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SHEKER The
question now arises, though: how to deal with such success? The question
actually applies in regard to any form of success for a possible result of
achievement is, unfortunately, the development of haughtiness and/or
inappropriate self-importance. There is no doubt that a person, in order to
meet any challenge, must develop a certain level of personal confidence in his/her
abilities and potential. Recognizing one’s successes properly can provide
important feedback in this development.4 The difficulty is that it can also lead to a gross
misperception in regard to self. It is interesting to notice how athletes will
speak of all the hard work and dedication that was necessary for them to be
victorious but, even almost in the same breadth, will also simultaneously speak
of being lucky and in the right time and place in scoring, for example, the
winning goal. Was it simply luck or was it the result of their effort and ability?
We may not know what they truly believe but this reference to luck is generally
looked upon positively as it would seem to reflect a degree of humility. We
still do wish to hear of how an achievement was a reflection of hard work
yielding results, as this gives us hope and spurs us on to meet our challenges.
Nevertheless, we also do wish to hear this reference to luck for it provides
the necessary counterbalance to a potential of an overextended ego. There is a
similar dilemma in the realm of the spiritual and luck cannot provide the same
counterbalance.5 Devarim 9:4-8 would seem to provide the
counterbalance necessary in the realm of the spiritual to ensure that one not
become haughty through self-righteousness. First, it may be that one’s success
is not the result of one’s positive attributes but, rather, as a necessary
consequence of another’s failure. It was not that the Jewish nation deserved
the T.B. Yoma 22b would seem to present a
similar theme in regard to leadership. The gemara
advocates for the appointment of a leader that, in modern colloquial terms, has
‘skeletons in the closet’. Having a negative element in one’s past will act
against a possible display of haughtiness.7 So it would seem that, on some level, we are to recognize
success as a reflection of our positive actions but before we allow that
thought to fan our egos we are to also acknowledge that we are still far from
perfect. What is strange, though, is that the gemara refers to the failure of the monarchy of Shaul Hamelech as an example of the problem in
appointing a leader who has no ‘skeletons’. It is
clearly most difficult to thereby state that Shaul Hamelech suffered from haughtiness. More significantly, though, is
that this very same gemara refers to
a weakness in Shaul in that he was too humble, foregoing even the honour that
was absolutely due a king. It cannot be that “skeletons in the closet’ will
ensure that one will not be haughty, or that their absence will yield
arrogance. One who has experienced the movement of life, however, does think
differently. Acknowledging the co-existence of success and failure causes us to
even look upon success differently – and it is that recognition which can
ensure that our righteousness will not suffer from self-righteousness. Rabbi
Benjamin Hecht Footnotes 1 Of course, within
this statement lies the challenging fact that we often do not see this causal
result. This, in turn, has led to what has been termed the most difficult of questions
– why do we see negative consequences befall the righteous person and positive
results happening to the evil doer? Even Moshe Rabbeinu was bothered by this question. See T.B. Berachot 7a. While a recognition of Olam Habah, the Future World, in this causal equation, is often
presented as a factor in attempting to respond to this problem, this in turn
also yields another problem, especially in regard to our verses, as these Divine-directed
causal consequences linking ethics with success are also often presented as
specifically to be occurring within this world. Albeit, though, that these are
most important issues and, as such, should at least be acknowledged within any
discussion of this nature, it should be noted that they will not be addressed within
this Insight. 2 Devarim 11:13-21. 3 In this regard, one
may also wish to consider the words of Devarim
8:3 that human beings do not live by bread alone. There is more to life
than the direct cause-and-effect of physical reality. This recognition,
however, also leads us into the further question of how we are to then balance
this acknowledgement of the role of the Divine in reality with the normative understanding
of physical reality – a substantial question within the entire realm of Jewish
thought. This question specifically finds expression, in regard to this
paragraph from the Shema, in the
famous disagreement between Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai about
the nature of the success defined in these verses. See T.B. Berachot 35b. 4 In this regard, see,
Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik, Shechora Ani
V’Na’aveh, Shiurei Harav. The Rav contends that we find declarations of
accomplishment in the statement that accompanied the presentation of the first
fruits, vidui bikkurim, for it is
necessary for individuals to believe in themselves in order to fulfill the
challenge of Torah. He specifically points out that this statement is referred
to as vidui, a term that is usually
used in the context of teshuva,
repentance, for in order to repent one must believe in oneself and one’s
ability to meet the challenge of improving oneself. Only one who can state that
he/she is able to do things properly is able to also accept the challenge of teshuva, 5 While one could
contend that recognition of God would provide a similar counterbalance, this is
not necessarily the case. Luck implies that there is no reason for this person
to have succeeded and, as such, inherently challenges any argument of the
uniqueness of this person. While recognizing that it may only be the Will of
God that enabled a person to accomplish what was done – even with an assertion
that the person’s own abilities had nothing to do with what was accomplished –
one could still feel a specialness in that he/she was chosen to be the
instrument of the Divine activity. This, unlike luck, could still lead to
haughtiness. 6 There are obvious
difficulties with this statement being taken in a vacuum but the point is that
this lesson is important within this context. 7 To fully understand
the breadth of this idea, we should note that Rashi mentions, as an example, that Dovid Hamelech was descended from Ruth, a Moabite, and thus lacked
perfect genealogical roots. © Nishma 2012 Return to top |
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