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Chapter One: ON PRIDE

In the first chapter we shall speak about the quality of pride. How good it is that it occurs at the very beginning of all the chapters because of the obligation of man to separate himself from it! For pride is the doorway to many evils and we have seen nothing as evil as arrogance in all of the qualities. Therefore, a man must be wise and lead pride along paths that are worthy, and thrust it away from the place where it is not proper for it to be.

Pride is the coin which the Great King, Blessed be He, voided, and about which He warned us in His Torah, as it is said: "Take care lest you forget the Lord your God and fail to keep His commandments" (Deut. 8:11). For the arrogant person forgets his Maker, as it is written, "… and (when) your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold have increased, and everything you own has prospered, beware lest your heart grow haughty and you forget the Lord your God … and you say to yourselves, 'My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me'" (Ibid. 8:13-18). And in the case of a king it is said: "Thus he will not act haughtily towards his fellows or deviate from the Instruction to the right or to the left…" (Ibid. 17:20). If the Torah warned against pride even in the case of a king, so much more does it warn ordinary men that they should not attempt to lord over one another.

Arrogance may be divided into two types. One: the pride of a man in his body; Two: the pride of a man in his intellectual attainments and in his deeds.

The pride of a man in his body or person is, in turn, divided into two classifications, one good and one evil. And this is the pride of a man in his body which is evil. When arrogance becomes strong in the heart of a man, then it rules over him from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. In his head and in his throat, as it is written: "Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched-forth necks…" (Is. 3:16). In his hands and in his feet, as it is written: "Let not the foot of pride overtake me, and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away" (Ps. 36:12).

And it was because of the "foot of pride" that the daughter of Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion was punished, for it was decreed that she dwell in a brothel because on one occasion, when she was walking before the great men of Rome, she heard them say, "How beautiful are the steps of this maiden!" Whereupon, she took particular care of her step (Abodah Zarah 18a).

With eyes, as it is written: "Haughty eyes" (Prov. 6:17).

A person can be haughty with his ears when he does not hear the cries of the wretched poor. A person can be haughty with his nose when he stands near the poor or when he enters their houses and they smell bad to him. And he can be haughty with his speech when he speaks impudently and with pride against the righteous.

Pride can also be recognized in his food and drink, and in his wearing of proud garments — the garments of a heathen — and against this we are warned in the Torah of Moses, as it is said: "You shall not follow the practices of the nation …" (Lev. 20:23), and it is also written: "… Neither shall ye walk in their statues …" (Ibid. 18:3), and it is further said: "Take heed to thyself that thou be not ensnared to follow them …" (Deut. 12:30). All of these precepts concern one matter — warning that Israel should be distinguished from the nations in its garments, speech and customs, and thus it says: "… for I have set you apart from the peoples" (Lev. 20:26).

Arrogant people are disgusting in the eyes of the Lord, as it is said: "Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord" (Prov. 16:5). And such a one is easily surrendered into the power of his evil impulse, for God's help is not with him since he is abominable to the Lord. And even though he does not lord it over any man by word or deed but in his heart alone, he is called "abominable" for it says, "Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord," that is to say, even if he has no arrogance except in his heart.

Our Rabbis said: "Every man who is impudent or proud of spirit it is as though he were an idolator" (Sotah 4b), for it is written, "Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord" (Prov. 16:5) and it is written there: "You must not bring an abhorrent thing (idol) into your house …" (Deut. 7:26). And there are those who say it is as though he violated all the laws against sexual license, for it is written: "For all these abominations were done by the people who were in the land before you and the land became defiled …" (Lev. 18:27). And there are those who say, "It is as though he built a place for idolatry." And they said in Sotah 5a, "Every man who is arrogant of spirit becomes less in the end as it is said: 'They are exalted for a little while' (Job 24:25). And such a one is deserving to be hewn down like a grove planted for idol worship, as it is said: 'And the high ones of stature shall be hewn down' (Is. 10:33). And his dust shall not awaken and the Spirit of God laments over him. The Holy One Blessed be He, said, 'I and he cannot live in the same world,' as it is said: 'Whoso is haughty of eye and proud of heart, him will I not suffer'" (Ps. 101:5).

And they said in Baba Batra 98a, "He who is arrogant — even the people of his own household will not accept him," as it is said: "The haughty man abideth not…" (Hab. 2:5) which can be translated, "The man who is haughty abideth not even in his own abode."

Arrogance leads to the pursuit of wealth in order to lord over people. You already know what happened to Korah and his band because of his arrogance, for he sought to make himself great and to assume greatness that had not been given to him by Heaven, and from this he entered into controversy and from the controversy came jealousy and hatred. All of these qualities are very demeaning qualities, as shall, with God's help, be explained.

The end of the matter is that every one who adorns his body in order to lord it over others forgets the Lord, Blessed be He, and will not concern himself with the commandments, and will not pursue good deeds, for all his intent is concentrated on himself — to adorn his ephemeral body whose end is worms. And he who concentrates on adorning his person is near to committing immoral acts, for he will display himself before women to win favor in their eyes and this will lead him to draw close to them and he will engage in laughter and levity.

Also, the woman who adorns herself to display herself before men arouses their desire and puts unworthy thoughts in their minds and for this her punishment is very great for she places a stumbling block before many. Did not our Sages forbid men to gaze at the gaily colored garments of women when these garments are spread out upon the wall, even when she is not dressed in them, all the more so is there great punishment for a woman who adorns herself for men who ogle her.

And moreover, arrogance leads to lust, for the heart of the arrogant person is open wide to every temptation and desires everything. And lust is the worst quality of all, for because of his pride, a person will lust to wear expensive garments and build big palaces and eat tasty food, for the proud person longs always for "big things" and if he finds he cannot attain them, legitimately, he comes to steal and rob. For the arrogant person lusts to fill his purse and grow wealthy. He is never satisfied with his destiny, for all that he has seems too little for him, especially with the many expenses which his lust costs him. And, moreover, pride causes him to be impatient with the disciplines of society. It is not necessary to dwell upon the unworthiness of the impatient, for this is known to all.

And there is a sort of personal pride or pride in one's person that is good and necessary. Otherwise, a man might say, "Since arrogance is so evil a quality I shall separate myself from pride even more." And then he denies himself meat, drinks no wine, does not marry, does not live in a nice dwelling, does not put on a nice garment, but wears sackloth and coarse wool, and torn, soiled clothes, uses soiled and ugly dishes and utensils, does not wash his face, hands and feet until his appearance becomes more bedraggled than the appearance of other men and he does all this so as to remove himself from pride as far as is possible.

One who follows this course is called a "sinner", for lo it is said of a Nazarite: "and make expiation on his behalf for the guilt that he has incurred through the corpse" (Numbers 6:11). The Sages said, "If one who denies himself only wine is called a sinner how much more he who denies himself all pleasure" (Ta'anith 11a). The Sages said, "Is it not enough for you that the Torah has forbidden that you wish to forbid yourself other things?" (T.P. Nedarim 9:1). And on this subject and similar ones, Solomon said, "Be not righteous overmuch: neither make thyself overwise; why shouldest thou destroy thyself?" (Eccl. 7:16).

The proper way for man is to be clean in all matters, for cleanliness is the fence that guards good deeds. How shall he conduct himself? He should wear garments of moderate worth, and not expensive and splendid clothes that invite everyone's attention. Nor shall he wear poor or shabby garments that shame the wearer, but garments of moderate worth, lovely and clean, according to his means. And it is forbidden that a spot or a stain be found on his garments. They should not be torn and they shall not be styled as the vulgar sometimes do.

His food should be clean and he should not eat "royal dainties" but ordinary food and ordinary drink according to his means. He should not eat nor drink out of repugnant dishes lest he transgress the commandment: "You shall not draw abomination upon yourselves…" (Lev. 11:43), but everything shall be with cleanliness.

His table and his bed shall be clean and all things that pertain to him shall be clean. His own body or person shall be clean not loathesome and he should be careful to wash his face, hands and feet and all his body at frequent times. As we find that "When Hillel the elder took leave of his disciples they said to him, 'Whither you go?' And he said to them, 'To fulfill a precept!' Then they asked him. 'Which precept is Hillel about to fulfill?' He said to them, 'To bathe in the bathhouse.' They asked, 'Is this a precept?' He said to them, 'Yes! If you consider that the statues of kings which are set up in theatres and circuses are scrubbed and cleaned by the one delegated to this task, and this man receives sustenance for this and is among the honored men of the kingdom, should we who are created in the image of God (Gen. 9:6) have less regard for our bodies?' " (Leviticus Rabbah 34:3).

Moreover, as it is written: "The Lord made everything for His own purpose" (Prov. 16:4) (Sabbath 50b).

And all who are careful to observe these matters for the sake of the command and not merely to make themselves attractive and proud, even though this care of the body may seem like conceit — as long as it is his intention to serve God through cleanliness, there is great merit in him.

Pride in Wisdom and Good Deeds may be divided into two types — one good and the other bad. The pride that is bad is when a man despises others in his heart and with his mouth, and when all people aside from himself are small and lacking in his eyes, and he constantly praises himself that he is all wise and is therefore often tempted to deny a truth because he is too conceited to admit that he could be wrong. Such a person always believes that his words, advice and deeds are better than the words, advice and deeds of his friends and companions. Such a one boasts constantly of his wisdom and deeds for he desires praise and honor for all the good things he does. And covering this sort of person, Solomon says, "Let a stranger praise you and not your own mouth!" (Prov. 27:2).

The arrogant person will always take all credit for himself and thus will not trouble himself to study Torah, for he cares nothing for the Glory of God but desires only that the world shall praise him and call him a good and wise man. Such a man always rejoices when others stumble for lack of knowledge and feels himself exalted when his companions are disgraced. And this fault is one of the 24 things which prevent repentance. (Alfasi Yoma Ch. 8). A man, all of whose deeds are good, but who boasts about them in order to attain honor is like a very fine dish, seasoned with the finest seasonings and spices, but standing near the fire so long that is becomes overcooked and emits a bad odor — until it cannot be eaten because of the burnt taste caused by the fire. Similiarly the man who boasts about his deeds overcooks and causes a bad odor by his selfpraise even of his admittedly good deeds. As for him who boasts of his wisdom and deeds when he has neither, there is no worse quality than this and none to equal it. And our sages have said: "If people honor a man because they believe that he knows two tractates of the Talmud when he knows only one, he should tell them he does not know more than one tractate" (T.P. Shebi'ith 10:8). All the more so must he not deceive people into holding him in high regard for qualities or knowledge he does not possess.

And know this — that we are obligated that all our deeds, public or private, be dedicated to God's Holy Name, may He be Exalted, and the whole purpose of service to God should be to attain His will and approval alone and not the approval of men, so as to gather praise and honor for one's deeds. But a person should do all for the sake of God who looks to the heart as it is written: "I the Lord search the mind and examine the heart" (Jer. 17:10), and it is said: "The secret things are known to the Lord our God" (Deut. 29:28).

Therefore, if a man does not constantly guard himself with wisdom and alertness to be saved from arrogance, even though he possesses much knowledge of the Torah and many good deeds, he will inherit Gehenna. For the evil desire always lies in ambush for him, and brings reasons and proofs in order to make him arrogant, for the whole mission of the evil desire is to destroy a man. Therefore a man should not be too idle to conquer the evil desire daily. And this is a great battle, as we have found in the case of one of the saintly who met men returning from war with plunder. He said to them, "You have returned from a small war; you must face a great war." They asked him, "What kind of war?" He said to them, "The evil inclination and its hosts, for every other enemy when you conquer him one, two or three times, he will let you be, but the evil desire will not desist from you even if he is conquered a hundred times, as our sages said: "And do not believe in yourself until the day of your death" (Aboth 2:4), for all your days he will be in ambush for you, hoping that perhaps you will turn your attention away from him. And if he defeats you in the smallest matter he will in the end defeat you in the most serious matters. And since arrogance is the root of many unworthy qualities and since the evil desire participates and mingles in all that goes on in the heart of a man, and the entire purpose of evil desire is to falsify Truth and make the Lie seem true, he teaches man to be proud and brings arguments to justify arrogance, therefore you must arm yourself to deal wisely in your struggle against him.

The first of the schemes of the evil desire is to harden the heart and exalt it and to sweeten arrogance and other evil qualities, and even though a man knows clearly that there is sin and wrong in his arrogance, he still transgresses willfully and continues to be arrogant, for the evil desire causes the heart to be drawn after honor until it does not feel the sin of it.

However, in the case of a man who is pure in his deeds and does not boast or vaunt himself since he knows that there is sin in this matter, then the evil desire comes and conducts a war to the death, to overthrow and capture him in his net, and teaches that that which is forbidden is really permitted and presents opinions and citations to the effect that he will be following the commandment and will receive reward for his self honor and boasting. And thus the evil desire says, "You have already attained the heights of wisdom and piety, and it is proper for you to conciliate yourself with a natural desire and try to be liked by people even though you may have to fawn upon them and reveal to them your wisdom and righteousness in order to win their love." The evil desire will even bring proof from the words of our Sages: "Everyone whom people like, God also likes" (Aboth 3:10). But all this is false proof, for this type of reasoning is already a branch of arrogance. But the truth of the matter is, as it is written: "When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him" (Prov. 16:7). And the meaning of this verse is, 'If a man does not boast before others and does not try to be liked by them because of his good deeds, and yet people like him, this is great evidence that the Holy One, Blessed be He, loves him, and has sown (the seeds of) love for him in the hearts of people and has made him a good name on their tongues. In truth there are some individuals who are loved by people and the Holy One Blessed be He hates them, for they do not fulfill His Commandments. For the Holy One Blessed be He loves only those who study the Torah and fulfill its precepts.

After attempting what has been mentioned, the evil desire will entice you to reveal your piety and good deeds before the public and will bring as proof that by doing so you will be influencing others to do good likewise. This feeling also comes from arrogance. Although we have seen some of our great sages, who praised their own conduct, they did this only before their disciples and companions in study, in order that their disciples and companions be drawn after them and emulate their deeds. Certainly this is a great good deed to make dear to them the performance of good works, but even before his disciples and companions he should not feel proud in his heart when he says, "This I know!" or "This I do!" But before people generally, it is forbidden to expose your good deeds or display your wisdom.

Even though you be modest and pray at length and study Torah at set times, your evil desire will entice you to be proud and say to you, "Now the people who see you will deem you important and honor you because of your good ways. And there is much to be gained, because since you are important in their eyes they will receive your moral teaching and rebuke."

All this is nothing! When you do good deeds for the sake of the Creator alone, Blessed be He, your words of rebuke will be eagerly welcomed by people, even if you do not think so, for the willingness of people to accept correction from you does not depend on your thoughts.

Now if you can avoid the temptation to display your goodness, the evil desire may tempt you to the other extreme and say to you. "You cannot serve God completely unless you avoid the flatterer altogether. Therefore conceal your good deeds and do the opposite of what you were previously tempted to do — Pray briefly, and when you study any form of wisdom do it privately and let no one know of your prayer and study other than the Creator alone. And let there not be seen in you any good quality. On the contrary, let there be apparent an idleness or laziness in your Service to God in order that you be not esteemed and thus lose your Heavenly reward, and do not warn people against evil and direct people to do good, and do not let people know that you have wisdom and do not teach it to others and do not show any sign of one who reveres God, as for example, the Tefillin, the Mezuzah and the Tzizit, but on the contrary go along with the crowd and mingle with them in their food, drink and gaiety, and hilarious laughter." All this is the scheme of the evil desire to trap men in his net and he who does these things, believing them to be the performance of God's command, his loss is a million times greater than his reward and he is like one who escapes a small fire into a big fire.

The right way is for him to pray with intent and at length and direct others to do good and warn them against evil and do good deeds both openly and in secret. And if people honor and esteem him — in this no harm is done, since he did not intend to win honor and esteem when he did these things. Therefore, when you do your good deed, consider in your soul from whom you expect a reward. If from God — then your act is completely good; if from another source, your act is not completely good. You should also analyze if the good deed which you do publicly you would do in the extremest privacy and anonimity with the same zeal with which you do it publicly. And if it is clear to you that you would, then your good deed is wholly good.

All that we have recounted here regarding the evil desire is but a drop in the ocean in view of how greatly we must be warned against him, for in everything, in every deed and in every good quality the evil desire comes to destroy and to spoil. We have simply opened the door slightly to inform those who do not know the beginning of their ways, concerning the evil desire. And the wise will understand and hasten to thrust him from within himself as it is written : "And he that has clean hands increases strength" (Job 17:9).

The pride in the attainment of wisdom is praiseworthy, as it is said: "But let him that boasts boast of this — that he understands and knows Me" (Jer. 9:23). Such a one will increase his thanks to the Creator, Blessed be He, and will also increase prayers for wisdom, of which this is an example: "I thank Thee that Thou hast assigned my lot among those who sit in the House of Study and not in the market place," or "Happy are we and how goodly is our portion and how pleasant is our lot!" And on this subject it is said, "And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord" (II Chron. 17:6). For the man who prizes Wisdom will be of high spiritual worth and lofty of heart concerning all matters pertaining to the world to come, and he will not be contented with what comes to him by chance and he will not be satisfied with what knowledge or wisdom he himself acquires, but he will minimize in his own eyes all his deeds and his soul will strive higher continually, and he will find fault with his soul as though it offers too little in the Service of God, Blessed be He. This type of pride does not harm modesty, but, on the contrary, helps him to rejoice in all good qualities and to be glad when his companions are honored and to concern himself with their honor.

And arrogance against the wicked is exceedingly to be praised, to rebuke them and to shame them, and he must never humble himself to them, and he must command them concerning the good and warn them, as much as lies in his power, against evil. Even though his preaching to them may seem in the eyes of the world like lording over others and boasting, since his intention is for the sake of God he is to be praised. And he should not humble himself before the wicked, following the example of Mordecai who refused to bow before Haman. And wherever he has to perform a commandment of God, let him not bow at all to the wicked to leave the good thing he intends to do, merely because he will be lower in their eyes. And this in itself requires wisdom as to when he should lord it over them in the matter of performing a good deed. For there are times when it is not worthwhile to oppose them, since if he opposes them in his attempt to perform one precept, he may lose the opportunity of persuading them to perform a hundred precepts.

For this reason the wise person should consider carefully the importance of the matter at issue and the time, and only in accordance with these factors should he plan his actions. For there are matters which it would be better to abandon for their sake and there are matters where he can make no concession at all and must stand up to them with his body and all his might and not yield to them at all. All this applies to the case of God's command being the issue. But, where the difference of opinion or quarrel is about a business matter he should yield to them and do to them in any secular matter even more than the law requires. And this is a great good deed!

Whoever has the quality of arrogance ought to try and turn away from it for it is very base, and the damage caused by it is great and ever-present, and the worth that is in it is very little. Therefore, we must distance ourselves from it with all our might, for arrogance brings man to ruin and to humiliation, as it is said: "Pride goes before destruction" (Prov. 16:18), and it is also said: "A man's pride shall bring him low" (Prov. 29:23). And you already know what happened to Pharaoh when he said, "Who is the Lord, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go?" (Exod. 5:2), and to Goliath, the Phillistine, who said: "I do taunt the armies of Israel this day" (I Sam. 17:10), and to Sennacherib, who said, "Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand ?" (Is. 36:20). And Nebeuchadnezzar, when he said, "And who is the god that shall deliver you from my hand?" (Dan. 3:15), and similar instances of those who spoke thusly, and their end was shame and disgrace. And whoever clings to this quality is not saved from sin and wrongdoing, as the Sage said, "A proud and haughty man, scorner is his name. Even he that dealeth in overbearing pride" (Prov. 21:24).

And since our words have reached this far on the subject of Arrogance, listen to the words of the Sages. One wise man said: "Who is the one who is never free from worry? He who seeks to attain a height that is too high for him." And they also said: "He who thinks that he knows everything, him people will designate as a fool." And they said further, "Evil deeds are near to Arrogance, and he who has in him a leaning towards evil deeds will incur the hatred of all men." And one Sage said: "As a pleasant countenance is the light of the body so are pleasant qualities the light of the soul."

And he said further: "There is nothing to be gained for himself when a king is arrogant, how much more it is important that other people do not behave so with each other," And he said, "There was once a king, sitting on his kingly throne, who observed his nobles sitting on thrones one higher than the other. So the king said to them, 'How did you dare seat yourselves thus, one above the other without my permission?' The one seated on the highest throne answered, 'The greatness of the pedigree of my family entitles me to sit on a higher place than my companions.' The second one said, 'I deserve my higher throne because of my great wisdom.' The third one answered, 'The humiliation of my soul and my crushed heart have seated me below the others.' Thereupon the king raised him and made him great." And in this connection it is said: "For it is better that it be said to you, 'Come up hither' than that you should be lowered in the presence of the prince" (Prov. 25:7).

When a man sees that the quality of arrogance is growing stronger within him, he should think of things that will frighten his heart, "That he come from a fetid drop and will return to a place of dust and worms, and that he will be compelled to render an accounting before the King of Kings, the Holy One Blessed be He." And he should reflect upon how many arrogant individuals strutted boastfully for a moment and then disappeared from the world, forgotten as though they had never existed, and what did their arrogance gain for them?

Make a fence to restrain yourself at a distance from arrogance and the other evil qualities.

He who desires to root out haughtiness from his heart completely cannot do this by thought alone, but must at first depart from arrogance to its furthest extremity. How? A man who was accustomed to dressing himself in the finest garments such as the haughtiest people wear and wants to turn from this ostentation must overcorrect his defect. If he should wear ordinary clothes in an attempt to correct his fault he will not eradicate his haughtiness from his heart. Or if his custom was to boast and to exalt himself to win honor by words or deeds. There is no means of correcting this unless he goes to the other extreme and conducts himself with the greatest humiliation, sitting below everyone or far to the rear, and wears worn and shabby clothes that disgrace their wearer, and does similar things until he roots out his haughtiness to heart.

The same is true of a man with a hot temper who is angry often. At first he should conduct himself so that even if they beat him and curse him he should not feel it at all. He must continue in this manner for a long time until he roots out the very roots of anger from his heart. When he has achieved this he can then take the middle road and follow it all his life. One should follow this procedure with all evil qualities. At first one should withdraw to the furthest extreme and act thusly for a long time. Afterwards he should take the middle road. And this method of procedure is a complete healing in connection with all evil qualities. And he whose intention continually is to serve the Creator Blessed be He, with every part of himself and in the best manner, will place this path before himself and before his companion. And concerning this it is said : "And to him that ordereth his way aright will I show the salvation of God." (Ps. 50:23).