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your servant is listening.” Why didn’t Shmuel answer as Eli told him to:
“Speak Hashem, for your servant is listening”?
Shmuel did not think that he was worthy of receiving a Divine revelation.
He didn’t believe that he had reached the level of prophecy, nor did he
run to tell others what happened to him. He received a prophecy that Eli
was not privileged to hear, and yet remained humble. It was this middah
of humility that led to his greatness of character, a level of closeness to
Hashem comparable to that of Moshe and Aharon.
We too can benefit from such behavior, not to be pretentious or act in a
conceited manner. Torah is acquired through subjugating our egoistic
impulses. These great tzaddikim of yore have shown us, through personal
example, the proper attitude and behavior we need to cultivate.
“Yosef dreamt a dream which he told to his 17
brothers, and they hated him even more”
(Bereishit 37:5)
“He dreamt another dream, and related it to his
brothers. And he said, ‘Look, I dreamt another
dream: Behold! the sun, the moon, and eleven
stars were bowing down to me’”
(ibid. 37: 9)
