Recently, a friend told me of a situation with another friend that was truly aggravating him, and a quote from Pirket Avot came to mind.

One single, extra small letter in the traditional text of Vayikra (Lev. 1:1-5:26) teaches us a big lesson in humility. In fact, it’s a letter in the first word of the parasha, the word “vayikra” itself, which is written in the Torah scroll with a final aleph that is smaller than the rest of the letters.

Joseph’s story turns on three pairs of dreams. In the first pair, Joseph sees himself symbolically as dominant over his brothers, and he foolishly tells them about it.

People uphold humility like its the most laudable of virtues. I think its overrated. I’ve seen people feign humility to the point that it’s sickening.

Accepting compliments can be very hard for some people. For some, the non-acceptance is considered related to the humility they hope to demonstrate.

There is a well-known anecdote about a young tourist visiting the home of Ludwig Van Beethoven; it seems the pretentious young woman, upon seeing Beethoven's piano, sat down and played one of the great composer's pieces.

As the presidential race heats up, I’m struck—and troubled—by how invested in one candidate or party many believers seem to be. It’s good to be involved in the political process, but the passion with which some believers demonize the opposition and line up with one party line or another suggests that they really believe the political system holds the key to life’s toughest problems.

Humility can display itself in many forms. It can be the simple deference we show to someone else, or the more rigorous steps we take not to cause offense or be callous to someone's feelings and reputation.

More than any other extremity on the human body feet get hit the hardest. Feet hold up a significant portion of our body’s weight, they sustain the greatest impact for the longest time, and without protection and regular showers they get rough and smelly.

In recent weeks, I’ve participated in internet discussions where people have accused me of not being humble. I never claimed to be the most humble guy in the world, but they said I was arrogant.

The opening of Devarim is Moses’ “recap” of much that had transpired for the Jewish people while travelling towards the Land. The picture isn’t so pretty. Moses does not give an optimistic appraisal of the people. By and large they are presented as stubborn, weak, scared, petty, and dense.

As we are approaching the half-way point of Sefirat Ha-Omer, counting the days from Passover to Shavuot (Lev. 23:10-15), we might recall that the first 32 days of the Omer are a period of semi-mourning in Jewish tradition.

It is not that one needs to diminish the ego as much as one needs to make sure ego does not get in the way of being able give and receive. True humility comes from a place where one can so deeply acknowledge and love another that his/her own needs become less of the focus.

I suppose those who have a humble spirit are hardly aware of it and rarely speak of it. So I will attempt to make a few observations, hopefully with neither hubris nor false humility.

It is through God’s great love and support that we can even approach holiness. Let us take time every morning to settle into these words, especially during a week centered on humility.

From Exodus through Deuteronomy we experience the revelation of Hashem through the story of a humble leader and the Children of Israel. The Torah narrative points out explicitly the trait of humility that Moses possessed. Why is this trait so important for spiritual leadership within communities?

The Baal Shem Tov once traveled with a group of his disciples to a distant village where there lived a certain parush (ascetic) who was constantly engaged in Torah study, prayer, and other divine service, to the exclusion of everything else.

Humility and timidity are not the same. Thankfully, it is more-or-less common knowledge now that humility is not about thinking poorly of oneself.

When I was still in high school, I started smoking a pipe. It was messy and inconvenient, especially since I had to hide all the paraphernalia from my mother and her keen sense of smell.