Musar su Proverbi 3:4

The first time is when a man acquires reason, as it is said (Proverbs 3:4), “So shalt thou find grace and good favour in the sight of God and man.” Because before a man acquires reason, he does not recognize his Creator, and therefore the Lord will not avail Himself to him.

We have been commanded to perform the above mentioned three commandments in order to achieve a degree of perfection, as our sages have pointed out that anyone who wears the fringes on his garment, the phylacteries on his head and arm, and whose door posts are adorned with mezzuzot, falls under the category of people concerning whom it has been said "that the threefold thread will not break easily" (Kohelet 4,12 quoted in Menachot 43). The ציציות surround a person's body from all four sides, and allude to its being whole. The מזוזה on his house symbolises that all is well with him financially. Whatever a person owns he keeps in his house and closes the door, allowing the presence of the מזוזה to act as his protection. This is why it is called מזוזה, i.e "it prevents it from being moved." It is man's demonstration that he believes that whatever he owns originates from G–d and has to be devoted to His service. The phylacteries on a man's head allude to his serving G–d with his mind, the ones on his arm are positioned opposite the heart, a source of his thought processes. Mental activity is the combined result of brain and heart. This alludes then to the wholeness of his Torah. I have already mentioned that these three areas of "wholeness," are the ones referred to earlier as חכם, גבור, עשיר.

Our sages (Tanchuma Korach 5) have said that Korach was deceived by his mental eye, since he foresaw a chain of illustrious descendants among his offspring including the prophet Samuel. He did not realise that these descendants excelled exactly in the reverse characteristics he himself had displayed. Whereas Korach engaged in quarrels with Moses and G–d, Samuel was a man who was on a good footing with both man and G–d. He practiced the virtues of Aaron rather than those of his forebear. I have explained already that these three virtues have to be practiced both vis-a-vis G–d and vis-a-vis man. This is the meaning of ומצא חן ושכל טוב בעיני אלוקים ואדם, "and you will find favour and high esteem in the eyes of G–d and man" (Proverbs 3,4). This is what is meant that Samuel was טוב עם אלוקים ועם אנשים, that Samuel was "good to G–d and to men." This also explains what חנה meant when she prayed to G–d that He should grant her זרע אנשים, which our sages explained to mean that she asked for a son who would combine within himself the virtues of Moses and Aaron (Samuel I 1,11). We also find that Moses and Aaron are compared to Samuel in Psalms 99,6: "Moses and Aaron among His priests and Samuel among those who call on His name, and He answers them." How do we reconcile all this with the statement in Deut. 34,10, that "no prophet ever arose again who could compare to Moses who had known G–d face to face?" The answer is simply that Samuel possessed some of the virtues of Moses and Aaron, since Moses in his closeness to G–d had concentrated almost exclusively on devoting himself to G–d so that he did not have much time left for private matters. This too is what is meant when he is described as איש האלוקים. Aaron, on the other hand, concentrated on the virtue of "peace." He was always busy pursuing peace, trying to restore harmonious relations between husband and wife, etc. In other words, he was primarily טוב לאנשים, good towards people. The prophet Samuel concentrated on practising the two outstanding virtues of both Moses and Aaron. We find that he travelled from town to town in order to perform acts of justice, truth and peace (Samuel I 7,16).