The hubris trap

By Rabbi Berel Wein

http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- King Solomon issued the famous warning that "pride goes before a fall."

Now, pride is a necessary ingredient of leadership. People without pride in their accomplishments and a sense of their own worth are subject to weakness and depression. People without pride are rarely successful.

Yet the Torah warns us over and over again about being too prideful; we are warned repeatedly against the awful sin of hubris and arrogance.

Maimonides -- the great advocate of the golden mean that warns against excess in behavior -- warns against hubris and overweening pride. He advocates instead going to the extreme of absolute humility in personal traits.

The compliment that the Torah itself pays to Moses, our teacher and leader, is "that the man Moses was the most humble of all humans." So how are we to be prideful and humble at the very same time?

The answer lies, in my humble opinion, in the ability to listen honestly to the criticism and comments of others. We can certainly remain proud of ourselves and our achievements, but we must always be open to the words of criticism regarding our policies and deportment.

I learned long ago that people who aspire to minister to the spiritual and physical needs of others have to listen to them as well.

There is a famous Yiddish folk saying that one has to "listen to the patient's opinion about his health and not necessarily to that of the doctor."

Listening to others has a humbling effect on even the most prideful of humans. It is only when one is surrounded by yes-men, when one is so full of oneself that one consults with and listens to no one, that hubris sets in. And then disastrous consequences, personal and national, are probable.

In biblical times, the task of the prophet was to be the moral critic of the ruler and/or king of Israel. It was never an enviable task, telling the king that he was spiritually wrong and morally naked.

But kings who listened to prophets, who humbled themselves and admitted error -- David, Hizkiyahu, Yehoash -- were and are heroic figures in Jewish history. They escaped the trap of hubris which engulfs most people in authority. Saul, Ahav, Zidkiyahu - great kings who could not bear to hear or obey the critical words of the prophets - remain tragic figures in Jewish history.

My yeshiva teachers taught me long ago that true pride is in the search for deep humility, for only one who can hear the opinions and words of others and thereby change and grow is a truly humble person --- the Moses that can lead Israel out of its desert of troubles.

Any reader of Psalms is struck by the sincerity and humility of King David. It is apparent that only in humility can he find ultimate serenity.

True Jewish leadership is confident because of the underlying humility that girds and informs it. Hubris and arrogance, bombastic speeches and empty threats, only express an inner doubt about oneself and one's cause.

Our society suffers from a double defect in this area. We are overly humble, almost ashamed of our accomplishments. The revisionist 'post-Zionist' historians have completely deflated the inspirational quality of the creation of the State of Israel. The avant-garde intellectuals and columnists champion the causes of Arafat and Assad. They are right and we are wrong.

Their humility is so extreme that they have willingly pled guilty to all of the false charges leveled against us by our foes.

In the 19th century, many of our German and Russian ancestors also believed that the charges by antisemites were somehow justified. This self-hatred, which is sick humility, brought only disaster to all of Jewry.

And yet on the other hand, we suffer from the sin of hubris. We are constantly surrounded by leaders, judges, teachers, etc. who are deaf and unresponsive to the criticism of others.

Being elected or appointed to an important office is no evidence of infallibility. In fact, that is when extreme humility is most necessary.The combination of arrogance about one's self and extreme humility when defending one's just cause, people and tradition is a lethal one. We should do all in our power to escape from the hubris trap.

JWR contributor Rabbi Berel Wein is one of Jewry's foremost historians and founder of the Destiny Foundation. He resides in Jerusalem. You may contact Rabbi Wein by clicking here or calling 1-800-499-WEIN (9346).

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© 2000, Rabbi Berel Wein