Jewish Life Digital Edition October 2013 | Page 29

PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED: ILAN OSSENDRYVER

of his time and vanquished them, who
led a difficult and demanding people
through their most formative and formidable 40-year journey through the
wilderness, how could he still be humble? The answer is that ‘the truly great
are truly humble’.
Humility should not be confused with
timidity. That quiet, shy fellow who sits
at the very back of the shul may be a
fine person of beautiful character,
whose humility is indeed admirable. But
the shy, modest type is not the only
benchmark of humility. Moshe taught
us that one can be a man of immense
talent, strength, achievement and phenomenal success and still not let it go to
his head. Our sages explain that Moshe
believed that if someone else had been
blessed with the same G-d-given characteristics as he was, that individual may
have done even better. So he remained
humble, and despite all the power at his
disposal, he never became arrogant.
In a way, it reflects nothing less than
a Divine, G-dly quality. Hashem, too, is

great and humble at the same time. He
is simultaneously a Universal G-d, occupied with running the whole world and,
in fact, the entire universe. But He is
also very much a Personal G-d, concerned with and interested in the little
folk; you and me and all that goes on in
our lives, and yes, all our follies and foibles too. I like to call it “infinite to intimate”. Contrary to what other belief
systems maintain, it is not ‘beneath His
dignity’ to be involved in the ‘small
stuff’. When you consider the infinity of
the Creator, small and big are equal.
What we call ‘big’ stuff is for Him very
small, indeed minuscule.
So, does the Almighty really smile
when a Jew puts on tefillin or lights
Shabbos candles at the correct time?