Illustration credit: Rivka Tsinman
Haftarah הַפְטָרָה
One of Bilam’s blessings for Benei Yisrael opens with the words מַה טֹּבוּ (mah tovu, “how good,” Bemidbar 24:5). Can you find some very similar words in our haftarah? We highlighted them for you!
הִגִּיד לְךָ אָדָם מַה טּוֹב
וּמָה ה' דּוֹרֵשׁ מִמְּךָ
כִּי אִם עֲשׂוֹת מִשְׁפָּט וְאַהֲבַת חֶסֶד
וְהַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת עִם אֱלֹקֶיךָ׃
God has told you, humanity, what is good (“mah tov”), and what God is asking of you:
Only to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk modestly with God.
This pasuk makes it sound like it’s going to summarize for us what’s most important to God.
Wow! What is it? What does God consider most good???
The first two things are: doing justice and loving kindness. But what’s the meaning of the third thing, “walk modestly with God,” and why is that included here? Our פַּרְשָׁנִים (parshanim, commentators) have different ideas about what this could mean.
לָלֶכֶת עִם אֱלֹקֶיךָ בְּדַרְכֵי מִצְוֹתָיו בְּצִנְעָה לֹא בְּפִרְסוּם רַב וּלְהִתְיַהֵר.
This means walking with God—in the path of God’s mitzvot—with modesty, not doing it too publicly and being a show-off.
- It’s good to be proud of our mitzvot, but it’s also important to have modesty and not become too showy. How can you balance those things?
- Why is it important to have humility and modesty in performing mitzvot? Why is that better than doing mitzvot in a showy kind of way?
- Is this just for mitzvot? When else is modesty a good thing? Is it ever ok to be showy?
"וְהַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת עִם אֱלֹקֶיךָ"—הוּא יִחוּד הַאֵ-ל יִתְבָּרַךְ וְאַהֲבָתוֹ בְּכָל לְבָבוֹ וּבְכָל נַפְשׁוֹ. וְאָמַר "וְהַצְנֵעַ" כִּי הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה מָסוּר לַלֵּב וְהוּא דְּבַר צְנִיעוּת...
וְרַבּוֹתֵינוּ זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה פֵּרְשׁוּ כִּי "עֲשׂוֹת מִשְׁפָּט"—אֵלּוּ הַדִּינִים, "אַהֲבַת חֶסֶד"—זוֹ גְּמִילוּת חֲסָדִים, "וְהַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת עִם אֱלֹקֶיךָ"—זֶה הוֹצָאַת הַמֵּת וְהַכְנָסַת כַּלָּה.
“Walk modestly with God”—This is accepting that God is one and loving God with all your heart and soul. Micah calls it “modestly” because it’s in your heart and private….
Our Rabbis explained:
“Do justice”—These are laws.
“Love kindness”—This is helping others.
“Walk modestly with God”—This is helping people pay for funerals and weddings.
According to Radak’s first explanation, “walk modestly” is about having faith in God and love for God in the privacy of your own heart.
Radak’s second explanation comes from Bavli Sukkah 49b. According to this explanation, “walk modestly” is telling us to do acts of kindness in a private and secret way, without making a big fuss about them.
- If you’re helping someone to pay for a funeral or a wedding, why is it important to do it privately? How would a person feel if you made it very public that they could only afford their wedding because of your help?
- Why might respecting privacy, or saving someone from embarrassment, be one of Micah’s “top three” values, together with justice and kindness? Why might faith in God belong on this list?
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