[Talmudist, mystic, and biblical exegete. He is usually called Nahmanides, and in Spanish Bonastruc de Portas. He was born at Gerona about 1195, and died in Palestine about 1270. Subsequent writers regarded him as a great authority on the Talmud and Halakah, and his reputation was perhaps second only to that of Maimonides. His biblical commentaries, too, have been very popular. He was compelled to have a public disputation with a convert to Christianity named Pablo Christiano, in 1263, at the court of Barcelona. He was a physician by profession.]

Ethical Letter, Praising Humility, Addressed to His Son^[181]

Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. My son, my beloved, accustom thyself always to speak gently to every man, at all times and seasons; thereby thou shalt avoid anger which is a very bad and blameworthy disposition, for it leads to sin, as our teachers of blessed memory said: ‘If one gets angry, it is regarded as if he worshipped idols.’^[182] And all punishments of Gehenna have power over him, as it is written: ‘Remove anger from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh.’^[183] By the world evil Gehenna is meant, as it is written: ‘Even the wicked for the day of evil.’^[184] When thou avoidest anger, thou wilt bring to thy mind the quality of humility, and cleave unto it, for it is the best of all virtues, as it is written: ‘The reward of humility is the fear of the Lord.’^[185] The Mishnah likewise says: ‘Be exceedingly humble of spirit.’^[186] Even our teacher Moses, peace be upon him, was praised by this quality, as it is written: ‘And the man Moses was very meek.’^[187] It is also through the merit of this virtue that the Torah was given at his hand, and that he was called the teacher of all prophets. He who attains unto this quality is beloved of Heaven, as it is written: ‘With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.’^[188] When thou clingest to the quality of humility, the quality of the fear of God will come to thy mind; for thou wilt continually lay to thy heart whence thou camest, and whither thou art going (thou art worm and maggot in thy life and in thy death), and before whom thou art destined to render account and reckoning (before the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, whose glory fills the earth). It is also written: ‘Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.’^[189] It is also written: ‘Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less the hearts of the children of men!’^[190] When thou wilt consider all this, thou wilt fear thy Creator, and guard thyself against sin. By clinging to these qualities thou wilt be in a state of perfection and sublimity, and wilt continually be happy with thy lot; this latter, too, is one of the good qualities, as the Mishnah says: ‘Who is rich? he who rejoices in his lot.’^[191] If thy conduct is according to the quality of humility and thou art ashamed before every man, and thou fearest thy Creator, who gives thee life, so that thou sinnest not, the spirit of the Shekinah and the splendor of its glory will dwell upon thee, and thou wilt deserve the life of this world and of the world to come.

My son and my beloved, know assuredly that one who exalts himself above his fellow-men rebels against the kingdom of heaven, for he makes use of God’s garment, as it is written: ‘The Lord reigneth, He is clothed with pride.’^[192] And God, who is blessed, says concerning the haughty man: ‘I and he cannot dwell together in this world.’ Accordingly, he who is haughty will be uprooted from the world.

Consider with thy understanding: Of what should a man be proud? of his wealth and honor? they surely belong to God, and He, who is blessed, bestows them upon man, as it is written: ‘Both riches and honour come to Thee, and Thou rulest over all.’^[193] It is also written: ‘The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich.’^[194] Of his wisdom? Let him remember the explicit words of Scripture: ‘He removeth the speech of men of trust, and taketh away the sense of the elders.’^[195] It is thus evident that all comes from Him, blessed be He; in His anger He brings low the haughty, and in His favor He lifts up the lowly. Therefore, my son, make thyself humble, and remove thyself from haughtiness, so that the Lord may raise thee high.

Now, my son, I shall set forth for thee how thou shouldst conduct thyself according to the quality of humility, to follow it continually. Let all thy words be spoken with gentleness, with respect, with good manners, and with love; thy countenance should be pleasant, and thy head bowed down. Thine eyes should look downwards, and thy heart upwards. Do not gaze too fixedly upon a man, when thou addressest him. Let every man be greater than thou in thy sight. If he is rich, thou shalt honor him, as did our saintly teacher who used to honor the rich. If he is poor and thou art rich, thou shalt have mercy and compassion on him, and honor the Lord with thy substance. If thou art wiser than he, thou shouldst consider that thou art guilty, and he is innocent; for he sins unwittingly, while thou sinnest wilfully, as the Rabbis of blessed memory said: ‘The errors of the sages are regarded as wilful sins.’^[196] In all thy thoughts, words, and deeds, at all times and seasons, regard thyself as though thou stood before the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, and as if His Shekinah were upon thee; for His glory fills the whole earth. Thy words should be spoken with terror and fear, with trembling and awe, as a servant standing before his master. Take heed to study the Law continually, day and night, for thereby thou shalt be able to fulfil the commandments thereof; it is thy life and the length of thy days. When thou hast finished the reading of a book, thou shouldst retain that which thou hast learned, in order to fulfil that which is written in it, as far as thou art able to fulfil. Thou shouldst continually search thy deeds, every day, morning and evening, in order to depart from evil and to do good. Thus all thy days will be in perfect repentance.

During the prayer of the Eighteen Benedictions thou shouldst remove all the affairs of this world from thy heart; think of no other matter except of fixing thy mind on the prayer with perfect devotion. Prepare and purify thy heart and mind before God, blessed be He; thereby thy prayer will be pure, clean, untainted, full of devotion, and acceptable before the Holy One, blessed be His name, as it is written: ‘Thou wilt direct their heart, Thou wilt cause Thine ear to attend.’^[197] Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and he that keeps his mouth and tongue, keeps his soul from troubles. Therefore in every matter think of thy words before thou givest utterance to them, all the days of thy life, so that thou mayest not sin; thereby thy thoughts, words, and deeds will be upright and good.

My son, read this epistle once a week with thy friend, and walk continually after God, blessed be He, in order that thou mayest prosper in all thy ways and be worthy of the world to come which is stored up for the righteous. Whenever thou readest it, thou wilt get an answer from Heaven to all petitions which thou mayest ask from this time forth and for evermore.