Kommentar zu Tehillim 1:2

But his desire is in the law of the Lord Hence you learn that the company of scorners brings one to neglect the study of Torah.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord: – He says: if he has departed from the evil way and yet has not done good, behold, he has not performed his work completely and it is not said of him, "Happy is he!" And so it says: "Depart from evil and do good" (Ps. 34:15). And although our teachers of blessed memory have said (Midrash, Shoher Tob, adloc.), "If a man sits and has not committed sin, he is rewarded as one who performs a mitzvah," they have also interpreted (ibid.) [Depart from evil and do good] applying it to the case of him to whom transgression has come and who has been delivered from it, as it is said "Depart from evil and do good," i.e. Depart from evil for the sake of doing good. And so it says (Ps. 119:3), "Yea, they do no unrighteousness; they walk in His ways." And they hold that he who has conquered his inclination in regard to an action is as one who has performed a mitzvah, when the temptation has befallen him, and so it is as is said, " Yea, they do no unrighteousness," etc.; although they have done no unrighteousness, still it is necessary that they should walk in His ways and do a good work. And so he says, Happy is the man that walketh not. But what does he do? His delight is in the law of the Lord. And included in delight is both learning and doing, as (in the text) "from doing thy delight" (Is. lviii 13); and doing apart from learning is not sufficient.

כי אם: Withholding from doing bad is not enough, the condition of אושר is that he does good. And not that he does good out of politeness alone, like philosophers who fabricate religions for themselves, but [the condition is that the reason he does good is because] he keeps the Torah of Hashem and its commandments. And he [the author of the psalm] explains that the condition [of אושר] is doing the good because it is good to do so, and because it is a commandment of Hashem, and not because of other facets that he hopes to gain for his work, [like] payment and benefit. In that [latter] case, his desire wouldn't be Hashem's Torah, rather the pleasantness and helpfulness is because he hopes for payment for his work. Therefore, [the author] conditions כי אם בתורת ה' חפצו: Hashem's Torah [must be] his desire. And perfection in this (doing good by carrying out Hashem's Torah and mitzvos) is split into two parts: perfection in study and perfection in action. Perfection in study is called תורת ה', because it teaches the wisdom of Hashem and his ways and his truth, but man won't reach the ultimate takeaway from this aspect, and it's enough to desire it and attempt to grasp it and look deeply into it, but even if he doesn't reach it (comprehend what he's studying to the point of reaching conclusive applicable commandments), he doesn't fear. Perfection in action is תורת האדם, that it teaches that which should be done or that which shouldn't be done, and this is called תורתו, and about this portion [of the Torah] it says, יהגה יומם ולילה, that he should learn it on the condition to do it, [meaning that unlike with the portions of Torah that do not come to command a person in a specific action, and therefore do not need to be learned in a way to extract an action as the application, the portions of Torah that command a person in an action must be learned with the intention to know exactly how to act in accordance with what the Torah commands].

and in his law he meditates In the beginning, it is called the law of the Lord, and after he has toiled to master it, it is called his own Torah.

And in His law: – He repeats in His law as "Noah, Noah" three times in one verse (Gen. 6:9) and "Israel" five times in one verse (Num. 8:19) and other instances besides, for such is the usage of the Hebrew language. And they say (i.e. the Grammarians and Commentators, in innumerable places) that it is by way of elegance (in diction). And our teachers of blessed memory comment (Babli, Abodah Zarah 19a): first it is called "the law of the Lord," and lastly, when one is firmly established in it by study, it is made "His law" and is called by His name. The interpretation of

he meditates Heb. יהגה. Every expression of הגה refers to the heart, as you say (below 19:15): “and the meditation (והגיון) of my heart”; (Isa. 33:18), “Your heart shall meditate (יהגה) in fear”; (Prov. 24:2), “For their heart thinks (יהגה) of plunder.”

doth he meditate – (is) "in his heart," as, "the meditation of my heart in Thy sight" (Ps.xix. 15); for he has already spoken of learning and doing, and now he speaks of the intention and purpose of the heart, that day and night his purpose should be (fixed) upon the Law and the Commandments. And therefore an injunction is given concerning them in every action which he shall perform, as they say (Aboth, chap. i. para. 3), "And let all thy actions be to the name (for the sake) of Heaven." And (as a matter of fact) in His law doth he meditate day and night because he occupies himself in study. In the Haggadic interpretation (Midrash, Shoher Tob, ad loc.) they say: "And how is it possible to meditate day and night? His work and his trade - how and when should he accomplish these? (Answer) But everyone who fulfils the commandment of the phylacteries, the Scripture gives him credit as if he had studied day and night." And some say (ibid.): "Everyone who recites the Shema morning and night." But we say, following the literal sense, if we explain doth meditate of learning by rote, then the interpretation of day and night – will be: every time that he shall be free from his business occupations, whether of the day or the night.