DEUT614 R. Me'ir said: whoever occupies himself with the study of Torah for its own sake merits many things; and not only that, but the entire world is worthwhile because of him.… It [Torah] clothes him with humility and reverence, and prepares him to be righteous, pious, upright, and faithful; Pirkei Avot, Perek VI, mishnah 1. R. Me'ir lists four such levels – for which Torah readies a person--in ascending order of achievement: the tzaddik is righteous; as the word might suggest, he always does the right thing, living simply and wholly within the law, never doing evil--but no more. The hassid goes beyond the letter of the law, doing more than is required of him. He will often forget his own interests, in order to help others. If a poor woman owes you five dollars, you have a right to demand payment. If you are a hassid, you will forget it (so the commentaries of R. Isaac of Toledo and R. Shem-tov ibn Shem-tov ibn Palquera, c. 1390-1430, on the sixth perek (published with R. Bahya's commentary, Jerusalem 1962), and Rashi to T.B. Shabbath 120a, s.v. חסידי) Yet the hassid, always going "beyond the law," may not always act wisely. It is splendid to forgo your own absolute rights for the sake of compassion. But the Talmud knows of another kind who goes beyond the law in religiosity: he might see a child drowning in the river and murmur, "As soon as I take off my t'fillin I will save him"--and by then the child has expired. Should a woman be drowning in the river, he might mutter, "It is not proper for me to gaze at her and save her." He, says the Talmud, is a hassid shoteh, a pious fool! (T.J. Sotah iii 4 (19a); T.B. 21b). And the Sages warn: "If an ignoramus is a hassid, do not live in his vicinity (T.B. Shabbath 63a; Seder Eliyahu Zuta xvi (ed. Friedmann, 4). The piety of the hassid is surely generally good; but without the plumbline of law and truth to keep him on an even keel, he may go off the deep end. At times the Torah may demand seeming irreligiosity of us, to save a life. And have we not heard of a "religious" policy of forgiving and entreating Heaven's forgiveness for those who injure or kill you? Here is a piety that would encourage villains to flourish. When dire wrong is done, our Written Torah commands: "you shall exterminate the evil from your mist" [this verse]. Punishment can discipline the guilty and protect the community. Therefore yashar, one who is upright, straightforward, ranks above the hassid. The center of his life is neither the rigid letter of the law nor a tendency to an extreme that goes beyond the bounds of reason and truth. He learns the spirit of the Torah, the Divine thought and will behind its sacred law; and this becomes a gyroscope which keeps his life in balance. Where the Torah's law is not absolute, he will go beyond it, in religiosity and compassion, but always in the Torah's spirit. Informed by the values behind Torah, he will remain upright, in its straightforward path.