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7. **The seventh**: when humility from the humble is genuine, and when it is not made valid.
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8. **The eighth**: that we make plain whether humility is consequent upon the excellences or the excellences are consequent upon it.
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9. **The ninth**: whether self-conceit and humility may be gathered in the heart of the human, or not.
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10. **The tenth**: the explication of the benefit of humility in the matters of this world and the next.
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As for what humility is —
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I say that it is the abasement of the soul, its self-lowering, and the smallness of its measure in its own sight. It is a trait among the traits of the soul. When it is firmly fixed in the soul, its marks appear upon the limbs: among them, gentleness of speech, the lowering of the voice, forbearance at the time of anger, slightness of self-vindication after the capacity for it. As was said of one of the princes — that he said to one who deserved punishment from him, after the lash was readied: "By God! Were it not for the severity of my anger against you, I would have inflicted upon you the harshest punishment." And he pardoned him. It was said of him that he used to say: "I know no offense weightier than my forbearance."
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As for the explication of the divisions of humility —
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Humility is divided into three divisions.
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**The first** is general to the human and to many of the kinds of the non-rational animal. It is the dullness of the soul and its bearing-with-patience the harm it could ward off, out of its ignorance of the aspects of warding it off. This is found among the ignorant of people and the populace, on account of the slightness of their acquaintance, and the weakness of their discrimination of themselves and their measures. This is called "humility" only by way of convention; in true reality it is the weakness of the soul and its blindness from the ignorance overwhelming it concerning what would set it right — as the Friend said: "For You have hidden their heart from understanding; therefore You shall not exalt them" (Job 17:4).
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in true reality it is the weakness of the soul and its blindness from the ignorance overwhelming it concerning what would set it right — as the Friend said: "For You have hidden their heart from understanding; therefore You shall not exalt them" (Job 17:4).
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as the Friend said: "For You have hidden their heart from understanding; therefore You shall not exalt them" (Job 17:4).
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True humility is what occurs after the elevation of aspiration, and the lofty disdain for sharing with the beasts in the blameworthy traits, and the towering above resemblance to the traits of the lowly populace — by surpassing knowledge, dignity of soul, and the true reality of acquaintance with the excellences and the vices. When upon this there follow the abasement of the soul and its self-lowering, this is praiseworthy.
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What is other than this does not enter into the praiseworthy traits and the excellences of the soul; rather it enters into their blameworthy ones. For its possessor's reckoning in this is the reckoning of the beasts.
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**The second division** is humility before people. It is either on account of their dominion over him — like the captive in the hand of his enemy and the slave in the presence of his master — or on account of his poverty toward them and the emphatic need of his to what is in their hand: like the hireling toward his employer, the poor man toward the help of the wealthy man, the disciple toward his teacher.
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Or it may be on account of an obligatory right and a binding debt upon him that the human is unable to discharge — and so humility and abasement to the holder of the right are binding upon him, as the Wise One said: "The borrower is slave to the lender" (Proverbs 22:7).
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Or it may be on account of his knowledge of his falling-short in the kinds of cultivation of this world and the next, and his ignorance of the road of guidance — so that, when his hand obtains a prophet of his time, or a saint who guides, or one who calls to the path of right-direction, he humbles himself before him and lowers himself in his presence
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— as our early ones (peace be upon them) said: "The service of [the wise] is greater than the learning from them, as it is said: 'Here is Elisha son of Shaphat, who poured water upon the hands of Elijah' (2 Kings 3:11) — it does not say 'who learned' but 'who poured'; this teaches that the service of them is greater than the learning from them" (b. Berakhot 7b);
and He said: "And his servant Joshua son of Nun, a youth, did not depart from the tent" (Exodus 33:11)
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and the Wise One said of the totality of the populace: "The slave of the fool is to the wise of heart" (Proverbs 11:29).
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This division of the divisions of humility, even if it is necessary in nature, is not among the lofty excellences absolutely. For it is not common to all rational beings, nor is it incumbent upon them at every time and in every place. The captive, when he is released from his captivity; the slave, when his neck is freed; the debtor, when he discharges his debt; the disciple, when he is absent from his teacher; the poor man, when he becomes free of need of what is in the hands of people — humility, abasement, and lowering before them are not binding upon him.
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**The third division** is humility before God (exalted be He). It is comprehensive in its obligation upon all the rational beings, and incumbent upon them at every time and in every place. To it our intent is directed in this gate. The humble man is the one named in the Book of God: ʿanav, *nivzeh be-ʿeinav*, *tzanuaʿ*, *dakhʾ*, *shefal ruaḥ*, *ruaḥ nishbarah*, *nidkeh*, *rakh leivav*, *nekhe-ruaḥ*, *lev nishbar*, *nefesh shaḥah*.
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What we have said in our discourse on humility absolutely refers to this third division alone — which is the highest degree of humility. He for whom it is validly attained, the path of nearing to God and drawing-close to Him is not far from him; God receives his work from him and is satisfied with him, as He said: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a heart broken and crushed, O God, You shall not despise" (Psalms 51:19).
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As for the causes from which abasement, lowering, and humility arise in the human after his towering — they are ten.
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**The first**: when his strength weakens from his natural movement on account of sicknesses, bad mixture-of-humors, or weakness of his composition; he humbles himself and is lowered before the Creator (exalted be He) and before people, as He said: "And He brought down their heart with toil; they stumbled, and there was no helper" (Psalms 107:12).
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**The second**: when the misfortune of poverty and the need of people befalls him after his self-sufficiency from them; he humbles himself before them, and his aspiration is broken from self-conceit at his state, as He said: "And it shall be that everyone left in your house shall come to bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and shall say: 'Add me, I pray, to one of the priestly classes, that I may eat a piece of bread'" (1 Samuel 2:36).
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**The third**: when blessing has been poured out upon another and his bounty has been made manifest over him; he humbles himself before him, as He said: "Many entreat the favor of the noble" (Proverbs 19:6).
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**The fourth**: when an obligation toward another is incumbent upon him and he is weak in discharging it; he humbles himself before him, as He said: "If you have nothing to pay, why should he take your bed from under you?" (Proverbs 22:27).
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**The fifth**: when he is in the captivity of his enemy; he humbles himself before him and his soul is lowered, as He said: "They afflicted his foot with shackles, his soul came into iron" (Psalms 105:18); and He said: "And if they are bound in fetters, taken in cords of affliction" (Job 36:8).
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and He said: "And if they are bound in fetters, taken in cords of affliction" (Job 36:8).
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**The sixth**: when he is an enslaved slave with no power to free his neck from the hand of his owner; he humbles himself before him, as He said: "Behold, as the eyes of slaves to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so are our eyes upon the Lord our God, until He has mercy upon us" (Psalms 123:2).
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**The seventh**: when severities and saddening calamities descend upon the human; his soul is broken and he is humbled, as He said: "Or if their uncircumcised heart is then humbled" (Leviticus 26:41).
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**The eighth**: when he reckons with himself for his disobedience to God in the face of His blessing, and his transgressing through the blessing in place of thanks for it; he humbles himself, is abashed, and is shamed before God (exalted be He), as He said: "O my God, I am ashamed and put to the blush, to lift up, my God, my face to You; for our iniquities have multiplied above the head, and our guilt is great unto the heavens" (Ezra 9:6).
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**The ninth**: when God's reproach and rebuke for opposition to His obedience comes upon him; he humbles himself and is alarmed, as He said of Ahab: "Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before Me?" (1 Kings 21:29).
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**The tenth**: when he senses the nearness of death and the descent of fate upon him, and reflects on the terror of death and the standing of the reckoning; he humbles himself and is lowered, his soul becomes contemptible to him, and he regrets the passing of his life and the ending of his term without provision of good work he might bring forward in his presence at his departure — as He said: "The sinners in Zion are in dread; trembling has seized the impious: 'Who among us shall dwell with a devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?'" (Isaiah 33:14).
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As for that in which the use of humility and abasement is incumbent upon the human —
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I say: humility is binding upon the human in its use in seven concepts.
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**The first**: in his dealings with the people of his time and his treatment of the children of his species — according to what we shall set forth in what we resume. Of this Scripture says: "He is despised in his own eyes, contemptible — but he honors those who fear the Lord; he has sworn to do harm and does not change" (Psalms 15:4).
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**The second**: when he meets the people of knowledge of God and of His Law, and the people of righteousness and nearness-to-God, as He said: "Let the righteous strike me in kindness and rebuke me" (Psalms 141:5); and He said: "The wicked bow down before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous" (Proverbs 14:19).
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**The third**: when he is praised for his excellences. It is incumbent upon him to humble himself, and to bring to mind what has gone before for him with God of sins and offenses that are in God's knowledge — and His covering of them, and the length of His granting him reprieve until he repents of them; let the people's mistake about him not delight him, but rather let him grieve at the soundness of God's knowledge of his ill dealings with Him and his heedlessness of discharging the right of His blessing upon him; let him humble himself within himself, as He said: "For my iniquity I shall declare; I shall be anxious for my sin" (Psalms 38:19).
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his ill dealings with Him and his heedlessness of discharging the right of His blessing upon him; let him humble himself within himself, as He said: "For my iniquity I shall declare; I shall be anxious for my sin" (Psalms 38:19).
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**The fourth**: when he is reproached for his bad work. Let him humble himself before God and thank Him who has uncovered upon him a little of much, by way of disciplining him and reproving him that he may repent — as He said: "And He uncovers their ear to discipline, and says that they should turn from iniquity" (Job 36:10).
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**The fifth**: when God grants him blessing in this world of various kinds of blessings. Let him humble himself before God for the heaviness of his back with the right of thanks for them; let him be lowered before Him out of fear that it should be a vengeance upon him.
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For the abundance of wealth in this world is for one of three things. Either a blessing from God upon the possessor of wealth, or a trial and testing for him, or a vengeance and temptation upon him.
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The mark of blessing: the possessor of it is preoccupied with the upholding of the rights of God by it, away from being preoccupied with it. It becomes a cause of his increasing in work for God; he does not crowd around it nor lean upon it, but disburses it in what God (exalted be He) has made obligatory upon him — like Job's description of his way of life with his wealth and his disbursing of it in the right of God; then he said, of the slightness of his reliance upon it: "If I have made gold my confidence, and to the fine gold said, You are my trust" (Job 31:24).
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The mark of trial and testing: the possessor of wealth has been preoccupied with care for keeping the wealth, with increasing it, and with guarding it from misfortunes — away from upholding thanks to God for it. Its possessor is being tested by it; he gets nothing from it but the long preoccupation, the upkeep, and the reckoning concerning it. Of him the Wise One said: "For all his days are pains, and his task is grief; even at night his heart does not rest" (Ecclesiastes 2:23).
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The mark of vengeance: the possessor of wealth has been preoccupied by enjoyment of it and pleasure in it from discharging the rights of God and the rights of
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and He said: "Do not say: 'As he did to me, so shall I do to him'" (Proverbs 24:29). Our early ones said: "Those who are insulted but do not insult, who hear themselves shamed and do not reply, who act out of love and rejoice in afflictions — concerning them Scripture says: 'And those who love Him are like the going forth of the sun in its might' (Judges 5:31)" (b. Yoma 23a). This is the one called by them *maʿavir ʿal middotav* — "one who passes over his measures."
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**The fourth**: doing-the-beautiful toward people, speaking-well of them, finding excuses for them, abandoning slander and ill-speech of them, and bearing-with-tolerance their slander and ill-speech of him even when they are not deserving of that from him — as He said: "Even in your knowledge do not curse a king" (Ecclesiastes 10:20); and He said: "You loose your mouth in evil… you sit and speak against your brother, you slander your mother's son" (Psalms 50:19–20). And in the bearing-with-tolerance of slander and ill-speech: the saying of Scripture, "And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses" — then He said: "And the man Moses was very humble" (Numbers 12:1, 3) — when he tolerated them. So too the saying of the Wise One: "Also do not give your heart to all the words that are spoken, lest you hear your servant cursing you; for many times also your heart knows that you also have cursed others" (Ecclesiastes 7:21–22).
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Our early ones said: "There is a story of Rabbi Eliezer, who went down before the ark and recited twenty-four blessings of supplication and was not answered. Rabbi Akiva went down and recited 'Our Father, our King, we have none but You; our Father, our King, have mercy upon us' and was answered. A heavenly voice came forth and said: 'Not because this one is greater than that, but because this one passes over his measures and that one does not pass over his measures'" (b. Taʿanit 25b).
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It has been said of one of the righteous that he passed by, on his way, the carcass of a dog, intensely foul-smelling. The disciples present with him said: "How intense is the foulness of this carcass's smell!" He said to them: "How intense is the whiteness of its teeth!" His disciples were ashamed at what had come from them of the ugly speech about it. For if speaking ill of a dog's carcass is ugly, how much more concerning a living human; and if it is fitting to find adornment upon a dog's carcass in the whiteness of its teeth, in proportion to that it is binding to find adornment upon the human who understands and reasons.
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He aimed only to reprove them, that ill-speech not become repeated upon their tongues and become a binding nature for them; so too, when good speech is repeated in their words, it becomes a binding nature for them — as He said: "There is no slanderer upon his tongue; he has done no evil to his neighbor" (Psalms 15:3); and He said in its opposite: "Calamities your tongue plans like a sharpened razor, working deceit; you love every devouring word, the deceitful tongue" (Psalms 52:4–6); and He said: "What can He give you and what add to you, deceitful tongue?" (Psalms 120:3); and He said: "The words of the wise man's mouth are grace, and the lips of a fool swallow him" (Ecclesiastes 10:12).
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**The fifth**: humility in all the matters of his this-world — in his outer and his inner, his speech and his deed, the movements of his limbs and their stillnesses. Let his secret not contradict his public, nor his inwardness oppose his outwardness; rather let him be in his movements balanced, equal, proportionate — running on abasement and lowering before God (exalted be He) and before people, in proportion to the difference of their ranks and in proportion to what agrees with him, of them, in his religion and his this-world — as He said: "Good is the man who is gracious and lends, who orders his words with judgment" (Psalms 112:5); and our early ones said: "Be lowly of spirit before everyone" (m. Avot 4:10), and: "Be light to the head and pleasant to those of dark hour" (m. Avot 3:12).
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**The sixth**: that he be lofty of aspiration and elevated of soul in the matters of the next world — never satisfied with what is present of them, never sufficed by what is possible of them. Rather let him hold his knowledge, his obedience, his power, and his exertion to be too small in his own eye, and let his aspiration be perpetually toward what is above that — as Scripture said of Jehoshaphat: "And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord" (2 Chronicles 17:6). Let him reproach himself with falling-short in the matters of religion toward God and toward people; let him beseech God (mighty and exalted) for help and aid in increasing in obedience and in working at righteousness, as the Friend said: "O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes" (Psalms 119:5).
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**The seventh**: that he show forth to people his humility and the falling away of haughtiness for the very face of God; that he cast off pride, haughtiness, and self-protection in his work for God (mighty and exalted) — in private and in the assemblies of people — as Scripture said of Aaron, despite the loftiness of his rank: "And shall lift up the ashes" (Leviticus 6:3) — the Creator (exalted be He) bound him to bring out the ashes every day, perpetually, in humility before Him and the casting-off of pride. Like it is what Scripture said of David (peace be upon him): "And she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart" (2 Samuel 6:16) — and the rest of the story; and he said: "And I shall speak of Your testimonies before kings, and shall not be ashamed" (Psalms 119:46).
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**The eighth**: that he be content for himself, of the means of subsistence, with what is made ready and what is possible — out of contempt for himself, slighting of himself, training himself in the bearing of his bodily appetites; and finding leisure for the discharging of the rights of God for the magnitude of His beneficence to him and the abundance of His blessing upon him — as He said: "I shall run the way of Your commandments, for You enlarge my heart" (Psalms 119:32).
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**The ninth**: vindicating God against the one who has disobeyed Him. Let his tolerance toward people in his own private affair not carry him to tolerance in the matters of God (exalted be He) and the speech against His prophets, His messengers, His elect, and His chosen ones; and let him not run, in others' wronging of one another, in the way of his tolerance of their wronging him; rather let him aid the wronged, and help in the doing-of-justice from the wronger, as He said: "House of David, thus says the Lord: Render judgment in the morning, and rescue the robbed from the hand of the oppressor" (Jeremiah 21:12); and He said: "I shall break the jaws of the wrongdoer, and from his teeth I shall pluck the prey" (Job 29:17). Let him guide people to obedience to God, rebuke them, reproach them, command them in the right and forbid them the wrong with his hand, his tongue, and his heart according to his capacity; let him hasten to take up the rights of God from those who hold them; and let him not be humble nor forbearing at this — as He said of Phinehas (peace be upon him): "And Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stayed; and it was reckoned to him as righteousness for generation after generation, forever" (Psalms 106:30–31).
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as He said of Phinehas (peace be upon him): "And Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stayed; and it was reckoned to him as righteousness for generation after generation, forever" (Psalms 106:30–31).
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**The tenth**: that he be of little speech, low of voice, of little jest, of little oath-taking by God (even truthfully). Let no lie ever run upon his tongue at all; let him not enter the assemblies of frivolity; let him not rejoice in what the populace rejoices in of the world's pleasures — out of humility and lowering, not out of self-elevation and self-protection — as the Friend said: "I have not sat in the council of mockers, and I have rejoiced; from the face of Your hand I have sat alone, for You have filled me with indignation" (Jeremiah 15:17).
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He said: As for the marks by which humility is verified in the humble man when they appear upon him — they are in five occurrences.
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**The first**: at the time of the severity of his anger against one who has offended him by speech or deed. If he has ruled his caprice and pardoned after his capacity to take requital, in humility and lowering — that points to the soundness of his humility.
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**The second**: when a misfortune in his wealth or a calamity in his household befalls him. If he prefers patience over alarm, in surrender to God's decree and contentment with His judgment — that points to the goodness of his humility and his abasement before God (mighty and exalted) — as Scripture said of Aaron (peace be upon him) at his trial in Nadab and Abihu: "And Aaron was silent" (Leviticus 10:3); and He said: "Be silent for the Lord and writhe before Him" (Psalms 37:7); and He said: "Therefore the prudent at that time shall be silent" (Amos 5:13).
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So obedience to God is not made valid from the human except by his binding-upon-himself of all the attributes of slavehood toward Him: namely, humility before Him, devotion before Him, lowering toward Him, disclaiming-toward-Him of all the attributes of lordship — which are pride, glory, self-elevation, self-glorification, self-exaltation, and the like. It has been said: "Pride is the cloak of God; whoever contests God for His cloak is as one who shares it with Him." The Friend said: "The Lord reigns; He has clothed Himself with majesty; the Lord has clothed Himself, He has girded Himself with strength" (Psalms 93:1).
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No excellence is made valid for the believer except after the discharging of the obligation, as He said: "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to attend than the fat of rams" (1 Samuel 15:22). And no obligation is made valid for him except after binding-himself to obedience to God (exalted be He). And obedience to God is not made valid from him except by singling-Him-out by all the attributes of lordship and disclaiming-toward-Him by them. And this is not made valid from him except by his binding-himself to all the attributes of slavehood toward Him. And slavehood is not made valid from him except by the truthfulness of his humility before God (exalted be He) and devotion and lowering before Him, as we have set forth.
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So it is necessary from this that all the excellences and the obligations are consequent upon humility — for humility is the head and the beginning and the starting-point of them. For this reason it has become obligatory that no excellence be valid for one whose heart is empty of humility before God, and there is in his soul something of self-conceit and pride. For this reason, the head of repentance is devotion, lowering, and humility — as He said: "And My people, upon whom My name is called, shall humble themselves and pray and seek My face" (2 Chronicles 7:14); and He also said: "They have humbled themselves; I shall not destroy them" (2 Chronicles 12:7).
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We say in answer to this: self-conceit is divided into two divisions. **One of them**: the human's self-conceit in his body and in his bodily affairs and welfares. **The second division**: his self-conceit in his spiritual excellences — like knowledge, good work, and the goodness of obedience to God (mighty and exalted).
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his bodily affairs and welfares. **The second division**: his self-conceit in his spiritual excellences — like knowledge, good work, and the goodness of obedience to God (mighty and exalted).
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Every self-conceit that is from the side of the bodily things negates humility from the heart. It is impossible that they be gathered in a single heart, by the negation of each one of them of its companion. For when the human is conceited about anything of the matters of this world, what carries him to that is only his ignorance of the One who has bestowed the blessing upon him and his being deceived by it, and the slightness of his knowledge of the swiftness of its disappearance and its passing from him. He reckons that he is the bestower of blessing upon himself by it and the earner of it by his strength and his contrivance — as Sennacherib said: "By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I am understanding" (Isaiah 10:13); and Nebuchadnezzar said: "Is this not Babylon the great, which I have built for the house of the kingdom by the strength of my power and for the splendor of my majesty?" (Daniel 4:27); and Pharaoh said: "Mine is my Nile, and I have made myself" (Ezekiel 29:3); and you have learned what followed their saying — of the dissolving of their kingdom and the corruption of their dynasty.
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As for self-conceit in spiritual excellences, it is divided into two divisions. **One of them** is blameworthy. **The second** is praiseworthy.
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The blameworthy: when the man of knowledge is conceited about his knowledge and the righteous man about his work, and that carries him to seeing it as much, to declaring himself sufficient by what has come before for him of it, to contenting himself with what has been spread among people of his praise and beautiful saying. He despises people; hates them; mentions their evils; undermines the scholars of his time and the elite of his place; glorifies himself in the falling-short of his companions and in their ignorance compared to him. This is what is named by our early ones *mitkabbed bi-qlon ḥavero* — "honoring himself by the disgrace of his companion." The like of this is neither humble nor devoted.
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counting his excellences too small, perpetually striving in the increase from them, humbling himself for his weakness in the reaching of his hope from that, abasing himself before whomever he hopes to receive the increase by his hand, thanking God for what He has bestowed upon him of excellences, praising Him for what He has made easy for the acquisition of praiseworthy traits.
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This self-conceit is not contradictory to humility, nor does it negate it. About the like of this Scripture said of Jehoshaphat (peace be upon him): "And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord" (2 Chronicles 17:6) — rather, it shares with humility and adds to it, as the Wise One said: "The result of humility is the fear of the Lord" (Proverbs 22:4).
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He said: As for the benefit of humility in the matters of this world and the next — there are six things. Three of them in the matters of this world; and three in the matters of the next.
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As for those that are in the matters of this world —
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**The first**: contentment with one's sustenance. For one upon whom self-conceit and pride have entered: this world, with what is in it, does not suffice as subsistence for him, on account of the elevation of his aspiration and his contempt for what comes to him from it. When he is humble, his soul has no measure with him; what comes to him of the world he sees as sufficiency, as subsistence and supply. There follows from this the calming of his soul and the slightness of his alarm. He eats what is present, wears what is found, sleeps where it is possible: a little of the world is enough for him along with his humility. The proud man — all of it does not close the gap of his lack, with the elevation of his soul and his towering toward it — as the Wise One said: "The righteous eats to the satisfaction of his soul, and the belly of the wicked is in want" (Proverbs 13:25).
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as the Wise One said: "The righteous eats to the satisfaction of his soul, and the belly of the wicked is in want" (Proverbs 13:25).
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**The second**: that the humble is patient at the descent of misfortunes upon him and the turning-against of matters, on account of his lowering and the dullness of his aspiration. The non-humble is severe in alarm and slight in patience at the descent of calamities upon him, on account of his self-conceit, the elevation of his aspiration, and the slightness of his contentment with his state — as Scripture said of one who was in this state: "How you have fallen from heaven, O Day-Star, son of dawn! How you have been cut down to the earth, low among the nations!" (Isaiah 14:12).
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**The third**: that the humble is the most favored with people and the most beloved by them, and the most disposed to gather with them and to walk in their way. It has been said of one of the princes that, when he walked, he hurried in his pace; he was asked the reason for that, and he said: "Because it is more remote from vanity, and quicker for the meeting of need." One of the scholars was asked: "By what have you become a leader over the people of your time?" He said: "Because I have not met one of them but I have seen for him an excellence over me. If he was more knowledgeable than I, I said: 'This one is more obedient to God than I, on account of the surplus of his knowledge over mine.' If he was less knowledgeable than I, I said: 'This one's reckoning on the Day of the Resurrection is lighter than mine; for I disobeyed God deliberately, while he disobeys Him inadvertently.' If he was greater than I in age, I said: 'This one has more good deeds than I, on account of his preceding me in this world.' If he was less than I in age, I said: 'This one has fewer sins with God than I.' If he was equal to me in age and knowledge, I said: 'Perhaps his inner being is more sound for God than mine; for I know what has gone before me of sins, and I know nothing of what has been from him.' So I never cease honoring all of them and humbling myself before them." For this reason our early ones (peace be upon them) said: "Judge every person on the side of merit" (m. Avot 1:6); and they said: "Receive every person with a beautiful expression of face" (m. Avot 1:15); and they said: "Be lowly of spirit before everyone" (m. Avot 4:10); and they said: "A man should always be soft as a reed and not be hard as a cedar; on this account the reed merited that with it should be written the Torah-scroll, the *tefillin*, and the *mezuzot*" (b. Taʿanit 20a).
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**The third**: that the humble is the most favored with people and the most beloved by them, and the most disposed to gather with them and to walk in their way. It has been said of one of the princes that, when he walked, he hurried in his pace; he was asked the reason for that, and he said: "Because it is more remote from vanity, and quicker for the meeting of need." One of the scholars was asked: "By what have you become a leader over the people of your time?" He said: "Because I have not met one of them but I have seen for him an excellence over me. If he was more knowledgeable than I, I said: 'This one is more obedient to God than I, on account of the surplus of his knowledge over mine.' If he was less knowledgeable than I, I said: 'This one's reckoning on the Day of the Resurrection is lighter than mine; for I disobeyed God deliberately, while he disobeys Him inadvertently.' If he was greater than I in age, I said: 'This one has more good deeds than I, on account of his preceding me in this world.' If he was less than I in age, I said: 'This one has fewer sins with God than I.' If he was equal to me in age and knowledge, I said: 'Perhaps his inner being is more sound for God than mine; for I know what has gone before me of sins, and I know nothing of what has been from him.' So I never cease honoring all of them and humbling myself before them." For this reason our early ones (peace be upon them) said: "Judge every person on the side of merit" (m. Avot 1:6); and they said: "Receive every person with a beautiful expression of face" (m. Avot 1:15); and they said: "Be lowly of spirit before everyone" (m. Avot 4:10); and they said: "A man should always be soft as a reed and not be hard as a cedar; on this account the reed merited that with it should be written the Torah-scroll, the *tefillin*, and the *mezuzot*" (b. Taʿanit 20a).
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**The third**: that the humble is the most favored with people and the most beloved by them, and the most disposed to gather with them and to walk in their way. It has been said of one of the princes that, when he walked, he hurried in his pace; he was asked the reason for that, and he said: "Because it is more remote from vanity, and quicker for the meeting of need." One of the scholars was asked: "By what have you become a leader over the people of your time?" He said: "Because I have not met one of them but I have seen for him an excellence over me. If he was more knowledgeable than I, I said: 'This one is more obedient to God than I, on account of the surplus of his knowledge over mine.' If he was less knowledgeable than I, I said: 'This one's reckoning on the Day of the Resurrection is lighter than mine; for I disobeyed God deliberately, while he disobeys Him inadvertently.' If he was greater than I in age, I said: 'This one has more good deeds than I, on account of his preceding me in this world.' If he was less than I in age, I said: 'This one has fewer sins with God than I.' If he was equal to me in age and knowledge, I said: 'Perhaps his inner being is more sound for God than mine; for I know what has gone before me of sins, and I know nothing of what has been from him.' So I never cease honoring all of them and humbling myself before them." For this reason our early ones (peace be upon them) said: "Judge every person on the side of merit" (m. Avot 1:6); and they said: "Receive every person with a beautiful expression of face" (m. Avot 1:15); and they said: "Be lowly of spirit before everyone" (m. Avot 4:10); and they said: "A man should always be soft as a reed and not be hard as a cedar; on this account the reed merited that with it should be written the Torah-scroll, the *tefillin*, and the *mezuzot*" (b. Taʿanit 20a).
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Reflect on what I have called your attention to of them; set it before your eyes; persist in thinking about it; be eager to acquire it; tend it perpetually from your soul and your dispositions; take help in God (mighty and exalted) for it; ask Him for the gift of it from Him, and seek to be granted it from Him as a means of nearing to Him and drawing close before Him — perhaps He will make it easy for you and open for you a door and a path to it, as one of the excellent ones used to add at his prayer: "My God, guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking deceit" — and the rest.
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Beware the whisperings of your heart and caprice's deception of you in what would carry you to haughtiness, self-conceit, vanity, vainglory, the seeking of leadership, elevation, command, prohibition, and the spread of fame among people.
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The Wise One has said the aspect of moderation for people in this world, in his saying: "Two things I have asked of You; do not deny them to me before I die. Vanity and a word of falsehood remove far from me; poverty and wealth do not give to me; nourish me with my apportioned bread — lest I be filled and deny and say, 'Who is the Lord?' or lest I become impoverished and steal, and seize upon the name of my God" (Proverbs 30:7–9).
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Wake up, O my brother! Do not be heedless of the treatment of this self-conceit from your soul and your dispositions, by the medicines I have pointed you to. Let it not prevent you from this, what you see upon the bulk of people of heedlessness in the treating of themselves of this disease — saying, "What is good enough for them is good enough for me." For the blind man, when there are present to him beneficial collyria by which his cure is possible at their use, it is not from prudence for him to delay this and say, "What is good enough for my blind companions is good enough for me." Were one of them to say to you this saying, you would consider his saying foolish, and his judgment incompetent, and would remove him from the rank of the rational.
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So in proportion to that, look to your soul, my brother; take it with prudence; do not be lazy in what would benefit you in your this-world and your next-world — lest you die without reaching your hopes in the excellences which are in your power to attain — as the Wise One said: "The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to do" (Proverbs 21:25); and he said: "I passed by the field of a sluggard and by the vineyard of a man lacking heart; and behold
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it was all overgrown with thorns… I beheld and set my heart upon it; I saw and received instruction" (Proverbs 24:30–32).
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May God guide us and you to the path of His obedience, by His might and His mercy (exalted be He).