"He who flees from glory, glory pursues him." _{(popular adage)}

"Jealousy, lust and glory remove a person from this world" _{(Ethics of the Fathers 4:20)}

"The soul is called 'glory', as we read (Psalms 30): 'so that my glory may sing praise to You…' _{(Nishmat Hayyim)}

Man's aspirations for glory are extremely strong, and many have failed to cope properly. As Rabbi Moshe Hayyim Luzatto wrote (Mesillat Yesharim, Chapter 11): "One's aspirations for glory are even greater, for while it is conceivable for Man to succeed in suppressing his aspirations for wealth and other pleasures, glory is unlike them in that one finds it impossible to find himself considered less than his colleagues - and many have failed to cope with this and been lost to us. For example, even Jeroboam ben Nebat lost his place in the World to Come over a matter of glory. What was it that caused Korah and all his followers to be lost? A question of glory". (This is also true of the Spies and of King Saul, as explained in Scripture.) For this reason it says (Ethics of the Fathers 4:4): "You should be very, very humble". A person is to flee from glory. At the same time, a person must insist on his self-respect. As the Meiri wrote in his book Essay on Repentance (I, 5): "Note that the Torah does not oblige one to forfeit his self-respect in order to return a lost object - 'As for an elderly person, it is beneath his dignity'. We also find (Tractate Sotah, end) that our Sages said: '"When Rebbi died, humility ceased to exist" - Rabbi Yosef stood up and said: "You cannot say that humility ceased to exist, for I still exist"' - in other words, I exist and I am humble. How can a humble man declare himself to be so? We find something similar with Moshe our Teacher, who was aware of the fact that he was more humble than any other person on the face of the earth, for that is written explicitly in the Torah, but it doesn't nullify Moshe's humility.

Rabbeinu Bahye, in his book Hovot HaLevavot (Section "Surrender", chapter 2) explains, in fact, that one should recognize his own virtues and by so doing, he should exploit them properly in worshiping the Almighty. In this light we can now appreciate the words of the author of Sefer Ha-Hinnukh (Commandment 16):

"We are enjoined not to break any of the bones of the Pesach sacrifice, as is written; "neither shall you break a bone thereof". The roots of the commandment include remembering the miracles in Egypt, as we have written elsewhere. Another offshoot of the same root: it is not dignified for the offspring of kings and the advisers of a land to scrape the bones and break them like dogs, it is not proper to do so, except for people who are starving. Thus, when we begin to serve as a unique nation, a kingdom of priests and a holy people, year after year at the same time, it is seemly for us to do deeds that demonstrate the great step we took upward at that hour. In consequence of the similar act we perform repeatedly, this is indelibly engraved on our souls."

The late great Rabbi Hayyim Shmuelevitch brought evidence from a number of places in the Talmud of the importance of maintaining one's self-respect. The first piece of evidence is the injunction (Shabbat 12b) not to read on Shabbat by candlelight, lest one tips the candle. Rabbi Ishmael said: I will read [by candlelight] without tipping [the candle]. Once when he was reading [by candlelight], he reached over to tip the candle, and said: how wonderful are the words of the Sages who said that one may not read by candlelight! - though a high-ranking person may do so, and Rabbi Ishmael was such a person. Now did he reach over to tip the candle, or did he actually tip it? The Talmud replies: "Rabbi Yishmael, son of Elisha, is different, for he humbles himself before the words of the Torah". We are here led to understand a wonderful thing: the rabbi's fear of heaven was not sufficient to keep him from failure, whereas maintaining his self-respect would have sufficed. Here, then, we are shown how great the power is of self-respect in a positive manner. Further evidence: when Joseph the righteous was put to the test by the wife of Potiphar and asked her to leave him alone, he said to her: "The Almighty has taught me to ask for a sacrifice from my father's house, lest I am defiled and disqualified". The loss of his status was able to prevent even so dissolute a woman from sin,

Additional evidence from Sanhedrin (29b): How are we to warn the witnesses to speak the truth? At first, it was thought that they should be told that sinning brings death in its wake - but they rejected that, for the witnesses could say: this may well take seven years, and a person does not die unless his time has come. Similarly, if they were told that sinning leads to war, the witnesses may think that every projectile has its destination. If they are told that there will be a famine because of their sin, they may think that a famine may last as long as seven years without affecting the household of a craftsman. The conclusion reached was that the witnesses are to be told that false witnesses are despised by those who hire them - and this slight on their self-respect would suffice to deter them from false testimony!

In the Jerusalem Talmud (Berachot 2, 1) we are told of Rav Kahana who came to Eretz Israel but was mistreated (he died as a result of the ill will of Rabbi Yohanan, and when Rabbi Yohanan realized that he was mistaken, he resurrected him, but there were those who mocked Rav Kahana, and asked him: What did you see in heaven? Yet these people were punished for that) and Rav Kahana wanted to return to Babylon and so he asked Rabbi Yohanan: One whose mother (Eretz-Israel is like the mother of every Jew) mocks him, while his father's wife - his own stepmother - respects him - where shall he go? Rabbi Yohanan responded: to wherever he is respected! This comes to show that maintaining one's self-respect is important for a person.

Maimonides wrote in his Commentary on the Mishnah (to Ethics of the Fathers 2:18): "Do not be wicked of your own initiative" - "do not make yourself out to be inferior, for then there will be no inferior deed you will not do".

Thus the great rabbinical scholars were jealous of their status. It is told (Ta'anit 23a) that Honi Ham'aggel slept for seventy years, and when he came back to the study hall no one recognized him, nor did anyone treat him with the respect which was his due. He is reported to have said: Either I have a worthy study partner, or I die! - and he died.

We find (in Jeremiah 9): "let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glories glory in this" - it is proper for him to glory in this - "that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises mercy, justice and righteousness in the earth - for in these things I delight," etc.

One should indeed glory in proper virtues, for maintaining one's status requires one to maintain his virtues and to try to do more. But pursuing glory is what removes one from the world, as we find in the Commentary on the Mishnah (Ethics of the Fathers 4:20): "He will undoubtedly lose his faith in Torah", as happened to Jeroboam, son of Nebat, whom the Almighty caught by his garment and said to him: "Repent! Then I and you and the son of Jesse will stroll together in Paradise." But he asked: "Who will go first?" The Almighty replied: "The son of Jesse will go first". [Though he had already been told that 'I and you and the son of Jesse', i.e., that he would be first before David, but he wanted to hear it again because of his love of honor, and so he lost (Rabbi Hayyim Shmuelevitch)] And so he said: If that is the case, I do not want it. And so he lost his entire world - because of honor, false honor, where one thinks that he is deserving of it. A person of true honor feels that it obligates him. A person of true honor knows how to respect everyone else. One who recognizes his own worth can show others respect, as it says (Ethics of the Fathers 4:1): "Who is considered honored? - He who honors others.". For he who has self-respect, is able to give others due respect as well.

Furthermore, a person who has self-respect knows that he needs others and respects them just as he respects himself. We find in the Torah (Exodus 6:26): "That is Aaron and Moshe". Rashi wrote that these are those mentioned previously, that Yochebed bore to Amram; that is Aaron and Moshe to whom the Almighty spoke. In some places Aaron is put before Moshe, in other places Moshe is put before Aaron - to show that they are equivalent to one another. At first glance this needs an explanation: it says (at the end of the Book of Deuteronomy) that there was never one like Moshe. Yet, since for the redemption from Egypt, Aaron was required as well - so he was the equivalent of Moshe. Whoever is deemed necessary, without whom something will not take place - even though his part is a minor one - he is considered an equal partner. As the ruling was laid down in the Talmud (Ketubbot 93b): An ox belonging to two partners, one owning two thirds and the other one third, is rented out; both partners partake equally of the income, because one cannot plow with an ox if the ox does not include the third belonging to the second partner. This is the way one who recognizes another's merit feels - that they are equal, even if the one is truly greater than the other.