HUBRIS

“Beware lest you forget the Lord your God, in not keeping His commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes, which I command you this day: Lest when you have eaten and are satiated, and have built good houses, and dwelt in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; then your heart will grow haughty, and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were venomous serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought forth water for you out of the rock of flint; who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might afflict you, and that He might test you, to do good for you in the future. And you will say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand made me these riches’. But you shall remember the Lord your God, as it is He who gives you power to generate wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.” (Devarim 8:12-18)

In his epic address to the Children of Israel before their entry into Canaan, Moshe describes the great beauty of the land. “For the Lord your God is bringing you to a good land, a land of streams of water, of springs and depths, coming out in the valley and on the highlands. A land of wheat and barley, grapevines, figs, pomegranates; a land of oil olives and [date] honey. A land in which you shall eat bread without poverty.  You shall not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you will excavate copper.” (Devarim 8:7-9) It is a fertile land with abundant water sources. There are many species of fruit and grain and there are other natural resources, such as metal in the mountains. If the Israelites heed God’s commandments, life in the land will be good. There will be rain in the proper time and enough food for man and beast (see Devarim 11:14-15). They will have sturdy homes and they will not be bothered by enemies.

These are wonderful blessings but they come with a potential curse: the corrupting power of affluence which leads to hubris, arrogance and eventually, to denying God’s power. Moshe warns them of this danger with these famous words (8:17), “And you will say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand made me these riches.’’ People will look at their wealth and think: “I was the one who produced all of this. I went to school for twelve years. I studied a difficult degree at university. I came through all of the divisions of the firm where I started my career. I then went out on my own and founded my own business. I took loans and I took great risks. But I remained steadfast and now I have a thriving business. I achieved this with grit and determination. God had nothing to do with it!”

In response to such an attitude, Moshe states (8:18), “But you shall remember the Lord your God, as it is He who gives you power to generate wealth.” The Aramaic translation of Onkelos interprets these words as follows: “For it is He Who gives you counsel to acquire wealth.” What does this mean? At the end of tractate Kiddushin (4:14) there is a lengthy Mishna that discusses the type of work that a Jew should engage in as well as which professions to avoid. Rabbi Meir’s opinion there is: “A person should always teach his son aclean and easy trade and pray for success to the One to Whom wealth and property belong, as ultimately there is no trade that does not include both poverty and wealth. Poverty does not come from a particular trade, nor does wealth come from a particular trade, but rather, all is in accordance with a person’s merit.”  It is not uncommon that two people can receive the identical education and excel in their studies. And yet one achieves far more in his field than his colleague. When we witness this, we might attribute the one’s success to “hard work”; “greater passion”; “more dedication” and other such factors. But very often that is not the case. In fact, it usually seems that one just had better opportunities and was in the right place at the right time. The same is true for investing – some people just seem to have a knack for knowing which investments are going to be successful. This is what Onkelos means when he comments that “it is He who gives you counsel to acquire wealth.” God inserted an idea into the person’s mind. That idea became the catalyst for their success. They might not even be aware of it, for it is often hidden deep in the subconscious.  Rabbi Akiva Tatz notes that in Yiddish, a good idea is an einfal which literally means “to fall in.” There is great wisdom in this Jewish language and this word is an example. Jews have always known that a great idea does not originate with them but that “it falls in”, i.e. God inserts it into one’s mind.

One of the benefits of Shabbat is to impart this idea to us. In his excellent work Shabbat (Sulamot/Ktav publishing, volume 1, page 75, “Internalizing that we are flesh and blood”), Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon writes: “What is a person’s task in the world? Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (The Lonely Man of Faith, pp. 9-12) describes one of a person’s primary tasks: “Fill the earth and subdue it” – Adam the first wants to be human…and to be human means to live with dignity…Man of old who could not fight disease and succumbed in multitudes to yellow fever or any other plague with degrading helplessness could not lay claim to dignity. Only the man who builds hospitals, discovers therapeutic techniques, and saves lives is blessed with dignity. Man of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who needed several days to travel from Boston to New York was less dignified than modern man who attempts to conquer space…In doing all this, Adam the first is trying to carry out the mandate entrusted to him by his Maker who, at the dawn of the sixth mysterious day of creation, addressed Himself to man and summoned him to “fill the earth and subdue it.”

Rabbi Rimon continues: “Rav Soloveitchik beautifully describes the importance of modern industrial and scientific development. People in modern times, who know how to build hospitals, save lives, and travel to outer space, thereby fulfill, in a wondrous manner, the task given to us by God: “Fill the earth and subdue it” (Bereishit 1:28). We have achieved tremendous mastery of the world: “You have made him but little lower than angels” (Tehillim 8:6).

Rabbi Rimon concludes: “This role is important and inspiring, but it has a drawback. One might come to think that they have divine power, that they themselves are gods. Perhaps that is why we are commanded to stop and rest one day a week. One understands and even declares on Shabbat: I am not a god! I am not capable of working constantly, without a break. I am human, and I need a rest. In this way, we also internalize another point. One can feel active during the week, one can be creative, one can accomplish. One’s power can lead to a feeling that “my power and the might of my hand made me these riches” (Devarim 8:17).  Shabbat emphasises that it is all from God. Halting our activities demonstrates that we are but flesh and blood, and it is God, the Creator of the universe, who stands behind everything.

Lee, Chani Merryl & Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Liebenberg.

Rabbi’s YouTube message: https://youtu.be/rNXJsIQHwlo?si=Tj5v6gbTzJ63LPjs