כִּֽי־יְשָׁרִ֥ים יִשְׁכְּנוּ אָ֑רֶץ וּ֝תְמִימִ֗ים יִוָּ֥תְרוּ בָֽהּ׃
Car ce sont les hommes droits qui occuperont la terre, et les intègres qui s’y maintiendront;
Rabbeinu Bahya
When a person is diligent in perfecting his character traits he will experience that he enjoys constant personality growth. He will find that every day he is walking in a forward direction, never regressing (Jeremiah 7,24). Concerning the people mentioned by Jeremiah, Solomon said (Proverbs 15,19): “the way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns, but the way of the upright is paved.” A lazy man has prevented himself from making progress by his very laziness. Instead of progressing morally and ethically he regresses using his lethargic manner to prevent him from accomplishing anything. If we were to compare such a man to a wheat field with all its potential to produce a useful crop, he would instead produce only nettles. Solomon employs this parable when saying in Proverbs 24,30-31: “I have passed by the field of the lazy man, and passed the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding. Here it was, all overgrown with thorns; its surface was covered with nettles, its stone fence was broken down. Solomon compared a person who is too lazy to perfect his personality to a farmer who is too lazy to tend the various forms of labour required to produce a crop. Seeing that most people do have the energy to bestir themselves in the pursuit of silver or gold, Solomon demands that they apply themselves with equal vigour to the study of Torah and the ethical imperatives contained in the Torah. Torah is also called מוסר “ethical teaching,” as we know from Proverbs 6,23 ודרך חיים תוכחת מוסר, “instructive rebukes are a way of life.” By applying these teachings to oneself man acquires eternal life in the hereafter where he will feast on the glory of the Shechinah. Our sages in Proverbs 2,21 interpreted the words: “for the upright dwell on earth, and the blameless will remain on it,” to mean that the word ישכנו in that verse is a reference to these people enjoying the glory of the Shechinah when their time comes to move to the celestial regions. The Shechinah is always close to the Torah. When G’d gave the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai the Torah wrote (Exodus 24,16) וישכון כבוד ה’ על הר סיני, “the Shechinah of G’d rested on Mount Sinai as the attribute of כבוד, ‘honour, glory.’” “It”, i.e. the Torah, is the cause that the Shechinah rested on Mount Sinai when G’d revealed Himself there, and the word וישכון refers to a hidden presence of the Shechinah, whereas the word כבוד refers to the revealed nature of that appearance of the Shechinah during the giving of the Torah. This was confirmed when the Torah described this manifestation in Exodus 24,17 as ומראה כבוד ה’ כאש אוכלת בראש ההר לעיני בני ישראל. “Now the Presence of the Lord appeared in the sight of the Israelites as a consuming fire on the top of the mountain.” Later on, when the Tabernacle was constructed, this Shechinah was hidden inside the Holy of Holies and in order to proceed with the construction of the Tabernacle housing the Shechinah the people were bidden to bring their respective contributions.