EXOD724 Now, the feeling of compassion is alone sufficient to impel a man to choose good and to scorn evil. For he who feels the pain of others as if it were his own, will not only refrain from hurting others, but he will strive to favor all people and to lighten their burdens. His compassion will also lead him to love fairness and justice. For when I see two men, equally unknown to me, I have compassion equally for both of them, therefore, I shall not incline the scales of judgment to favor one against the other, but shall seek to equalize their lot. And if I see one robbing his fellow man, I am filled with the desire to compel the violator to restore his loot to his victim. Therefore, all effective moral education should consist in the cultivation and refinement of the natural feelings of compassion, either by way of verbal instruction or by way of actual practice. By means of training a child can be turned either into a ruthless and callous man, or into a righteous, gentle, honest and faithful person. Now, the Torah which Moses put before the children of Israel guides us into the path of gentleness and kindness, by its commands concerning the obligatory gifts to the poor, the strangers, the orphans and the widows. [leket--let him gather the fallen stalks, after the harvesters; shikha-whatever was forgotten in the fields belonged to the poor; peah-one corner of the field was to be left for them.] So, too, the Torah prohibited the charging of interest on loans, enjoining the lender from entering the house of the borrower and from taking the garments of the poor or that which they needed for their livelihood. If you do take a blanket of the debtor, you must return it to him before the setting of the sun. "For it is his only garment, the covering of the skin, with what will he sleep?" [this verse].