Musar para sa Mga Kawikaan 3:15

And in Sifrei, Parshath Ekev we find (Mishlei 5:16): "'Then your springs [of Torah] will spread outwards': Words of Torah are compared to water. Just as water lives forever, so, words of Torah live forever, as it is written (Ibid. 4:2): 'For they are life to him who finds them, and to all of his flesh, healing.' And just as water raises the unclean one from his uncleanliness, so, words of Torah raise one from uncleanliness to purity, as it is written (Psalms 19:10): 'The fear of the L-rd is pure.' [And, just as water purifies a man, though the uncleanliness has spread through all of his limbs, so, Torah purifies a man from the uncleanliness of his sins, even if it has spread throughout him, from the soul of his foot until his head. And just as a man is not purified until the water rises over all of his limbs, and there be nothing intervening between his limbs and the water, so, he must subject all of his body and his limbs, in truth, to Torah, with nothing intervening, as it is written (Devarim 6:6): 'And these words shall be … upon your heart']. And just as water restores a man's soul, so do words of Torah restore a man's soul from the way of evil to the way of good, as it is written (Psalms 19:8): 'The Torah of the L-rd is complete, restoring the soul,.' And just as water is free for the world, so is Torah free for the world, as it is written (Isaiah 55:1): "Ho! all who are thirsty, go to the water [of Torah]." Lest you say: 'Just as water has no valuation, so, Torah has no valuation; it is, therefore, written [to negate this] (Mishlei 3:15): 'It is more precious than pearls and all of your desires cannot be compared to it.'"

And as we’ve stated, the attainment of love and fear is entirely proportional to how great your actions and study of torah and mussar books [(i.e. books that discuss concepts pertaining to morality, such as this one)]. Likewise, you will grow in torah and mitzvot proportional to [your] love and fear. For love is etched from doing the will of one’s beloved with all one’s heart, soul, and might. Great waters are not able to extinguish love (Song of Songs 8:7). And proportional to the greatness of love, one bothers himself even with great trouble, and inclines his shoulder to bear upon [the] heaviness for many days, and it will seem in his eyes as if it were only a few days due to his love for the creator, just as [it is] for love of money and other loves. And if a person were to love the Torah and the commandments [just as much as] he loves money, his wife, children, and the like, it would be sufficient. If only the priest’s wife would be like the innkeeper’s! And by this he knows whether he has reached the level of one who loves his creator — if he rejoices over His word like if he found a great spoil (Psalms 119:162). And he will be careful not to waste even one moment by not engaging in Torah and mitzvot, even more so than he would distress himself over the loss of a massive fortune, for it is more precious than pearls, and all desirable things cannot compare to it (Proverbs 3:15). And in truth they say (Avot 6:2): “Woe to them, the creations, from the insult of the Torah!” For there is no greater insult than this: one who can reap a massive profit and bring joy to his creator, but does not care. And if he engages in laughter and idle talk, about him the verse says (Jeremiah 2:13): “The have abandoned me, the fountain of living waters, and made for themselves broken cisterns”. Happy is the man who hears and thinks about the reward of a mitzvah, that doing it brings joy to his creator, because one hour of Torah and good deeds in this world is more beautiful than all of the life in the world to come. And one must increase his strength where there is financial loss so that he will not love money more than the Creator. And whoever neglects the love of their creator by not engaging in torah or performing a mitzvah that he has at hand for any reason, finds that his love of that thing is greater than his love of the Creator, and there is enough contempt and anger [in this]. And in all that he performs in this world he should think about the ultimate purpose — that doing so will give him strength in his service of G-d, blessed be His name. And all acts should be for the sake of heaven in line with what is written (Proverbs 3:6): “In all your ways acknowledge [G-d], and your paths will be smooth”. This is a core principle of the Torah, because through this he will not deviate from the path, and all his actions will be weighed with a balance, by measure, weight, and volume, and it was found that all his days he was only occupied with Torah.

Bamidbar Rabbah 6,1, commenting on Proverbs 3,15, "she is more precious than rubies," speaks of Kehat. Although we normally accord first rank to the natural firstborn (in this case Gershon), the order was reversed here since the Kehatites carried the Holy Ark which contained the Torah. When Proverbs talks about פנינים, the reference is to something that comes first, as we know from Ruth 4,7, וזאת לפנים בישראל. [The unusual spelling of the word in Proverbs as פניים, is the reason the Midrash explains it that way Ed.]So far the Midrash.