EXOD377 The virtues of solitude and the ill effects of association with fools. When a person's soul longs for the company and comraderie of other people, he should reflect on the virtues of solitude and separation from others, and on the ill effects of associating with fools when this is not absolutely necessary. Among the ill effects of companionship with them is ... false and trivial oaths, of which the Creator has said: “God will not allow it to go unpunished” (Shemos 20:7). A pious man once said to his disciples, “The Torah has permitted us to swear truthfully in God's Name; but I advise you not to swear by His Name [at all], either truthfully or falsely. Just say, ‘It is so,’ or ‘It is not so.’” … Another “[consequence of their company] is the obligation to enjoin right conduct and warn against evil, as we were commanded by the Creator when He said: “You must reprove your fellow” (Vayikra 19:17). We are obligated to object to evil in three ways: (1) by striking it with the hand, as manifested in the incident of Zimri and Kazbi; (2) by objecting in words, as Moshe [our Master] did when he said to the wrongdoer, “Why are you striking your fellow?” (Shemos 2:13); and (3) by [objecting] in one's heart, as David, peace be upon him, said: “I hate a crowd of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked” (Tehillim 26:5). If one can intercede with force and does not do so, he is delinquent. If he cannot intercede with force, he should object verbally. And if he cannot object verbally, he should object in his heart. Thus we are bound to object to evildoers under all circumstances, as the uneducated inevitably fall short of filling their duty. When you are alone, however, you are undoubtedly excused from the duty to enjoin good and warn against evil, which is a duty difficult duty to fulfill and discharge, as our Sages, of beloved memory, said: “I doubt if there is anyone in this generation who can accept reproof ... I doubt if there is anyone in this generation who knows how to reprove.” (Arachin 16b).

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EXOD385 There are four essential elements to repentance: (1) feeling remorse for past sins; (2) desisting from them and renouncing them; (3) confessing them and asking forgiveness for them; (4) undertaking, in one's heart and innermost being, not to repeat them. … When one who has wronged his fellow undertakes never again to wrong him, and shows that he regrets, desists from, and admits his error-- this is the perfect fulfillment of the steps that precipitate his being forgiven, the removal of his guilt, and the cancellation of his punishment. When these four essentials, with their conditions (which we will explain [in the next chapter]) are all found in a penitent, the Creator will forgive his sin and pardon his transgression. If his sin be the sort of which it is said that it will not go unpunished—e.g., swearing [in God's Name] in vain (Shemos 20:7), or adultery (Mishlei 6:29) -- the Creator will lighten the punishment in this world and show him grace in the World-to-Come, and he will be included among the righteous. As it says, “He will come to Tziyon as a Redeemer, to those of Ya'akov who turn from transgression” (Yeshayahu 59:20); “‘If you repent, Israel,’ says God, ‘you will be restored to Me’” (Yirmeyahu 4:1); “If you will repent, I will restore you; you will stand before Me” (ibid. 15:19).

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EXOD424 Let us now examine the motive of each one of these five kinds of benefactors: Is it purely the good of the beneficiary, or might there be an ulterior motive involved? First, the favors of a parent for his child: clearly, a parent intends to further his own interests through his child. The child is part of the parents, who places great hopes in him. Observe how parents are more sensitive to the needs of their children -- in regard to food, drink, and clothing, and keeping them from harm's way – than to their own needs. They gladly put up with all the trouble and hard work that goes into providing the child with security. This is because parents, by nature, have been endowed with feelings of mercy and compassion for their children. Nevertheless, both the Torah and reason oblige the child to serve, honor, and revere his parents, as it is written: “Honor your father and your mother (Shemos 20:12); Each person must revere his mother and his father (Vayikra 19: 3); Listen, my son, to the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother (Mishlei 1:8); A son honors his father, and a servant his master (Malachi 1:6). [The child is so obliged] even though his parents [in helping him] are driven by force of nature. The good actually comes from God; the parent is only the agent.

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EXOD455 See [[DEUT293]] Deuteronomy 6:16 try DUTIES 401-5

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EXOD492 What are the signs of love of God to be found in one who loves [Him]? ... A further [sign] is that traces of his fear of God and profound dread of Him are apparent on his facial expression, as it is written: “So that His fear be on your faces, and you not sin” (Shemos 20:17). Fear [of God] is of two kinds. One of these is fear of His punishments and trials. One fears God, in this case, because He can cause him pain and suffering. If, however, he were immune to suffering, he would not fear God. Of such individuals our Masters, of blessed memory, said: “We should be wary, lest we come to observe [the commandments] out of fear” (Megillah 25b). Such an individual falls short of the degree attained by the [truly] God- fearing and is the embodiment of what our Masters, of blessed memory, warned against: “Be not like servants who serve the master on condition of receiving a reward” (Avos 1:3). One of the pious said, “I would be ashamed before God to serve Him because of reward and punishment. I would then be like a bad servant who, if he fears punishment or expects reward, will perform, but who otherwise will not perform. I will, rather, serve Him because He is worthy of this.” The second [kind of fear of God] is awe, inspired by His magnitude, exaltedness, and awesome power. [This awe] never leaves a person or parts from him all the days of his life. This is the highest of the degrees of the God-fearing to whom the Scriptures attribute yirah (awe). It is the gateway to pure love and intense yearning. One who reaches this degree of fear of God will not fear or be afraid of anything but the Creator, as one of the pious told of a God-fearing man whom he found asleep in a desert. He asked the man, “Are you not afraid of lions? How can you sleep in such a place!” The man replied, “I would be ashamed before God if He were to see that I was afraid of anything besides Him.”

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EXOD493 When a person's thoughts are never free of one of these seven points we have mentioned, he will be humble and lowly at all times, until humility becomes second nature to him and inseparable from him. While he adheres to humility, it keeps him far from all the pitfalls of arrogance, haughtiness, and pride, as we have noted previously, and he will be saved by it from sin and stumbling, as it says: “So that His fear be on your faces, and you not sin” (Shemos 20:17). Our Sages, of blessed memory, have said: “Reflect on three things, and you will not come to sin: Know from where you came, where you are going, and before whom you will give an accounting and a reckoning. From where do you come? From a putrid drop. Where are you going? To a place of dust, maggots, and worms. Before whom will you give an accounting and a reckoning? Before the cap King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He” (Avos 3:1).

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EXOD574 [Regarding health and illness] A person should place his trust in the Creator, while seeking continued health through natural means. He should fight illness in the customary way—as the Creator, May He be exalted, has commanded: “And he shall cause him to be thoroughly healed” (Shemos 21:19)--yet have no faith in the power of the [natural] causes of health and illness to help or harm except with God's permission. When a person trusts in God, He will cure him of his illness by [natural] means or without such means, as it says: “He sends His word and heals them” (Tehillim 107:20). He may even heal him by means of something very harmful, as you know from the account of Elisha and the bad water, when he cured its unwholesomeness with salt Melachim II, 2:19-22). So it also says, “And God showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water [and the waters became sweet]” (Shemos 15:25); the Early Ones say that this was wood of the bitter oleander (Midrash Tanchuma, ad loc.) Similarly, it says, “Let them take a cake of figs and spread it on the boil, and he will recover” (Yeshayahu 38:21). You also know what happened to Assa when, upon becoming ill, he relied on the physicians instead of trusting in God-- how he was disciplined and reproved for this. Scripture also says, “He hurts, but He soothes; He wounds, but His hand also heals” (Iyov 5:18).

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EXOD901 It has already been stated that the relation of nature to the Torah is like that of a servant to his master; for the forces of nature, in governing the world, operate in accordance with the Torah, as it says: “You will serve Hashem your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will remove sickness from your midst” (Shemos 23:25 ); “He said, ‘If you listen carefully to Hashem your God and do that which is right in His eyes, obeying His commandments and keeping all His statutes, then I will not bring upon you all the sickness which I brought upon Egypt, for I am God your cap Healer’” (ibid. 15:26). There are many similar passages.

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EXOD916 See [[EXOD354]] Exodus 20:2 other DUTIES 63-7

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EXOD996 A person’s obligation of service corresponds to the degree of favor bestowed upon him ... the Creator's favor bestowed on one people among the peoples, one nation among the nations, as he favored the Children of Israel, when he took them out of Egypt and brought them to the land of Canaan. Correspondingly, He required of them additional service -- beyond the first [level] of service [i.e., corresponding to the goodness of the Creator which embraces all of mankind: He brought them into existence when previously they did not exist; He gave them life; And He favors them with all that we have spoken of in the Second Gate of this book. They are accordingly under a universal obligation of service to the Creator, may He be exalted. This consists of [obedience to] all the commandments called for by the intellect, which were observed by Adam, Chanoch, No’ach and his sons, and Iyov and his friends, up to the days of Moshe, our Master, peace be upon him] -- namely, [adherence to] the commandments that have their origin in revelation alone, after first warning them and exhorting them in regard to the commandments called for by the intellect. Whoever assumed this service for the glory of God, God singled him out for special favor, and held him under an obligation of service beyond that of his nation or the rest of his tribe. We find, for example, in the case of the tribe of Levi, that when Moshe said, “‘Whoever is for God, come to me!’ and all the Levi’im gathered themselves to him” (Shemos 32:26), God lavished favor upon them and chose him among them Aharon and his sons to minister to His glory; charged them with special precepts in addition to those given the rest of the nation; and promised them great reward in the World-to-Come. But whoever of them rebels against the Creator, May He be exalted, will fall from both levels and will be punished in both worlds, as the Wise Man said, “It will not be well with the wicked, nor will he prolong his days” (Koheles 8:13).

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