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DEUTERONOMY — 6:16 try

DEUT294 All the areas of trust in the Holy One Blessed be He are eight: (1) The matter of a man's body in itself; One must surrender himself and give himself up to His great mercies. He must realize that he is without counsel or conduct without His permission and decree. But though the proper functioning of his limbs and the length of his days are dependent upon the Blessed One's decree, still one must bestir himself to gain all his needs, to restore his life, and to provide remedies for himself. Nevertheless, he must for us to God to heal him and realize that the doctor and the cure are being sent to him by the Blessed One. He must rely in this on God alone and ascribe to Him the ability and the power. And let one not say: "Since all depends on the Blessed Creator's decree, I will walk in ways of danger and drink poison!" Do we not find that Shemuel said (I Shemuel 16:2): "How can I go? If Saul hears, he will kill me!" And, still, he was not considered as lacking in trust, and the Holy One Blessed be He answered him (ibid.): "Take a heifer with you and say, ' I have come to sacrifice to Hashem.'" Of one who places himself in danger and says, "I trust to Hashem," it is written (Mishlei 14:16): "And the fool passes on [into danger] and is confident." Torah has exhorted us against this [this verse]: "Do not try Hashem your God." If one places himself in danger and dies as a result, his punishment is greater than if he kills another.

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DEUTERONOMY — 6:25 tzedakah

DEUT319 And now hear how commendable is magnanimity and are those who give charity, as it is written (Mishlei 14:34): "Charity will exalt the nation." Come and see how great is the power of charity which reposes in the right hand of the Holy One Blessed be He, as it is written (Tehillim 48:11): "Charity fills Your right hand." Great is tzedakah [righteousness or charity] by which the Holy One Blessed be He, is praised when He will bring salvation to the Jews, as it is written (Yeshayahu 63:1): "I speak with tzedakah, mighty to save." Great is tzedakah, which confirms honor and life upon its practitioners, as it is written (Mishlei 2121): "He who pursues tzedakah and loving kindness will find life, tzedakah, and honor." Great is tzedakah, through which the Holy One Blessed be He, is destined to redeem Israel, as it is written (Yeshayahu 1:27): "Zion will be redeemed through justice, and those who return to it, through righteousness" (Shabbos 139a). Great is tzedakah, through which our father Avraham was praised, as it is written (Bereshis 15:6): "And he believed in Hashem, and He accounted it tzedakah to him," and (ibid. 18:19): "For I have known him that he might command his children and his household after him to hear the way of Hashem, to do tzedakah and justice." Great is tzedakah, through which David, King of Israel, was praised, as it is written (I Melachim 10:9): "May Hashem your God be blessed, who desired you, [and therefore wished] to place you on the Throne of Israel in Hashem's eternal love of Israel, and who made you king to do justice and tzedakah. "Great is tzedakah, which reaches to the Throne of Glory, as it is written (Tehillim 89:15): "Zedek and justice are the foundations of Your throne." Great is tzedakah, through which Israel was praised, as it is written [this verse]: "And it will be accounted tzedakah for us." Great is tzedakah, through which the Holy One Blessed be He, is destined to be praised on the Day of Judgment, as it is written (Yeshayahu 5:16): "And Hashem of Hosts will be exalted in justice and the Holy God sanctified in tzedakah." Great is tzedakah, which accompanies its practitioners upon their departure from the world, as it is written ( ibid. 58:8): "And your tzedakah will go before you; the glory of Hashem will gather you in."

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DEUTERONOMY — 7:9 faithful

DEUT339 … where there is truth on the earth below, the Exalted One will look with righteousness upon the earth, as it is written (Tehillim 85:12): "Truth will sprout from the earth, and righteousness will look down from Heaven." Therefore, take hold of the truth, regardless of the state of your affairs, good or bad. Do not forsake the truth, and rely upon the Faithful God, as it is written [this verse]. And what is His faithfulness? His keeping the covenant. (Continued at [[DEUT343]] Deuteronomy 7:10 destroys TZADIK 405-7).

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DEUTERONOMY — 7:10 destroy

DEUT343 (Continued from [[DEUT339]] Deuteronomy 7:9 faithful TZADIK 405). If a righteous man commits a minor transgression, He exacts recompense in this world. And this is clear: It is much better for the righteous man to be judged even with afflictions like Iyov all of his days – in his body, a lowly thing, in this world in which has such a short time to live – – so that goodly reward may be given to his soul, which is majestic, in the World-to-Come, to attain to the highest plane in the celestial world for all enduring time, which never ceases. This is much better for the righteous man then if he were whole and retribution were not exacted for his sins in this world, and he would be judged in the next world with the afflictions of Gehinnom, or if, because of his sin, his soul would be diminished in its exaltation in the world of the souls and its cleaving to the Celestial Radiance, which is without assessment or parallel. And the wicked are given their reward with slight, terminal pleasure, and a brief world – this world – and their sin is preserved for the long world and for the great, unparalleled affliction of Gehinnom. And it is explicitly written [this verse]: "And He pays His master to his face to destroy him." That is, the Holy One Blessed be He rewards the wicked man for his merits in this world in order to destroy him for the World-to-Come.

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DEUTERONOMY — 7:10 enemies

DEUT344 (Continued from [[GEN957]] Genesis 18:17 hide TZADIK 67). A superabundance of wisdom and wealth in this world falls into one of three categories: (1) good from the Holy One Blessed be He, (2) as a trial, and (3) as revenge. The sign of good: If the wealthy man injures no man through his wealth and the wise man does not utilize his wisdom to harm another, but instead the first through his wealth and the second through his wisdom add to the service of the Holy One Blessed be He then that wealth and that wisdom are truly a gift from the Holy One Blessed be He. The sign of trial: if the wealthy man is always preoccupied with guarding his money, and is afraid of some mischance whereby he might lose it, and never derives enjoyment commensurate with his wealth through its proper utilization – but he does not injure anyone through his wealth nor boast about his riches, but is constantly preoccupied with the acquisition of wealth and concerned over its safekeeping, and does not do good to any man nor take pity on the poor to feed or clothe them. Similarly, the wise man, if he devotes most of his wisdom to the demands of this world, to correct his own affairs, being wise neither for evil or for good-– his superabundance, too, is certainly in the category of trial. The sign of revenge: If the wealthy man injures others through his wealth, and boasts about it, and does not perform charity with it, and is constantly preoccupied with it for his own pleasure, as in Yeshayahu 22:13: "Joy and gladness, the killing of oxen and the slaughtering of sheep," and (ibid.5:12): "And the lyre and the lute, the tambourine and the pipe, and the wine of their feasts but they do not regard the deeds of Hashem" – – and he does not fulfill thereby Hashem's charge, (Koheles 5:12): "Wealth guarded by its owner to his detriment." And it is the same with the wise man, if he is clever in the doing of evil and does not do good, as it is written (Yirmeyahu 4:22): "They are wise to do evil and do not know how to do good," then his wisdom as a stumbling block to him. Therefore, the wise man will act with his wealth and his good judgment in accordance with the abundance of his wealth and his wisdom. He will increase humility and lowliness, he will not grow haughty, and he will always worry that his wealth might be his [sole] reward and that he is one of those about whom it is written [this verse]: "And he pays His enemies to their faces [in this world] in order to destroy them [in the next]." And the wise man must also worry that he might be one of those about whom it is written (Yirmeyahu 4:22): "They are wise to do evil and do not know how to do good." For every man must employ wisdom and thought to attain good deeds to the ultimate extent of his wisdom.

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DEUTERONOMY — 7:10 pays

DEUT346 (Continued from [[DEUT569]] Deuteronomy 12:18 rejoice TZADIK 177). The trait of joy encompasses a positive commandment of acknowledging God's justice in all that befalls one, as it is written (Devarim 8:5): "And you shall know in your heart that just as a man chastises his son, so Hashem your God chastises you." If after one repents things do not go so well for him as they did before, it is a positive commitment for him to think in his heart that his adversity is for his good. For before he repented, the Holy One Blessed be He was rewarding him for the mitzvos he had done in order to bar him from the World-to-Come, as it is written [this verse]: "And He pays those that hate Him to his face to destroy him." And, corresponding to this treatment of those who hate Him, He pays those who love Him the punishment of their transgressions in this world so that they will be pure and clean for the next world. And all of this entails the trait of joy, one's being happy in the portion allotted him by the Blessed One. But the way by which a man may come to rejoice in his lot, accepting ill with joy as well as good – this way is divided into several areas: First, he requires trust in God. Second, belief. Third, intelligence. Fourth, contentment.

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