Chasidut for Shabbat 61:13
אמר רבה בר רב הונא כל אדם שיש בו תורה ואין בו
'Faith' refers to the Order of Seeds; thy times, the Order of Festivals; strength, the Order of Women; salvation, the Order of Nezikin;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. n. 9. ');"><sup>23</sup></span> wisdom, the Order of Sacrifices; and knowledge, to the Order of Purity.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' These are the six orders into which the Talmud is divided. Faith is applied to Seeds, because it requires faith in the Almighty to sow with the assurance of a crop (J.T.); 'times' as meaning Festivals is self-explanatory; hosen, here translated 'strength', is derived by Rashi from a root meaning to inherit, and thus identified with the Order of Women, because heirs are created through women; Nezikin treats of civil law, knowledge of which saves men (i.e., brings him 'salvation') from encroaching upon his neighbour's rights or allowing his own to be filched away; the last two Orders are very intricate and require deep understanding, and are therefore identified with wisdom and knowledge. ');"><sup>24</sup></span> Yet even so the fear of the Lord is his treasure.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. Learning without piety is valueless. ');"><sup>25</sup></span> Raba said, When man is led in for Judgment<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In the next world. ');"><sup>26</sup></span> he is asked, Did you deal faithfully [i.e., with integrity], did you fix times for learning, did you engage in procreation, did you hope for salvation, did you engage in the dialectics of wisdom, did you understand one thing from another.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That is Raba's interpretation of the verse; he too translates 'hosen' as inheritance, and thus applies it to procreation (v. preceding note), and understands 'knowledge' as the process of inferring the unknown from the known. ');"><sup>27</sup></span> Yet even so, if 'the fear of the Lord is his treasure,' it is well: if not, [it is] not [well]. This may be compared to a man who instructed his agent, 'Take me up a <i>kor</i> of wheat in the loft,' and he went and did so. 'Did you mix in a <i>kab</i> of humton?'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' last.: a sandy soil containing salty substances and used for the preservation of wheat. ');"><sup>28</sup></span> he asked him, 'No,' replied he. 'Then it were better that you had not carried it up,' he retorted. The School of R. Ishmael taught: A man may mix a <i>kab</i> of humton in a <i>kor</i> of grain, and have no fear.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Of dishonesty, when he sells the whole as grain, because that proportion is necessary for its preservation. One kab = one hundred and eightieth of a kor. ');"><sup>29</sup></span> Rabbah b. R. Huna said: Every man who possesses learning without
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Kedushat Levi
The Talmud Baba Kamma 92 phrases it as a negative virtue when it warns us not to throw a stone into a well from which we had first drunk water.
The “fortune” that the Creator has given to each one of us for free, is our body and its organs as well as the intellectual faculties which serve us well during our life on earth. Is it conceivable that we should be so lacking in gratitude as to refuse to carry out the minimal demands made upon us by our Creator?
If anyone of us does not fulfill G’d’s commandments is G’d not entitled to become very angry at such a person? All we have to do to realize how unjustifiable such a conduct is, is the fact that we ourselves consider anyone not showing gratitude to a fellow human being who had gratuitously endowed us with material wealth as below contempt. What Hillel told the heathen who wished to convert is nothing else than that in Judaism we consider an ingrate as having committed the cardinal sin. The word מעלה in Rabbi Yehudah’s statement can also be translated as “virtue,” i.e. consider in your relationship with G’d that you have demonstrated on earth that you know how to practice gratitude. Surely, the gratitude you owe your Creator cannot be less than what you owe your peers on earth? Rabbi Yehudah implies that virtues we practice daily in our dealings with fellow human beings, must certainly also be practiced in our dealings with G’d.
Kedushat Levi
When man serves the Lord this is not a gift to G’d, as he is obligated to do so from the moment he has been born. When man, in the process of serving the Lord, tries to elevate other creatures spiritually at the same time, this does constitute a gift he presents to the Lord.
When the Talmud in Shabbat 31 describes that the first question the soul is asked when appearing before the heavenly tribunal is: נשאת ונתת באמונה, commonly translated as “have you been fair and honest in your dealings with your fellow man,?” the real meaning is: ”when you engaged in business dealings with gentiles and you benefited financially by these dealings, did you use the opportunity of displaying fairness as an opportunity to bring the gentile closer to G’d the Creator?” If you did so you succeeded in rescuing these “sparks” that had strayed from their original path since they had been encased in a body. The word נשאת from the root נשא to raise, elevate,” in the line we quoted from the Talmud, refers to whether the Jew whose soul now appears for judgment in the celestial spheres being asked whether it had been instrumental in helping stray human beings to return to their sacred origins. When the Israelite, be he a priest or not, succeeds in bringing about conversion of pagans for the right reasons, he can claim to have presented his G’d with a gift, מתנה.