ONE HUMBLE MITZVAH

 

Parashat Ekev
Av 18, 5783 / August 4-5, 2023
Torah: Deuteronomy 7:12 - 11:25
Haftarah: Isaiah 49:14 - 51:3 (Second Haftarah of Comfort)

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This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Chanah Bella bat Kreina and Devorah bat Feigel.

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Lunch and Learn meets Mondays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. We're continuing to read and discuss the Midrashic collection Ein Ya'akov. On Monday, August 7, we'll be at BT Shabbat 113b, page 180 of Ein Ya'akov (Glick edition) Volume 1 – - "תן לחכם ויחכם עוד" "Give instructions to the wise and he will become yet wiser”

Ein Ya'akov (Glick edition) is available for on-line reading or as a downloadable PDF at: https://hebrewbooks.org/9630   
A pointed Hebrew text version with different pagination is available at Sefaria: 
https://www.sefaria.org/Ein_Yaakov?tab=contents  
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ONE HUMBLE MITZVAH

"And your heart will be haughty, and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery." Deuteronomy 8:14

There is an old joke that goes something like this: A noted scholar and philanthropist was being honored at a gala dinner. Speaker after speaker extolled his virtues - knowledge, wisdom, generosity, kindness, righteousness, etc. He reached up and tugged on the sleeve of one of the speakers, and said, "Don't forget my humility."

Commenting on the first part of our verse, the Ba'al Shem Tov says that there is nowhere in the Torah a commandment to be humble. If there were, there would be those who would attempt to fulfill it by reciting a statement of intent ("Behold, I am prepared to perform the mitzvah of humility ..."), then a blessing (".... and commanded us to be humble."), and then … commence to be humble? It would become a conceit – the belief that, in addition to fulfilling the other commandments, they were observing the commandment to be humble. Unlike any other mitzvah, one would fail to observe it merely by believing that one was attempting to fulfill it or had observed it. "I can say with all humility that I have been humble." It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?

Of course we know that a lack of humility can often be damaging to relationships. We tend to forget that neither we nor our accomplishments exist in a vacuum. Even praise for one’s humility can be a bit dangerous. Perhaps the only way to be truly humble is to run from any suggestion that one is humble.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Rabbi Emeritus, Temple B’nai Hayim
.אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם? הַלוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם
Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1
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