Musar su Salmi 119:3

The second level is the severity of positive commandments: The foundation of the reward and the root of the recompense resulting from the service is [found] in the performance of positive commandments, as it is stated (Proverbs 13:13), “He who respects a commandment will be rewarded.” And it is [also] stated (Malachi 3:18), “And you shall come to see the difference [...] between him who has served God and him who has not served Him.” And the service [to God] is with commandments that depend upon (involve) actions - whether there is nothing besides the positive commandment or whether there is [also] a negative commandment with them, such as (Deuteronomy 15:7), “do not harden your heart, etc.” (which accompanies the positive commandment of charity). And the commandment of the service will be explained in the Gate of the Service (no longer extant), with God’s help. Nevertheless, there is a manner of reward for the one who is careful not to transgress a negative commandment that reaches [that] of one who does a commandment - such as if the opportunity for a sin comes to a man and he had a desire for a sexual prohibition, but he overcame his impulse - for this is from the essence of the fear of God, may He be blessed. And likewise someone who had the opportunity to get rich by cheating and [charging] interest and there is no one to see and to know; yet he went with innocence and clean hands - his reward for this will be like one who plants righteousness and toils [to do a positive] commandment. And so it is written (Psalms 119:3) “They have done no wrong, but have followed His ways.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Yerushalmi Kiddushin 1:9), “Since they did not do wickedness, they have ‘followed His ways.’” And we have already discussed the explanation of this verse for you. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, likewise said (Kiddushin 39b), “[If] one sits and does not transgress, he receives a reward as one who performs a commandment, [...] in a case where an opportunity to commit a sinful act presents itself to him and he is saved from it.” And they also said (Berakhot 6a), “‘Those who revere the Lord and esteem His name.’ - this is [a case] where an opportunity to commit a sinful act presents itself to him and he is saved from it.” Even [with] this reward [however], its essence and foundation is [based in] a positive commandment, since he suppressed his impulse with the fear of God, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 10:20), “You must fear the Lord, your God.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Avot 2:1), “Be careful with a light commandment as with a weighty one, for you do not know the reward for the fulfillment of the commandments.” Yet behold [that] what will be done to anyone who transgresses a negative commandment is explicit in the Torah; and it allocates punishments and statutes and a code for what to do to them. And the punishments are forty lashes, death and expiation at the hands of the Heavens and the four death penalties of the court. But the reward for the fulfillment of the commandments is not explicit in the Torah, so that [people] not prevent themselves from fulfilling the light commandments and involve themselves only in the weighty ones.

Let us go back to the parable from the Yalkut which we quoted on pages earlier. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish who demanded fulfillment of every single commandment in the Torah can hardly reconcile this with the parable of the pit in the Yalkut. We have divided the commandments into 248 positive ones and 365 negative ones. The sages use the number 365 as signifying the concept "day" as in the solar year which comprises 365 days. The pit may be compared to man. When the pit is not filled with “commandments performed,” it is empty, but just as in the case of the pit the brothers threw Joseph into, this does not mean that it did not contain potentially lethal creatures such as dragons and scorpions (cf. Rashi on Genesis 37,24). The "scorpions" mentioned are a metaphor for the forces of the קליפה, forces created by our sins. Only when the pit has become filled and does not leak a drop (of the commandments performed which have filled the pit) have these forces of the קליפה become totally neutralized. When the foolish laborer described in the parable expressed his chagrin that he would never be able to fill the pit, he referred to the negative commandments. He knew that performance is of paramount significance. He also knew that 365 of the 613 commandments are incapable of being "performed," since observing them consists of lack of activity, i.e. שב ואל תעשה, refraining from violating the commandment. He therefore could not understand how one could receive rewards for what one did not do! This foolish worker did not understand that the 365 negative commandments are performed by consciously abstaining from committing acts which would be transgressions. In other words, our thoughts play a key role in מצוה observance. This is the "joy" that the other labourer referred to when he said "I am happy that I have found work for myself." The "happiness" is an allusion to the "performance" of negative commandments by deliberately refraining from eating pig because G–d had forbidden it, not because there was none to be had. This kind of attitude is regarded just as the deed of handing out charity, for instance. We see that there are many commandments which are "performed" by thought rather than deed, something that Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish was aware of and agreed with. We have proof of this in Psalms 119,3: אף לא פעלו עולה בדרכיו הלכו, "They have done no wrong, but have followed His ways." This means that when one foregoes the opportunity to violate a negative commandment this is considered as if one had performed a commandment. The same principle applies when one cannot perform a positive commandment for one reason or another. When the Torah states in the opening line of our portion: את הברכה אשר תשמעו, "The blessing when you listen, etc.," the message is that from the moment we undertake to study the commandments with a view to fulfilling them, the blessing, i.e. the reward is already due us. Should we be prevented from performance by some accident, this does not diminish the merit we have already acquired.