SERIES
THINGS I LEARNED…
While teaching everyone else
A LITTLE HUMILITY PLEASE
REMEMBER THAT OLD COUNTRY WESTERN SONG,
“Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble, when
you’re perfect in every way.” And wasn’t it
Ted Turner who said, “If I only had a little
humility, I’d be perfect.” And the inimitable Donald Trump has already pronounced judgment.
“Show me someone without an ego,” he
said, “and I’ll show you a loser.”
Alas, it appears these days humility is
not a very popular commodity.
We seem to be living in the age of celebrities, where fame and recognition seems to
be the key to success. We even have our fair
share of ‘self-appointed’ celebrities. These
are individuals with absolutely no claim to
fame whatsoever, other than perhaps a
pretty face and figure. But they know how
to market themselves quite well. Today, to
become world-famous, all you need is confidence, chutzpah... and a publicist.
But, in fact, we are beginning to hear
some intelligent divergent voices.
The respected and best-selling author,
Malcolm Gladwell, has much to say about
the downfall of the overconfident. His
stories and illustrations range from upsets on the battlefield in America’s Civil
28 JEWISH LIFE ■ ISSUE 85
War to recent meltdowns in big business.
Here are a few choice quotes from
Gladwell:
“Being humble should be a qualification, not a disqualification, for picking a
leader.”
“Incompetence is the disease of idiots;
overconfidence is the disease of experts.”
“Incompetence irritates me, over-confidence terrifies me.”
Indeed, the contemporary successful
CEO is more likely to be appreciated for
his humility than respected for his hubris. He or she will be more communicative, will lead by consensus, and will be a
team player rather than a controlling authoritarian.
In Jewish tradition, humility was always considered one of the most exalted
virtues. The great Spanish Sage, the Ramban (Nachmanides 1194-1270) in his fa-
mous letter to his son, called it “the finest
of all admirable traits”.
Arrogance, on the other hand, was seen
as one of the most negative characteristics in the whole catalogue of human personality. According to the Talmud, G-d
Himself abhors it to such an extent that
“He and I cannot dwell together in this
world” (Sotah, 5a).
But, there is also false humility.
A story is told of a holy rabbi who entered the empty synagogue one day and
prostrated himself in front of the Holy
Ark, proclaiming, “Oh L-rd, what am I? I
am but dust. I am nothing!”
And the chazan was walking down the
corridor and heard the rabbi’s confession,
so he too went up to the Aron Kodesh and
proclaimed, “G-d Almighty, what am I? I
am but an empty shell. I am absolutely
nothing!”
And then the shammas (the one who
takes care of the physical needs of the
shul) overheard the chazan, so he too
joined them at the Ark and announced,
“Hashem, who am I and what am I? I am of
no substance whatsoever. I am zero. I am
nothing!” Whereupon the chazan whispered to the rabbi, “Humph... have a look
and see who also thinks he’s nothing!”
The Torah states categorically that the
Almighty Himself declared Moshe to be
“the humblest man on the face of the
earth” (Numbers 12, 3). And the commentators explain that although Moshe
was the most powerful leader in history,
who challenged the mightiest monarch on
earth, who took the Israelites out of
bondage, who split the sea and more, still,
TODAY, TO BECOME WORLD-FAMOUS, ALL
YOU NEED IS CONFIDENCE, CHUTZPAH...
AND A PUBLICIST.
PHOTOGRAPH: ILAN OSSENDRYVER; PORTRAIT: ILAN OSSENDRYVER
BY RABBI YOSSY GOLDMAN