Do you ever feel like small jobs are belittling for you? Do you feel sometimes that it is beneath your dignity to wash the dishes, take out the rubbish, or stand in line with "everyone" to buy challahs for Shabbos? Let's take a look at the Torah's view of being a bit too "proud".

When Hashem was about to begin the first plague, he told Moshe to go to meet Pharaoh "baboker" - early in the morning when Pharaoh would go down to the Nile River. Rashi comments on the words "go to meet Pharaoh in the morning" as follows: Pharaoh declared that he was a god who did not even need to go to the bathroom! So G-d commanded Moses to confront Pharaoh in the morning, when Pharaoh would go down to the Nile to relieve himself. In this way, Moshe would be "cutting Pharaoh down to size" - by revealing to all that he was not a god.

The Haftorah for this week, taken from Yechezkel, says that Pharaoh held himself out to his people as the Creator, as he said: "Li ye'ori, v'ani asisini - Mine is the Nile and I fashioned it." Pharaoh was so arrogant that it could very well be that he convinced himself that he was the Creator. Pharaoh was so "into himself" that in his own world, he was the centre and focus of everything - there was no room for G-d Himself.

Surely we are allowed and encouraged to have confidence in ourselves, and to have good self-esteem. So what's wrong with a little self-pride? There is a difference between self-confidence and self-pride. Self-pride, conceit and haughtiness come from looking at our past accomplishments and feeling: Look at how great I am! Look what I have accomplished! If you look at your past successes, you may end up feeling: "Kochi v'otzem yadi asah li es hachayil hazeh - my power and the strength of my own hands created for me this great thing!" If you think it was all you, then there is no room for G-d. However, self-confidence means that you don't dwell on your past accomplishments, but rather you ask Hashem for strength and wisdom to continue serving Him in the future. You believe in yourself as an "eved Hashem" - a servant of G-d - and in this way you can be self-confident while at the same time remaining humble.

So the next time you are asked for a favour from someone in your family, or to do a job that you feel is "beneath your dignity" ask yourself - is this the Pharaoh in me speaking? Am I so important that I cannot do this favour or help out? Or can I use this as an opportunity to tap in to the humility of Moshe Rabbeinu - and become more of a servant of Hashem.