A Drop of Humility

Translated by Rabbi Lazer Brody

One of our main tasks in Elul is to prepare ourselves for the trembling, awesome moment when we stand in judgment before the King of Kings on Rosh Hashanah. Who in their right mind would dare exhibit the slightest trace of arrogance while standing in front of the King? We must therefore seek a drop of humility…

Our first step is to realize our tininess and sorely limited capabilities compared to the Creator. The Creator gives us all our power and sustains us. We’re all well aware of our smallness compared to the Atlantic Ocean or to the Rocky Mountains. Just imagine for a moment how the Atlantic Ocean or even the world’s greatest mountain range is only a small portion of planet Earth. And, planet Earth is only a minuscule part of the Solar System. And, the sun – the nucleus of our solar system – is only a small star among billions of other stars. All these other stars and the galaxies they belong to are creations of Hashem. Who, therefore, can fathom the vastness of Hashem? A person must clearly tell himself, “I’m only a tiny creation; I’m not G-d!”

The evil inclination, the inner manifestation of the nachash, the primeval snake that tempted Adam and Eve, injects the venom of arrogance into a person, causing him to forget his size in relation to the Creator.

Any time a person thinks that he runs the world or that he is capable of exclusively controlling his own destiny or the destiny of others, it’s a sign that he is being affected by the venom of the evil inclination, for he has forgotten that he is powerless without the Creator.

True humility is binding one’s thoughts, speech, and deeds to the Creator; he calls the Creator’s Name and seeks His assistance, knowing full well that he can do nothing without Divine support. Such a person maintains a true connection to the Creator, for through humility, he is not even a separate entity from the Creator. Hashem is happy to direct such a person’s life, personally guiding him from Above. This is a life of emuna. Consequently, the first step in acquiring humility is knowing that I am nothing without the Creator. I have nothing without the Creator. The Creator runs the world, not me.

If we take a close look at life, we see that most things are beyond our control. Our sages teach than children, income and longevity are rationed out by Hashem and not the results of any effort on our part. We didn’t decide who are parents will be and to what type of home we would be born into. We didn’t decide whether we’d grow up as only children or with a dozen brothers or sisters, sick or healthy, rich or poor, American or Israeli, or any other variables. These were all Hashem’s decisions. So where does a person get the idea that he runs the world if even the most basic things in life he doesn’t determine? Our sages therefore said that Hashem determines everything except the fear of G-d – this a person must acquire on his own (see tractate Berachot, 32b). A person can decide that Hashem is G-d and therefore submit to Him, or he can continue to be stubborn and think that he runs the world.

With a closer look, even the things that are seemingly under our control are beyond our control as well. For example, suppose that a person does his best to take care of himself, exercise, and eat healthy. He neither smokes nor drinks. Suddenly, he finds himself with an incurable disease. He looks around him and he sees people who are overweight, out of shape, and drink or smoke, yet they’re living longer lives than he is! We see people who have been very successful, intelligent, talented and rich, yet they lost all their money in the stock-market or real-estate crash. On the other hand, a seemingly average person with less than remarkable talent and intelligence might mike a lot of money in a very short time. These examples, and many more like them, show us just how insignificant we really are. Remembering our insignificance is also conducive for humility.

Rebbe Nachman teaches us that emuna is the outcome of truth (see Likutei Moharan I:7). As soon as a person learns the truth – that he is nothing without Hashem and that Hashem sustains him every moment of his life, granting him all his talents and aptitudes as well – then he is capable of learning emuna. Until he learns this fact, and that even a mosquito preceded him in the order of creation, he is liable to succumb to the temptations of arrogance and to the myth that he controls his own destiny, both of which push him far away from emuna. The knowledge of our tininess and of our incapacity of doing anything without Divine help brings us to emuna. Once we attain emuna, we open the door to every blessing in the world.