Pride goes before the fall #Noakh#Noach#parashathashavua#devartorah

People who achieve extraordinary level of fame or reputation while they are still alive are often called “a legend in their own time.” I’m sure we have all met people who were only “a legend in their own mind.” Pride has a way of distorting how we see ourselves while humility offers a realistic perspective.

Excessive pride motivated the generation of the tower of Babel. “And they said, ‘Come, let us build a city, and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves.” (Genesis 11:4)

King Solomon in Proverbs wrote, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (16:18) How true for that generation of the Tower of Babel. Instead of being united and building a tower with its top in the heavens, God confounded their speech so they could not understand one another and scattered them over the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11:7-9)

The antidote to the poison of pride is service to others. Martin Luther King Jr. taught, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are we doing for others?” Pablo Picasso once said, “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” I saw H. Jackson Brown’s truth in action with my own eyes when they beheld the people who volunteer at Yad Lakish and other Tzedaka institutions in Jerusalem. He said, “The happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.

There’s nothing wrong with receiving accolades for achievement and for success. The challenge is to say focus on the One who calls us to follow Him. “And Rabbi Ḥama, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, says: What is the meaning of that which is written: “After the Lord your God shall you walk, and Him shall you fear, and His commandments shall you keep, and unto His voice shall you hearken, and Him shall you serve, and unto Him shall you cleave” (Deuteronomy 13:5)? But is it actually possible for a person to follow the Divine Presence? But hasn’t it already been stated: “For the Lord your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:24), and one cannot approach fire.

“He explains: Rather, the meaning is that one should follow the attributes of the Holy One, Blessed be He. He provides several examples. Just as He clothes the naked, as it is written: “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21), so too, should you clothe the naked. Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, visits the sick, as it is written with regard to God’s appearing to Abraham following his circumcision: “And the Lord appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre” (Genesis 18:1), so too, should you visit the sick. Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, consoles mourners, as it is written: “And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed Isaac his son” (Genesis 25:11), so too, should you console mourners. Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, buried the dead, as it is written: “And he was buried in the valley in the land of Moab” (Deuteronomy 34:6), so too, should you bury the dead.” (TB Sotah 14a, Sefaria.org)