Musar for Kiddushin 61:12
אמר רב יוסף מריש ה"א מאן דהוה אמר לי הלכה כר"י דאמר סומא פטור מן המצות עבידנא יומא טבא לרבנן דהא לא מיפקידנא והא עבידנא השתא דשמעיתא להא דא"ר חנינא גדול מצווה ועושה יותר ממי שאינו מצווה ועושה אדרבה מאן דאמר לי דאין הלכה כרבי יהודה עבידנא יומא טבא לרבנן
But from the latter portion of Thy declaration it may be seen that the first portion is true.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., just.');"><sup>15</sup></span> It was propounded of R''Ulla: How far does the honour of parents [extend]? - He replied: Go forth and see what a certain heathen, Dama son of Nethinah by name, did in Askelon.
Shenei Luchot HaBerit
From all the above it is clear that there never has been a Jew who was able to perform all the commandments listed in the Torah. Even the patriarchs, of whom our sages said they kept the entire Torah, (Yuma 28), observed only what they were able to. They had not been commanded to do so. They are referred to as the מרכבה, the carrier of the Divine entourage, even though their performance of the commandments was of a lower order because they were not an act of obedience to G–d.
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