Musar para sa Mga Awit 119:19

'Cast thy burden upon the Lord,' for the thing which thou believest far from thee is often very near unto thee. Know, again, that thou art not master over thy words, nor hast power over thy hand; but everything is in the hand of the Lord, who formest thy heart... Be especially careful to keep aloof from the women [of the court?]. Know that our God hates immorality, and Balaam could in no other way injure Israel than by inciting them to unchastity. [Here come many quotations from Malachi and Ezra.]... My son, remember me always, and let the image of my countenance be never absent from before thine eyes. Love not that which I hate... Let always be upon thy lips the words of the Psalmist, 'I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me' (Ps. Cxix. 19); and God, who is good and the dispenser of good, shall increase thy peace and prolong thy life in peace and happiness, and promote thy honour according to thy wish and the wish of thy father who bore thee, Moses ben Nachman."

What we learn from all this is how careful we must be when we reside in a land that enjoys G–d's daily personal supervision. We must conduct ourselves submissively vis a vis G–d. King David expressed this sentiment when he said גר אנכי בארץ , "I am merely a stranger in the land (of Israel)" (Psalms 119,19) David considered himself as at most possessing the status of a stranger in that land. When G–d told Abraham in Genesis 15,13: "Know that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs,” we must ask why He added the words "in a land that is not theirs?" Is it not clear that one can only be a stranger in a land that one does not own? Rashi addresses this problem and says that this expression includes the times when Abraham's descendants would also at times be strangers in countries other than the land of Egypt, during the 400 years which start with the birth of Isaac. Other commentators see in this expression an allusion to the fact that Israel would reside in Goshen, i.e. not Egypt proper, the expression לא להם, referring to the Egyptians who did not "own" Goshen, seeing it had been given to Sarah by Pharaoh. Alternately, it could refer to the resettlement policy of the Egyptians which Joseph had initiated in Genesis 47,21, where Rashi explains that as a result none of the Egyptians themselves had a real claim to the land they were settled on It is clear in our context, that Abraham's descendants, i.e. Israel, were meant to become strangers and subsequently slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt. At a later stage in their history they would become strangers in their own country. This is why G–d emphasized that during these first four hundred years or part thereof they would be strangers in someone else's country. Afterwards they would be strangers just as David described himself as a stranger in ארץ ישראל.

[In sum, one must know that he has come to this world only for a specified time, for Torah and mitzvoth, and that he is destined to return to the higher world to receive his reward. As it is written (Devarim 7:11): "which I command you today to do them," concerning which our sages of blessed memory have said: "Today to do them, and tomorrow to receive their reward." But, the yetzer hara entices a man in his youth, that he yet has many years to live, and, in truth, this is an error, as we have written above. For each day is given him by the Blessed Creator with exact accounting, as it is written (Job 7:1): "Does a man not have an allotted time upon the earth?" And he cannot exempt himself from this day in anticipation of the next day. A man in this world is like one who has come to sojourn in a distant land for a specific time, as it is written (Psalms 119:19): "I am a sojourner in the land; do not hide Your mitzvoth from me." He must pity each day, that it not go to waste.