B"H

Tuesday, Tammuz 26, 5781 / July 6, 2021

In the second chapter of Pirkei Avot (Chapters of our Fathers), which we will recite Shabbat, the Talmudic sage Rabbi Eliezer tells us as follows: ”The honor of your fellow should be as dear to you as your own; Do not be easily angered; Repent one day before your death.”

“The honor of your fellow should be as dear to you as your own” – The simple meaning is, that another person’s honor should be as important to you just as your honor is to you.

However, there is another explanation, which is illustrated by the following story: Rabbi Shmelke was a great Torah scholar, who was invited to Niklosburg to accept the rabbinical position of that city.

Before addressing the crowd for the first time, Rabbi Shmelke asked for a private room, were he can spend some time to prepare himself. Everyone thought that he was tired and wanted to rest, before addressing the crowd. 

A while later, someone went to call on the rabbi and bring him to synagogue for his first address to the congregation.  To the man’s surprise, when he came to the room, he heard the rabbi speaking.  Knowing that there was no one in the room, he was curious and peeked through the keyhole.  He saw the rabbi pacing back and forth in the room and talking to himself.  He was saying, “Shalom Rabbi Shmelke.. Thank you, Rabbi Shmelke.. What a great speech you gave, Rabbi Shmelke..” Not wanting to embarrass the rabbi, he left and waited for the rabbi outside. 

Later, Rabbi Shmelke went to the synagogue, where he gave his speech.  Everyone was amazed at his brilliance and clarity of thought.  He was unanimously accepted as Rabbi of Niklosburg.

The man who overheard the rabbi speaking to himself was bothered by what he saw. He had to ask the rabbi, the meaning of it all. “Rabbi, I happen to have overheard you praising yourself.  What was the point of it all?”

Rabbi Shmelke replied: “I was worried that after my lecture, people will come over to thank me and praise me, I may become proud and haughty.  I was worried that I may transgress the mitzvah of being humble.  So, I went into a room and sang my own praises.  The more I did it, the more I could not stand it. I realized how foolish and meaningless it is to be praised by yourself.  Now that I felt bothered by being praised, I knew that when people will praise me afterward, it won’t affect me, just as my self-praise didn’t mean anything to me.”

Concluded Rabbi Shmelke: “This is what Rabbi Eliezer teaches us in Pirkei Avot: ‘The honor of your fellow should be as dear to you as your own.’  In other words, when your fellow gives you honor and praise, consider it as if you would praise yourself!  It should notaffect you to the point where it takes over your humility.  It should be as insignificant to you as self-praise.”

Our sages say, “Whoever runs away from honor, the honor chases after them; But one who chases after honor, the honor runs away from them.”

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY