Mishnah
Mishnah

Quotation for Pirkei Avot 4:4

רַבִּי לְוִיטָס אִישׁ יַבְנֶה אוֹמֵר, מְאֹד מְאֹד הֱוֵי שְׁפַל רוּחַ, שֶׁתִּקְוַת אֱנוֹשׁ רִמָּה. רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן בֶּן בְּרוֹקָא אוֹמֵר, כָּל הַמְחַלֵּל שֵׁם שָׁמַיִם בַּסֵּתֶר, נִפְרָעִין מִמֶּנּוּ בְגָלוּי. אֶחָד שׁוֹגֵג וְאֶחָד מֵזִיד בְּחִלּוּל הַשֵּׁם:

R. Levitas Ish Yavneh says: Be extremely lowly spirited, for the "hope" of man is worms. [Even though in the other middoth the middle course is the best, with "pride," it is not so, but one must incline to the extreme of lowliness of spirit. For pride is especially despised. And, what is more, most men go astray in it, so that people are not disposed to separate from it, wherefore it requires especial distancing.] R. Yochanan ben Broka says: If one desecrates the name of Heaven in secret, it is exacted of him in the open. Both the unwitting and the witting are liable for desecration of the Name.

Duties of the Heart

Similarly, our sages taught "judge every man favorably" (Avos 1:6), "receive every person with a cheerful countenance" (Avos 1:15), and "Be very, very lowly of spirit" (Avos 4:4), and "One should always be flexible as a reed and not unyielding as a cedar. This is why the reed has merited to have made from it a quill to write a Sefer Torah, Tefilin and Mezuzot" (Taanis 20b).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Previous VerseFull ChapterNext Verse