אבא גוריין איש צדיין אומר משום אבא גוריא לא ילמד אדם את בנו חמר גמל קדר ספן רועה וחנוני שאומנותן אומנות ליסטים רבי יהודה אומר משמו החמרין רובן רשעים והגמלין רובן כשרין הספנין רובן חסידים טוב שברופאים לגיהנם והכשר שבטבחים שותפו של עמלק
R'NEHORAI SAID: I ABANDON EVERY TRADE IN THE WORLD AND TEACH MY SON TORAH ONLY, FOR MAN ENJOYS THE REWARD THEREOF IN THIS WORLD WHILE THE PRINCIPAL REMAINS TO HIM FOR THE WORLD TO COME. BUT ALL OTHER PROFESSIONS ARE NOT SO; FOR WHEN A MAN COMES TO SICKNESS OR OLD AGE OR SUFFERING AND CANNOT ENGAGE IN HIS CRAFT, HE MUST DIE OF STARVATION, WHEREAS THE TORAH IS NOT SO, FOR IT GUARDS HIM FROM ALL EVIL IN HIS YOUTH AND GIVES HIM A FUTURE AND HOPE IN HIS OLD AGE. OF HIS YOUTH WHAT IS SAID? BUT THEY THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD SHALL RENEW THEIR STRENGTH;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. XL, 31.');"><sup>20</sup></span>
Sefer HaChinukh
Behold, they elucidated that even the lulav and the sukkah and tefillin - that He commanded that they be "a sign upon your arm and a commemoration between your eyes [...] that the Lord took you out of Egypt with a strong hand" (Exodus 13:9) - are not for the honor of God, may He be blessed, but [rather] to have mercy on our souls. And they already set this into the prayer of Yom Kippur, "You have separated man from the start and recognized him to stand in front of You, as who will say to You what to do, and if he is righteous, what will he give to You?" And so [too], it stated in the Torah (Deuteronomy 10:13), "for your good"; and so [too] (Deuteronomy 6:24), "And He commanded us to do all of these statutes [...], for our good all of the days." And the intention in all of them is that it be good for us and not for Him, may He blessed and elevated. But all that we are commanded is [so that] our souls be refined and purified without the dross of evil thoughts and disgusting character traits. And so that which they said (Berakhot 33a), "[It is because] he makes the traits of the Holy One, blessed be He into mercy and they are only decrees," is to say that God did not worry about the nest of the bird and His 'mercy did not reach' it and its child; as His mercy does not extend to creatures with an animal soul, to prevent us from doing what we need to them. As were it so, slaughtering would be forbidden. But [rather], the reason for the proscription is to teach us the trait of mercy and that we not become cruel. Since cruelty spreads in the soul of a man, as it is known with butchers that slaughter large oxen and donkeys, that they are 'people of blood,' 'slaughterers of men' [and] very cruel. And because of this they said (Kiddushin 82a), "The best of butchers are the partners of Amalek." And behold, these commandments with animals and birds are not mercy upon them, but [rather] decrees upon us, to guide us and to teach us the good character traits. To here are the interpretations of Ramban, may his memory be blessed.
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