לעולם בשור קשור ובור מכוסה ודכוותה גבי אש גחלת ודקא אמרת מאי שנא הכא ומ"ש הכא
<b><i>GEMARA</i></b>. Our Rabbis taught: 'WHENEVER I AM UNDER AN OBLIGATION OF CONTROLLING [ANYTHING IN MY POSSESSION], I AM CONSIDERED TO HAVE PERPETRATED ANY DAMAGE [THAT MAY RESULT]. How is that? When an ox or pit which was left with a deaf-mute, an insane person or a minor, does damage, the owner is liable to indemnify. This, however, is not so with a fire.' With what kind of case are we here dealing? If you say that the ox was chained and the pit covered, which corresponds in the case of fire to a hot coal, what difference is there between the one and the other? If on the other hand the ox was loose and the pit uncovered which corresponds in the case of fire to a flame, the statement 'This, however, is not so with a fire,' would here indicate exemption, but surely Resh Lakish said in the name of Hezekiah: They<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the Rabbis of the Mishnah, v. infra 59b.
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Orchot Tzadikim
Moreover one should be generous with his money to purchase good deeds, as Rabban Gamliel did when he bought an etrog for a thousand zuz (Sukkah 41b). And one should be generous with one's money to adorn the commandments of the Torah (Shabbath 133b). In embellishing a commandment one should pay up to a third more (Baba Kamma 9b).
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Orchot Tzadikim
The eighth thing to remember is how all of the king's servants are quick and industrious in their work, and when their duties involve wisdom and counsel they clear their minds of all other matters and concentrate all their thoughts and all their wisdom, in order to do with understanding and with wisdom and with proper intent and with all their heart the matter which the king turned over to them. And if such a man comes to praise the king, and to thank him for the good which he did to him, whether in a letter or orally, he would search his heart for pure and beautiful words with which to praise the king. All the more so should a man do so before the King of Kings, and place all of his intentions in the service of the Lord, Blessed be He, to do that which is right and fitting. Now all of the deeds in the service of the Lord are divided into three types. The first is the obligation of the heart alone : if he occupies himself in his thoughts in communion with God he must cleanse his heart of all other thoughts so that his communion with God may be complete. The second type involves the employment of the heart and the limbs in the service of God, as in prayer. He must cleanse his heart of all other affairs and stand with great intent before the Great God, Blessed be He. The third type is that involved when he prepares a lulav or fringes or the like, which are precepts for the limbs alone and here intent does not occupy the central position it does in prayer, these precepts being addressed to the limbs rather than to the heart. Yet even here, before a man fulfills the commandments of putting on the fringes or waving the lulav, he must remember for whom he does so. And he must always embellish a commandment, even by paying up to one-third more (than the price of an ordinary religious article and buying a more expensive one) to honor the Master of the Universe
