Humility means not regarding ourselves as more important than other people, including those who have achieved less than we have. It is substantiating that for every aspect of humility we discuss we can bolster the argument by relating a story about an adam gadol. Humility is not an on the job description of the gedolei hador and that is because no other attributes and assets would make a scholar revered by the Jewish nation if he were not to be humble. It is the most basic entry-level characteristic.
Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik once went to the cemetery to visit his wife’s grave. Two non-religious Jews spotted a man that was obviously religious and they sought his help. The men asked the Rav to accompany them to one grave to recite a prayer and then another. For each stop that they made they suddenly remembered a different relative buried far away on the other side of the cemetery.
Without voicing a word of objection the Rav graciously went where they led him, and fulfilled their requests. They kept offering him remuneration which he dismissed out of hand. When they were finally finished they departed the graveyard allowing the Rav to finally accomplish what he had set out to do.
The cemetery’s caretaker was very impressed that these two were so chummy with the Rav and he inquired as to what precisely their relationship was. The two had no idea what he was talking about. They explained that they had stopped him as he looked religious and requested his assistance.
When the caretaker apprised them this was not a regular religious gentleman, but one of the most important Jewish scholars of the generation, a fact that they were later able to corroborate on their own, they were stunned that such a great and busy rabbi afforded them so much time, never indicating that he had more important things to do. Two weeks later, the Maimonides school received a note with a $1,000 donation from the pair in tribute to the Rav’s graciousness.
The prophet Micha commends one who walks “humbly with God” which causes one to wonder if walking humbly without the involvement of God would be any less commendable. Rabbi Joseph Telushkin proposes that if we are certain that God is on our side, we can easily become arrogant and even cruel. An example would be Islamist terrorists, who murder and terrorize innocent people, while shouting “God is great!” (Allahu akhbar). That is what can happen when one walks “arrogantly [and not humbly] with God.”
The proper approach, as set forward in the beginning installment of this column, is readily observed by the conduct of our spiritual luminaries. Reb Yisrael Salanter was known to go and visit scholars who came to town, although it was customary for the resident rabbi to wait for the guest to come and visit him. He expressed bemusement at this protocol: “This business of who visits whom first makes no sense to me. What is this? Some kind of childish game with rules?”
Everyone marvels at Rashi’s encyclopedic knowledge and mastery of interpretation. Yet he was always ready to acknowledge what he didn’t know. For example, Bereishis 28:5 describes Lavan as “the brother of Rivka, the mother of Yaakov and Eisav.” Why does the verse describe Rivka this way, given that this relationship has repeatedly been noted in the preceding chapters?
Rabbi Telushkin proposes that this is comparable to an American textbook repeatedly identifying Abraham Lincoln as an American president. Rashi comments on this odd wording; “I do not know what this comes to teach us.” This acknowledgement is far from a singular occurrence. Rabbi Berel Wein notes that on 77 occasions in Rashi’s Bible commentary and on 44 in his Talmud commentary, he uses the expression “I do not know what this means,” or a variant thereof.