NUM250 R. Simeon b. El'azar said: … do not question [your fellow] at the time he makes a vow. Pirkei Avot, Perek IV, mishnah 23. Whence do you learn this?--From Moses. When he said to the Israelites, "Listen now, you rebels," [this verse] the Holy One vowed that he would not enter the [promised] land.… Said Moses, "This is a time of oath – taking; I have no need to speak now." Forty years he waited, and then he began to plead before Him. Said the Holy One to him, "Because you waited, go up to the top of Pisgah [and behold it with your eyes]" (Deuteronomy 3:27). This much his patience availed.

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NUM257 See [[NUM84]] Numbers 11:22 enough SINAI2 44

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NUM290 R. Mattithyah b Heresh said: … be a tail to lions, and not a head to foxes. Pirkei Avot, Perek IV, mishnah 20. Our Sage does not mean that it is relatively better to be one than the other. His dictum is absolute: always strive to be the first; never let yourself become the second. And do not be misled by the supposed dignity or disgrace which these terms imply. The lion's tail is still part of the lion, and the head of a fox is still part of a fox. The lion represents strength, majesty, nobility. When the infamous sorcerer Balaam looked at our people in the wilderness, seeking to crush them, this is how he saw them: "Behold, a people: as a lion as it rises up, and as a lion it lifts itself" [this verse]. ... The lion is Jewry steeped in Torah and mitzvoth.… The fox, on the other hand, symbolizes furtive cunning, scheming slyness, treachery. When we study Torah and obey its Divine precepts, slyness and trickery have no place. "Whole-hearted shall you be with the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 18:13). Jews who seek to live by the qualities of the fox, either as individuals or in loudly trumpeted organizations, working to achieve an identity, an image, or a purpose through guile and cunning, contribute nothing sound or constructive. "Seize us," says Solomon, "the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in tender blossom." (Song of Songs 2:15). Do not be afraid to join fully the forces of Torah, to associate and identify yourself with them, even if it means accepting the position or role of a "tail," without immediate honor or distinction. If a lion cast fear into others, the sight of its tail is as frightening as a glimpse of its claws. On the other hand, if a bounty is offered for foxes, and traps are set for them, there is little honor in serving as the "head" of such a beast. Join the wise, the scholarly, the learned, no matter in what capacity, and you will increase your learning and improve your sense of values. Restrict yourself to leading those on a radically lower level than yourself, and your mental stores will diminish; your mental horizons will shrink. "He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the shepherd of fools will suffer harm." (Proverbs 13:20).

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NUM323 R. El'azar haKappar said: Envy, inordinate desire, and [the search for] glory remove a man from the world. Pirkei Avot, Perek IV, mishnah 28. … Envy, strong desire, and honor can be constructive or destructive elements. But then the question arises: why does our Sage utterly condemn them? For our answer let us look again at the mishnah; we may find that the words denote both directions of interpretation. These three ways of perceiving or being, says our text, "remove, or rather, take a man from the world." But what is a man's "world?" It is his local area of day-by-day living; the ongoing normal, ordinary level of his life and activity. Once he is stimulated and impelled by such strong emotions as jealousy, desire, or the wish for esteem, he is jolted out of the level of the ordinary and the everyday. He is forced to leave his "world" as he knows it, for it will never again be the same. Such strong emotions bring inner revolution: he will now be catapulted into either the Divine or the demonic. It is as though a car receives a new surge of power which forces it to accelerate, so that the driver must leave the local lane for an express highway; but it is for him to choose the highway. Much will depend on the person's basic values. Does he find he is violently jealous by nature, little able to bear in others what he finds disturbing or threatening? Pinchas (Phineas) "was jealous for his God" [this verse]: when he saw flagrant immorality that others watched passively, helplessly, he took a violent action; but as the Almighty testified, "he was jealous with My jealousy," [ibid., 10; verses 6-8). And his action brought peace where disaster threatened. He channeled a destructive emotion into a Godly purpose.

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DEUT43 See [[NUM250]] Numbers 20:10 listen SINAI2 162

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DEUT46 Ben Zoma said: ... Who is rich? -- he who is happy with his lot, as it is said: When you eat from the toil of your hands, happy shall you be, and it shall go well with you: (Psalms 128:2) happy in this world; and it shall go well with you in the world-to-come. Pirkei Avot, Perek IV, mishnah 1. … above all, a person can be happy with his lot in life only when he sees himself and his existence as part of some greater plan, when he knows that his task is to further those ultimate values which transcend petty human longings. Those who live only to gratify their own desires may soon belong among the wicked of whom the Talmud says that "even while they live they are ranked as dying." (T.B. Berakoth 18b; Midrash Rabbah, Genesis xxxix 7; Tanhuma, Yithro 1 and B'rachah 7 (ed. Buber 6). For these people, each day that passes is a day that has died, leaving nothing of lasting value behind. Each desire that is fulfilled marks a feeble emotional agitation that has perished. There is no build up or accumulation of anything significant, but only a countdown of many passions and whims that peter off into nothingness upon gratification. The wicked die a little bit each day. By contrast, says the Talmud, the righteous are called living even when they have passed beyond (T.B. ibid. T.J. ii 3; Midrash Rabbah, Ecclesiastes ix 4; Tanhuma, B'rachah ibid.). They go on living beyond the grave; as Scripture tells us [this verse]. One time the righteous person will care for a sick human being in need. The next day he may provide for some orphan. The third day, perhaps he raises funds for a school of Torah. His is not a life of attrition, a wearinGodown day by day; it is a life of building-up. His deeds add up to values and ideals that accumulate and increase in significance. The righteous person is alive each day because he furthers life each day. His presence contributes something lasting to this world, and this justly achieves for him immortality. To know that your life adds up to lasting significance, this indeed breeds happiness. Meeting a religious member of Jewry, you ask, "How are you?" The reply you receive is, baruch ha-shem, "Blessed is the Almighty": I am happy with my lot, thank the Lord. This is the rich man.

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DEUT215 In general, the Talmud demands high standards of the Torah scholar, so that the Almighty's name not be profaned. "You shall love the Lord your God [this verse]: Let the Name of Heaven become beloved through you. For [a person] should read Scripture and study and serve Torah scholars, and his dealings with people should be pleasant. What will people then say? ' Happy is the father, happy is the rabbi, who taught him Torah. See how becoming are his ways, how refined his behavior.'… But if someone reads Scripture, studies, and serves Torah scholars, and then his dealings with people are not in good faith, his conversation is not pleasant--what will people say of him then? ' Woe to this one who study Torah; woe to his father and rabbi who taught him. Now that he has learned Torah, see how spoiled is his behavior, how reprehensible are his ways…'" (T.B. Yoma 86a) And again the Sages say, "Whichever Torah scholar eats excessively anywhere, thus profanes the Name of Heaven, his teacher's name, and his father's name" (T.B. Pesahim 49a). (Continued at [[NUM82]] Numbers 11:22 enough SINAI2 44).

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DEUT928 See [[NUM290]] Numbers 23:24 lion SINAI2 143

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DEUT1116 See [[EXOD808]] Exodus 23:5 enemy SINAI2 38

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DEUT1483 See [[DEUT1689]] Deuteronomy 32:15 forsook SINAI2 72-3

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