Musar zu Ijow 38:46

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).

And [this holds true] especially in the area of guarding one's tongue. For if he permits, G-d forbid, his soul to be in the category of speakers of lashon hara in this world, and, as a matter of course, does not prevent his ears, too, from always hearing lashon hara and rechiluth and accepting it, (also, so that he will have later what to talk about; for this is the trait of the talebearer, to go and hear in one place and sell this "merchandise" in another place, as a merchant with his wares [viz. Torath Cohanim and Rashi's commentary on Chumash]), then he will have damaged his faculties of speech and hearing, and will certainly be punished in his soul, correspondingly, in the world to come, in these two faculties themselves, speech and hearing. [This is the language of the GRA (R. Eliyahu of Vilna) on the verse (Mishlei 13:13): "He who neglects a thing will be hurt by it, and the fearer of a mitzvah — he will be complete." "For there are 248 organs in a man, and, corresponding to them, 248 positive commandments. And likewise, every thing derives its vital strength from the mitzvoth. And, therefore, anyone who neglects any matter of mitzvah hurts himself. For he is thereby deprived of the vital strength of that matter. But one who fears forsaking any mitzvah and seeks to fulfill every thing [(of mitzvah)] will be complete in all of his organs."] And we may also say that this is the intent of the verse (Devarim 32:5): "[In the transgressions that they have committed,] they have corrupted [themselves], not Him," [G-d forbid], as it is written [Iyyov 35:6]: "If you have sinned, what have you done to Him." The intent [of the verse in Devarim] is as he [the GRA] explains — that through their sins they become blemished in the end. [see Rashi on "banav mumam" ("His sons, their blemish")]. That is, if any mitzvah becomes expendable in his eyes, G-d forbid, then the organ corresponding to that mitzvah becomes blemished in the end, as we have written in the name of the GRA. For in the issur of speaking lashon hara and rechiluth that he speaks with his mouth he transgresses "You shall not go talebearing among your people," most of which [sin] inheres in the mouth. And in hearing lashon hara and accepting it, he infringes on the transgression of (Shemoth 23:1): "You shall not bear a false report." [viz. Sefer Charedim on the negative commandments dependent on the ears, and what I have copied of his words in Principle X of the Be'er Mayim Chayim.] And it is known that these [(speaking and hearing)] are the major faculties of the "form" of man and of his perfection, even in this world. (This is well known from the ruling of Chazal that a deaf-mute [cheresh], who does not hear and does not speak is [legally] comparable to a shoteh [one who is mentally deficient] and to a minor, in all matters. And, in Bava Kamma 85b: "If one rendered another a cheresh he pays him the [legal] worth of an entire man"; for from now on he is not [legally] worth anything.) How much more so is he (i.e., "the counterpart of mouth and ear") rendered defective (for sins by those organs)] in the world to come. And even if we say that he will not be lacking entirely in these faculties, (for did he not also employ them in his lifetime in words of Torah and holiness?) in any event, they will certainly be defective, for he damaged them while yet living and did not repent. And this is known to all who have understanding — that even in this world, if, G-d forbid, a man's faculty of speech and hearing is impaired, even if — with great effort — he can still speak and hear, this greatly grieves him in his lifetime, and he will be more greatly shamed by this lack than if he were affected, in his other organs; for these are man's prime faculties and he will also not be able to conceal their loss. How much more so, in the higher world — how much will his soul grieve there before the eyes of all! Even if no punishment were inflicted upon the man of lashon hara at all, but only his speech and hearing were impaired, how much shame would he suffer because of this! For there it is known and recognized by all that his speech and hearing impairment there is due to his being a man of lashon hara and strife in this world.

Everyone who comes to worship God and to receive upon himself the yoke of fear of Him in truth, must first have a book which contains the reminder of the wonders of the Creator, blessed be He, the fear of Him and the might of Him, and this book should also contain those matters which bring to mind the punishment of the wicked by the Creator, blessed be He, His miracles to the righteous, and the story of His mighty and awesome deeds. As, for example, when God speaks to Job and says (38:3), “Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me,” and all the verses which follow. He should return again and again to this book, and strengthen his will with an oath to read it once a week, quietly and with concentration. He should pay close attention to all the matters contained in it, for it will be as tefillin between his eyes. It is necessary that the worshipper, before he draws near to serve God, should completely repent of all the sins which he has committed, and then his service will be true, for the service of God is divided into two parts. The first is that a man should cleanse his heart of all its transgressions and of the willful sins he has committed. And that he improve his faith and that his heart should be pure of all the dross of sins which were committed, and when he is clean and when he washes in clear water and is cleansed, then let him put on the garments of holiness to serve in holiness, and then he will be able to walk in the paths of the pious and to draw near to God. This is the second part of the objectives of worship which no man can attain until he attains the first part. Now I will discuss each one of them.

A few words concerning the four methods of executing someone legally that are possible in Jewish law, namely סקילה, שרפה, הרג, חנק, i.e. death by stoning, burning, sword or asphyxiation. Though according to the plain meaning, פשט, these methods are listed in descending order of severity, and the Torah specified the method compatible with each respective sin for which a death penalty is mandatory as a positive commandment, the fact remains that a person's death is due to the angel of death who derives his authority from the attribute of Justice, מדת הדין, which in turn decides on a variety of methods in which to implement this authority. Execution by the sword is symbolic of the avenging sword at work; it avenges the breach of the covenant with the supreme Law-giver. Hanging, i.e. choking to death, is appropriate for rebellious acts, i.e. an unspecified method of execution, suggesting that it is the result of the מדת הדין. The sinner is to have his mouth closed so that he can no longer speak out rebelliously. Stoning, סקילה, i.e. the very use of stones, suggests that the guilty person had upset the אבן הפינה, the cornerstone of Torah, had undermined it, so to speak. Death by fire, indicates that G–d's great fire had struck the guilty person (compare Rekanati's commentary on Deut. 18,16).

After this, during the last four hours of the night, the angels of the third watch begin reciting songs of praise. At that time the righteous of this world awaken to Hashem’s service and the angels recite, “Behold, bless Hashem, all you servants of Ha- shem who stand in the House of Hashem at night” (Ibid., 134:1). When dawn arrives, the stars and constellations begin singing in trepidation and awe, in keeping with the verse, “When the stars of the morning sang together and all the sons of God exulted” (Iyov 38:7). Afterwards, the sun appears, singing sweetly, “Acknowledge Hashem, call upon His name, tell of His deeds among the peoples” (Tehillim 105:1). At that time Israel go to the synagogue to pray and to accept upon themselves the yoke of Heaven, making their great and awesome declaration of Hashem’s unity with the words, “Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is one!” (Devorim 6:4). Then the name of the Holy One Blessed is He is sanctified and unified by all the hosts of Heaven and earth, granting Him satisfaction.

The select few manage to penetrate to an even higher level, i.e. the level of the yud in its full sense equivalent to the שקל הקודש, as we explained earlier. The reason the Torah calls for a contribution of only half this שקל הקודש (Exodus 30,13), is that most people are not able to attain a higher level than that represented by such a half שקל. Psalms 68,18, describes this dual yud when mentioning רבותיים instead of רבבות. There was no need for the Torah in פרשת כי תשא, to describe the שקל as a half שקל and spelling out that a whole שקל contains 20 geyrah, except to remind us of the fact that G–d's input into a human being is limited to ten parts out of of twenty. This means that the "holy" component of a human being to start with is only 50%. Man can be compared to a two sided coin. The scriptural hint for this is תתהפך כחומר חותם (Job 38,14), "it turns over like clay under the seal" (which has a seal imprinted on it). The body thus is viewed like the coin, i.e. the receptacle for the imprint the soul makes upon it. In its most elevated state the soul is to be viewed like G–d's imprint on the body. This is what our sages meant when they said that the soul resembles G–d in five ways. This is also the deeper meaning of our sages in Shekalim 4, saying that G–d showed Moses a fiery coin since He Himself is compared to consuming fire (אש אוכלה, Deut. 9,3). The Jewish people purchased the daily communal sacrifices from the money raised by these contributions (half-שקל). This is perhaps why these sacrifices are described as, אשה לה' "a fire offering to G–d (Numbers 28,3).