empty.

ואא"ז מו"ר זצלה"ה אמר בשם הרב ז"ל מפרשיסחא עמ"ש מגביה שפלים ומשפיל גאים.

And my grandfather, my teacher and master (of blessed memory for the life of the World to Come), said in the name of the Rebbe of Pshischa, of blessed memory, on what is said: "He raises up the lowly and lowers the haughty."

The Sefas Emes cites his grandfather, the Chiddushei HaRim, quoting the Yid HaKadosh of Pshischa on the phrase describing Hashem as the One who lifts the humble and brings down the proud.

מאחר שמגבי' השפל למה משפיל כדי להגביהם.

Since He raises up the lowly, why does He lower [the haughty]? — in order to raise them up.

The Yid HaKadosh asks: if Hashem's way is to elevate the lowly, why does He bring the proud down? The answer: He lowers them precisely so that, from a place of humility, He can then raise them.

אך שמגבי' שפלים שישאר שפל אף שהוא מוגבה עכ"ד.

But [the deeper point is that] He raises up the lowly so that he remains lowly even while he is exalted. Thus far his words.

The chiddush of the Yid HaKadosh: the goal is a person who, even when raised to greatness, remains inwardly humble — holding both elevation and lowliness at once.

וזה מי שבאמת אף שיגבי' אותו ידע כי הוא ממנו ית' הרי הוא מוגבה בידיעתו זאת.

This refers to one who truly, even when he is exalted, knows that it is from Him — such a person is [genuinely] exalted through this very knowledge.

The person who, even at the height of greatness, recognizes that it all comes from Hashem is the one who is truly elevated — and his very humility, his knowing it is all from Hashem, is itself his loftiness.

[וכ"כ אל יתהלל כו' כ"א בזאת כו']

[And so it is written: "Let not [the wise man] glory… but only in this…" (Yirmiyahu 9:22-23) — that he understands and knows Me.]

The prophet teaches that the only legitimate "glory" is knowing Hashem — confirming that a person's true elevation lies precisely in recognizing that all comes from Him.

וכן משפיל גאים כי ע"י הגיאות הרי הוא שפל כי נכרת משורש החיות שאין אני והוא יכולין לדור כו'.

And so too "He lowers the haughty," for through arrogance one becomes lowly, since he is cut off from the root of the life-force, for "I and he cannot dwell [together]" (Sotah 5a).

Arrogance itself lowers a person, because Chazal teach that Hashem says of the arrogant "I and he cannot dwell together" — the proud man severs himself from the very root of his chiyus, and severance from the source is the deepest lowliness.

וכן איתא בזוה"ק מאן דהוא רב הוא זעיר כו'.

And so it is taught in the Zohar Hakadosh: "One who is great [in his own eyes] is small," etc.

The Zohar makes the same point: whoever considers himself great is in truth small, while the one who makes himself small is truly great.

וכן מי שיודע שהכל מהש"י ודבוק בשורש החיות הרי הוא רב.

And so one who knows that everything is from Hashem and is attached to the root of the life-force is [truly] great.

Conversely, the person who recognizes that all is from Hashem stays connected to the source of chiyus, and that connection is precisely what makes him truly great.

כי בוודאי אין המכוון להיות אדם עניו ע"י דמיון שקר.

For certainly the intent is not that a person be humble through a false imagining.

The Sefas Emes clarifies: true humility does not mean pretending to oneself that one lacks any greatness — that would be a falsehood, not anavah.

כי מ"ש במרע"ה עניו מאוד אף שבוודאי ידע כי הוא הדעת של כל ישראל.

For what is said of Moshe Rabbeinu, "exceedingly humble" (Bamidbar 12:3) — even though he surely knew that he was the daas (the mind) of all Bnei Yisrael.

Moshe was the humblest of men, yet he was fully aware of his unique greatness as the very intellect and conduit of the entire nation. His humility was not self-deception.

אך ע"י שיודע היטב כי הכל מחיות הש"י.

Rather, it was through his knowing well that everything is from the life-force of Hashem.

Moshe's humility flowed from his clear knowledge that all his greatness was nothing but the chiyus of Hashem working through him.

א"כ אף שבוודאי יש בכל עבודה נקודה מן האדם בעצמו והוא הרצון.

Therefore, even though there is certainly in every avodah a point that comes from the person himself — namely, the ratzon (will) —

The Sefas Emes concedes that every act of avodah does contain one genuinely human contribution: the person's own free will, his ratzon to serve.

מ"מ אין ניכר מזה לאדם כלל לידע כמה יש בעבודתו מעצמו ורק הכל מהש"י.

nevertheless, nothing of this is discernible to a person — he cannot at all know how much of his avodah is from himself; rather, it all appears to be from Hashem.

But a person can never actually perceive or measure how much of his service was his own contribution. Even the will itself is granted by Hashem, so from the human vantage point everything looks as though it comes entirely from Hashem.

ואיך יוכל להתגאות במה שאינו שלו.

So how could he take pride in what is not his own?

Since he cannot point to anything that is verifiably "his," there is nothing to be arrogant about — pride would be claiming ownership of what belongs to Hashem.

והגיאות עצמו הוא הסימן שהוא שפל באמת.

And the arrogance itself is the sign that he is truly lowly.

Returning to the opening idea: the very fact that a person feels proud reveals that he has lost sight of the truth and is therefore genuinely lowly.

וזהו הרמז בעץ ארז ואזוב כנ"ל:

And this is the hint in the cedar wood and the hyssop, as above.

This is why both the lofty cedar and the lowly hyssop appear together in the metzora's purification: the cure for arrogance is to find, within the very greatness one was proud of, the recognition that it all comes from Hashem — and there to become humble.

Summary: The cedar and hyssop of the metzora's purification teach that humility must be found within the very thing one was arrogant about. Citing the Yid HaKadosh of Pshischa and the example of Moshe Rabbeinu, the Sefas Emes explains that true anavah is not pretending one lacks greatness, but knowing that all of it — even the will to serve — is the chiyus of Hashem; the arrogant man, by claiming what is not his, severs himself from the root of life and is thereby truly lowly, while the one who recognizes that all is from Hashem is truly great.