Commentaire de citation sur Ézéchiel 32:32

and honor: The bad honor is [practiced by] the one who gets honor from people in order to impose his fear upon them and 'he strikes terror into the land of the living.' And what is his reward? That he will descend into the depths of the pit in Gehinnom, [such] that there is no ascent form his fall for [all] generations. And because of this the prophet Yechezkel compares the fall of the kings of the nations in Gehinnom to the one who 'strikes terror into the land of the living,' to say that they have no ascent, as it is stated (Ezekiel 32:32), "I strike My terror into the land of the living; and lay among the uncircumcised those who were the casualties of the sword." And the second [way] of honor is the one who wants that people should honor him, as he thinks that he is fit for this honor - but he is not. Even if he is a Torah scholar and a master of commandments and his will is that they honor him for this, he is 'sinning with his soul' - unless his intention is for the sake of Heaven, and if it is only for the honor of the Torah that he is [seeking it] and he does not take it for himself and does not enjoy it, but it is only in order to have the Torah honored about (through) this, as we have written. However all other things regarding honor are very bad. And how much did the Torah warn and forbid it to them! As even with a king of Israel about whom it stated (Deuteronomy 17:15), "Surely place a king upon you" - that you should put his fear upon you (Ketuvot 17a) - and [so] he is fit for honor more than all of the creatures under the skies, nonetheless it still warns him that he should not raise his heart over his brothers. All the more so should commoners not desire honor at all.