Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Zuta Reader

From the school of Elijah the prophet. Our Rabbis, of blessed memory, said: A person should always be cautious in the fear of Heaven, soft in his reply, one who turns away wrath and increases peace with his father and his mother, with his teacher and his fellow, and even with a stranger in the marketplace, so that he may be beloved above and pleasing below, accepted by his fellow creatures, and so that all his days may be filled with goodness. Our Rabbis taught: When Israel is steeped in trouble and one of them separates himself, two ministering angels come, place their hands upon his head, and say, "This person who separated himself from the community shall not behold the comfort of the community." Rather, when the community is in distress, let no one say, "I will go to my house, eat and drink, and peace be upon my soul." If he does this, Scripture says of him, "And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine" (Isaiah 22:13); and what is written after it? "And it was revealed in my ears by the LORD of hosts: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you until you die." This is the measure of average people. But of the measure of the wicked it is written, "Come, I will fetch wine, and let us fill ourselves with strong drink" (Isaiah 56:12), after which it is written, "The righteous perishes, and no one lays it to heart" (Isaiah 57:1). Rather, a person should afflict himself together with the community, as we find with Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, who afflicted himself with the community, as it is said, "And Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon" (Exodus 17:12). Did Moses not have a single cushion or pillow to sit upon? Rather, Moses said: Since Israel dwells in distress, I too will be with them in distress. And whoever afflicts himself with the community merits and beholds the comfort of the community. And lest a person say, "Who testifies against me?" The stones of a person's house and its beams testify against him, as it is said, "For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it" (Habakkuk 2:11). The school of Rabbi Shila said: The two ministering angels who accompany a person testify against him, as it is said, "For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways" (Psalms 91:11). Rabbi Chidka says: A person's own soul testifies against him, as it is said, "From her who lies in your bosom guard the doors of your mouth" (Micah 7:5). And some say a person's own limbs testify against him, as it is said, "You are My witnesses, says the LORD" (Isaiah 43:10). The school of Elijah said: A person should always be like an ox to the yoke and like a donkey to the burden, and like the beast that plows in the valley and the field; so should a person labor and plow in the words of Torah every single day, as it is said, "Happy are you who sow beside all waters" (Isaiah 32:20). And "waters" means nothing but Torah, as it is said, "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters" (Isaiah 55:1). Once a person has read Torah, Prophets, and Writings, and studied Mishnah, Midrash, laws, and homilies, and studied the Gemara, and studied dialectical reasoning for its own sake, immediately the holy spirit rests upon him, as it is said, "The spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and His word was upon my tongue" (II Samuel 23:2). Once I was passing from place to place, and a certain officer met me. He greeted me but did not recognize me, and said to me, "Rabbi, from what place are you?" I said to him, "I am from a great city of sages and scribes and rabbis." He said to me, "Rabbi, come and dwell with me in my place, and I will set you over wheat and barley, beans and lentils, and every kind of legume." I said to him, "My son, even if you give me a thousand thousand golden dinars, I will not leave a place of Torah, and I will not dwell in a place where there is no Torah." He said to me, "Rabbi, why?" I said to him, "Because the world was destroyed only on account of the neglect of Torah, and the Land of Israel was destroyed only on account of the neglect of Torah, and all the troubles that come upon Israel are only on account of the neglect of Torah, for the neglect of Torah is great and weighty before the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "For the transgression of Jacob is all this" (Micah 1:5), and "this" means nothing but Torah, as it is said, "Who is the wise man that may understand this?... Why has the land perished?... And the LORD says, Because they have forsaken My Torah which I set before them" (Jeremiah 9:11-12). At once he said to me, "Blessed be the Omnipresent who chose you out of all the peoples and all the tongues and gave you the Torah, because you trust in Him in every place." The greatness of charity: the school of Elijah said: Great is charity, for from the day the world was created until now the world stands upon charity, and whoever gives much charity is praiseworthy and delivers himself from the judgment of Gehinnom, as it is said, "Remove anger from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh" (Ecclesiastes 11:10), and it is said, "Happy is he who considers the poor; the LORD will deliver him in the day of evil" (Psalms 41:2), and "evil" means nothing but the day of the judgment of Gehinnom. For what merit did our first fathers acquire this world, and the days of the son of David, and the world to come? Because they conducted themselves with charity. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses and Aaron, David and Solomon his son were praised only for charity. Whence Abraham? As it is said, "For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice" (Genesis 18:19). And even the Holy One, blessed be He, is praised through charity, as it is said, "And the holy God is sanctified through righteousness" (Isaiah 5:16); and even the Throne of Glory is praised through charity, as it is said, "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne" (Psalms 97:2). Great is charity, for it delivers a person from the way of death; great is charity, for it lengthens a person's days and years; great is charity, for it brings a person to the life of the world to come; great is charity, for it is equal to the Torah; great is charity, for it hastens the day of the son of David and the days of our redemption; great is charity, for it raises up the soul and seats it and places it beneath the Throne of Glory.

Once I was walking on the road, and a certain man met me and came to me on the road in heresy, and he had Scripture but had no Mishnah, and he said to me: Rabbi, Scripture was given to us from Mount Sinai, but the Mishnah was not given to us from Mount Sinai. And I said to him: My son, Scripture and Mishnah, both of them were spoken from the mouth of the Almighty. And what is the difference between Scripture and Mishnah? They told a parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who had two servants and loved them with a great love, and he gave to this one a kav of wheat and to that one a kav of wheat, and to each one of them he also gave a bundle of flax. The clever one among them took the flax and wove a fine cloth, and took the wheat and made it into fine flour, and sifted it and ground it and kneaded it and baked it and arranged it on the table and spread over it a fine cloth, and left it until the king came. But the foolish one among them did nothing. After some days the king came into his house and said to his two servants: My sons, bring me what I gave you. One of them brought out the bread of fine flour on the table, with the fine cloth spread over it, and one of them brought out the wheat in a basket, with the bundle of flax upon it. Woe for that shame and woe for that disgrace! Which of them is more beloved? You must say: the one who brought out the bread on the table with the fine cloth spread over it. And further I said to him: My son, if I find you within the teaching of the Sages, will you make your words liars? And he said to me: Yes. I said to him: My son, when you go down before the ark on the Sabbath, how many blessings do you say? And he said to me: Seven. And I said to him: My son, and on the other days, how many do you say? And he said to me: Eighteen. And I said to him: My son, how many blessings do you say over the recitation of the Shema in the morning? And he said to me: Two before it and one after it. And I said to him: And in the evening, how many do you say? And he said to me: Two before it and two after it. And I said to him: My son, how many are called to the Torah on the Sabbath? And he said to me: Seven. And he said: On the second day of the week and on the fifth day of the week and at the afternoon prayer on the Sabbath, how many? He said to him: Three. And he said: And over the seven, how many blessings do you say? And he said to me: Two before them and one after them. And I said to him: Over the other portions, how many blessings do you say? And he said to me: One blessing before them and one blessing after them, except for the grace after meals, which is three, and with the blessing "who is good and does good" they are four. And I said to him: My son, do you then have these from Mount Sinai? Are they not only the teaching of the Sages? Rather, when the Holy One, blessed be He, gave the Torah to Israel, He gave it to them only like wheat, to bring forth fine flour from it, and like flax, to weave from it a garment, by means of general and particular, and particular and general, and general and particular and general, as it is said, "And you shall give the money for whatever your soul desires" (Deuteronomy 14:26), this is a generalization; "for cattle and for sheep, for wine and for strong drink," this is a specification; "and for whatever your soul asks of you," this is another generalization. And likewise a generalization that requires a specification and a specification that requires a generalization. And he said to me: Rabbi, is it so that from the day the world was created until that hour, everyone who does a commandment is given his reward? And I said to him: My son, the Holy One, blessed be He, fills the world from one end to the other, and the whole world entirely is His, and it is enough that the whole world is His; and were it not that Scripture is written, it would be impossible to say it, as it is said, "Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all that is in it" (Deuteronomy 10:14). And it says, "Look at the heavens and see, and behold the skies that are higher than you" (Job 35:5). And not the heavens alone are the Holy One's, blessed be He, but the heavens and the heaven of heavens, the upper seven. (Another reading: And the whole world entirely is His; should He take a portion in His world that He created? Rather, it is to make known to the creatures that whoever engages in Torah in distress, so too worldly conduct is given to him, and the principal is laid up for him; for the Holy One, blessed be He, did not find among human beings those who do the Torah and the commandments in distress and built the latter House in distress and afflicted themselves over the Torah and over the commandments; therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, gave them Mishnah, for them and for their children and for their children's children until the end of all the generations. And from where that one takes his reward in His world that He created? As it is said, "For the LORD's portion is His people, Jacob the lot of His inheritance" (Deuteronomy 32:9), and it says, "For lots have fallen" and so forth.) And even though the whole world entirely is the Holy One's, blessed be He, the Holy One, blessed be He, took no portion in His world that He created except Israel alone, to make known to the creatures that anyone who engages in Torah amid distress, and all the more so if he also engages in worldly occupation together with the Torah, is given the fruits in this world and the principal is laid up for him for the world to come. And because the Holy One, blessed be He, did not find among the children of Israel those who do the Torah and the commandments amid distress like those who were building the latter House, who afflicted themselves over the Torah and over the commandments, therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, gave them a Mishnah reward, for them and for their children and for their children's children until the end of all the generations. And from where that the Holy One, blessed be He, took no portion in His world except Israel alone? As it is said, "For the LORD's portion is His people, Jacob the lot of His inheritance" (Deuteronomy 32:9), and it says, "Lots have fallen to me in pleasant places; indeed, an inheritance is beautiful to me" (Psalms 16:6). They told a parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who builds a palace and perfects it, and in the joy with which he rejoices in it he completes within it a house for his dwelling. So too the Holy One, blessed be He: this is the reward of the land in which the Holy One, blessed be He, stood, and He created all the lands and set apart the land of Israel as a heave-offering from all the lands, and set apart Jerusalem as a heave-offering from all the land of Israel, and set apart the place of the Temple as a heave-offering from all of Jerusalem. And likewise the Holy One, blessed be He, created all the peoples entirely, and set apart Israel as a heave-offering from all the peoples; and from Israel He set apart as a heave-offering the tribe of Levi; and from the tribe of Levi He set apart as a heave-offering Aaron the priest and his sons, and He sanctified him and anointed him and honored him with the garments of priesthood and with the frontlet and with the Urim and Tummim, that he should stand before the Holy One, blessed be He, and make atonement for Israel every single year. And He brought Israel, who are a heave-offering from all the peoples, to the land of Israel, which is a heave-offering from all the lands; and He brought the tribe of Levi, who were set apart as a heave-offering from all Israel, to Jerusalem, which was set apart as a heave-offering from all the land of Israel; and He brought the sons of Aaron, who were set apart as a heave-offering from the tribe of Levi, to the Temple, which was set apart as a heave-offering from all of Jerusalem, to stand and minister before the Holy One, blessed be He, and to do His will, as it is said, "He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the ancient hills sank low; the everlasting ways are His" (Habakkuk 3:6). From here they said: Anyone who studies halakhot (read as "ways," halikhot) every day is assured that he is a son of the world to come, as it is said, "the everlasting ways (halikhot) are His"; do not read "ways" (halikhot) but "laws" (halakhot). And some say: From the place where the Holy One, blessed be He, took the dust of the first man, there the altar was built, as it is said, "And the LORD God formed the man, dust from the ground" (Genesis 2:7), and it is said, "An altar of earth you shall make for Me" (Exodus 20:21). From here they said: As long as the Temple stands, the altar is an atonement for Israel in all the places of their dwellings; and at a time when the Temple does not stand, the scholars are an atonement for Israel in all the places of their dwellings, as it is said, "And if you bring a meal-offering of first fruits to the LORD, parched grain roasted with fire, fresh kernels of ripe grain, you shall bring as the meal-offering of your first fruits" (Leviticus 2:14). And it says, "And a man came from Baal-Shalishah and brought to the man of God bread of first fruits" and so forth (2 Kings 4:42). And was Elisha a priest, that he ate first fruits? And there was there neither Jerusalem nor sanctuary nor altar nor high priest, but only Elisha the prophet alone and his students who sat before him. Rather, from here they said: Anyone who attends upon the scholars and their students and provides for them, Scripture accounts it to him as though he offers first fruits and does the will of his Father in heaven. And he said to me: Rabbi, why are the nations of the world distinguished, that they eat this world? And I said to him: My son, this is their reward, because the Holy One, blessed be He, set apart Israel from among them; therefore they eat this world. They told a parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who found a man from a large family, and this man does all the king's will; what does the king do? The king sends many gifts to all the members of that man's family, for the sake of that man who did his will. So too the idolaters: this is their reward, because the Holy One, blessed be He, set apart Israel from among them; therefore they eat this world. And he said to me: Rabbi, if so, then everyone who does a commandment is also given his reward, and everyone who commits a transgression is also given his reward? And I said to him: My son, what was the reward of the primeval serpent, who arose and corrupted the whole world entirely? And what was the reward of Adam and Eve, who transgressed the command of the Holy One, blessed be He? And what was the reward of Cain, who killed Abel his brother? And what was the reward of Lemech, who mourned over his grandfather? And what was the reward of Shem, who honored his father? And what was the reward of Ham, who did not honor his father? And what was the reward of Noah, who stood and protested before the multitudes all those hundred and twenty years until the flood came upon them? Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, testified concerning him, as it is said, "Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generations" (Genesis 6:9), and it says, "For you I have seen righteous before Me in this generation" (Genesis 7:1). And what was the reward of Shem the elder, who prophesied four hundred years and they did not receive it from him? And what was the reward of Abraham our father, who stood and demolished all the idolatry in the world; and because he said one improper word, his children went down to Egypt, as it is said, "And he said: O Lord GOD, by what shall I know that I will inherit it?" (Genesis 15:8): as the reward of that saying, his children went down to Egypt. And what was the reward of Ishmael, who arose and buried his father? And what was the reward of Isaac, who said to his father: Father, bind me well and well, and place me upon the altar, lest I kick at you, for I am young and standing in my strength, for I am thirty-seven years old, and I should be found liable for two deaths at the hand of Heaven? And what was the reward of Esau, who let fall two tears before his father? He was given Mount Seir, from which the rains of blessing never cease forever; and even the children of Seir, because they received Esau with a pleasant countenance, were given their reward. From here they said: Even if a person has in his hand neither Scripture nor Mishnah, but he sits and reads all day the verse "And Lotan's sister was Timna" (Genesis 36:22), even so the reward of Torah is in his hand. And what was the reward of Jacob our father, who acknowledged the truth and spoke truth in his heart all the days of his life? And what was the reward of the twelve tribes, who did the will of Jacob their father, as it is said, "Like grapes in the wilderness I found Israel" (Hosea 9:10)? And what was the reward of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who set the awe of the Holy One, blessed be He, in their hearts from among seventy peoples and tongues? And their merit stood for them and for their children and for their children's children until the end of all the generations.

The Holy One, blessed be He, created everything in His world except the trait of falsehood and the trait of injustice, which the Holy One, blessed be He, neither created nor made, as it is said, "The Rock, His work is perfect" (Deuteronomy 32:4), and it says, "The LORD is righteous in her midst, He will not do injustice; morning by morning He brings His judgment to light, He does not fail; but the unjust knows no shame" (Zephaniah 3:5), and it says, "Far be it from God to do wickedness... For the work of a man He will repay him" (Job 34:10-11). I call heaven and earth to witness for me that people are not gathered to death, and no creature comes to suffering, except through their own ways; and produce and grain do not come to rot except through the ways of people; and people do not come to shame except through their own ways; and people's eyes do not dim in the midst of their days except through their own ways; and people are not made impure with plagues except through their own ways, as it is said, "Thus says the God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out" (Isaiah 42:5). Go and learn from the way of the world: does a person build a house except in order to bring into it good produce, to bring into it fine vessels, to kindle a fire in it and light lamps in it? So too people are judged according to their own ways, because they transgressed against the words of Torah and against proper conduct, as it is said, "Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me" (Hosea 7:13). In three matters a person should look every day: when he enters the privy, they say to him, "See, your way is like the way of a beast"; when blood is let from him, they say, "See that you are flesh and blood"; and when he stands over a corpse, they say to him, "See where you are going." Yet still you do not repent, but you sit and multiply excess words, as it is said, "The foolishness of a man perverts his way, and his heart frets against the LORD" (Proverbs 19:3), and he speaks falsehood and transgresses what is written in the Torah, "Keep yourself far from a false matter" (Exodus 23:7), and it says, "And let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor" (Zechariah 8:17). How should a person act? If a person makes himself righteous and speaks truth, an angel is assigned to him who conducts himself with him in the way of the righteous and speaks truth; and if a person makes himself wicked and denies and speaks falsehood, an angel is assigned to him who conducts himself with him in the way of the wicked; and if a person makes himself pious, to bear everything, an angel is assigned to him who conducts himself with him in the way of the pious and bears everything, as it is said, "I the LORD search the heart, I try the kidneys" (Jeremiah 17:10), and through David it is said, "With the merciful You show Yourself merciful, with the upright man You show Yourself upright, with the pure You show Yourself pure, and with the crooked You show Yourself perverse; for You will save the afflicted people, but haughty eyes You will bring down" (Psalms 18:26-28). There are four traits in worldly conduct regarding marriage: there is one who marries a woman for the sake of lust, one who marries for the sake of status, one who marries for the sake of money, and one who marries for the sake of Heaven. He who marries a woman for the sake of lust will in the end have from her a stubborn and rebellious son. He who marries for the sake of Heaven will in the end have children who deliver Israel in a time of trouble and who increase Torah and commandments in Israel. He who marries for the sake of money will in the end be made dependent upon others. He who marries for the sake of status will in the end have one rise up against him from that same family who diminishes his offspring after him. Whence that one who marries for the sake of lust produces a stubborn and rebellious son? As it is said, "And you see among the captives a woman of beautiful form, and you desire her, and would take her to yourself as a wife" (Deuteronomy 21:11); in the end people murmur against him, and because people murmur against him he goes and marries another woman, as it then says, "If a man has two wives," and it then says, "If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son." Whence that one who marries for the sake of money is made dependent upon others? As we find with the sons of Eli the priest, who married women unfit for them, and in the end were made dependent upon others, as it is said, "And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left in your house shall come to bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray you, into one of the priestly offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread" (I Samuel 2:36). Whence that one who marries for the sake of status has one rise up from that family who diminishes his offspring? As we find with Jehoshaphat king of Judah, who went and made a marriage alliance with the king of Israel because he saw that he had seventy sons, as it is said, "And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel" (I Kings 22:45). And whence that one rose up from that family who diminished his offspring? As it is said, "And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal seed; but Jehosheba the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away... and he was not slain, and he was hidden with her in the house of the LORD six years" (II Kings 11:1). And were it not for the covenant the Holy One, blessed be He, made with David, Joash too would have been killed, and the kingdom of the house of David would have been entirely annulled. And whence that one who marries for the sake of Heaven has children who deliver Israel in a time of trouble and increase Torah and commandments in Israel? Go and learn from Amram, who married a woman for the sake of Heaven, and from him came Moses and Aaron, who delivered Israel and increased Torah and commandments in Israel. Go and learn from Boaz son of Salmon, who married a woman for the sake of Heaven, and from him came David and Solomon his son, who delivered Israel and increased Torah and commandments in Israel. And of them and of those like them Scripture says, "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I make, shall remain before Me, says the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain" (Isaiah 66:22).

The sages taught: Be lowly and humble to every person, and to the people of your household more than to anyone. And whence do you know that this is so? Go and learn from the Holy One, blessed be He, who was lowly and humble to His people in every place, and did not deal with them according to their ways, and did not judge them according to their iniquities, but treated them with His trait of humility. And whence is this? Know it from the hundred and twenty days from the day the Torah was given to Israel until the Day of Atonement, which are a hundred and twenty days from the day Moses first ascended Mount Sinai to bring the Torah to his people Israel until he descended from Mount Sinai the last time, the third time. And had the Holy One, blessed be He, not dealt with them with the trait of humility, the Torah would not have been given to Israel. They told a parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who betrothed a woman and loved her with a complete love. What did the king do? He sent and brought a certain man to be his messenger between him and her, and he showed him all his bridal canopies and all his chambers and all his hidden places. Afterward he said to that messenger, "Go to that woman and tell her that I require nothing of hers; let her only make me a small canopy, that I may dwell with her, so that my servants and my household may know that I love her with a complete love." While the king was busy with the canopies, commanding the messenger and sending the woman many gifts, people said to him, "Your wife has played the harlot with another." Immediately the king let everything fall from his hand, and the messenger was thrust back and went out terrified from before the king. So it was with the Holy One, blessed be He, and Israel, as it is said, "Go, get down, for your people have corrupted themselves" (Exodus 32:7), and it is written, "While the king was at his table, my spikenard sent forth its fragrance" (Song of Songs 1:12). Blessed is He who spoke and the world came to be, blessed is He; blessed is He who does the work of creation; blessed is He who speaks and does; blessed is He who decrees and fulfills; blessed is He who remembered the earlier deeds and overlooked the later, for it should have said, "my spikenard sent forth a stench," yet it says, "sent forth its fragrance." When Israel accepted upon themselves the kingship of the Holy One, blessed be He, and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do and we will hear" (Exodus 24:7), immediately six hundred thousand ministering angels descended and placed upon the head of each one of Israel two crowns, like the crown of Adam, one corresponding to "we will do" and one corresponding to "we will hear," as it is said, "And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:6). And when Israel sinned with the deed of the calf, a hundred and twenty myriads of angels of destruction descended and took them from them, as it is said, "And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb" (Exodus 33:6). Might one think forever? Scripture teaches, "And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing, and everlasting joy upon their heads" (Isaiah 35:10). It does not say "in their heart" but "upon their heads," teaching that the Holy One, blessed be He, will in the future restore them to Israel in the days of the son of David and in the world to come; therefore it is said, "everlasting joy upon their heads." And what thought was in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He? This was His thought: any nation and kingdom that would come and accept the Torah would live and endure forever and ever, as it is said, "And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved (charut) upon the tablets" (Exodus 32:16). Do not read charut [engraved] but cherut [freedom], for you have no free man except one over whom the angel of death has no power. And when they made the calf, the angel of death returned over them. But of Aaron it is written, "The Torah of truth was in his mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity" (Malachi 2:6). Now would it enter your mind that Aaron worshiped idols, Heaven forbid? Rather, Aaron did not worship the idol, but he delayed them until Moses would come, in the way that Jacob our father did, who kept the whole Torah before it was given and intended to nullify idolatry, as it is said, "And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments" (Genesis 35:2), and he hid them under the terebinth which was near Shechem. So too Aaron intended to nullify idolatry and kept the Torah before it was given; yet even so Scripture accounted it to him as though he had worshiped idolatry, as it is said, "And the LORD struck the people, because they made the calf which Aaron made" (Exodus 32:35). The sages said: When Moses descended from Mount Sinai and saw the corruption with which Israel had corrupted themselves, Moses looked at the tablets and saw that the writing had flown off them, and he broke them at the foot of the mountain, and immediately Moses became mute and could no longer speak. From that hour a decree was decreed upon Israel that they would learn the Torah amid distress, amid subjugation, amid wandering, amid confusion, amid pressure, and amid lack of sustenance; and for that distress the Holy One, blessed be He, will in the future repay them their reward in the days of the son of David and in the world to come, as it is said, "Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strength" (Isaiah 40:10). During Moses' middle forty days, Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp, as it is said, "And Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp" (Exodus 33:7), and Israel mourned and observed mourning for all those forty days, until the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself and opened for Moses a doorway of mercy, and the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "Moses, what are those poor ones doing, banished from teacher, banished from disciple, banished from Me, banished from you? Turn back and bring the tent into the camp," as it is said, "And the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (Exodus 33:11). This verse I do not understand, for afterward it says, "And he returned to the camp"; this teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, released Moses from his vow and told him to bring the tent into the camp. They told a parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a king who was angry at his son, and one of the great men of the kingdom sat before him and was afraid to rescue him. When he heard the king say to his son, "You empty one, were it not for so-and-so my beloved who sits before me, I would already have struck you great blows," that beloved one said in his heart, "This matter depends upon me," and immediately he rose and rescued him. So it appeared regarding Moses at that hour, as it is said, "And Moses entreated the face of the LORD his God, and said, Why, O LORD, does Your wrath burn against Your people whom You brought out of the land of Egypt?" (Exodus 32:11), and when Moses afterward said, "Why should Egypt say, For evil did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains?... Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel Your servants," immediately the Holy One, blessed be He, was humble toward them and forgave them; therefore it is afterward said, "And the LORD relented of the evil" (Exodus 32:14). And during the last forty days, when Moses ascended Mount Sinai to bring the Torah, they decreed a day of fasting and affliction, and on the last day of them all, the end of the forty days, they decreed a fast and passed the night in their fast so that the evil inclination would not rule over them. The next morning they rose early and went up before Mount Sinai. Israel was weeping toward Moses and he was weeping toward them, until their weeping ascended on high. At that hour the mercy of the Holy One, blessed be He, was stirred over Israel, and He accepted their repentance, and the holy spirit brought them good tidings and consolations. And the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel, "My children, I swear by My great Name and by My Throne of Glory that this weeping shall become for you joy and great gladness, and this day shall be for you a day of pardon and atonement and forgiveness, for you and for your children and for your children's children until the end of all generations."

The poor of Israel, who has been impoverished of his possessions: to what may the matter be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who decreed concerning his son that he should not enter his banquet, and the king knew of his son that he was hungry and thirsty. And the king said, "Happy is he who will bring my son into his house and give him a piece of bread and a pitcher of water that he may eat and drink, for all that I have indeed belongs to my son," as it is said, "He who is gracious to the poor lends to the LORD, and his good deed He will repay him" (Proverbs 19:17). And if a wicked man, a son of a poor man, a son of a needy man, a son of a destitute man, comes and repents, he is called righteous and it goes ill with him; and if he does not repent, he is called wicked and it goes ill with him. And if a person should say, "If all of them are worthy, what then?"—say to him, of them it is said, "The poor and the needy seek water, and there is none" (Isaiah 41:17), and it says, "And the humble shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the needy among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel" (Isaiah 29:19), and it says, "Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction" (Isaiah 48:10). This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, went over all the traits in the world and found no trait good for Israel except poverty; for out of their poverty Israel fears the LORD. For if they have no bread to eat, no garment to wear, and no oil to anoint themselves, they seek mercy from the One who brings all existence into being. For through poverty they fear the LORD; and charity comes only out of poverty; and acts of lovingkindness come only out of poverty; and a person is God-fearing only out of poverty; and a person learns words of Torah only out of poverty, as it is said, "He raises up the poor man from the dust" (I Samuel 2:8)—it does not say "He raises up the rich man from the dust"—"for the pillars of the earth are the LORD's" (I Samuel 2:8). And "pillars" means nothing but Torah scholars, as it is said, "And everyone who was in distress gathered themselves to him" (I Samuel 22:2). Every day angels of destruction go forth before the Holy One, blessed be He, to destroy the whole world entirely; and were it not for the synagogues and study houses in which Torah scholars sit and engage in words of Torah, they would destroy the whole world immediately, as it is said, "Why, when I came, was there no one? When I called, was there none to answer?" (Isaiah 50:2). Go and learn from the way of the world: does a person plant a vineyard except in order that he may eat grapes from it or drink wine from it? Or perhaps to fill it with weeds? And if it became filled with weeds, he says to his servants, "Go and set it on fire," until a hundred or two hundred vines remain in it; then he says to his servants, "Go and tend the vineyard, dig it, hoe it, and water it with water for the sake of the vines, since the weeds have already been burned." So too all the righteous, when they stand in the world, are like the vines that stand within the vineyard, and the whole world leans upon them; therefore it is said, "For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and He has set the world upon them" (I Samuel 2:8).

From the measure of the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, you learn that His mercies are abundant in the world. And why did He say, "Give charity to the poor and the destitute"? He says this only concerning a person who did things improperly and a penalty of evil was imposed upon him for up to four generations, as it is said, "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children, unto the third and unto the fourth generation" (Exodus 34:7). At that hour Moses said in his heart, "If so, there is a righteous man to whom it goes ill." Moreover, Moses our teacher reasoned by an a fortiori argument within himself and said in his heart, "Perhaps not all Israel desire anything but only not to stand in the ways and commandments of the Holy One, blessed be He, Heaven forbid, and their sentence has been sealed against them, and behold they are struck at every hour." They told a parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a king who married a woman and led her from city to city and from province to province until he brought her to his province and to his royal city; and when his wife sinned against him, the king would strike her. What did his wife do? Immediately she ran to her father's house. The king's father-in-law said in his heart, "Did the king strike my daughter for nothing, unjustly and without law?" Immediately the king's father-in-law sent a messenger to the king and said to him, "Tell me, what is the matter in which my daughter sinned against you, and what is the thing you wish my daughter to do according to your will so that she may attend to all your needs?" Immediately the king sent his father-in-law many kinds of fruit and folded five letters together corresponding to them, and the thing he wished his wife to do and the way she had sinned against him he wrote in the fifth letter among them. When the messenger reached the king's father-in-law, he read the first letter and found written in it, "These fruits are of such-and-such a kind," and so the second, and so the third, and so the fourth, until he reached the fifth letter and found written in it the thing the king wished and how his wife had sinned against him. Immediately the king's father-in-law called his daughter and said to her, "My daughter, the thing the king wishes is true, and the king loves peace and loves justice, and you sinned against him, and he struck you justly and lawfully." So it appeared regarding Moses at that hour, as it is said, "And now, if I have found favor in Your eyes, show me now Your way" (Exodus 33:13). Immediately the Holy One, blessed be He, descended to the depth of Moses' intent and showed him generation after generation and its sages, generation after generation and its leaders, generation after generation and its prophets, generation after generation and its expounders, and showed him His measures by which He conducts Himself in this world and His measures by which He conducts Himself in the world to come. And He said to Moses, "Behold, you say, Why is there a righteous man to whom it goes well and a righteous man to whom it goes ill, a wicked man to whom it goes well and a wicked man to whom it goes ill, as you said, Show me now Your way." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "Moses, you cannot stand upon all My measures, but behold I will make known to you some of My measures: when I see people who, although they have no praise of Torah and good deeds, neither in their own deeds nor in the deeds of their fathers, yet only because they stand and give thanks and bless and praise and multiply supplications before Me, I attend to them and double their sustenance," as it is said, "He has turned to the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer" (Psalms 102:18). And it is written, "And He said, I will make all My goodness pass before you" (Exodus 33:19)—it does not say "My goodness" but "all My goodness"; these are the thirteen attributes, as it is said, "The LORD, the LORD, God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth, keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and acquitting" (Exodus 34:6-7). For here it says, "And I will proclaim the Name of the LORD before you" (Exodus 33:19), and there it says, "And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, The LORD, the LORD, God, merciful and gracious" (Exodus 34:6). When Moses saw that the measure of the Holy One, blessed be He, is one of lovingkindness and of mercy, immediately he wrapped himself and stood in prayer before the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "And Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped, and he said, If now I have found favor in Your eyes, O Lord, let the Lord, I pray, go in our midst, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your inheritance" (Exodus 34:8-9). Another interpretation: had it said "My goodness" and not "all My goodness," I would say there are no days of the son of David here; but when it says "all My goodness," there are here the days of the son of David, may he come speedily in our days, Amen, Selah.

And so too with the measure of good: when a person performs a commandment, good is allotted to him for up to four generations. And know that this is so, as it is said, "And the LORD said to Jehu, Because you have done well in performing what is right in My eyes... your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel" (II Kings 10:30). They said of Jehu son of Nimshi that he was God-fearing and did not go after the golden calves that Jeroboam son of Nebat made; but afterward, once he came to greatness and kingship, he corrupted his deeds. And when Jehoahaz his son came and followed after him, had he repented he would have been called righteous and it would have gone well with him; but since he did not repent, he was called wicked and it went well with him. And in a similar matter you say: they said of Jeroboam son of Joash that he was a man who showed honor to the prophets; therefore those nations which the Holy One, blessed be He, did not deliver into the hand of Joshua son of Nun, nor into the hand of David king of Israel, the Holy One, blessed be He, delivered into the hand of Jeroboam son of Joash, as it is said, "He restored the border of Israel... according to the word of the LORD... which He spoke by the hand of His servant Jonah son of Amittai... for the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter, and there was none shut up nor left, and no helper for Israel; and He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Joash" (II Kings 14:25-27). And what indeed was the merit of Jeroboam son of Joash, that he restored the border of Israel, seeing that he worshiped idolatry? Only because he did not accept slander against Amos, as it is said, "And Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos says, Jeroboam shall die by the sword" (Amos 7:10-11). Immediately Jeroboam rebuked Amaziah and dismissed him with reproof, and said to him, "Heaven forbid, that righteous one did not prophesy this of his own accord; and if he prophesied this, he did not prophesy it of his own mind, but it was said to him from Heaven that he should prophesy thus." At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, said, "Even though that generation worshiped idolatry, and even the head of the generation worshiped idolatry, even so, the land which I promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give to their seed, I will give it into the hand of this one"; therefore it is said, "He restored the border of Israel." From here they said: merit is brought about through one who is meritorious, and guilt through one who is guilty. And in this measure He conducts Himself with all Israel in all their dwelling places, and with all the nations and all the families of the earth.

By these measures the Holy One, blessed be He, rejoices over one who does good and is angry over one who does evil. And whence do you know that this is so? Go and learn from the way of the world: for a man, until he has married a wife and until he has had children, his mind is content with him, he has no grief or sighing in his heart, and he has tranquility in his house; but after he has married a wife and has children, his mind is not content with him, he has grief and sighing in his heart, and he has no tranquility in his house, because his children provoke him with their ways and their deeds and their evil doings. So too people acted before the Holy One, blessed be He, rebelling against His sight; for until the Holy One, blessed be He, created man upon the earth, His mind was content, as it were; but after He created people, they provoked the Holy One, blessed be He, with their evil doings and their evil ways, with children who shortened their father's mind by their ways and their evil doings; then He brought, as it were, grief and sighing into His heart, and He had no tranquility in all the world. Know that this is so: for three hundred years Israel worshiped idolatry in the days of the judges who judged, until the Holy One, blessed be He, delivered Israel into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim and into the hand of Jabin king of Hazor, and likewise into the hand of other nations; and when Israel turned back and repented, immediately the Holy One, blessed be He, turned back and redeemed Israel from their hand. And so Israel worshiped foreign worship, whether in the Land of Israel or outside the Land, and so from generation to generation they continued to sin with idolatry, until the Holy One, blessed be He, delivered Israel into the hand of the nations, as it is said, "And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baalim and the Ashtaroth, and the gods of Aram, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and they forsook the LORD and served Him not; and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the children of Ammon, and they crushed and shattered the children of Israel" (Judges 10:6-8). And when they turned back and repented, immediately the Holy One, blessed be He, turned back and accepted their repentance and redeemed Israel from the hand of those nations into whose power they had been delivered, because the Holy One, blessed be He, cannot bear the distress of Israel if they have repented; and were it not a verse written, it would be impossible to say it, as it is said, "And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, We have sinned against You, because we have forsaken our God and served the Baalim... and they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD; and His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel" (Judges 10:10,16). And so Israel reviled and provoked their Creator and worshiped idolatry three hundred and ninety years in the days of the First Temple. And whence do you know that this is so? For indeed Israel dwelt in the First Temple four hundred and ten years; subtract from them twenty years in which the kings of Judah and Israel did not worship idolatry, and there remain three hundred and ninety years in which the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah worshiped idolatry. And every single prophet who spoke with Israel and reproved them that they should return in repentance—they did not desire the good of the prophet, but would say to him, "I have no desire for your prophecy, and we do not want your prophecy." And whence do you know that this is so? For Ahab king of Israel asked Elijah the Tishbite and said to him, "It is written in your Torah, 'Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, and the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and He shut up the heavens that there be no rain, and the ground not yield its produce' (Deuteronomy 11:16-17); yet we worship idolatry, and the rains are not withheld!" But come and see how much good came his way, as it is said, "And Ahab son of Omri reigned over Israel... and did evil in the sight of the LORD... and reared up an altar for Baal... in his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundation with Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with Segub his youngest, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by the hand of Joshua son of Nun" (I Kings 16:29-34). Immediately Elijah was filled with great wrath against Ahab, and said to Ahab, "Empty one, you have despised the One who created the whole world for His glory and the One who gave the Torah for His glory. By your life, I will judge you only out of your own words," as it is said, "And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I have stood, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except according to my word" (I Kings 17:1). Immediately Elijah took the key of rain and went his way, and there was a great famine, until the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Elijah, "Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will give rain." Moreover, the Holy One, blessed be He, drove Elijah to the place where the fathers of Israel had sought mercy for their children, as it is said, "And he lay down and slept under a certain juniper tree; and behold, an angel touched him and said to him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and behold, at his head was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water; and he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the LORD came again the second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you. And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mountain of God; and he came there to the cave and lodged there. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?" (I Kings 19:5-9). When the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Elijah, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Elijah should have said before the Holy One, blessed be He, "Master of the universe, they are Your children, they are the children of those You tested, they are the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who did Your will in the world." But not only did he not say so; rather he said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant" (I Kings 19:10). Immediately the Holy One, blessed be He, began to speak words of consolation to Elijah and said to him, "When I revealed Myself to give the Torah to Israel, none revealed themselves with Me except the ministering angels, who desire the good of Israel," as it is said, "And He said, Go forth and stand upon the mountain before the LORD. And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and shattered the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire a still small voice" (I Kings 19:11-12). What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He waited for Elijah three hours, and he still stood by his earlier words and said yet a second time, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts" (I Kings 19:14). At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Elijah, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus... and Jehu son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king... and Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place" (I Kings 19:15-16)—and what is in your mind I cannot do.

In the days of Uzziah king of Judah, four elder prophets prophesied, and Hosea son of Beeri was the eldest of them all. The Holy One, blessed be He, watched over them all, to see who would seek mercy for His children and who would not. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Hosea: See for Israel what sins they are committing. Hosea ought to have said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the universe, they are Your children, the children of those You tested, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who did Your will in the world; turn upon them Your attribute of mercy and have compassion on them and pardon their iniquities. Not only did Hosea fail to say this, but he said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the universe, the whole world is Yours; exchange them for another people. As it is said, "The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea" (Hosea 1:2). Were there not many prophets who prophesied to Israel? Rather, of the four elder prophets prophesying in that period, the word of the LORD came first to Hosea. At that moment the Holy One, blessed be He, said: What shall I do with that old man? I will say to him: Go, take a wife of harlotry, and you shall have children of harlotry; and afterward I will say to him: Go, separate yourself from her. If he is able to send her out and divorce her and dismiss her, then I too will send Israel away from off the face of the earth. As it is said, "And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take you a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has greatly committed harlotry, departing from the LORD" (Hosea 1:2). And he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, an evil report, the daughter of an evil report, and she conceived and bore him a son. And the LORD said to him, "Call his name Jezreel, for in a little while I will visit the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu" (Hosea 1:4). And she conceived again and bore a daughter, and He said to him, "Call her name Lo-ruhamah [Not-pitied], for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel" (Hosea 1:6). And she conceived and bore a son, and He said, "Call his name Lo-ammi [Not-my-people], for you are not My people and I will not be yours" (Hosea 1:9). After two sons and one daughter had been born, and three decrees had been decreed against Israel on their account, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Hosea, why did you not learn from Moses your teacher? When I spoke with him, he separated from his wife. Why do you dwell with the woman? Separate yourself from her. He said before Him: Master of the universe, I cannot send her out nor divorce her, for I already have children from her. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Hosea: If you, who married a wife of harlotry, whose children are children of harlotry, and you do not even know whether those children are yours or another's, say you cannot send her out nor divorce her because you already have children from her, how much more so these children of Israel, who are My beloved, the children of My beloved, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and who are one acquisition out of the five acquisitions I acquired for Myself in My world. These are they: the Torah is one acquisition, Abraham is one acquisition, the Temple is one acquisition, heaven and earth are one acquisition, and Israel is one acquisition. Yet you said, Exchange them for another nation. How could I send them away from before Me? When Hosea knew that he had sinned, he began to seek mercy for himself. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Hosea: Hosea, before you seek mercy for yourself, seek mercy for Israel, against whom I decreed three decrees on your account. Go back and heal them of those three decrees. Immediately Hosea arose and sought mercy for them, and the decrees were annulled, and he began to bless Israel, as it is said, "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said to them, You are not My people, it shall be said to them, You are the children of the living God. And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together and appoint themselves one head... Say to your brethren, Ammi [My people], and to your sisters, Ruhamah [Pitied]... And I will sow her to Me in the earth, and I will have pity on Lo-ruhamah, and I will say to Lo-ammi, You are My people" (Hosea 2). In the days of Ahaz king of Judah, Israel were doing the words of the Torah and the commandments. Ahaz arose and sealed up the Torah and decreed against Israel that they should not occupy themselves with Torah and commandments, as it is said, "Bind up the testimony, seal the Torah among My disciples" (Isaiah 8:16), until the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Isaiah: Go, say to Ahaz: Are you not a mortal? Ask for yourself a sign from the LORD, as it is said, "And the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, Ask for yourself a sign from the LORD your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I test the LORD. And he said, Hear now, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?" (Isaiah 7:10-13). In the days of Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah, Israel arose and made an image of four faces and set up that image in the Sanctuary so that no one should pray to the Holy One, blessed be He, there, until the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Isaiah: Go, say to that mortal: "Thus says the LORD: The heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you would build for Me, and where is the place of My rest?" (Isaiah 66:1). And not the heaven alone is My throne, but Vilon and Rakia and Shechakim and Zevul and Maon and Aravot, all these are My throne, and I sit above them all; and therefore it is said, "Where is the house that you would build for Me?" When that event befell him, he immediately repented, as it is said, "And when he was in distress, he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He was entreated of him and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD, He is God" (2 Chronicles 33:12-13). Of him, and of his like, and of those resembling him, and of those who do as he did, Scripture says, "You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, How have we wearied Him? In that you say, Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?" (Malachi 2:17). In the days of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, the land was captured, and the ten tribes went into exile in his days. Now what was different about Hoshea son of Elah from all the kings of Israel before him, that Israel went into exile in his days? Rather, from the time Jeroboam son of Nebat arose until Hoshea son of Elah came, idolatry hung upon the individual alone, and it was hard before their Father in heaven to exile the many of Israel for the sin of the individual. But when Hoshea son of Elah came, he arose and abolished all the guard posts that had stood upon the roads in the days of Jeroboam to prevent Israel from going up to Jerusalem for the festival, and he proclaimed and said: Whoever wishes to go up for the festival to Jerusalem, let him come and go up. Thus he removed the yoke-collar from his own neck and hung it upon the neck of the many. Therefore Scripture says of him, "And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria... and he carried Israel away to Assyria and placed them in Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes" (2 Kings 17:2-6). From here they said: Whoever begins a commandment and does not complete it is held liable in his own life and in all that he has, and he buries his wife and his children. In the days of Zedekiah king of Judah, Jeremiah the prophet prophesied to Israel that if they would repent and return to better ways. But Israel rose up against him to kill him, and they cast Jeremiah into a miry pit, and afterward they brought him up out of the miry pit and placed him in the court of the guard. Many times Israel rose up against Jeremiah to kill him, and Jeremiah would curse Israel with many curses; and for each and every curse that Jeremiah cursed Israel, the Holy One, blessed be He, would sigh against it, as it is said, "For you have run with the footmen and they have wearied you" (Jeremiah 12:5). And then, in the days of Zedekiah, the ten tribes went into exile, and the tribes of Judah and Benjamin went into exile with them, and the people of Jerusalem went into exile with them; and the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to go with them into exile. Immediately the ministering angels gathered before the Holy One, blessed be He, to appease Him and to comfort Him, and they said before Him: Master of the universe, You already have the nations of the world in Your world, while we have neither limit nor number. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to the ministering angels: Am I flesh and blood, that I need comforting? I recognize the beginning and I recognize the end, for so it is said of Me, "Even to old age I am the same, and even to gray hairs I will carry you; I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will deliver" (Isaiah 46:4). Therefore it is said, "Look away from Me; I will weep bitterly; do not labor to comfort me concerning the ruin of the daughter of My people" (Isaiah 22:4). Why did the Holy One, blessed be He, not say to the angels, Do not gather to comfort Me, or Do not assemble to comfort Me, or Do not come to comfort Me, but said precisely, Do not labor to comfort Me? Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to the ministering angels: These comfortings are insults to Me. Go down from before Me and see My people Israel, how they go into exile with great burdens on their shoulders. Immediately the ministering angels went down from before the Holy One, blessed be He, and went out in alarm and took the burdens of Israel from off their shoulders. And immediately the Divine Presence went out also with Israel into exile, as it is said, "Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon" (Isaiah 43:14). And if you should say: Since a person commits a transgression, let him die at once -- if so, the whole world would be destroyed. And how do you know it is so? Go and learn from Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah, who left no idolatry in the world that he did not worship, yet the Holy One, blessed be He, had pity on him and did not slay him, because he repented and because of the righteous who were destined to come forth from him. From here they said: Even if a person has piled up many transgressions, one above another, and afterward he returns in repentance, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: Behold, I am with him in mercy, and I accept his repentance. And even if a person stood and reviled and blasphemed against Heaven and afterward returned in repentance, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: Behold, I am with him in mercy, and behold, I pardon him for all his iniquities, as it is said, "Have I any pleasure at all in the death of the wicked? says the Lord GOD; and not rather that he should return from his ways and live?" (Ezekiel 18:23), and it says, "Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways" (Ezekiel 33:11), and it says, "Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who does not serve Him" (Malachi 3:18). And thus the Holy One, blessed be He, says to Israel: Come and bring yourselves into the words of the Torah and see what I wrote for you, to bear your transgressions and to pardon your iniquities and to remove your sins from before Me. Yet now you have not increased in the words of the Torah; speak with Me in the words of the Torah as a man speaks with his fellow, as it is said, "Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the LORD; say to Him, Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, so will we render the bullocks of our lips. Assyria shall not save us" (Hosea 14:2-3).

You have learned from this that a person should not fall into complaining against the Holy One, blessed be He, when he sees people one righteous and faring well, and one righteous and faring ill, and one wicked and faring well, and one wicked and faring ill. And if he does fall into complaining against the Holy One, blessed be He, behold, he is held liable in his own life, as it is said, "Do not let your mouth bring guilt upon your flesh, and do not say before the messenger that it was an error; why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?" (Ecclesiastes 5:5). And the Sages taught: nine hundred and seventy-four generations before the world was created, the Holy One, blessed be He, sat and expounded and searched and refined and tested all the words of the Torah two hundred and forty-eight times, corresponding to the two hundred and forty-eight limbs that are in a man; and afterward the Holy One, blessed be He, brought forth all the words of the Torah and fixed them in His Torah, and not a single thing of it moves from its place, as it is said, "The sayings of the LORD are pure sayings, like silver refined" (Psalms 12:7). And every single thing that He fixed in the Torah, if it moves even a little from its place, ruins the whole world. And because Adam transgressed the Torah by a little, it arose in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, to destroy the whole world. And so too it had arisen in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, not to give an opening of the mouth to beast, animal, and bird; and because He gave a little opening of the mouth to the serpent, the serpent arose and ruined the whole world. And so too in the ten generations from Adam to Noah, it had arisen in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, to visit the iniquity of fathers upon children; and because He did not visit it, the Holy One, blessed be He, instead made each and every one like a king over his wife and his children and his household. Immediately they arose and corrupted their deeds, eating and drinking and kicking out of plenty, and they sought to destroy the whole world with their evil deeds and rebelled against the Holy One, blessed be He, and said that the Holy One, blessed be He, had over them neither kingship nor the attribute of retribution nor the attribute of justice, as it is said, "They say to God, Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit should we have if we entreat Him?" (Job 21:14-15). And they fell into violence and robbery, as it is said, "And the earth was filled with violence" (Genesis 6:11); and they fell into idolatry and forbidden relations, as it is said, "And the earth was corrupt before God" (Genesis 6:11), and so it is said, "For all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth" (Genesis 6:12); and they fell into bloodshed, as it is said, "And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt" (Genesis 6:12). And not only that, but they would strip off their garments and lay them upon the ground and walk about naked without clothing, as it is said, "They go about naked without clothing" (Job 24:10). And so too in the ten generations from Noah to Abraham, it had arisen in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, to visit the iniquity of fathers upon children; and because He did not visit it, but the Holy One, blessed be He, made them all one tongue, immediately they arose and corrupted their deeds and sought to destroy the whole world with their evil deeds and rebelled against the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech" (Genesis 11:1). And so too it had arisen in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, to give the crown of kingship to David and to his seed forever; and because it was given to the kings of Israel, immediately they arose and corrupted their deeds with it and sought to destroy the whole world with their evil deeds. And so too it had arisen in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, to give the holy Torah to Israel alone because they are holy; and because it was given to Balaam son of Beor, immediately he arose and corrupted his deeds with it and sought to destroy the whole world with his evil deeds. And the Holy One, blessed be He, did not leave a single thing in the world that He did not reveal to Balaam; for the Holy One, blessed be He, knew that the nations were destined to say before Him: Had You given us a prophet like Moses, we too would have accepted Your Torah just as Israel accepted it through Moses. Were it not that Balaam son of Beor was as exalted in wisdom as Moses -- therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, gave the nations Balaam son of Beor, who was as exalted in wisdom as Moses. But Moses had one thing more, and Balaam lacked one thing compared to Moses: of Moses it is written, "And He called to Moses" (Leviticus 1:1), but of Balaam it is written, "And God chanced upon Balaam" (Numbers 23:4). And Balaam had one thing more than Moses, and Moses lacked one thing compared to Balaam: of Balaam it is written, "And he knows the knowledge of the Most High" (Numbers 24:16), but of Moses it is written, "Make known to me now Your ways" (Exodus 33:13). But no good way and no way of righteousness was ever found in the world that came into the world through Balaam; rather, he came to slander and sought to destroy the whole world. At that moment the Holy One, blessed be He, swore to His people Israel that He would no longer rest His Divine Presence upon the nations but upon Israel alone, and that He would not exchange Israel for another people nor replace them with another nation, as it is said, "I will not execute the fierceness of My anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not man" (Hosea 11:9).

Afflictions come upon Israel only for their good, and afflictions come only out of love for Israel. To what may this be compared? To a king who had a servant, and a sore broke out on his foot, and the king commanded the physician to heal him and to bring him before him whole, as it is said, "My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be weary of His correction" (Proverbs 3:11). What is written after it? "For whom the LORD loves He corrects, even as a father the son in whom he delights" (Proverbs 3:12). These are the afflictions of love. These are the disciples of the wise, the righteous, whose sons die in their youth, and it atones for them for their iniquities in this world, and afterward they come in purity to the life of the world to come. And even though Scripture says, "Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor" (Jeremiah 2:34), nevertheless Scripture returns and appeases their children, as it is said, "Even as a father the son in whom he delights" (Proverbs 3:12). From here they said: the righteous, their beginning is strife and their end is joy; and the wicked, their beginning is joy and their end is strife. Pharaoh king of Egypt had joy in his youth and his end was strife. In his youth what does he say? "The river is mine, and I made myself" (Ezekiel 29:3); but at his end what does it say? "Pharaoh's chariots and his army He cast into the sea" (Exodus 15:4). And so too Sennacherib had joy in his youth and his end was strife. In his youth what does he say? "Who among all the gods of the lands has delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?" (2 Kings 18:35); but at his end what does it say? "And the angel of the LORD went forth and struck in the camp of Assyria a hundred and eighty-five thousand... and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and dwelt in Nineveh; and as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword" (2 Kings 19:35-37). And so too Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had joy in his youth and his end was strife. In his youth what does he say? "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:14); but at his end what does it say? "Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit" (Isaiah 14:15). And so too all the rest of the wicked of the nations: their beginning is joy and in their end they go down to Sheol. And how do you know to say thus, that the wicked of the nations go down to Sheol? Go and learn: from the day the world was created until Israel went out of Egypt and came to Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, the Holy One, blessed be He, went round to every nation and tongue and told them to accept the Torah, and they did not accept it; and in every generation witnesses came and testified concerning them. And these are they: Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, and Job from the land of Uz, and Beor, and Balaam son of Beor, who was the last of them all. And with what was the Torah written? You must say that the Torah was written only with the right hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "From His right hand went a fiery law for them" (Deuteronomy 33:2); so too from the right hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, fire goes forth against the nations who go down to Sheol, as it is said, "The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God" (Psalms 9:18). Had Scripture said "The wicked shall return to Sheol" and been silent, I would have said it means the wicked of Israel and the wicked of the nations; but since it then says "all the nations that forget God," you have only those wicked ones who forget God, who are the wicked of the nations mentioned above alone. And how do you know that the righteous, their beginning is strife and their end joy? Abraham had strife in his youth and his end was joy. In his youth what does it say? "And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle" (Genesis 13:7); but at his end what does it say? "And Abraham was old, advanced in days, and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things" (Genesis 24:1). And so too Isaac had strife in his youth and his end was joy. In his youth what does it say? "And the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac" (Genesis 26:20); but at his end what does it say? "And he made them a feast" (Genesis 26:30). And so too Jacob had strife in his youth and his end was joy. In his youth what does it say? "I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my cause and executes my judgment; He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteousness" (Micah 7:9), and it says, "I will praise You, O LORD, for though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away and You comfort me" (Isaiah 12:1); but at his end what does it say? "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid, for the LORD God is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation" (Isaiah 12:2).

If you say: Why did the Holy One, blessed be He, create the evil inclination? Behold, He already has nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand myriads of ministering angels who sanctify His great name every day; from sunrise until sunset they say, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:3), and from sunset until sunrise they say, "Blessed is the glory of the LORD from His place" (Ezekiel 3:12). And when the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself on Mount Sinai to give the Torah to His people Israel, He revealed Himself with two hundred and forty-eight thousand angels who constantly serve before the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them, Sinai is in holiness" (Psalms 68:18). Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, created the evil inclination only for the sake of flesh and blood, who eats and drinks like a beast and excretes like a beast, yet comes to serve the Holy One, blessed be He. They told a parable. To what may this be compared? To a king who had servants, and they sat on the far side of an iron wall, and the king would proclaim to them and say: Whoever fears me and loves me, let him climb over the iron wall and come to me; and whoever climbs over the iron wall surely fears the king and loves the king, and whoever does not climb over surely does not fear the king and does not love the king. Of those who climbed the wall and those who did not climb, which of them is more beloved? You must say, those who climbed the wall. And what is the reward of those who climbed over the wall? See what is said of them: "And the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel" (Exodus 24:17). But concerning the righteous, what is said of them? "And those who love Him shall be like the going forth of the sun in its might" (Judges 5:31) -- which is not so of the ministering angels. How fine is the power of the Master of the house, who makes the crown of His servants like His own crown. And if you say: Will the one who read much and studied much, and the one who read and studied little, have the light of their faces alike as one in the radiance of the world to come? It is not so. Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed be He, before whom there is no favoritism. And how do you know it is so? Go and learn from Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy of the elders of Israel, who were all in one assembly and the light of their faces was alike as one; and since Moses went up on high and read and studied much in the words of the Torah more than them all, he merited that the light of his face was so great that people could not gaze upon him, as it is said elsewhere, "The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor" (Proverbs 12:26). And this is the question that Habakkuk the prophet asked before the Holy One, blessed be He, and said before Him: Master of the universe, will the one who read and studied much and the one who read and studied little have the light of their faces alike as one in the radiance of the world to come? And the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: No, but each and every one according to his way. And because Habakkuk stood and spoke excessive words, the Holy One, blessed be He, showed him all the measures that were spoken to Moses, the father of wisdom and the father of the prophets, and He showed him scales of righteousness and weights of righteousness and an ephah of righteousness and a hin of righteousness, as it is said, "In wrath remember mercy" (Habakkuk 3:2) -- even in wrath, that the Holy One, blessed be He, has mercy, He remembers. And so the sun shall be ease of spirit and great delight to the righteous in the days of the son of David and in the world to come. But the wicked of the unlearned will be judged by it, by the sun, and will be nullified by it, as it is said, "Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who does not serve Him. For behold, the day comes that shall burn like an oven, and all the proud and all who do wickedly shall be stubble, and the day that comes shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings... And you shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet" (Malachi 3:18-21). But the wicked of the nations are judged continually for generations on end, as it is said, "And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men who have transgressed against Me, for their worm shall not die nor shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh" (Isaiah 66:24). But the pious of the unlearned, even though they did not read and did not study, since they had their children read and study, and there is no idolatry among them, and no violence or robbery among them, and no forbidden relations or bloodshed among them, and they sustained the disciples of the wise from their possessions -- the Holy One, blessed be He, brings them and seats them beside the righteous, and they shall enjoy the sun that shall shine for the righteous in the days of the son of David and in the world to come, as it is said, "In that day Israel shall be a third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth" (Isaiah 19:24). I did not know what this verse meant, but when it says afterward, near it, "whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance" (Isaiah 19:25) -- thus the verse says: "Blessed be Egypt My people," these are the children of Israel who went out of Egypt; "and Assyria the work of My hands," these are the children of Israel who were exiled to Assyria; "and Israel My inheritance," these are the unlearned who had their children read and study Torah. Their children rescue their fathers from that shame and disgrace and from that humiliation and from the judgment of Gehinnom, as it is said, "Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now grow pale" (Isaiah 29:22) -- Jacob shall not now be ashamed before his father Isaac, nor shall his face now grow pale before the father of his father Abraham.

The transgressors of Israel, what is their end? Rather, because at the moment when they commit transgressions they desire the destruction of the world, and it is as though they push away the feet of the Divine Presence, as it were, in the manner of what is said, "The whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:3) -- therefore, just as they desire the destruction of the world, so the Holy One, blessed be He, exiles them from their houses and from the land of their dwelling, and does not return them to their land, and sends them out to the place of ruin, as it is said, "And I will purge out from among you the rebels and those who transgress against Me" (Ezekiel 20:38). And what difference is there between the one who reads and studies and the one who does not read and study? They told a parable. To what may this be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who had many sons and loved them with a complete love, and he sent them to Scripture and to Mishnah and to the learning of proper conduct, and he looked forward to them and said: When will they come to my house that I may see them? And when he sees that his sons do not come, he himself comes and goes to them and stands over them and finds them reading and studying and occupying themselves with proper conduct; immediately he seats them between his knees and kisses them and embraces them and hugs them, and brings them to his city, some of them he takes on his shoulders, and some on his arms, and some before him, and some behind him. And thus did the Holy One, blessed be He, do, as it is said, "As a shepherd tends his flock, he gathers the lambs with his arm and carries them in his bosom, and gently leads those that are with young" (Isaiah 40:11). And if you say: since He lowered Himself like a shepherd, perhaps He is small -- behold, see what is written after it; immediately: "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out the heavens with a span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the spirit of the LORD, or being His counselor has taught Him?" (Isaiah 40:12-13). Behold, the Holy One, blessed be He, does not do thus except because His mercies are abundant in the world. And how do we know that the Holy One, blessed be He, would find them reading and studying and occupying themselves with proper conduct? As it is said, "They shall walk after the LORD; He shall roar like a lion; when He roars, then the children shall come trembling from the sea" (Hosea 11:10) -- and "sea" means nothing but the words of the Torah, as it is said, "All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full" (Ecclesiastes 1:7); and it says, "They shall come trembling like a bird out of Egypt and like a dove out of the land of Assyria, and I will settle them in their houses, says the LORD" (Hosea 11:11). And let a person not say to himself: Have I not already read and studied until this day, well and good, I no longer need to learn afterward? Let him not say so. Rather, let a person say to himself thus: after an hour comes death; and let him lift up his eyes and look at the heavens and say: Who created these, the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon, the stars and the constellations, which rise early and stay late to do the will of their Creator every single day continually -- so shall you rise early and stay late for the words of the Torah, to do the will of your Creator every single day continually, as it is said, "And let us know, let us pursue to know the LORD; His going forth is established like the dawn" (Hosea 6:3). And let a person look at himself and know that the words of the Torah are likened to water and to bread. And what has Torah to do with bread and water? Rather, to teach you that just as it is impossible for a person to be without bread and water even one day, so it is impossible for a person to be without Torah even one hour, as it is said, "This book of the Torah shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success" (Joshua 1:8). And are these not matters of a fortiori reasoning? If of Joshua son of Nun, who occupied himself with Torah from his youth to his old age, it is nevertheless written, "This book of the Torah shall not depart," then other people, how much more so. And let a person look at himself and know that the words of the Torah are likened to wine and to milk, as it is said, "His eyes shall be red with wine and his teeth white with milk" (Genesis 49:12). The verse says that wine is better than milk; the teeth, that is the child -- what is milk? It raises the child; and wine gives ease of spirit to the elders and gladdens his heart and restores his soul and brightens his eyes. So too the words of the Torah raise those who learn them and give ease of spirit to whoever labors in them and gladden his heart and restore his soul and brighten his eyes, as it is said, "The Torah of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes" (Psalms 19:8-9).

One time I was walking from place to place, and a certain man found me who had in him neither Scripture nor Mishnah, and he was mocking and scoffing with words, and he came against me. I said to him: My son, what will you answer your Father in heaven on the day of judgment? He said to me: Rabbi, I have words with which to answer Him -- understanding and knowledge were not given to me from heaven, that I should read and study. I said to him: My son, what is your work? He said to me: I am a fisherman. I said to him: My son, who taught you and told you to bring flax and weave it into nets and cast it into the sea and bring up the fish from the sea? And he said to me: Rabbi, in this, understanding and knowledge were given to me from heaven. I said to him: To bring flax and to weave nets and to cast into the sea and to bring up fish from the sea, understanding and knowledge were given to you from heaven; but for the words of the Torah, of which it is written, "For the matter is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it" (Deuteronomy 30:14), understanding and knowledge were not given to you from heaven? Immediately he would raise his voice and weep and sigh. I said to him: My son, let it not grieve you; rather, all other people who come into the world give this same answer regarding the matter in which they are occupied, but their deeds testify against them. And concerning them, and concerning those like them, and concerning those who do as they do, what does Scripture say of them? "Moreover those who work in combed flax shall be ashamed, and those who weave white cloth" (Isaiah 19:9). The beginning and the end of all matters is the fear of Heaven and good deeds. And let a person not read and study yet have no fear of Heaven, as it is said, "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD; a good understanding have all those who do them" (Psalms 111:10), and it says, "The end of the matter, all having been heard: fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Who impoverishes himself? The one who is excessive in eating and drinking and sleeping, as it is said, "For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness clothes a man in rags" (Proverbs 23:21), and it says, "Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes and you shall be satisfied with bread" (Proverbs 20:13); and "bread" and "wine" mean nothing but the words of the Torah, as it is said, "Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed" (Proverbs 9:5), and it says, "The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of the learned, to know how to sustain with a word him who is weary; He awakens morning by morning, He awakens my ear to hear as the learned" (Isaiah 50:4). You have thus learned that the words of the Torah are absorbed in a person's heart only by one who grows weary for them. And thus the holy spirit would bring good tidings to the disciples of the wise and say to them: My children, even though I gave you much good in this world, and needless to say in the days of the son of David and in the world to come, that you shall have a great reward, doubled and redoubled, do not treat the words of the Torah lightly and do not be excessive in eating and drinking and sleeping, as it is said, "Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope; even today I declare that I will restore double to you" (Zechariah 9:12), and it says, "And I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the cankerworm and the caterpillar and the palmerworm, My great army which I sent among you, and you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the LORD your God who has dealt wondrously with you, and My people shall never be ashamed" (Joel 2:25-26), and it says, "Instead of your shame you shall have double, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion; therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs" (Isaiah 61:7). We have thus learned that Israel shall eat double in the days of the son of David; and even if a single one of Israel should dwell at the end of the world and several rivers should sweep before him, the Holy One, blessed be He, will split all those rivers and bring that Israelite to Him, as it is said, "Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that they shall no longer say, As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but, As the LORD lives who brought up and led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them, and they shall dwell in their own land" (Jeremiah 23:7-8). And how do you know to say thus? For Israel are not redeemed out of trouble, nor out of bondage, nor out of being tossed about, nor out of confusion, nor out of distress, nor out of having no food, but out of ten people who sit beside one another, and each of them reads and studies with his fellow, and their voice is heard, as it is said, "But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and it shall be holy" (Obadiah 1:17). And so too we find with our early forefathers, that they were not redeemed from Egypt except through the words of the Torah, even though they had not yet reached the forty days of the receiving of the Torah and had not yet come to that hour; rather, they did Torah all their days. Therefore it is said of them, "And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant; therefore say to the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out" (Exodus 6:5,6). And just as Israel were redeemed from Egypt by the merit of being fruitful and multiplying, so too they will be redeemed in the future by the merit of being fruitful and multiplying. And how do you know it is so? That Israel are not redeemed unless they are fruitful and multiply and fill the whole world, as it is said, "For you shall spread out to the right and to the left, and your seed shall inherit the nations and make the desolate cities to be inhabited" (Isaiah 54:3).

Abba Elijah, may he be remembered for good and for blessing, said: I call heaven and earth to witness concerning myself, that any disciple of the wise who reads and studies for the sake of Heaven, and eats of his own and enjoys his own and does not enjoy that of the public, of him Scripture says, "Happy is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, happy shall you be, and it shall be well with you" (Psalms 128:1-2), and it says, "How fair and how pleasant you are, O love, in delights" (Song of Songs 7:7). A person should always be humble in Torah and in good deeds and in the fear of Heaven, with his father and his mother, with his teacher and his wife and with his children and with the members of his household and his neighbors, and with those near and far, and even with a gentile in the marketplace, so that he may be beloved above and pleasant below and acceptable to people, and may fill his days and his years with a good name. For when a person is humble in Torah and in good deeds, then his wife fears him, and so do the members of his household and his neighbors and his relatives, and even the gentiles fear him, as it is said, "And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the LORD is called upon you, and they shall be afraid of you" (Deuteronomy 28:10). And so too a person should not see the multitude dwelling in trouble and say, I will go and eat and drink, and peace be upon my soul; for if he does so, of him Scripture says, "And behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" (Isaiah 22:13). What is written after it? "And it was revealed in my ears by the LORD of hosts: Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you until you die" (Isaiah 22:14). Up to here is the measure of the middling; but as for the measure of the wicked, what does it say? "Come, they say, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink, and tomorrow shall be as this day, great beyond measure" (Isaiah 56:12). And after it, what is written? "The righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart, and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come" (Isaiah 57:1). For at the time when the multitude is dwelling in trouble and the individual separates himself from them, the two ministering angels who accompany a person from the synagogue and from the house of study to his home say of him: that man who separates himself from the community -- let him not merit to see the consolation of the community. Come and see and learn from the ways of Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, as it is said, "But Moses' hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it" (Exodus 17:12). Now did Moses our teacher not have a cushion and a bolster to sit upon? Rather, Moses said in his mind: Since Israel are dwelling in trouble, I too will be with them in trouble. From here they said: happy is the one who afflicts himself together with the community, for they give him much reward from heaven on that account. Happy is the one who sets himself like an ox to the yoke and like a donkey to the burden and like a heifer plowing in the field, as it is said, "Happy are you who sow beside all waters" (Isaiah 32:20). What is "beside all waters"? These are the words of the Torah, which are likened to water. And if a person has read the Torah, let him also read the Prophets; and if he has read the Prophets, let him also read the Writings; if he has read the Writings, let him also study Mishnah, laws, midrash, and aggadot; and let him increase in sitting in study and decrease in commerce. Then immediately the holy spirit rests upon him, and he is a son of the world to come, as it is said, "The spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and His word was upon my tongue" (2 Samuel 23:2). At that moment the Holy One, blessed be He, says: This world and the world to come are Mine and yours; the Temple is Mine and yours, and so forth. Therefore it is written immediately after it, "The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me: He who rules over men must be righteous, ruling in the fear of God" (2 Samuel 23:3). David the king said: I will declare the greatness and the might and the kingship of the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, for every single day a person is formed, and every single day a person is born, and every day a person lives, and every single day a person dies, and every single day the spirit of a person is taken from him and given to the Owner of the deposit, and every single day a person is sustained like an infant nursing at his mother's breasts; and all is according to the fruit of his deeds. One time our Rabbis were sitting in the house of study and saying: Elijah, from where does he come? Some of them would say that he comes from the seed of Rachel, and some of them would say that he comes from the tribe of Gad, and some of them would say that he comes from the seed of Leah. And while they were sitting and occupying themselves with this, Elijah, may he be remembered for good and for blessing, came and stood before them and said to them: My masters, why are you troubling yourselves over this? I come only from the seed of Rachel. Rabbi Yose said: One time I was walking in a great walled city of the province, and I saw [a Caesar who was riding, etc.] the chief, who was riding on a very fine horse, and all the great ones of that place were with him. And the chief saw a certain young girl, a daughter of Israel, stricken with boils and cast onto a refuse heap. When the chief saw her, immediately the chief came down from the horse and bowed down to her. Immediately all the great officers grew angry at him and said to him: To this despised one you bow down? Immediately he said to them: Let it not be evil in your eyes, for all the great ones of the kingdom of the nations are destined to bow down to them, as it is said, "Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you" (Isaiah 49:7), and it says, "And their seed shall be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed whom the LORD has blessed" (Isaiah 61:9).