If You Walk in My Statutes and the Shekhinah's Dwelling Below

"If you walk in My statutes." This is what Scripture says: "My son, do not despise the discipline of the LORD" (Proverbs 3:11), for the Holy One, blessed be He, does good with the one whom He loves and disciplines him in this world, so that he may go clean into the World to Come; for it is not possible for a person to be clean of iniquities, and for this reason He brings sufferings upon him in order to refine him, like silver purified sevenfold. And the Holy One, blessed be He, desires from Israel nothing but that they labor in Torah and in good deeds. And so He says, "Oh, that My people would hearken to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! Soon I would subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries" (Psalms 81:14-15). And He says, "Oh, that you had hearkened to My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river" (Isaiah 48:18). Therefore it is said, "If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments" (Leviticus 26:3) — that a person should study Torah in order to keep the commandments and to do them; for the one who studies in order not to do, it would be better for him had he not been created in the world. Another interpretation: "If you walk in My statutes." I counseled you thus, and you did not do so, but "the children of Israel imputed things that were not so" (2 Kings 17:9) — and things that were not so they laid upon Me; so I too laid upon you things that I did not write in the Torah, as it is said, "also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this Torah" (Deuteronomy 28:61). And if things that I did not give and did not write in the Torah, you did them and transgressed against Me and against My Torah and forsook Me — as Isaiah, peace be upon him, says, "they have forsaken the LORD" (Isaiah 1:4) — and I am called merciful and gracious, yet because of your iniquities I made Myself as one cruel and reversed My attribute, as it is said, "The LORD has become as an enemy" (Lamentations 2:5). Why? Because "they rebelled and grieved His holy spirit, therefore He turned to be their enemy" (Isaiah 63:10). Therefore, "and among those nations you shall have no repose" (Deuteronomy 28:65). Another interpretation: "If you walk in My statutes." This is what Scripture says: "Wisdom cries aloud outside, in the streets she raises her voice" (Proverbs 1:20). What is "Wisdom cries aloud outside"? Once Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman found Rabbi Natan beribbi Eliezer standing in the marketplace. He said to him, "Rabbi, teach me one chapter." He said to him, "Go with me to the house of study, and I will teach you there." He said to him, "Rabbi, what is 'Wisdom cries aloud outside'?" He said to him, "You know how to read, but you do not know how to expound. What is 'outside'? Outside of the Torah. The pearl — where is it sold? Is it not sold in its own market? Precious stones — where are they sold? Are they not sold in their own market? So too the Torah is learned only in houses of study and in synagogues, the place that broadens a person's heart"; and concerning this it says, "in the streets she raises her voice." "At the head of the noisy streets she calls" (Proverbs 1:21). What is "at the head of the noisy streets"? For the Torah first warns all the people of the world. How many multitudes perished because they did not occupy themselves with it — the generation of the Flood, the generation of the Dispersion, and the men of Sodom! Thus, "at the head of the noisy streets she calls." Another interpretation: "at the head of death (be-rosh mot)" — at the head of death she calls to Adam the first man. And what does she call to him? "For on the day you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17). Thus, "at the head of the noisy streets she calls." "At the entrances of the gates, in the city, she utters her words" (Proverbs 1:21). At first they would make the synagogues at the highest point of the city, to fulfill what is said, "at the entrances of the gates, in the city, she utters her words." Rabbi Acha said: She speaks the good and she speaks the bad. "If you will not hearken to Me, the LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust" (Deuteronomy 28:24) — this is the bad; and the good she speaks: "If you walk in My statutes... then I will give your rains in their season" (Leviticus 26:3-4). Another interpretation: "If you walk in My statutes." What is written there? "And I will set My tabernacle among you" (Leviticus 26:11) — if you fulfill the Torah, I will leave the upper beings and descend and dwell among you, as it is written, "And I will dwell among the children of Israel" (Exodus 29:45); for on this condition Israel went out from Egypt, that they make the Tabernacle and the Shekhinah rest among them, as it is said, "And they shall know that I am the LORD their God... that I may dwell among them" (Exodus 29:46). And if they do My will, the Shekhinah does not depart from among them. Rabbi Ami said: The Holy One, blessed be He, desired that just as He has a dwelling above, so He should have a dwelling below; for thus He said to Adam the first man: "If you prove worthy, just as I am king over the upper beings, so I will make you king over the lower beings," as it is said, "And the LORD God took the man" (Genesis 2:15) — and "took" is nothing but an expression of elevation, just as you say, "And Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus" (Esther 2:16). But he did not keep the commandment, rather he sinned; and when he sinned, the Shekhinah departed. And when Israel arose, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: You went out from Egypt only on the condition that you make Me a sanctuary, and I will rest My Shekhinah among you, as it is said, "And they shall make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them" (Exodus 25:8). And likewise I said to Solomon: "Concerning this house which you are building, if you walk in My statutes... then I will dwell among the children of Israel" (1 Kings 6:12-13); "but if you turn away, you and your children, from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them" (1 Kings 9:6) — and what do I do? "Then I will cut off Israel from the face of the land" (1 Kings 9:7).