Humility vs. Pride: How True Greatness Comes from Surrender to God

The trait of pride can be destructive in that it prevents a person from fully submitting to the Creator in all their actions. As a result, we sometimes see people who treat certain mitzvot lightly or even transgress prohibitions, although they may still keep other mitzvot.

If however they are faced with challenges, they ask God: “Why are You bringing me these troubles?”, because they believe they do not deserve any punishment. In their minds, they are perfect and believe that if they were in charge of the world, they would govern it better than the Creator Himself.

The prophet Zechariah tells us: “On that day, the Lord will be One and His Name One” (Zechariah 14:9). The ultimate purpose of creation is that the whole world will recognize that there is nothing besides Him — that all our actions, thoughts, successes, and failures come from Him alone. In the days of the Messiah, everyone will know there is only God in the world.

The Trait of Humility

Humility is the root of all good character traits. Moses, the most perfect human who ever lived, was praised by God Himself: “He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him mouth to mouth, clearly and not in riddles” (Numbers 12:7–8). The Rambam explains that all the other prophets received prophecy through dreams and metaphors, but Moses spoke directly with God, without riddles, and could speak to Him whenever he wished.

Surely Moses possessed every noble quality to the highest degree, and yet the Torah praises him for only one trait: humility. As it says, “And the man Moses was very humble, more than any man on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). We learn from this that humility is the greatest praise a person can receive, as it includes within it all other good traits.

The Praise of Humility

In this section, I will draw heavily from Rabbeinu Bachya’s classic work Chovot HaLevavot (Duties of the Heart), in the Gate of Submission.

Rashi explains the Torah’s word “anav” (“humble”) as “lowly and patient”. A truly humble person knows their own smallness and limitations, and understands how much they lack in their traits and deeds. As a result, they become patient, slow to anger, gentle in dealing with others, soft-spoken, and forgiving even when they have the power to retaliate.

At first, I mistakenly thought humility meant considering myself worthless: that I don’t know how to learn, earn money, help others, or solve problems for myself or anyone else. Then I realized, that a donkey also doesn’t know any of these things. Does that make it humble? Of course not. The donkey’s “humility” is not a virtue — it simply lacks the capacity that God gives humans.

True humility is when a person knows their strengths, recognizes the gifts God has given them, and uses them for good — while remembering at all times that these gifts are not theirs by right, but given to them by the Creator.

If God has blessed you with a sharp mind, acknowledge it, and use it to develop Torah insights and teach others. If He gave you skill in business, use it to earn a living and help others. If you have technical talent, use it to create things that benefit people.

The same applies to a woman with persuasive abilities. She should not dismiss herself, but use that gift to encourage friends and family to grow closer to God, to inspire women in modesty, and to strengthen love for the Creator.

The key principle is that even when God has blessed us with unique qualities, we must remember that our essence, our thoughts, and our abilities are all ongoing gifts from Him. We must never imagine that we are wise or capable “because of ourselves.” We simply received a gift that others did not.

I have often been asked simple halachic questions and found my mind completely blocked from answering. At other times, God has taken pity on me and placed the correct answer instantly in my mind. The brain is the same brain, the cells have not changed — so what is the difference? The answer is clear: “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6).

At every moment, the Creator places ideas, questions, answers, and solutions into our thoughts, or withholds them. Can we really be proud of a gift that is dropped into our minds from Above?