Halakhah do Koheleta 7:16

Perhaps a person might say: "Since envy, lust and glory and the like, are bad character traits that remove a man from the world, I will completely abstain from them, and keep away from them entirely," to the point that he will not eat meat, nor drink wine, nor marry a woman, nor live in a comfortable dwelling, nor wear decent clothes, but he will put on a sackcloth, or something similar; this too is a bad way of life, and it is forbidden to follow it. Anyone who follows this life-style is called a sinner. For in regard to the nazir it is written,²¹Numbers 6:11. (Nazarite) "To atone for him who sinned by the dead,"²²מֵאֲשֶׁר חָטָא עַל הַנֶפֶשׁ—is translated by the Rabbis as “for committing a sin against his soul,” “against himself,” by denying himself things which are permitted. and [our Rabbis] of blessed memory said, "If a nazir who abstained only from drinking wine, needs an atonement, a person who abstains from everything, how much more so does he need [an atonement]."²³Ta’anis 11a. Therefore, our Rabbis of blessed memory ordained that you should abstain only from those things which the Torah prohibits, but do not prohibit to yourself, things which are permitted by means of vows and oaths. Thus said our Sages of blessed memory, "Is not what the Torah forbids enough for you that you have to prohibit to yourself things which are permissible?"²⁴Yerushalmi, Nedarim 9:1. And our Rabbis of blessed memory have forbidden us to inflict pain on ourselves with more fasting than is required. Concerning all these and similar matters, King Solomon, peace be upon him, said, "Do not be excessively righteous, nor overly wise, why destroy yourself."²⁵Ecclesiastes 7:16. And he said [in the same vein],²⁶Proverbs 4:26. "Measure well the path of your foot then you will stay on a straight course."²⁷Malbim explains the word paleis as a form of peles, the name of a measuring instrument. Man should measure carefully to find the middle road of life, staying clear of the extremes.

There were two people. One did not want to burn the flies. His friend said to him, " 'Be not righteous overmuch' (Ecclesiastes 7:16). Better to burn the flies so that they shall not fall into the food and drink. [Then] one who swallows them will sin. Therefore it is written 'Be not righteous overmuch.' "

“Be not righteous overmuch” (Eccl. 7:16). Behold, there is a woman drowning in the river and it is possible for you to rescue her, do not say, “I will let her drown for how can I see her nakedness?”¹Sotah 21b. How dare you not act, it will be held against you as a wrong and you will be punished. Go and learn from Saul who had pity on Agag and engaged in an erroneous syllogism, because of which he was banished. ²Yoma 22b.And thus, “And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his fellow by the word of the Lord, ‘Smite me, I pray thee’” (I Kings 20:35). And through this he was punished, a lion struck him and killed him.³I Kings 20:36.

If a bird is found that is lacking the three signs of purity and there is none remaining to it besides the unique one - and that is that it is not a predator - it is always pure. As there is none among the impure birds that do not have one of all the signs of purity in their bodies but is not a predator except for the ossifrage and the osprey, which are like this. And they are not found in settlements - and since they are not found in settlements, we are not in doubt about them. And there are some of the commentators that said that they were not found with our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, but they are found now. And I [say] about them, 'do not be greatly righteous.' As [the Rabbis] said that they are not found in settlements - meaning to say, that they are always distant from inhabited places - and since their nature is like this, 'the world stands forever,' and the law is the same at all times. If three signs of purity are found in its body - and they are an extra digit, a crop and a gizzard that peels - it is known that it is fit, and [that also] the fourth is [in it] (like this); meaning to say that it is not a predator. As there is no bird in the world with these three signs that is a predator. And [so] he does not need to check about it at all, but rather he may eat it immediately. But if three signs of purity are found in it and one of the three is that it is not a predator, one must certainly be in doubt about it; as most of the impure ones are like this, that they have three signs like these. And every man must ask about such a bird if he does not recognize all of (the impure) the enumerated ones in the Torah. It comes out, according to our words, that any bird that is in doubt for us whether it is impure or pure will be in one of two ways: that it have three signs of purity, and one of them is that it is not a predator, as we said, that it should be in doubt [of being] among the many species of the impure; or that it have two signs of impurity and one of them is that it is not a predator, that it should be in doubt of being a raven and its species. But all of the other ways do not bring a doubt, but rather we judge it as pure or impure immediately. Place your mind to the thing, as it is so, according to this general rule of ours. And we have written this general rule according to some of the commentators, as there are many explanations given in these matters of birds. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Chullin 64b) that all birds that are in doubt are eaten according to tradition - meaning to say that if the people of a place received [a tradition] and were accustomed to eat it [with no question] under the assumption that it is pure - that we should have no hesitation about it at all, and there is no need to check it. And the rest of its details are in the third chapter of Chullin (see Tur, Yoreh Deah 82).

From the root of the commandment, I have already written an introduction at the beginning of the book that there being something in the world of the Holy One, blessed be He, that combines physicality and intellect - and that is Man - was something fitting and necessary for His praise, blessed be He, to come up properly from His creatures; that with this creature, there would not be lacking any possibilities, which we have in our minds to grasp, from His world, etc., as I wrote there. And there is no doubt that without this reason that obligates our intellect to dwell within the physical, [which is involved with] desire and sin, it would have been fitting for our intellect to stand and serve in front of our Creator and to recognize His honor like one of the 'sons of God' that are stationed with Him. However, because of this obligation, it is subjugated to live in physical houses. And since it is subjugated to this, it must occasionally veer from the service of its Creator to tend to the needs of its home where it lives. For a home's structure and its lumber and its stones cannot stand without a person minding it. If so, as the intention of man's creation was according to what we have said, whenever the intellect can minimize physical work and focus on the service of its Master, that is good for it; so long as it does not completely ignore the work of the house and destroy it. As this would also be considered a sin for him, as the King wished to have a creature like this. It is like the saying of Rabbi Yose, (Taanit 22b) that a person may not afflict himself on a fast day, which Rav Yehudah explained in the name of Rav as stemming from the verse "and man was a living thing" (Genesis 2:7), [which implies that the soul should be allowed to live]. On the [same basis] the wise king stated (Ecclesiastes 7:15), "Do not be overly righteous; do not be overly wise. Why should you be desolate?" And this is the holiness of the nazirite and his loftiness, as he departs from the physical. [About this] Shimon the Righteous said (Nazir 4b), "In all my days [as a priest], I never ate the guilt-offering of an impure nazirite, apart from one man who came to me from the South, who had beautiful eyes and a fine countenance, and his locks were arranged in curls. I said to him, 'My son, what did you see to destroy this [beautiful] hair?' He said to me, 'I was a shepherd for my father in my town, and I went to draw water from the spring, and I looked at my reflection. And my evil inclination quickly rose against me and sought to drive me from the world. I said to my evil inclination, "Wicked one! For what reason are you proud in a world that is not yours, about one who in the future will be maggots and worms. [I swear by] the Temple service that I will shave you for the [sake of] Heaven.' Immediately, I arose and kissed him on his head, and said to him, 'My son, may there be more nazirites like you in Israel. With regard to you the verse states (Numbers 6:2), "When either a man or a woman shall clearly utter a vow, the vow of a nazirite, to consecrate himself to the Lord."'" Therefore, in order to suppress the [evil] inclination, he is commanded to shave his head at the end of the days of his [term]. And he is not permitted to fix it up and to take a little of them, so that his [evil] impulse does not come back against him as [it did] at first. Rather, he has become obligated to shave it all, for there is no doubt that both very long hair and completely shaven heads destroy the appearance of a person.