May 11, 2023 / 20 Iyar, 5783 • Parshat Behar-Bechukotai
Issue 768
Dedicated in loving memory of Mrs. Miriam Friedman

Humility and Pride

G-d spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying: We are told that G-d chose to give the Torah on Mount Sinai because it was the lowest -- i.e., humblest -- mountain.

Leviticus 25:1

But if G-d meant to teach us humility, He seemingly should have given the Torah in a valley. What is the paradox implied in the lowest of mountains?

Although humility is a necessary component of spiritual life, so is a certain measure of pride. A totally selfless person will feel powerless when he encounters the challenges, doubts, cynicism, and mockery of a world that obscures G-dliness. Hence, we must also be "mountains," mastering the art of asserting ourselves as the representatives of G-d on earth.

It is precisely true self-abnegation that enables us to exhibit true self-assertion: when we have lost all sense of ego, we are no longer aware of ourselves, including our self-abnegation; our consciousness of self has been supplanted by our consciousness of G-d. We are no longer "us"; we are G-d, acting through us.

—from Daily Wisdom 3