Some people are humble and modest – and with good reason.
Others, though, are humble and modest but in reality, they have a lot to share. Humility is an important quality but it shouldn’t be something that holds us back from contributing. As with almost everything in life, a healthy balance is the key.
On the other side are people who lack humility. They’re the type of people who are difficult to be around. While they may achieve great success professionally, they often will cause resentment in the process.
The first step to Torah study is humility, which is personified by Moshe – the most humble person. Yes, he knew he was great leader; he knew that he had accomplished great things, but he was fully cognizant of the fact that it was due to the special powers and abilities vested in him by G-d.
An important next step is to be like Joshua, the dedicated and completely committed student of Moshe. Humility and dedication are key to Torah study. One can’t truly accomplish success in Torah study without these two qualities.
This is a great beginning, but there is more. There is an integral next step; one must “acquire” the Torah knowledge. It can’t remain unquestioned and blindly accepted; one must fully understand the Torah teachings, in their own words and in a way that relates to them.
Torah study, with these prerequisites, will surely infuse the student with an added measure of spiritual consciousness. You might think that this is enough – we’ve become more spiritual, that’s the goal, isn’t it?
The truth is that spiritual accomplishment alone is not the ultimate goal. All that we’ve outlined is good, and by following these steps one will acquire great Torah knowledge, but there is another important step that makes it all real: the Torah that one learns must have an effect on their life and their surroundings. It’s not two separate worlds that do not overlap; the Torah and the world that we inhabit are intertwined and very much connected.
The measurement of our success in Torah study is how much it positively affects our life and the world around us. Healthy humility is when we not only accept new ideas, but we also have what it takes to implement change in our life based on those ideas.