Anava - Humility

IMPUDENCE AND IMPOTENCE

Humility

Being humble benefits the health. A person who pursues prestige destroys his health and ends up dying prematurely, for his life is nothing but misery and bitterness, anger and irritation. “Whoever seeks out honor, honor flees from him” (Eruvin 13b).

49. The Components of Humility

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. Hence the sages tell us to “love labor and hate authority.”

48. Acquiring Humility

Acquiring humility is one of the peaks in the development of a person's personality, for it covers all aspects of an individual's behavior. If one truly wishes to acquire humility, he must train himself to speak humbly, walk humbly, and sit humbly.

47. The Distinction of Humility

The more talent and capacity a humble person possesses, the more humble he becomes. For example, Moses, the greatest of the great, was also the humblest of the humble: "And the man Moses was more humble than any other person on the face of the earth".

46. Humble and Happy

It is important to realize that a humble person is not miserable and unhappy. Neither is a conceited person happy and blissful. To the contrary, it is humility that brings happiness and bliss, while pride leads a person to misery and discontent.

45. Conceit and Divine Service

God said to Israel: I treasure you, for even as I bestow greatness upon you, you humble yourselves before me. Abraham said, "I am but earth and dust." Moses and Aaron said "What are we worth?" And King David said "I am not a man - I am but a worm."