''If you have done much good to someone, consider it as if you have done very little. You must not say that you have done good from what belongs to you, because there is One who has given everything to you, and you are obliged to thank Heaven for it. ''
If there are the top ten verses of Talmud to learn to live by, this is one of them. The results are life-changing and life-affirming. Neither our sages nor God wish us to allow ourselves to be treated like a shmateh, a dish rag. Nevertheless, God does not put us here on Earth to live with angst and to commit peccadilloes.
Many years ago, one of my rabbinic teachers asked me: "Arthur, would you rather be happy or right?'' He was not talking about a matter of social justice, but about the quality of my day-to-day interactions with co-workers, family, and friends. I used to want—no, I actually needed—to be right. Now I prefer to live in shalom.
From a spiritual Jewish perspective, we exist to be of maximum service to God and our fellows. When we do good for an individual, charity, or institution, even if it is 'much' good, we should think of it as little. Humility and ego deflation require practice, with 3–5 short periods of daily prayer and meditation, but can be achieved.
God did not give, but rather has loaned to us, everything we possess. All can be taken away, God forbid, at any moment, and certainly leaves us upon death. We work hard, but the outcome never rests in our hands. Outcomes belong to God.
Although I am well aware of the practical needs of houses of worship, I find it ironic that Jewish spirituality opposes the plastering of donors' names over the doorways. Whose name should be above those doors? God's name, inscribed with profound gratitude. When someone thanks us, we are to turn that thanks over to God, and thank that person for allowing us to be of service to him.
Rabbi Arthur Segal is an international lecturer, author, and teacher. Visit him at www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org . Follow him on FaceBook at 'Arthur L Segal', on Twitter at RabbiASegal, or his blog at http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com . Email at RabbiASegal@aol.com .
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