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Beit Midrash
- Jewish Laws and Thoughts
- Pathways in Personality Development
- Humility, Holiness and Fearing Hashem
- Jewish Laws and Thoughts
- Personality Development
- Anava - Humility
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Gila Bat Rachel
A humble person detests authority, detests having control over other people, as the sages say: "Love labor and detest authority." They also say, "Never run after authority." We should not however, understand this to mean that a person should refuse to accept positions that involve responsibility for public welfare. The sages do not mean that a person should refuse to become a rabbi or leader. Rather, what they mean is that a person should detest authority, the desire to rule over others.
A person should flee from such a desire, to detest such a desire. A person should hate possessing authority but not avoid positions of authority. One should accept such positions with a desire to serve the public, not to control the public. Therefore, a person should not run after positions of public authority.
Moses exemplified this trait when he initially turned down the position of leading the Jewish people, and he only agreed because he had no choice. Hence, the addict, "Love labor and hate authority" is to be interpreted as meaning: Love the labor of serving the public but hate the authority and rule involved.
And this is what Rabban Gamliel had to say about those who refused positions of leadership: "‘Do you imagine that I offer you rulership? It is servitude that I offer you" (Horayot 10a). A humble person flees honor. He realizes that it is one of the vanities of the world, a mere allusion. Not only does it bring no benefit, it brings danger. It causes a person to go against what he knows to be right, and to go against his Creator.
Therefore, a humble person flees honor, hates honor, and is disgusted by it. The praises he receives only trouble him. What’s more, they cause him discomfort because he considers them untrue, and this embarrasses him.
The fourth ingredient of humility is to respect every person. "Who is respectable? One who respects others" (Avot 4:1), "Be first in [inquiring after] the peace of all people" (ibid. 4:15), "They said of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai that no man ever gave him greeting first" (Berakhot 17a); he was always first to greet others, even non-Jews in the street. When a person shows respect for others we can see that he is in no need of such respect himself. To the contrary, he enjoys bestowing honor upon others, he possesses no feelings of competition for honor, for honor means nothing to him.
These, then, are the components of humility. We have noted that humility is both objectively correct and worthwhile. Not only does it save a person from transgressions and violations, it also brings him much good. He lives a life of comfort. He neither becomes angered nor does he quarrel with others, and people find him pleasing.
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Translated biblical verses and/or Talmudic sources in the above article may have been taken from, or based upon, Davka's Soncino Judaic Classics Library (CD-Rom).
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
The Land of Israel LGBT'S IN ISRAEL
The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
