Myśl Żydowska do Powtórzonego Prawa 11:5

When one finds himself in such circumstances, it is very easy for him to fear and love the Holy One Blessed be He because his intellect finds itself without an opponent; and intellect, by itself, always aspires upwards and it is not beyond its powers to rise and behold the countenance of the L-rd of Hosts. It is in this respect that Moses said to the Jews: "What does the L-rd your G-d ask of you…" For this thing depends upon you and it is very easy in terms of the power of your intellect; for its nature inclines towards it and it is easy to attain all things for which there is a natural inclination. And if you should contend: True, this may be easy for intellect, but it is very difficult for imagination to acquiesce in this, for it is drawn after the images it forms of the things of this world, and man, whose source is dust is drawn after it — to this Moses counters: "And know this today, for it is not your children who have not known and who have not seen the chastisement of the L-rd your G-d." That is, if I were speaking with your children, who did not know and who did not witness punitive retribution in this world, they could say that their imaginations enticed them into seeing the successes of the world as eternal, for they had not seen G-d overturning the seats of kingdom to execute His justice against the transgressors of His will. But you, you have seen the chastisements of your G-d, how could you be enticed by imagination? Have you not seen how the L-rd dashed to the earth and glory of Egypt that was ensconced in might? And you saw, too, how many punishments G-d brought upon you in the desert for your own sins. This is the intent of (Devarim 11:5): "And what He did to you in the desert until you came to this place" (Moses does not elaborate here and speaks only in general terms in deference to the honor of the Jews). And you saw, too, what he did to Dathan and Aviram… And you cannot say that this was a natural phenomenon (fissures sometimes occurring in the earth), for they were "in the midst of all of Israel," and they alone perished in their sin. And since (Ibid 7) "your own eyes have seen all of the acts of the great [and awesome] L-rd," you should not be enticed by this world at all. It is for this reason that Dathan and Aviram are mentioned, and not Korach, the central figure in the rebellion; for man's imagination craves the lusts and pleasures of this world not for himself alone, but to bequeath them to his children — to the point that this constitutes the major objective of most men, so that they give almost no thought to themselves. They infest their souls with sin and heap up transgressions so that they can cause their children to inherit their palaces and dwellings. But this inheritance is a "hasty one, which shall not be blessed with endurance" (see Proverbs 20:21) — so that sometimes, at a man's very height, the fortune he amassed unjustly will leave him in the middle of his days (see Jeremiah 17:11), and he will be left with his transgression alone.