Tuesday, April 29, 2008

To Be Small

The world says that the scholars (i.e. the Misnagdim) study but the Chassidim do not. The truth is that the scholars, the more they learn, the more they become great in their own eyes, and so it seems to them that they have learned so much that it is enough. The Chassidim, however, the more they learn, the more they become insignificant in their own eyes. Their entire purpose is to teach themselves to be small and lowly in their own estimation.

(Degel Machaneh Ephraim)