DEUT539 … Jewish Ethics penetrate the letter of the Law by asking its faithful followers to be undeterred by corrupt example, and to regard the whole of life as an attempt to bring earth near heaven [this verse]. As in the acquisition of genius, the gift of holiness can be acquired only by an infinite capacity for taking pains. To assist man in this holy quest, the sages of Judaism widened the "fence round the Law", [Abot i.I.) so that it confined the entire moral domain.