Musar do Liczb 15:40

This can be explained, with the help of the L-rd, in various ways. [See what we have written above in the introduction.] It is written in Yerushalmi Peah 1:1 that just as the reward for Torah study is over and against all of the mitzvoth, so is the punishment for lashon hara over and against all of the transgressions. It is found, then, that just as Torah study is the greatest of all of the mitzvoth, so is lashon hara the severest of all of the sins. The reason, basically, is this: Just as with the elements that the blessed One has implanted in this world — fire, wind, water, and earth — the spiritual element is far stronger than the material so that the material is almost nothing compared to it, as we see plainly that when fire gets the upper hand over a material substance it destroys it, and, likewise, when the element of wind gets the upper hand, it can split mountains and break rocks, as it is written (I Kings 19:11): "And a great, strong wind, splitting mountains and breaking rocks," so is the thing with the "higher elements," such as tzitzith, lulav, shofar, and all the mitzvoth. Just as through them great things are worked in the higher worlds, and through them, too, a man is sanctified to the L-rd, as it is written (Numbers 15:40): "And you shall do all My mitzvoth and you shall be holy to your G-d," still, there is no comparison between them and Torah study, as we find in Yerushalmi Peah 1, that all of the mitzvoth are not comparable to one word of Torah. The reason is that all the mitzvoth are combined with matter. So that, for example, it is impossible to fulfill the mitzvah of tzitzith without donning a garment, which is material. And the same with succah and lulav, and thus with all of the mitzvoth. Not so with Torah study, which inheres in the faculty of speech, which is an abstract, "spiritual" faculty alone. For this reason its higher workings are awesome, wherefore the study of Torah is "over and against all." The reverse is true of kilkul ["damage"]. For with all of the organs through which he sins, because they are material, the kilkul wrought by them is not so [relatively] great. Not so, with the sin of lashon hara and rechiluth, which works purely through a spiritual agency, wherefore its kilkul in the higher worlds is awesome. Its punishment, therefore, correspondingly, is "over and against all."

And this is the intent of (Bamidbar 15:40): So that you remember and do all of My mitzvoth and you will be holy to your G-d." Now, ostensibly, "so that you remember and do all of My mitzvoth" is superfluous, for it is written [just] before (Ibid. 39): "and you will remember all the mitzvoth of the L-rd and you will do them." And it should have been written there "and you will be holy to your G-d." But, the verse [39] intimates to us something essential, i.e., when are the mitzvoth of so much avail that through them a man will be "holy to G-d"? When he takes heed not to go astray after the thoughts of his heart and the sight of his eyes. As Chazal have said on this verse, (Berachoth 12): "'After your hearts' — this is heresy;" 'and after your eyes' — this is adultery.'" And the Chinuch writes that included in "heresy" are all of the thoughts that run counter to the perspective of Torah, and included in "adultery" is pursuing the lusts of the world.

The reason for Scripture's singling out just these things seems to be this: It is known that every man has 248 physical organs and 365 physical sinews, as it is written (Iyyov 10:11): "With skin and flesh did You clothe me and with bones and sinews did You cover me." Now Scripture mentions skin and flesh and sinews and bones, and calls them only "clothing" and "covering" — "You clothed me"; "You covered me." Whom did He clothe if not the soul that is in his midst — "the essential man." And every organ of the soul is clothed from above with a bodily organ which corresponds to that organ as a garment to the body. And corresponding to this, the Holy One Blessed be He gave us 248 positive commandments and 365 negative commandments. And they are also distributed among the organs. For there is a mitzvah depending on the hand and a mitzvah depending on the foot. And so with all the other organs, as stated in the book of Charedim. And when a man fulfills a mitzvah in this world with a certain organ, in the world to come the light of the L-rd reposes on that organ, and it is that light which vivifies that organ. And so, with each and every mitzvah. It emerges, then, that when a man fulfills the 248 positive commandments, then he is the "complete man," who is sanctified to the L-rd with all of his organs. And this is the intent of what is stated in the section of tzitzith [fringes] (Bamidbar 15:40): "And you will do all My mitzvoth and you will be holy to your G-d." But if, G-d forbid, he be lacking one of the 248 positive commandments, which he has "cast behind his back," and which he did not repent of, there will be a defect in his soul in the world to come in the organ corresponding to that mitzvah. And this is the intent of Berachoth 26a: "(Koheleth 1:15): 'The crooked cannot be made straight' — This refers to one who omitted the Shema of the evening prayer or the Shema of the morning prayer, or the Amidah of the evening prayer or the Amidah of the morning prayer.'" And when a man is careful not to transgress the negative commandments of the Torah, he draws down the light of sanctity upon the sinews of his soul. And if he is not careful, they will be — G-d forbid — defective, as is explained at length in the book, Sha'arei Kedushah, Chapter I.