Empty Heads Held High

A person in whom there is arrogance will ultimately be diminished.... "They will wither like the tops of the ears of grain" (Job 24:24)..... It is like the man who enters his field and picks the tall ones. (Sotah 5a)

A father and son were walking through a field of golden wheat at harvest time. "Father" said the boy, "why do some of the stalks stand tall and straight, while others bend their heads?"

"The bent stalks" replied the father, "are full of ripe, healthy kernels, the weight pulls them down. They are like humble people full of wisdom and good deeds. The stalks that hold their heads high are empty, like worthless people who act superior."

Our Gemara, too, likens the arrogant to tall stalks of grain. A farmer walking through a field of full, bent stalks will uproot and discard any tall, empty ones so that they will not be harvested together with the rest.

Ben Ish Chai