Musar zu Ijow 31:41

And the fifteenth principle is prayer: A man should pray to God and request mercy to atone for all of his iniquities, as it is stated (Hosea 14:3), "Take words with you and return to the Lord; say to Him. 'Forgive all guilt and accept the good; and we will pay with the bulls of our lips'" - this is the matter of confession. "Say to Him. 'Forgive all guilt and accept what is good'" - this is the matter of prayer. And its explanation is, "accept the good" - the good actions that we did. For they, may their memory be blessed, said (Sotah 21a), "Sin extinguishes [the merit of] a commandment." But at the time of repentance, the iniquities will be atoned; so the merit of the commandment will arise, and its merit will shine. For before repentance, its light did not shine forth. And so it is written (Job 8:6), "If you are blameless and upright, He will now awaken [your merit] for you and grant well-being to your righteous home." And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed said (Yerushalmi Rosh Hashanah 1:3), "It does not say, 'If you were blameless and upright,' but rather 'If you are blameless and upright' - since you have repented." "He will now awaken [your merit] for you" - now after the repentance that you have done, "He will now awaken" all of the righteousness that you had done before, and that which your home was wide open and you 'planted a tamarisk' for lodging, as it is written (Job 31:32), "I opened my doors to the road." But before your repentance, your righteousness did not protect you. However, after your repentance and [when] your iniquity was removed, "He will awaken [your merit] for you and grant well-being to your righteous home." "And we will pay with the bulls of our lips" - our confession will be considered like the bulls of sin-offerings, for our acceptance in front of You. And it mentions bulls, because the bull sin-offering was inside [the chamber] and they would sprinkle from its blood on the curtain and on the golden (incense) altar.

And there are some [negative commandments] that some of the masses do not keep the main [negative commandment], such as wounding and hitting. For one that hits his fellow violates two negative commandments, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 25:3), “You shall strike him forty; you shall not add, lest you add.” And many transgress these negative commandments by hitting their wives. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Sanhedrin 58b), “Anyone who raises his hand to strike another, even if he does not strike him, is called wicked - as it is stated (Exodus 2:13), ‘and he said to the wicked one, “Why should you strike your friend?”’ ‘Why did you strike,’ is not stated, but rather, ‘should you strike.’” And Job said (Job 31:21), “If I raised my hand against the fatherless.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Sanhedrin 58b) [that] Rav Huna would cut off the hand of the striker. He would say, “And the high arm shall be broken” (Job 38:15).

Even from an animal he must keep cruely far away, as it is written: "A righteous man knows the needs and capacity of his animal" (Prov. 12:10), so as not to burden it too much and not to let it hunger, and so it is written : "When you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under his burden you shall restrain yourself from passing by; you shall surely work with him to release the animal" (Exod. 23:5). And our rabbis said: "The laws against causing pain to living creatures are from the Torah" (Baba Mezi'a 32b). And if you are a man who inspires fear, and the fear of you is upon other human beings so that they are afraid to refuse your requests, be very careful not to overburden them even by asking them to warm a flask of water or sending them on an errand to the market square to buy merely a loaf of bread. And on this subject it is said in the Torah: "But over your brothers the children of Israel you shall not rule one over another harshly" (Lev. 25:46). And as to this precept we have been warned that a man should not cause his companion to work at hard labor and not command him to anything unless he does it willingly and knowingly. A Canaanite slave may be directed to do hard labor, yet even in this latter case the pious way is to be merciful to him and not to make the yoke too heavy and not shame him, not by a blow and not by words, for Scripture has permitted you to receive his labor but not to shame him (Niddah 47a). And the master must speak quietly to his Canaanite slave even though there is a quarrel between them, and he must listen to his slave's complaints, and so did Job say: "If I did despise the cause of my man servant or of my maid servant when they contended with me — What then shall I do when God rises up and when He remembers some wrong He claims I did to a slave, what shall I answer him. Did not he that made me in the womb make him (the Canaanite slave) also? And did not the One fashion us (both) in the womb?" (Job 31:13-15).

Even Job testified on himself: "if my step has turned aside from the path and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any speck has stuck to my palms" (Job 31:7). Consider this beautiful analogy in which he compared unseen theft to something which tends to stick to a person's hand (ex. flour when kneading) for even though one does not intend to go and take it and by itself it sticks to his hands, nevertheless, it remains in his hands. So too here, even though one does not go out to actually steal, it is difficult for his hands to be completely empty of theft.

But if he does not meticulously examine his deeds very carefully, thorns will sprout instead of wheat. For he will transgress and stumble in the sin of Onaah (fraud) which we were warned against: "And you shall not oppress one another" (Vayikra 25:17) and our sages of blessed memory said: "even to deceive a non-Jew is forbidden" (Chulin 94a). And scripture states: "the remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth" (Tzefania 3:13).

Also, since one is prone to forgetfulness in these fine details, he will need diligent study in the books explaining these fine details to renew remembrance of them in his mind. Then certainly, he will be roused to fulfill them.

However, the factors which cause loss of this trait are all those detriments to the trait of Watchfulness, in addition to lack of proficiency in knowledge of the laws and ethics (Mussarim) as I wrote above. Our sages already stated: "an ignorant man cannot be pious" (Avot 2:5). For one who does not know cannot possibly do. Likewise they taught "great is study in that it brings one to doing" (Kidushin 40b).

If he should occupy himself with the service of the king, let him assume as his prior duty the service of the King of Kings. Let him not exalt himself in his heart, because of royal power. Let him not hurt his fellow men with his power and that of his cohorts, as Job said (31:21), “If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw my help in the gate.” Let him admonish the wicked and humble them, and let him intercede in favor of every man, and let him stand in the breach of those doomed to be slain, and let him rescue those who are to be taken to death, let him help the poor. Let him do all this for the sake of the Creator, blessed be He, and not in order to attain fame.