Anavah

Value: Anavah

God has told you, human, what is good and what God requires of you: To seek justice, love goodness, and walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

Anavah means humility. The Jewish tradition is big on humility. Humility is not feeling bad about yourself. It is not disliking yourself. Rather, it is not making yourself too important. The 13 th - 14 th -century teacher Bahya ben Asher said, “Humility is halfway between too much pride and too little pride. It does not mean that we should disgrace ourselves or allow others to walk over us. Because we are created in God’s image, we are precious. We need to care for our honor and the high status that a rational soul gave us among God’s creatures.” (Kad ha-Kemah) Rabbi Simhah Bunam of Przysucha once taught that we should keep two pieces of paper in our pockets, one saying “ For my sake the world was created” and the other “I am nothing but dust and ashes.” Whenever we are overcome by feelings of pride, he said, we should read the paper with the words “ I am nothing but dust and ashes.” And when we feel shame and as if our sense of self has been destroyed, we should reach into the other pocket and read “ For my sake the world was created.” Here we learn to balance pride with humility.

Anavah: Text Study

Here are three Rabbinic texts about anavah. Restate each one in your own words. [1]

Be very humble, because the end of a person is worms. Pirkei Avot 4:4

[2] Why were human beings created on a Friday? So that if they become too much for themselves, one can say to them, “The mosquito was created before you.” Sanhedrin 38a

[3] Let a person always be humble in Torah and good works, humble with parents, teachers, spouse and children, with a household and relatives near and far, even with strangers in the street, so that person will be loved on high and be desired on earth. Tanna de Be Eliyahu, p. 197