LEV856 The trait of zeal is an ornament to all the other traits and it perfects them. And now you should remember those things which men commonly tend to be lax about. If you must see something in a book, be zealous to bring the book and also to search for what you need. And be zealous to go and ask someone who knows the subject. If a poor man comes to your house to ask for bread, do not say, "I cannot go to bring bread," but go with zeal to bring it. If you need to wash your hands, but you have only little or unfit water, or if the vessel is not entirely ritually suitable -- being split, for example -- and you are very hungry, do not let your hunger cause you to demean the washing rite, but be zealous to get water and a utensil fit for washing. And one must be especially zealous not to delay evacuation, both defecation and urination, even one moment, so as not to transgress [this verse]: "Do not make yourselves revolting" (Makkos 16b). Moreover, one who delays evacuation brings sore illnesses upon himself. And one must be watchful and zealous to keep himself clean, both his clothing and his body. He must wash the anal opening after defecation, for it is impossible to cleanse oneself properly without water. It also requires zeal for one who attend to his needs at night by his bed to arise and wash his hands and go to a clean place to recite the Asher Yatzar benediction. If he wishes to drink water, he must arise and wash his hands, go to a clean place and wash and make the preliminary and concluding blessings over water. If he is in bed and hears the sound of thunder or sees lightning, he must get up, wash his hands, and make the blessing. He also requires zeal to rise early from his bed, shake slumber from his lids, and learn Torah. And he needs zeal to break away from his defective thoughts, such as thoughts of envy and hatred and lewd thoughts. All of these require unusually great zeal for the bending of all of one's thoughts to the Blessed Creator's will. ... In sum, one must seek out any transgression to which he is habituated and hastily make fences around it to take care and keep himself from it. He must likewise seek out any mitzvah in which he is lax, first understanding what caused this laxness. For example, the idle man must understand at the outset that idleness comes from idle activities and that one who obituates himself to idle activities neglects Torah, prayer, and all good. He must therefore be zealous to remove himself from men who are given to idle talk and not associate with them. This will be the cure for his illness. He must do likewise with respect to all defective traits. He must first locate the defective foundation and destroy it, and remove from his eyes the darkness that obscure the light of his soul. And removal from all of this requires zeal, for if he will be slothful in rooting out defective traits, they will become branches in his heart, so that he will no longer be able to cut them out. (Continued at [[DEUT863]] Deuteronomy 16:20 righteousness TZADIK 291).
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