욥기 11:23의 Musar

The thirteenth principle is that the light sins should be weighty in one's eyes from four angles: The first is that he should not look at the smallness of a sin, but rather at the greatness of the One who commanded it. The second is that the impulse is in control over the light sins, and that may be a cause to do them constantly. And then they will also be considered like weighty ones - when the punishment of all of the times [it is committed] are combined. And they compared it to a silk thread that is loose and weak; but when you combine it many, many times, it becomes a strong rope. And the third is that from his constantly doing the sin, it becomes like something permissible; and he will remove its yoke from upon him. So he will not protect himself against it and he will be considered from those that remove the yoke and are heretics for one thing. And the fourth is that if he defeats the impulse with something small, he will defeat it tomorrow with something big - as our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Shabbat 105b), "Anyone who breaks vessels in anger should be in your eyes as if he worships idolatry. For this is the way of the evil impulse: Today it says to you thus, on the morrow, it tells you, 'Go worship an idol.'" And it is stated (Genesis 4:7), "Is it not that if you do right, there is uplift, etc." Its explanation [starting with the end of Genesis 4:6] is: "Why has your face fallen? Is it not that if you do right" actions and repent to Me, "there is uplift" - like the usage (in Job 11:15), "Then, free of blemish, you will uplift your head." And it can be understood as an expression of forgiveness. "But if you do not do right, sin couches at the door" (Genesis 4:7): But if you do not repent from that which you sinned, it is not only this iniquity that will lay with you; but rather the impulse crouches at the door to make you sin in all that you do. And it will always defeat you, since it defeated you and trapped you [now] and it also caught you, and you did not repent. "And its urge is toward you," to lead you astray and it ambushes you at every instant. "Yet you can be its master," if you want to overpower it. Therefore you will be punished for the sin, since I gave you the ability to conquer your impulse.

The written Torah concludes with the word ישראל and commences with the word בראשית. We may view the end as firmly connected with the beginning and the beginning as firmly connected with the end. We demonstrate this on שמחת תורה by reading from the beginning of פרשת בראשית as soon as we have concluded the last passage in וזאת הברכה. Our sages have provided an allusion for this when they said: בראשית ברא בראשית, i.e. בשביל התורה וישראל שנקראו ראשית. Israel is the whole purpose of the creation of the universe. It is appropriate therefore that the Torah begin with the word בראשית and end with the word ישראל. The Torah commences with the letter ב, which our sages in the Midrash describe as the letter symbolizing ברכה, blessing. The essence of any blessing is the expansion and the intensification of the prevailing abundance provided by G–d. The purpose of the benediction is to ensure the continuance of these abundant blessings by G–d indefinitely. Torah too is eternal, hence it represents the essence of all blessings. This idea is also alluded to in Psalms 29,11: ה' עוז לעמו יתן ה' יברך את עמו בשלום, "May the Lord grant strength to His people; may He bestow well-being on his people." A question is asked in the Sefer Ha-Bahir as well as in the Ziyoni "Whence do we know that the Torah itself is a blessing?" As an answer the authors cite Moses' blessing in 33,23: "And full of the Lord's blessing the West (sea) and the South, conquer it!" We have a tradition that "West" is a hyperbole for Torah because it is written in Job 11,9: "and broader than the West (sea)." Thus far the Tziyoni.

And a person is obligated to reflect and know that the troubles that find him and the afflictions that come upon him are not according to the greatness of his iniquity and the multitude of his sins. Rather God, may He be blessed - in His pity upon him - afflicts him in the way of the rebuke of a father upon his son, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 8:5), “And you shall know in your heart, that, as a man chastens his son, so the Lord, your God, chastens you.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, explained (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 350), “Your heart knows the deeds you have done and the afflictions I have brought upon you; that it is not according to your deeds that I have afflicted you.” And it is stated (Job 11:6), “and know that God has overlooked for you some of your iniquity.” And it is stated (Ezra 9:13), “though You, our God, have been forbearing, [punishing us] less than our iniquity.”
But when reproof comes upon the enemies of the Lord, may He be blessed, they are finished with one iniquity - for the punishment comes all at once, as it is stated (Psalms 34:22), “One misfortune is the deathblow of the wicked.“ So the rest of their iniquities remain upon their souls, as it is stated (Ezekiel 32:27), “and their iniquities shall be upon their bones.” However when reproof comes to the righteous, it comes little by little, until the termination of their iniquities, as it is stated (Amos 3:2), “You alone have I known from all the families of the earth; that is why I will call you to account for all your iniquities.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, explained (Avodah Zarah 4a), “It is comparable to a person who lends money to two people, one of whom is his friend, and the other one is his enemy. [In the case of] his friend, he collects from him little by little; [whereas in the case of] his enemy, he collects from him all at once.” And it is stated (Proverbs 24:16), “Seven times the righteous man falls and gets up, while the wicked are tripped by one misfortune.” Its explanation is that they stumble upon one misfortune and are finished. And it is stated (Jeremiah 10:24), “Chastise me, O Lord, but only in judgement; not in Your wrath, lest You reduce me to naught.” Its explanation is, “but only in judgement”- with the trait of mercy and and the property of Your kindness. [This is] from the usage (in Numbers 29:18), “in their count according to [their] judgement,” [which means] according to [their] property; [and in] (Psalms 112:5), “who conducts his affairs in justice,” [means] with measure. And they compared it to another parable regarding this matter and said (Midrash Tehillim 18), “One who does not know [how] to hit will hit his son in his eyes and in his face; whereas one who knows [how] to hit will hit his son in such a way that it will not cause him damage.” And likewise is it written (Psalms 118:18), “The Lord surely chastised me, but He did not give me over to death.” And it is stated (Job 2:6), “but only spare his life.”
And He only brings vengeful afflictions upon the evildoers. But probing afflictions only come upon the righteous; for they accept them with love and they increase the refinement of their actions. So [these] afflictions are for their good and their benefit, and the increase of their reward - as it is stated (Psalms 11:5), “The Lord probes the righteous one.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, compared it to a parable regarding this and said (Bereishit Rabbah 58:32), “When the owner of the flax knows that the flax is strong, he hits it much in order to make it soft and good.”

For many have reached piety in various branches of piety but in the matter of hating bribes (i.e. dishonest gains), they are unable to reach the place of Shelemut (wholeness/perfection). This is what Tzofar HaNaamati told Job: "if iniquity be in your hand, put it far away, and do not permit injustice to dwell in your tents; surely then you shall lift up your face without a blemish; you shall be steadfast and shall not fear;" (Job 11:14-15).

Note that the early pious men of old would wait one hour before prayer, in order to direct their hearts to G-d (Berachot 30b). There is no doubt that they wouldn't waste an hour of time. Rather they would direct and prepare their hearts for the prayer they needed to pray, pushing out foreign thoughts and filling themselves with the requisite fear and love of G-d. On this it is written: "If you prepared your heart, then spread out your hands to Him" (Iyov 11:13).

These people have given Piety a repulsive odor in the eyes of most people, including the intelligent among them, leading them to think Piety consists of foolish things and is counter to intelligence and sound knowledge. The masses came to believe Piety consists of nothing but reciting numerous supplications and lengthy confessions, great wailings and prostrations, strange afflictions through which a man kills himself such as immersing in ice [water] and snow, and the like

The use here of (the word) "eyes" shows that the quality of pride is to be attributed to the sense of sight. Of meekness it is said (Hab. i. 13), "Thou art of humbler eyes than to behold evil," and so forth. With regard to the impudent, thou observest in most cases that his eyes stare and he is indifferent to shame; thus it is said of them (Isa. iii. 9), "The shew of their countenance doth witness against them." Thus thou wilt notice that the eyes of the unrighteous, the impudent, are troubled and restless, like those of whom it is said (Job xi. 20), "The eyes of the wicked shall fail." Again it is said of the impudent (Jer. v. 3), "They have made their faces harder than a rock." On the other hand, thou wilt find that the prudent man lowers his eyes so that he may merit, by reason of this, the abundant favor of God and men, as it is said (Prov. iii. 34), "He giveth grace unto the lowly"; and as we, with the help of God, exalted be He, will explain very clearly in the successive chapters. This favor can be acquired only by means of (the faculty of) sight, having regard to him that sees and that which is seen. Thus it was said of Moses our Master, peace be unto him (Num. xii. 3), "The man Moses was very meek." Previously it was said, corresponding to this (Ex. xi. 3), "The man Moses was very great."

For seven reasons should a man repent early while still in his youth when his power is strong. The first is that the labor needed to acquire Torah and reverence for God and all qualities that a man must possess is exceedingly great. And concerning this it is said, "The measure thereof is longer than the earth and broader than the sea" (Job 11:9). And, "The day is short" (Aboth 2:20). For this world is a very short day. "Like a shadow are our days upon the earth" (I Chron. 29:15). And our Sages, of blessed memory, said, "Not like the shadow of a wall and not like the shadow of a tree, but like the shadow of a bird in flight" (Gen. Rabbah 96:2). And as to the expression, "And the workers are lazy" (Aboth 2:20), this refers to a man who has within him the quality of laziness.

There is an interesting comment by Yalkut Shimoni on 11,13 item 863. We note that the word כל is missing when the Torah speaks about our collective observance of its commandments. The Torah writes: והיה אם שמוע תשמעו אל מצותי אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם היום, "It will come to pass when you will surely listen to My commandments which I command to you this day." The Yalkut explains that the wording is designed to forestall our argument that we cannot fulfill all the commandments, that "its measure is longer than the earth" (Job 11,9). We may compare the situation to a king who possesses a deep pit, so deep that no one has probed its exact depth. He tells a member of his staff to hire workers to fill up the pit; he does so. One of the more foolish of the workers takes a look into the pit and asks: "Will I ever finish filling up this hole?" The intelligent worker relates quite differently to the task at hand He is not concerned with the time it may take to complete the task but reasons that, since he is a day laborer and gets paid for the amount of time he puts in, he is happy to have found work which may assure him of a continued livelihood for an indeterminate period. This is what G–d says here to the Jewish people. He tells us not to worry about the immensity of the task but to view ourselves as day laborers and to be happy that we will receive a reward for every day that we keep observing His commandments. Thus far the Yalkut. This Yalkut presents a difficulty. We can understand the comparison offered when we adopt the viewpoint expressed by Rabbi Yochanan in Sanhedrin 111 in connection with Isaiah 5,14: "Sheol has opened wide its gullet and parted its jaw in a measureless gap." Rabbi Yochanan differed from Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish; the latter applied this verse to the consignment to purgatory of people who have omitted only a single statute in their observance. Rabbi Yochanan did not agree that G–d is so demanding and therefore preferred the opposite interpretation, i.e. that observance of a single statute is enough to save a person from being consigned to purgatory. How can we reconcile the view of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish with that of the Yalkut?

If one finds a text with an error in it one must emend it, as it is written, “Do not allow injustice to dwell in your tent” (Iyov 11:14). Nevertheless, one must not make emendations based on judgment alone. The Ramban, z”l, writes (Baba Basra 134a), “The hand that erases texts without clear proofs should be cut off and the curse of the rabbis will be upon that hand so that it will be cut off.”