Musar su Salmi 111:10

In the first chapter we shall speak about the quality of pride. How good it is that it occurs at the very beginning of all the chapters because of the obligation of man to separate himself from it! For pride is the doorway to many evils and we have seen nothing as evil as arrogance in all of the qualities. Therefore, a man must be wise and lead pride along paths that are worthy, and thrust it away from the place where it is not proper for it to be.

Since it has been made clear that service to God must be with three things: with fear, with wisdom, and with love, we recognize that these three are given by one shepherd, and that is reason, for reason contains all three and other powers as well. For it is obvious that reason contains wisdom and love and the awareness that the rational person should in all things love the righteous path, lest he add to any of them more than is fitting or diminish more than is fitting. We learn from this that according to the perfection of the reason of man will his service to God become whole, and that what is lacking in the perfection of his service to God is lacking in the man’s reason and knowledge. If the service be perfect there is no doubt that the knowledge of their possessor is complete. For Scripture says with regard to sins and sinners (Jeremiah 10:14), “Every man is proved to be brutish, without knowledge,” and it says (Isaiah 44:18-19), “They know not, neither do they understand; for their eyes are bedaubed, that they cannot see, and their hearts, that they cannot understand. And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding.” The Prophet means that the service must be with the power of wisdom, as it is said (Psalms 111:10), “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” And this is a sign that the service of God, blessed be He, is the goal of reason and wisdom and that those who forsake God are fools. If someone were to say, “Behold you see the wicked, that even among them there are wise and intelligent men in every branch of wisdom. How can you say of them that they are fools or lacking in mental power?” Our answer would be: “When a wise man is visited by misfortune and thereupon does a thing which he has never done before, but suddenly realizes that through this thing salvation will come to him, it is a sign of his previous folly.

And Solomon was the richest of all men, as it is written, "And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones" (I Kings 10:27). For him it was proper to say "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity" (Eccl. 1:2), and one ought not to busy himself with anything save for the reverence of Heaven. And thus did Moses, our teacher, peace be upon him, say: "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God" (Deut. 10:12). And thus did David, the King, peace be upon him, say: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Ps. 111:10).