by Rabbi Ronald Price
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are that of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the Union for Traditional Judaism, unless otherwise indicated.
At the end of masechet Sota we read an interesting response to a Mishnah. The Mishnah says:
“When Rebbe (R. Yehudah HaNasi) died, humility and the fear of sin were nullified.” That is to say, they no longer existed.
Rav Yosef responds in the gemara:
Rav Yosef said to the Tanna who had recited the Mishnah, “Don’t say that humility ended with Rebbe, for there is me!”
Rashi, explaining R. Yosef’s words de’ika ana (there is me) – Sheani anvaton – “for I am a humble character”.
It is interesting that elsewhere in the Talmud, in tractate Pesachim, we read about this same R. Yosef:
R. Yosef used to order a young calf be prepared for him for Shavuot – for he said: “If it weren’t for this day, (the day of the giving of the Torah at Sinai) consider how many Yosefs there are already in the marketplace”.
In other words, were it not for this day on which the Torah was given, on which I’ve built my skill and reputation, I’d just be another Joe on the street.
Obviously, then, this self-proclaimed “humble character” doesn’t see himself as just another Joe on the street. He views himself as having special talents and abilities.
Is R. Yosef a hypocrite? Further, if he is a hypocrite, why would the Talmud want to include this discussion? It should be embarrassing to the Rabbis!
Rav David Halvini, the Reish Metivta of the UTJ’s rabbinical school, the Institute of Traditional Judaism, often speaks of the partnership between Man and God and the rabbinic idea that Yemei Tov, the Holidays, represent Man and Shabbat represents God. Obviously, Man did not participate in the creation of Shabbat, for it was God who rested after finishing the Creation.
But God gave Yom Tov to Man; for to know when Yom Tov falls, we go to the Beit Din and they decide – the dates of the Holidays are completely in Man’s hands.
That dichotomy falls away when it comes to Pesach. It belongs neither to Man alone, nor to God.
The Passover Haggadah asks – Pesach zeh mishum ma? Mishum shepasach haKBH “Why is this sacrifice/holiday known as Pesach? It is because HaShem passed over the houses of the Children of Israel”. In other words, it is called Pesach because of God’s actions.
But the Haggadah also asks Matzah zo mishum ma? Why do we eat this matzah?…
“It was because the dough of our ancestors had no time to rise before they were redeemed by God…“
Who made Matzah? Man. Who “Passed Over”? God.
Pesach is therefore the direct result of and symbolizes a partnership between Man and God.
Now if Man claimed to be the primary partner, that would be hubris. Can we compare ourselves as equals to God? Certainly not. We may be partners with the Creator, but we are the smaller, weaker partner. Yet we are still a partner!
And so we return to the apparent hubris of R. Yosef who claimed that humility was alive and well in him, even after Rebbe’s departure from this world. If humility means having no selfesteem, if it means seeing yourself as nothing more than dust and ash, then R. Yosef, who did not consider himself “just another Joe”, couldn’t be considered humble.
But if humility means recognizing your own value, but at the same time always recognizing the value of others; if it means recognizing your own strengths, but also recognizing the strengths of others and appreciating the sources of your value, then indeed R. Yosef was a model of humility.
It is known that the Kotzker Rebbe told his Hasidim to carry two pieces of paper, one in each pocket. On the first should be inscribed bishvili nivrah haOlam, “the world was created for me” (quoted from Mishnah Sanhedrin). On the second should be inscribed the words of Abraham: va’ani afar va’efer “and I am but dust and ash”.
On Shabbat HaGadol, the Sabbath that celebrates our preparation for Pesach and our historical and future redemption, may the partnership between ourselves and God reflected in the holiday, bring us all to invetanut, a humility that celebrates our value even as the lesser partner.
Shabbat Shalom and hag kasher v’sameach!
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Rabbi Ronald D. Price is the executive vice president emeritus of the UTJ. He served as executive vice president for 26 years, beginning with the founding of the UTJ in 1985 and as the founding dean of the Institute of Traditional Judaism, the Metivta, from 1990 until his retirement in 2011.
A native of Washington, D.C., Rabbi Price graduated from the University of Maryland in 1971 with a BA in Political Science. He received an MA in Hebrew literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1975 and was ordained there in 1977. From 1977 until moving to Israel in 1980, Rabbi Price was Assistant Dean of the Rabbinical School of JTS. Following the break with the Conservative movement, Rabbi Price took his advanced ordination in 1992 under Rav David Weiss Halivni, reish metivta of the Institute of Traditional Judaism.
A highpoint in Rabbi Price’s career came early in his tenure with the UTJ. In 1988, when the “Who is a Jew?” crisis arose and threatened the relationship of Israel to the North American Jewish community, Rabbi Price, on behalf of the UTJ, authored a proposal for a halakhic as well as political solution to the “Who is a Jew?” issue which gained much support in all segments of the community and was praised publicly by the government of Israel as “a bright light at a dark time”.
Rabbi Price also authored the first halakhic living will which continues to be used by individuals and hospitals around North America and is part of the Elder Care Law Library, housed in Washington, D.C. He has lectured extensively and published many articles on subjects such as pluralism in the Jewish community; the right to die and Jewish tradition; creating traditional communities; the realignment of religious Judaism; and the risks and benefits of outreach to the intermarried.
Rabbi Price has dedicated his life to developing ways of making traditional Judaism accessible to the lay community and is the creator of the video education curriculum, “Taking the MTV Challenge: Media and Torah Values,” a Jewish response to media which has been taught in more than 300 institutions across the denominational spectrum around the world.
Rabbi Price lives in Ashqelon, Israel with his wife Tziporah.