Walking Humbly Through Ordinary Days

0:00 Boker tov, good morning, and welcome to Daily Torah. I'm David Ben Ami. Take a breath, let the day wait one more minute, and let's begin with a single verse. We're in the first days of the month of Cheshvan. The great festivals of Tishrei are behind us, and the ordinary days have come back. That's a good moment for a verse about ordinary days.

0:31 Today's passage is from the prophet Micah, chapter six, verse eight.

0:36In Hebrew Higgid lekha adam mah tov, u'mah Adonai doresh mimkha: ki im asot

0:43 mishpat, ve'ahavat chesed, ve'hatznea lechet im Elohekha.

0:49In English You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and what God requires of

0:55 you. Only to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk modestly with your God. Let's slow down and look at the words, because each one carries something. First, adam. Micah says, you have been told, adam. That means a human being, a mortal. He isn't speaking to kings or priests or a spiritual elite. He's speaking to anyone who can read this verse or hear it.

1:25 The standard is for everyone. Next, mishpat, justice. Fairness, honesty, and equity in how we deal with each other. Then chesed. That word is often translated as kindness, or loving kindness, or mercy. It means generosity that goes beyond what's strictly owed. But look closely at the grammar. Micah doesn't say asot chesed, to do kindness.

1:52 He says ahavat chesed, to love kindness. That's a different request. You can do a kind thing grudgingly, with one eye on the clock. Micah asks for a heart that's glad to do it. And then the last phrase, hatznea lechet, to walk modestly, or humbly. It comes from the root tzadi, nun, ayin, which has to do with discretion, with not making a show.

2:20 Walking is the right image. Walking is what we do every day, one step after another, mostly without anyone watching. The sages loved this verse. In the Talmud, in tractate Makkot, page 24a, Rabbi Simlai teaches that 613 commandments were given to Moses. Then he describes how the prophets, one after another, gathered them into smaller and smaller circles.

2:47 King David reduced them to eleven qualities in Psalm 15. Isaiah brought them to six. And then, in the Talmud's telling, Micah came and established them upon three: justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God. Later, the same passage describes Habakkuk reducing them to one, the righteous shall live by their faithfulness.

3:14 I find that moving. The tradition itself knew that a long list can be hard to carry, and it kept asking, what is the heart of it? Now, what does it look like to walk humbly with God? The Talmud, in tractate Sukkah, page 49b, quotes Rabbi Elazar, and the answer is surprisingly concrete. The sages read the phrase as pointing to two things: accompanying a poor person's body to burial, and escorting a poor bride to her wedding canopy.

3:50 In Hebrew, hotza'at ha'met and hakhnasat kallah. Those are very public events. A funeral and a wedding are gatherings. And yet the Torah says, walk modestly. So the Talmud makes an argument it calls a kal vachomer, an argument from the lighter case to the heavier. If even things that naturally happen in public are meant to be done without fanfare, then things that are naturally private, like giving tzedakah, charity, or studying Torah, should all the more so be done quietly.

4:24 The same page gives us one more teaching, about chesed. The sages say that acts of loving kindness, gemilut chasadim, are greater than charity in three ways. Charity is done only with money. Kindness can be done with your money and with your own self, your time, your presence. Charity is for the poor.

4:46 Kindness is for the poor and the rich alike, because anyone can be lonely or grieving. And charity is for the living, while kindness can be shown to the living and to the dead. Caring for someone who can never repay you is about as pure as kindness gets. Now, back to Cheshvan. Some call it Mar Cheshvan, bitter Cheshvan, because it's the one month with no holidays.

5:13 After so many weeks of shofar, fasting, sukkah, and dancing, it can feel plain. But maybe that's the point. Micah doesn't measure our walk with God by the peak days. He measures it by how we carry ourselves on an ordinary Wednesday morning. Quiet, faithful steps, in a regular world. So here's one practical thought for today.

5:43 Choose one small act of kindness, and do it so that no one knows. Wash the cups that were left in the shared sink. Let another driver merge ahead of you. Send a short message to someone who's had a hard week, and don't wait for a reply. Then let it go, with no credit and no thank you. That's hatznea lechet in a very small size.

6:11 And if you notice a little gladness afterward, that might be the first step toward ahavat chesed, loving it, and not only doing it. Let me close with the blessing from the Book of Numbers, the priestly blessing. Yevarekhekha Adonai veyishmerekha. May the Eternal bless you and keep you. Ya'er Adonai panav elekha vichunneka.

6:37 May the Eternal let His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Yissa Adonai panav elekha, veyasem lekha shalom. May the Eternal lift up His face toward you, and grant you peace. May your steps today be steady, your hands be gentle, and your kindness be quiet. Shalom, and have a good day.