NUM60 Plato described the human body as a "living tomb," as a prison. Plato, Phaedrus 250. Jewish tradition compares the human body to the Temple, to a house of God. See e.g., Abraham Ibn Ezra on Exodus 25:40, in standard editions of Hebrew Scriptures with commentary. But, to compare the body to the Temple assumes a prior vision of the Temple. At the center of the Temple was the Holy of Holies, the most sacred spot in the world. There one found the cherubs. What were the cherubs doing? "Rabbi Kattina said, 'Whenever Israel came up to [the Temple for] the Festival, the curtain would be removed for them and the cherubs were shown to them. Their bodies were intertwined with one another and they were thus addressed: Look! You are beloved before God as the love between man and woman." On this text, Rashi comments, "They [i.e., the cherubs] cleaved one to the other, holding and embracing each other as the male embraces the female." Yoma 54a and Rashi there. These texts depict the Holy of Holies as a bedroom where the cherubs engage in the procreative act. And where does God dwell? Between the cherubs (this verse, and discussion in Abraham J. Heschel, Torah min ha-Shamayim, vol 1 (London: Soncino, 192), pp. 59-64. In this view, the most physical act can have the most spiritual meaning. As the Iggeret ha-Kodesh -- The Holy Letter, states: "If you comprehend the mystery of the cherubim, you will understand what the sages of blessed memory meant in saying that when a man cleaves to his wife in holiness, the divine presence is manifested. In the mystery of man and woman, there is God. ... Proper sexual union can be a means of spiritual elevation when it is properly practiced." The Holy Letter, Seymour J. Cohen, trans. (New York: Ktav, 1976), pp. 50, 48. Sexuality represents a stance of pro-creation and re-creation that aligns the individual with the rest of humanity as well as with the Divine image implanted within each human person. Already in Scripture, sexual experience is described as "knowing." See e.g. Genesis 4:1, I Samuel 1:19; Iggeret ha-Kodesh, p. 142. Sexual experience, coupled with love, desire, and will, can penetrate not only the mystery of sexuality, but the mysteries of knowledge of the world, of the divine, and of the self. (On desire love, and will, see Iggeret ha-Kodesh, p. 142. On love, and love of God, see this volume, chap. 3).

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NUM107 … humility does not entail becoming oblivious to one's own achievements and capabilities. It simply means that however superior to others one might be in certain ways, there is no justification for pride on that account. There is no reason for over emphasizing one's importance or for lording over others because of one's achievements. (Menachem Nahum of Chernobyl, Yismah Lev in his Me'or Einayim (Jerusalem: Me'or Einayim, 1966), pp. 353-354. See the English translation in Louis Jacobs, Hasidic Thought (New York: Behrman House, 1976), pp. 92-93)). Furthermore, a candid appraisal of one's superior abilities, when compared to others, should also entail an exercise in rigorous self-scrutiny regarding one's insufficiencies when compared to the achievements of others. In other words, humility is not the enemy of self-esteem, but of pride. (See Bahya Ibn Pakudah's notion that there are good and bad varieties of pride and that self-esteem necessary for spiritual development is a good form of pride. Bahya, Sefer Hovot ha-Levavot, p. 324.) Rather than condemning a person to a life of obscurity, humility can serve as a catalyst for the highest human accomplishments. In Jewish tradition, greatness and humility are not incompatible; rather they complement each other. Moses, considered by Jewish tradition to be the greatest Jew of all, is described by Scripture as the most humble of persons (this verse). According to the Talmud, God is great precisely because He is humble. Megillah 31a.

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NUM236 The goal of parental instruction is the development of the child within the framework of a moral and religious tradition. The child thereby becomes a link between the past and the future. Nevertheless, the child's moral instruction is also crucial to the child's ability to function as an informed moral agent in society. As Gersonides observed, when the parent-child relationship functions properly, when the family serves as a conduit for moral values, society as a whole is enriched and improved. The course of study that the parent is to teach the child is a course in the art of living as an individual in society. The goals of the course are to guide the child from ignorance to wisdom, from moral neutrality to virtue, from dependency to independence, from infancy to maturity. The parental obligation to prepare the child to function as an independent adult in an inter-dependent society is reflected in the few rabbinic statements that explicitly list the obligations of a parent to the child. According to a talmudic text: "The father is obligated to circumcise his son, to redeem him open (if he is a firstborn, see Numbers 18:15), to teach him Torah, to have him wed, and to teach him a craft. Some say, to teach him to swim as well. Rabbi Judah said: He did who does not teach his son a craft… is as though he taught him to steal." Kiddushin 32a. According to a variant reading of this text, a father is also obligated to teach his son practical citizenship (yishuv medinah). Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael, Hayyim Horovitz and Israel Rabin, eds. (Jerusalem: Wahrmann, 1960), "Bo," chap. 18, p.73.

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NUM277 … the chief hindrance to humility is ignorance or a little knowledge. You will observe that the more ignorant a man is, the more conceited he is. Our Sages said, "An arrogant disposition betrays ignorance of the Torah." Sanhedrin 24a "When a man boasts, it is a sign that he knows nothing." Zohar on this verse. "When there is only one penny in the pitcher, it makes much noise." Baba Metzia 85b "The trees that bear no fruit were once asked, 'Why can one hear your rustling?' 'So that we might be heard and noticed,' was their reply." Genesis Rabbah 16:3 We have already mentioned that Moses, who was the chosen of men, was also the meekest of men.

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NUM354 See [[DEUT1302]] Deuteronomy 23:24 fulfill HTBAJ 195-6

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DEUT76 Because of the centrality given study of the Torah, the obligation to study could not be restricted to a scholarly elite, but was viewed as a lifelong endeavor, incumbent upon each person. In Maimonides' words, "Every Jew is under an obligation to study Torah, whether rich or poor, healthy or ailing, young or old, vigorous or feeble.…. Until the day of one's death, as it is written (this verse). Learning is not meant to be a passing fad, a demand only put upon the young, but a lifelong quest for knowledge, wisdom, and self understanding… Study is the means by which Jewish ethical and religious teachings are preserved and transmitted. Without continuous study, tradition would come to an abrupt halt. Judaism would become a fossil, a relic for investigation rather than a living and lived faith. But, while study of the Torah serves to perpetuate Judaism, and while it has its own intrinsic value, study of Torah has been understood to have other goals and functions, including the creation of the artful life. (E.g., Ethics of the Fathers 3:17). The goal of study is not nearly to amass information, but to bring about the spiritual transformation of the individual.

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DEUT78 In Judaism, faith is grounded in memory. Hebrew Scripture does not command belief in God, but enjoins us to remember experiences of the divine. Belief in God is not simply a personal endeavor. It is an effort accumulated over the centuries; it is the achievement of a continuity of the ages. Jewish belief is a recollection of events in the life of the Jewish people. Not abstract ideas, but memory of concrete events is the touchstone of Jewish belief: (this verse). In the Passover liturgy for the Seder, called the Haggadah, one encounters the notion that Jewish belief is predicated upon memories rather than upon inferred propositions.

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DEUT151 The Biblical verse, "I stood between God and you" (this verse) was interpreted by a hasidic master to mean that the "I," the ego, often stands between God and us, obstructing the divine – human relationship. (Quoted in Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim, Early Masters, p. 149). Indeed, many authors of Jewish ethical works considered the ego to be a potential obstacle, not only to one's relationship with God, but to any and all relationships. It is no wonder, therefore, that arrogance is considered a dangerous moral vice, obstructive in the formation of relationships, and replete with destructive potentialities. For example, in his talmudic commentary, Samuel Edels ("Maharsha") wrote that just as humility is the most exalted moral virtue, pride is the most dangerous moral vice. Commentary to Talmud, Sanhedrin 88b. The medieval Spanish scholar, Jonah Gorandi, describes human arrogance as the primary cause of most sins. Commentary on Ethics of the Fathers, 4;4, 60. Midrashic literature characterizes the flood generation, the Tower of Babel generation, and the inhabitants of the wicked city of Sodom as arrogant, linking their arrogance to their destruction. Seder Eliyahu Rabbah, chap. 29, p. 158. According to a midrashic source, unbridled pride is a threat to the very existence of the world. Ibid., chap. 16, p. 74. "Pride precedes destruction and a haughty spirit goes before a fall." Says Proverbs (16:18).

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DEUT167 See [[EXOD408]] Exodus 20:12 endure HTBAJ 163

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DEUT168 "The benefit [of honoring parents] extends to the child who honors them. As he honors his parent so will he be honored in turn by his own children, for as one treats others so will he be treated by others." (Abravanel on this verse).

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