Our Gemara on Amud Aleph tells us about the importance of humility in acquiring and maintaining knowledge of Torah. The notable aspect of this description is a cycle of humility, bequest-ascension, entitlement-grandiosity, failure, and then recovery:

כֵּיוָן שֶׁעוֹשֶׂה אָדָם אֶת עַצְמוֹ כַּמִּדְבָּר, שֶׁהוּא מוּפְקָר לַכֹּל — תּוֹרָה נִיתְּנָה לוֹ בְּמַתָּנָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וּמִמִּדְבָּר מַתָּנָה״. וְכֵיוָן שֶׁנִּיתְּנָה לוֹ בְּמַתָּנָה — נְחָלוֹ אֵל, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וּמִמַּתָּנָה נַחֲלִיאֵל״. וְכֵיוָן שֶׁנְּחָלוֹ אֵל — עוֹלֶה לִגְדוּלָּה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וּמִנַּחֲלִיאֵל בָּמוֹת״. וְאִם הִגְבִּיהַּ עַצְמוֹ — הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַשְׁפִּילוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וּמִבָּמוֹת הַגַּיְא״, וְלֹא עוֹד אֶלָּא שֶׁשּׁוֹקְעִין אוֹתוֹ בַּקַּרְקַע, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וְנִשְׁקָפָה עַל פְּנֵי הַיְשִׁימוֹן״. וְאִם חוֹזֵר בּוֹ — הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַגְבִּיהוֹ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״כׇּל גֶּיא יִנָּשֵׂא״

Once a person renders himself like a wilderness, available before all, the Torah is given to him as a gift [mattana], as it is stated: “And from the wilderness Mattana.” 

And once it is given to him as a gift, God bequeaths [naḥalo] it to him, as it is stated: “And from Mattana Nahaliel.” 

And once God bequeaths it to him, he rises to greatness, as it is stated: And from Nahaliel, Bamot, which are elevated places. 

And if he elevates himself and is arrogant about his Torah, the Holy One, Blessed be He, degrades him, as it is stated: “And from Bamot the valley” (Numbers 21:20). And not only is he degraded, but one lowers him into the ground, as it is stated: “And looking over [nishkafa] the face of the wasteland” (Numbers 21:20), like a threshold [iskopa] that is sunken into the ground. 

And if he reverses his arrogance and becomes humble, the Holy One, Blessed be He, elevates him, as it is stated: “Every valley shall be lifted” (Isaiah 40:4). 

I read this as a warning about family standing and social equity, individual talent, arrogance and then deeper appreciation. First we have the pioneer ancestor who discovers Torah, the “old fashioned way”, through humility, grit and determination. Once this person acquired it, the Torah becomes a legacy. Now the next generation succeeds but also has an arrogant attitude, which is often the way of those who are born into privilege. Then, the person suffers terrible losses and defeats, hits rock bottom, and becomes appropriately humbled and appreciative of his legacy. At that point, he recovers the Torah.

While it is certainly most applicable to Torah, this teaching is about an archetype of human behavior. One generation, actual immigrants or baale teshuva, works hard to achieve a certain level of status and accomplishment. The children do not appreciate all that work, and are tired of hearing tropes such as, “When I was your age I had to walk 3 miles to yeshiva etc.” They take their legacy for granted until they lose it. Or perhaps on a more psychoanalytic and spiritual level, they NEED to lose it in order to feel competent and have mastery in acquiring it for themselves. 

In the end, when it comes to mattes of substance, we all have to earn it, no matter which way we originally have come by it.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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