EXOD236 From here it was said: if one hears [i.e., accepts] one mitzvah, he is privileged to hear many mitzvot, as it is written: "If you hear, hear" (Mechilta)

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EXOD237 This refers to honesty in business dealings. We are hereby taught that all who are honest in business dealings are held in favor by their fellow men, and looked upon as if they were to have fulfilled the entire Torah (Mechilta).

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EXOD238 In how many ways should a person hold himself to an accounting before God? I say that there are a multitude of ways in which to make such an accounting. Of these, I will point out thirty. They can clarify to a person what he owes God, if he will bring them to mind and undertake to reflect on them and remember them always. Contemplating God's grace in sparing one from harm. … 19. One should make an accounting with himself of how the Creator spares him from the mishaps and troubles of this world, [from] the various ailments to which human beings are subject, and from other ordeals and crises-- such as imprisonment, hunger, thirst, cold, heat, poisoning, attacks by wild animals, leprosy, insanity, failure of the various senses, and the like-- while being aware that he deserves these and is liable to them, because of past transgressions and sins before God; because of the severity of his transgression and rebelling against his God; for making light of His word; for neglecting to thank and praise Him; for leaving His service; and for failing to repent and confess before God, having prolonged his disobedience despite God's constant favors to him and ongoing kindness toward him. When the intelligent individual considers this and thinks of the afflictions with which God tries human beings in this world, as we have described; and how God spares him from them and he escapes all of them, though he deserves them, he will then be full of praise for God's goodness toward him and will hasten to repent and ask forgiveness for past transgressions and sins, which the Creator put out of sight for so long. He will hasten to attach himself to God’s service, for fear of these [afflictions], so as to avoid them, as it says: “If you listen carefully to Hashem your God... then I will not bring upon you all the sickness which I brought upon Egypt” (Shemos 15:26); “God will remove from you all sickness; He will not bring upon you any of the dreadful diseases of Egypt, which you know of” (Devarim 7:15).

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EXOD239 One must remember the lovingkindness of Hashem in rescuing him from the world's calamities. He sees many men perishing under terrible affliction--through hunger, thirst, poison, leprosy, by the sword, by water, and by fire – – and he knows within himself that he is deserving of all these afflictions because of his many transgressions whereby he violated God's mandates. But in spite of his being absolutely wicked, the Blessed God has shown mercy on him and rescued him from all these afflictions. And he should know how humble he should be before his Creator and ask pardon every day on all occasions, and be heedful of His service and His praise, and implore Him to guard him against all of the afflictions that descend upon the world, as it is written [this verse]: "If you hear the voice of Hashem your God... all of the sicknesses which I brought upon Egypt I will not bring upon you, for I am Hashem Who heals you." (Devarim 7:15): And Hashem will remove from you every sickness, and all the terrible afflictions of Egypt which you knew, He will not bring upon you." And our Rabbis of blessed memory have said (Berachos 33a): "It is not the serpent, but the sin, that slays."

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EXOD240 From here it is derived that if one occupies himself with Torah, afflictions depart from him (Berachoth 5a).

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EXOD241 … the Midrash explains that this refers specifically to how a Jew behaves towards others in business, and then states that any Jew who treats others properly in commerce, it is as if that person has fulfilled the entire Torah. Mechilta, Beshalach 1. … proper behavior to others is the most important aspect of Judaism and life in general...

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EXOD242 Morality is neither the whole of religion nor something distinct from religion. It is an integral part of the way in which religion translates itself into life and character. God is worshiped when moral duties are discharged faithfully. Psalms 15 and 24 present ethical behavior as the condition of communion with God. The Mekilta cites the comment of R. Eleazar of Modiim on [this verse], "and wilt do that which is right in His eyes," as consisting of honesty in business relations. "He who transacts his business honestly and is pleasing to his fellow man is accounted as having fulfilled the entire Torah." [Mek. Vayassa, I.] Morality becomes a form of worship, but not the whole of it. By the side of "Doing justly and loving mercy," the prophet emphasizes "walking humbly with God" in his program of the religious life. To the fulfillment of moral duties must be added devotion, reverence, knowledge and conviction. Love of God with all the heart and soul and might and love of one's fellowmen must be combined. Ethics forms neither a substitute for nor an addition to, but a phase of the religious life. The moral and religious are two inseparable aspects of the spiritual life. As in Stoicism, obedience to the law of Nature or reason, so in Judaism, obedience to the will of God constitutes the highest good. God, the rabbis say, entrusted Israel with the Torah as a manifestation of His goodness. Though some of them seem inexplicable, obeying them is virtue.

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EXOD243 On the same page on which the Rabbis record Hillel's statement of Judaism's essence [That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation. Go study.], the Talmud proposes that the first question the Heavenly Court puts to someone who has died is "did you conduct your business affairs honestly?" Shabbat 31a. Another rabbinic source suggests just how significantly the Rabbis regarded business honesty: "One who deals honestly in business, and his fellow men are pleased with him, is considered as if he fulfilled the entire Torah" Mechilta, Beshalach on this verse.

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EXOD244 See [[EXOD205]] Exodus 14:21 wind AMEMEI 173-4

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EXOD245 The medieval Bible commentator Abarbanel found support for the ethical superiority of a nonmeat diet in the fact that this was the diet (manna) supplied by God to the Israelites in the desert. In the Torah, God refers to manna as "bread from the sky" (lechem min ha-shamayim; [this verse].). Abarbanel sees the manna diet as intended to teach Jews in all generations a lesson: "Meat is not an essential food, but is rather a matter of gluttony… In addition, meat generates cruel blood in human beings. This is why you find that the predatory carnivorous birds are cruel .... But sheep and cattle, chickens, turtle doves, and doves, which live on the grass of the field, have no cruelty or wickedness…" (commentary on Exodus 16:4).

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