Breaking Pride and Embracing Humility: A Jewish Path to Inner Peace

Many people feel that achieving humility is too great a challenge, and they give up before even trying.

However, God would not command us in something that is impossible. If it feels too out of reach, it is likely because we don’t invest enough effort, focus, or thought.

Why Humility Feels So Distant

If we were to study together every day, even just two hours, focusing on how to acquire humility, after a few months our way of thinking and our behavior would change significantly. If until now we haven’t managed to lessen our pride, it is only because we haven’t worked hard enough to understand just how destructive pride is.

When I ask someone, “Why don’t you attend Torah study classes?” the common answer is: “I don’t have time. I’m too busy with my work and family.” My reply is always the same: think of a person diagnosed with a serious illness. Does he have time to go to life-saving treatments? Of course he does — he even arrives early to make sure he won’t miss them. This is because his health is precious to him. The same is true of Torah. If a person truly understood how vital Torah is for his life, he would always make time for it.

The same is true with humility. If we truly grasped how much peace, blessing, and goodness it brings, harmony in the home, better livelihood, inner peace, even spiritual insight, we would certainly work tirelessly to attain it. If we would realized how destructive pride is, that it leads to anger, financial lack, and even disgrace, we would never neglect the effort.

The First Step: Faith

The key to developing humility is faith. The more we internalize that all our strength, wisdom, and success come solely from God, the more natural humility becomes. Pride stems from the false belief that “I succeeded” or “I know”, but the moment a person attributes success only to himself, he forgets that it is God who grants success. If, instead, we train ourselves to immediately attribute our success to God’s kindness, humility will naturally take root within us.

Moses as the Ultimate Model of Humility

The Torah says about Moshe (Moses): “Now the man Moshe was exceedingly humble, more than any person on the face of the earth” (Bamidbar 12:3). Let’s reflect: Moshe, according to tradition, stood nearly five meters tall; his face shone with such radiance that the people couldn’t look at him; he spoke with God directly, not through visions or riddles; he spent forty days in heaven learning Torah and debated angels; he received the Torah itself, which is forever called “Torat Moshe” (the Torah of Moses). He led Israel out of Egypt with miracles, was immensely wealthy, and even in his final days his eyes did not dim, nor his strength diminish.

Moshe was the most complete human being to ever live. And yet, the Torah describes him as the most humble person of all time. How is this possible?

The answer is simple: Moshe had the clearest, most direct awareness of God. He saw the greatness of the Creator more than anyone else. With such faith and recognition, humility becomes inevitable. He understood two things deeply:

1. Compared to God’s infinite greatness, he was nothing.

2. Whatever success or wisdom he had was not truly his own, but granted every moment by the One who sustains him.

That is why Moses could be perfect in every way, and still consider himself utterly humble.

Applying This Lesson to Ourselves

Shlomo Hamelech (King Solomon) taught: “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Mishlei 3:6). When we keep in mind that all our efforts, successes, and even failures are in God’s hands, humility will enter our hearts more naturally.

Consider for example, a young man who completes the study of the entire Talmud. At his grand Siyum HaShas celebration, pride creeps in: “I’m so young and I’ve already finished the Talmud. Few people can match me. Everyone must now respect me. My future in-laws must buy me a house worthy of my greatness.”

The eyes that read the words of Torah — who gave them the ability to see? The brain cells that understood the text — who gave them wisdom? The heart that kept him alive during all his studies — who commanded it to beat? These were all gifts from God.

If that’s not enough to calm his pride, he must reflect that every success he had was dependent on countless Divine gifts. What if he had been born into a family completely distant from Torah and mitzvot? Would he still have reached this achievement? God placed him in a supportive family and community, which is also a free gift.

The same applies to teachers, rabbis, and anyone privileged to teach Torah to others. Receiving compliments and admiration is a test. When I remember where I was born — in the Tel Aviv neighborhood of Shchunat Hatikva — I know that had God not sent someone at the right time to convince my parents to send me to a yeshiva in Bnei Brak, I might have grown up selling fruit in the local market, or worse. That realization alone makes it clear that everything I have in life is nothing but a free gift from God.