I would like to write today a few lines about the Epistle of the Humility, said to have been sent by the Ramban (Moshe Ben Nachman) to his son.
The epistle was first published in the Tapuhe Zahav” of Yehiel Mill (Mantua 1625) and since then has been reprinted many times and quoted in numerous books.
Yet it seems that the authorship of the epistle has been falsely ascribed to Nachmanides. In a study in the forthcoming volume of “Talpioth” (edited by Rabbi S. K. Mirsky), I have tried to prove that the “Epistle” was composed by the Tosafist Moshe of Evreux, an older contemporary of the Ramban.
In the following I will present a summary of that proof:
The epistle may roughly be divided into two parts. The first part exhorts man to abstain from anger. Delivery from anger would breed in him the fear of G-d and humility.
The second part contains rules of conduct for the modest and G-d fearing person. I reproduce it here in full. In the translation of Israel Abrahams (“Hebrew Ethical Wills” pp. 97-98):
“Accordingly I will explain how thou must habituate thyself to the quality of humility in thy daily practice. Let thy voice be low, and thy head bowed; let thine eyes be turned earthwards and thy hearts heavenwards. Gaze not in the face of him whom thou dost address. Every man should seem in thy eyes as one greater than thyself. If he be wise or wealthy, it is thy duty to show him respect. If he be poor and thou the richer, or if thou be wiser then he, bethink thee in that thou art the more guilty, he is more innocent. If he sin it is from error, if thou in it is with design.
“In all thy doings, words and thoughts, and at all times, regard thyself as one standing before the Omnipresent, with his Shekinah upon thee, for the glory of the Lord filleth the universe. Let thy words be spoken in the deepest reverence as though a servant addressed his master. Hold thyself abashed before all men, and if one call thee do not answer noisily, but respond without agitation and in lowered tones, as an inferior would use to his superior.
“Read in the Torah regularly, so that thou mayest be able to fulfill its precepts. When thou risest from the book, think closely over what thou hast learned, perchance there may be something I in for thee to translate into conduct. Examine thine actions at morn and at eve and by this means all thy days will be passed in repentance.
“And when thou prayest, remove all wordly consideration from thy heart. Set thy heart right before G-d, cleanse thine inmost thoughts and meditate before uttering thy devotions. Act, thus all thy days, in all things and thou will not sin. By this course thy deed will all be upright, and thy prayer pure and clean, innocent and devout, and acceptable before the Lord. As it is written: “Thou G-d will direct their heart. Thou wilt cause Thine ear to attend.”
Thus far the second part of the epistle.
It seems that all those who wrote about the epistle were unaware of the fact that it is quoted almost word by word I the “Orhoh Hayim” by Ahron of Lunel and in the “Kol Bo.” In these two books it is attributed to Rabbi Moshe of Evreux, and not to the Ramban.
The second part of the epistle, which we have quoted above, is cited in the “Orhoth Hayim” and in the “Kol Bo” almost word by word.
The first part of the epistle is quoted in the “Kol Bo” and “Orhot Hayim” in a much abbreviated form. That it had been abridged from a longer version is attested by the “Kol Bo” himself.
Only the finishing sentences in the epistle are different from those in the “Orhoth Hayim” (chapter: Inyanim Aherim Miteshubah) and in the “Kol Bo” (chapter 66), a circumstance which might be due to a later addition.
A thorough examination and comparison of the epistle with the quotations in the above mention books leaves no doubt as to the fact that the moral exhortations contained in them are identical.
Who then was the author of the “epistle”, Rabbi Moshe of Evreux or Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman? At first one would feel inclined to attribute it to the Ramban and to assume that in the “Orhoth Hayim” and in the “Kol Bo”, which are related to each other, it had incorrectly been ascribed to Moshe of Evreux.
Yet this is not so, Rabbi Peretz ben Eliyahu, a contemporary of the Ramban, quotes a passage of the “epistle” in the name of Rabbi Moshe of Evreux, in his notes on the “Sefer Mitzvoth Katzer” (Siman 11). Thus it is clear that the author of these chapters of morals is Moshe of Evreux and not the Ramban.
Jewish Press
March 17, 1961