GOOD MORNING! A few weeks ago, my daughter picked up her 2½ year old son from playgroup and asked him how his day was; “Did you play with your friend Levi Yitzchak?” My grandson furrowed his brow, narrowed his eyes, and declared, “I stronger than Levi Yitzchak!” Not quite sure what to make of this she then asked whether or not he played with his docile cousin Hadassah. “I faster than her! I run in the playground and she can’t catch me!”

Aside from the dawning realization that she may be raising the next iteration of Vladimir Putin – she found his innate intense competitiveness mostly amusing, though also a little concerning. I, of course, found the whole story hilarious, and it got me thinking about the nature of competitive behavior and its roots.

I have previously written about the concept of competition and Judaism’s perspective on it (see article here). This week we’ll explore the idea a little deeper.

The sages have repeatedly stated that one of the main purposes of the Torah and all of the commandments is the refinement of a person’s character. This concept also gave birth to the 19th century “Mussar Movement” – a movement founded by Rabbi Yisroel Lipkin Salanter (1810-1883) that focused on morality and refining one’s personal conduct to behave in an ethical and appropriate manner.

One of the main study texts of this movement was the extraordinary work on ethical behavior known as Mesillat Yesharim – The Path of the Just. The author of this groundbreaking book was Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato (1707-1746), aka Ramchal, a towering figure of brilliance and Jewish scholarship. Though he lived a very short time, he was a prolific author. His many works on Jewish philosophy, Kabbalah, and theology have left an indelible mark on Jewish scholarship. Students in every yeshiva (school of Torah study) in the world study his works.

Though Ramchal had many detractors during his all-too-brief life, Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna (1720-1797), aka the Vilna Gaon (“The genius of Vilna”), who many consider to be the leading Torah sage of the modern era, firmly established Ramchal’s place in the annals of Jewish scholarship. After he read the Mesillat Yesharim he was reputed to have said that if Ramchal were still alive, he would have walked from Vilna to study at his feet. He further stated that the first ten chapters contained not even one superfluous word.

Ramchal based his work Mesillat Yesharim on a well-known passage in the Talmud:

“Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair said: study of Torah leads to watchfulness; watchfulness leads to alacrity to act; alacrity leads to spiritual cleanliness; cleanliness leads to abstention from sin; abstention leads to purity of spirit; purity leads to piety; piety leads to humility; humility leads to fear of sin; fear of sin leads to holiness; holiness leads to prophecy; prophecy leads to the resurrection of the dead” (Avodah Zara 20b).

Ramchal, in the 26 chapters of this book, explores each and every one of the virtues that are to be attained and goes on to explain how to achieve them. Today we will take a closer look into his description of humility.

“We already spoke earlier on the detestable quality of arrogance and by inference we learned the praiseworthiness of humility. When we examine this closely, we will find that humility is dependent both on thought and deed. For at first, a person needs to become humble in his thoughts and only afterwards, can he conduct himself in the ways of the humble.

“Our sages, of blessed memory, said (Sotah 5b): ‘Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Come and see how great are the lowly of spirit, for when the Temple stood, a man brought a burnt-offering and earned the reward of a burnt-offering, a flour-offering and he earned the reward of a flour-offering; but as for him whose mind is lowly, Scripture ascribes it to him as though he had offered every one of the sacrifices; as it is said (Psalms 51:19): ‘The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. Behold, this is a praise of the lowly of spirit, who are humble in heart and in thought’’” (Mesillat Yesharim, Chapter 22).

He goes on to cite examples of famously accomplished personalities in Judaism who seemed to have thought little of themselves; our forefather Abraham (“I am but dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27)), Moses and Aaron (“And we are nothing” (Exodus 16:7)), and King David (“I am but a worm, not a man” (Psalms 22:7)).

One of the first important points that Ramchal makes is that humility doesn’t begin with one’s behavior; you don’t start off being humble. Rather it starts with a certain mindset. A person has to recognize his lowly stature and have a proper perspective about who he is in reality, irrespective of personal accomplishments. Once a person has achieved some personal successes, he can then focus on making sure that it doesn’t go to his head.

In other words, a person who hasn’t achieved much and practices humility really isn’t being humble – he’s being honest. It reminds me of the time I once heard someone yell out at a speaker who was making self-deprecating remarks; “You’re not great enough to be humble!”

Still, it is quite difficult to understand how such great men would think of themselves as lowly beings. Take Moses for example, he was obviously acutely aware of his enormous achievements; taking the Jews out of Egypt through the performance of incredible miracles, delivering the Torah to the Jewish people, performing more stunning miracles in the desert, achieving such a high level of prophecy and being to converse with the Almighty at will – the list goes on and on. Yet the Torah states:

“And the man Moses was very humble, more than any other man upon the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3).

What exactly does Moses have to be humble about? It almost seems dishonest! The answer lies in truly understanding what humility really means. I have heard many rabbis try to explain that humility means a person recognizing that compared to the Almighty he is really nothing and quite lowly. But this is absolutely wrong. How do I know this? From this week’s Torah reading:

“And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness […]’” (Genesis 1:26).

On this verse the famous Biblical commentator Rashi quotes a most extraordinary teaching from the sages: “From here we see the humility of the Almighty, for he consulted with his heavenly angels before the creation of man.” Likewise, we find many similar teachings in the Talmud; “Said Rabbi Yochanan – wherever you see the greatness of the Almighty you see His humility” (Megilla 31a).

Obviously, the previous argument – that humility is found by comparing oneself to the Almighty – is nonsensical; after all we find humility by the Almighty Himself! Thus, we are once again left trying to understand the true essence of humility.

Humility can only be defined as a complete and innate honesty about who you really are. Most people have no idea who they are or what they are capable of achieving. Nearly everyone looks at what they have done in comparison to what others have achieved. If they can score themselves higher – e.g. I made more money, I drive a nicer car, I worked harder to get a graduate degree – then they feel better about themselves. Though, this often leads to a sense of arrogance (which is how Ramchal began his chapter on humility).

This is the essence of competition – a failure to judge oneself against only oneself and instead choosing to quantify your achievements by being stronger, faster, smarter, richer, better looking, better educated (the list is endless) than anyone else. Sadly, most people stay on the same level as my 2½ year old grandson their entire lives.

God, of course, cannot compare Himself to anyone else, as there is nothing outside of Him. He is unchanging and yes, totally self-aware of His essence. Still, even when He creates other beings (e.g. angels) He gives them their space and consults with them. That is the essence of His humility – He gives everyone a sense of being and validation of their existence. After all, that is what being the Creator is all about. This is also the model exemplified by our greatest leaders.

Of course, Moses, Abraham, Aaron, and King David were well aware of their personal achievements. But they truly internalized that it didn’t make them better than anyone else. Thus, they were able to validate everyone else. In their mind they crystallized who they really were and the brevity of their lifespans – they knew where they were headed. They were also acutely aware of their failings and what they still needed to work on. They didn’t compare themselves to anyone else – they judged themselves by what they were capable of achieving, not by looking around to see what everyone else did. Thus, they were the very model of humility.

Bereishis, Genesis 1:1 - 6:8

The Five Books of Moses begins with the Six Days of Creation, the Shabbat, the story of the Garden of Eden – the first transgression, consequences, and expulsion; Cain & Abel, the ten generations to Noah, the Almighty sees the wickedness of man in that generation and decrees to “blot out man” (i.e. the flood).

One of the most profound verses in the whole Torah is “And God created man in His own image.” Since God does not have a physical being, this means that we are endowed with free-will, morality, reason, and the ability to emulate God Who bestows kindness. Also, if we really appreciate that we are created in the image of God, we realize that we have intrinsic worth. Therefore, there is no need to be depressed wondering if you have intrinsic worth!