Musar zu Mischlej 10:20

His table and his bed shall be clean and all things that pertain to him shall be clean. His own body or person shall be clean not loathesome and he should be careful to wash his face, hands and feet and all his body at frequent times. As we find that "When Hillel the elder took leave of his disciples they said to him, 'Whither you go?' And he said to them, 'To fulfill a precept!' Then they asked him. 'Which precept is Hillel about to fulfill?' He said to them, 'To bathe in the bathhouse.' They asked, 'Is this a precept?' He said to them, 'Yes! If you consider that the statues of kings which are set up in theatres and circuses are scrubbed and cleaned by the one delegated to this task, and this man receives sustenance for this and is among the honored men of the kingdom, should we who are created in the image of God (Gen. 9:6) have less regard for our bodies?' " (Leviticus Rabbah 34:3).

And behold we shall conclude this topic with an esteemed statement of the Sages of Israel, may there memory be blessed: Hillel, peace be upon him, used to say (Avot 1:14), "If I am not for myself, who is for me? And if not now, when?" The explanation of the content is [that] if a person does not arouse his soul, what effect can reproof have? For even if they enter his heart on the day that he hears them, the impulse will forget them and drive them out of his heart, like the matter of that which was stated (Hosea 6:4) "when your goodness is like a morning cloud." And it is [also] stated (Proverbs 10:20), "The tongue of a righteous man is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little worth (kimeat)." Its explanation is that the reproof of a righteous man is pure without any dross, and his speech is chosen. But the heart of the evildoers that listen to his reproof is [only for] one instant. This is from the usage (Psalms 81:15), "then would I subdue their enemies instantly (kimeat)" - the meaning of which is, in an instant would I subdue their enemies. And [only] an understanding and refined heart is called a heart, as it is stated (Proverbs 15:32), "he who heeds reproof acquires heart"; and (Proverbs 17:16), "to purchase wisdom, when he has no heart?" Indeed, a man must arouse his heart when he hears reproof and place the things into his heart, to constantly think about them. And he should add teaching from his own heart and produce words. He should also meditate in the chambers of his spirit and repent, to turn the hand of the reproof upon himself and not just rely upon the rebuke of the rebuker. [Otherwise. that] rebuke will be like morning clouds, and for [fleeting] instants, until he takes the reproof upon himself and until he purifies himself. "But if I am for my own self [only], what am I?" Even when I am for myself and I reflect upon wisdom all the time, what am I? For the grasp of a man is short and weak. So [even] with the effort and the refinement, he will only attain a little of the virtues - see what I am and what my life is when I am not for myself, to make efforts to refine my soul. And the comparison here is to a field that is inferior. For with great toil and refinement, and with much work, it will bring out a small [amount of] seed. But if they do not toil in its refinement, it will not produce [anything] and no grass will grow in it besides thorns and brambles. However there is benefit in sowing a superior field - even if he does not toil in working it. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said about this matter (Avot D' Rabbi Natan 16), "That which it is written (Psalms 103:14), 'For He knows our formation' - there is a [relevant] metaphor of a king that gave a field to his servants and warned them to work it and guard it, and to bring him thirty kor from it each year. And they toiled on it and worked it well, but only bought five kor in front of the king. He said to them, 'What have you done?' They said to him, 'Our master, the king, the field that you gave us was inferior, and we worked it with all of our strength. But with all of the toil, it did not make more grain than this.'" "And if not now, when?" It is not appropriate for me to delay my efforts, a day or two, in refining my soul and fixing set times for Torah [study]. For if I say, "I shall hope for leisure time and until I have enough money in my hands for my needs" - behold the distractions of the world do not stop. As our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Avot 2:4), "Say not, 'When I shall have leisure I shall study,' lest you will not have leisure."

And our Rabbis said (Pesachim 3a), “A person should never put out a disgraceful matter from his mouth; as a verse was distorted by eight letters rather than have it put out a disgraceful matter, as it is stated (Genesis 7:8), ‘From the pure animals and from the animals that are not pure.’” For at that time, the impure animals were permissible to eat but not pure for a sacrifice. Hence it is considered a disgraceful expression if one disgraces things that are for human food. And see that a man must be careful not to put out a disgraceful matter from his mouth - even if by his leaving it, it will bring him to speak at length and add to his statements. And it is like a fence to be careful from vulgar speech - which is one of the weighty sins. And [it is] also a fence from speaking evil speech and the placing of defects upon the creatures - as our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, have said about the distancing of [disgraceful] speech (Bava Batra 123a), “The verse did not even speak in disgrace of impure animals.” And our Rabbis said (Pesachim 3b) that one of the priests said in front of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, “I received [for] my portion, the size of a lizard’s tail.” They investigated his background, and they found a trace of disqualification about him.
And our Rabbis also said (Pesachim 3a) that a person must choose an honorable phrase [instead of using] a dishonorable phrase - even if it is not disgraceful - whether it is in words of Torah or in speaking about matters of the world. And this is so long as he does not speak at length for its sake when speaking words of Torah. For a person is obligated to teach his students in a terse fashion. And the matter of honorable phrases is the path of words and speech that was tread upon by those of clean intellect and those that speak with clarity. And they weigh and know which phrase is honorable and which is its opposite, as it is stated (Job 15:5), “And you choose the language of the crafty.” And it is stated (Job 33:3), “and that which my lips know they shall speak sincerely.” And it is stated (Proverbs 1:20), “The tongue of a righteous man is choice silver.”

There are many people whose desire it is to take hold of the good path but they do not know what is good for them and they plan each day to attain the loftiest heights but they do not reach it in all of their days. And this circumstance arises out of two causes: First, he does not know wherein he is lacking and does not perceive clearly his ugly ways. And he is like Reuben who seeks for Simon but would not recognize him even if he saw him. Even if he should seek for him all day, he will not find him, for though he approach him several times he will not recognize him. Such is the case with this man. Even though he always thinks about what he ought to do and seeks to do the good deed he will not attain it for he does not know what he lacks. And there is a man who knows the bad qualities he possesses and plans to abandon them and take hold of good qualities. This man, too, will never attain the righteous path. For he is too lazy to seek out the good qualities properly. And he is like Reuben who seeks Simon and does know him and nevertheless does not find him because he does not seek him in the proper manner. And concerning this type of man, it is said: "The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver" (Prov. 10:20).

Money/silver - it is written "The tongue of the just is like choice silver" (Prov. 10:20) and it is also written "under the shadow of wisdom, under the shadow of silver" (Eccl. 7:12). Look and see the analogy of silver to speech and of silver to wisdom. There is a hint there, that they said "life and death are in the hands of the tongue, one who wants who live can do so because of the tongue, one who wants to die can do so because of the tongue" (Arakhin 15b). And they also said that the Torah is similar to a simple drug one who wants life [can get it through Torah] one who wants death [can get it through Torah] (Kidushin 30b). So too this we can say about the question of money: one who wants who live can do so because of the money, one who wants to die can do so because of the money - this is because most of the transgressions are caused due to a person being eager after money: robbing, stealing, exploitation, cheating, swearing falsely, swearing a lie, lies, unrighteousness in character traits [NT: could be 'in judgment' as עול במשפט makes more sense in the context of Torah list], moving boundaries, disputes, jealousy, hatred, rivalry, forbidden foods, desecration of Shabbat and holy days, and most of the transgressions that a person does is over gaining money, and the sin of desecrating God's Name is on top of them all. And so too, someone who loves their money cancels most of the mitzvot and the prayers and the blessings, and study of Torah corresponds to them all. And when such a person does them, they are unfit due to the doing them as fast as possible, and with miserliness, and the fact that one's heart is not into it, since that person's heart is only preoccupied with their own gain all the time, and they avert their eyes from [the needy by not giving] tzedakah, and when this person wants to do it, they really don't, and likewise many evils are done this way "riches kept for their owner to the owner's pwn hurt" (Eccl. 5:12) and at its hands one inherits Gehenna and goes down to the pit of destruction.