Kabbalah Kronicles 27 – How To Make Humble Pie
By
Uncle Zally / Zalman Velvel
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I am here in the Holy Land, the air invigorating my brain once again, and the Day of Atonement starts in two hours. I’m looking at my face in the picture next to this writing, and wondering if I were God, would I be proud of Zalman Velvel? Would I inscribe him in the book of life for one more year, or just take his soul back and start fresh with someone else?
If humility is accepting truth, then the truth is … God should keep me around for another year … just for laughs. God needs a good laugh every now and then, given the stress He is under, and occasionally my comedy writing buddy and I come up with something that tickles God’s funny bone, which is the size of Jupiter.
On any other basis, God can find plenty of others who live a life closer to what He wants, than I do.
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It is now 8:30 PM in Israel, the Day of Atonement is over, and I’m still alive. So God, I’ll try to uphold my end of the bargain and give You a good laugh every now and then.First, a quick review:
Two weeks ago you were shown how to attain the ultimate prize here on earth, for God to love you with all His Heart. How? By being humble.
We defined humble as being honest – accepting lasting truths, like:
1- God made everything and runs the world.
2- Nothing is owed to you. All your blessings, talents, and successes come from God, who can remove them at any time.
3- When you partner with God to make the world a better place, you will know, come closer, and love God, and feel His Love in return.
You were given 5 more benefits of humility in this life. They are:
1- People will like you more
2- You will like yourself more
3- If you have a great talent, you will nurture it better and rise higher
4- Arrogance closes your mind, humility frees it
5- Improved friendships
In this blog, you will be given a recipe to grow humility inside yourself, to make yourself a Humble Pie. Whenever the Rabbi and I meet at the OK Kabbalah Korral, I insist he leave simple tools to apply Kabbalah to our everyday lives. Now here are the ingredients to baking your Humble Pie:
1- Your Pie Filling – visit Nursing Homes, Hospitals, and Jails
2- Your Pie Crust – visit cemeteries
3- Your Topping – picture your last day on earth, who you honestly were, what you will take with you, and what you left behind
When you visit Nursing Homes and Hospitals, you will be providing people who are shut in, some simple human company. You don’t have to be a super-star, a movie star, or a media darling, just a humble human being, to bring happiness there. It can open your heart, make you aware of those who are less fortunate than you, and if not for the Grace of God, it might be you that needs companionship. Visiting jails is not for those faint of heart. I have two friends in prison now. Each was a pillar of their community, generous, and a big giver to charities. Each was also experiencing a total reversal of their wealthy lifestyle. A humble person would have accepted the change as God’s Will, with a challenge to rebuild and grow. However, because of their lack of humility, they committed fraud to try to restore their former wealth in one quick step. When they got caught, it was many times more humiliating than being less wealthy, especially for their families and friends. A lifetime of good deeds was tarred with a new wide brush. When visiting jails you should not have the attitude, Thank God I haven’t sunk to that level. Rather, you should understand we are all human and susceptible to making mistakes. Humility is good preventative medicine for humiliation.
Next visit the gravesites of loved ones who are departed. Besides honoring their lives, it will also make you aware of what awaits you in this life. Thank about what you will take with you, and what you will leave behind. Kabbalah states the only thing you will take with you is your deeds, both good and bad. What you will leave behind are your family and friends.
Many of us try to leave behind wealth, so we will be honored in death, and we work our whole lives to that end. That probably stems from a lack of humility also. Look around you – how many people do you know that were improved by wealth they inherited and did nothing to earn?
I’m sorry this wasn’t funnier – fasting inhibits my CQ – Comedy Quotient.
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