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כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעולם הבא, שנאמר ועמך כולם צדיקים, לעולם יירשו ארץ, נצר מטעי מעשה ידי להתפאר
1. Ben Zoma said, “Who is wise? He that learns from every man, for it is said, ‘From all my teachers I got understanding (Psalm 119:99). “Who is mighty? He that subdues his nature, for it is said, “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city (Proverbs 16:32). “Who is rich? He that is happy with what he has, for it is said, ‘When you eat the labor of your hands, happy are you, and it shall be well with you (Psalm 128:2). “Happy art you” in this world; “and it shall be well with you” in the world to comes.” “Who is honored? He that honors mankind; for it is said, For them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed (I Sam. 2:30).”
2. Ben Azzai said, “Run to perform a minor precept, and flee from transgression; for precept induces precept, and transgression induces transgression; for the reward of precept is precept, and the reward of transgression is transgression.”
“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cant be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.”
Yaakov 1:13-15
3. He used to say, “Despise not any man, and do not disdain at anything, for you will find that there is not a man without his hour, and not a thing without its place.”
4. R. Levitas of Yavneh said, “Be exceeding lowly of spirit, for the hope of man is the worm.”
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the L-rd, and he will exalt you.”
Yaakov 4:10
5. R’ Yochanan ben Beroka, “Whoever profanes the name of Heaven in secret, they punish him openly. The erring is as the presumptuous, in profanation of the Name.”
6. R. Ishmael his son said, “He that learns in order to teach, he is granted the means to learn and to teach. He that learns in order to practice, he is granted him the means to learn, to teach, and to practice.”
7. R. Tzadok said, “Do not make it (the Torah) a crown for self-glory, nor an ax, to live by them. And thus was Hillel wont to say, And he who serves himself with the crown perishes. Behold, whosoever makes profit from words of Torah removes his life from the world.”
8. R. Yose said, “Whosoever honors the Torah is himself held in honor with men, and whosoever dishonors the Torah is himself dishonored with men.”
9. R. Ishmael said, “He that refrains himself from judgment, frees himself from enmity, robbery, and false swearing, and he that is arrogant in decision is foolish, wicked, and puffed up in spirit.”
10. He used to say, “Do not judge alone, for none may judge alone except One. And do not say, ‘Accept my opinion’, for they are free-to-choose, but not you.’
11. R. Yonatan said, “Whosoever fulfills the Torah in poverty, will finally fulfill it in wealth, and whosoever neglects the Torah in wealth, will eventually neglect it in poverty.”
12. R. Meir said, “Have little business, and be busied in Torah, and be lowly in spirit unto every man, and if neglect the Torah, you will have excuses to neglect it, and if you labor in the Torah, He has a great reward to give to you.”
“Behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me, to repay to each man according to his work.”
Revelation 22:12, cf. Isaiah 40:10
13. R. Eliezer ben Yaakov said, “He who performs a single precept has acquired for himself a single advocate (paraclete), and he who commits one transgression has gotten to himself one accuser. Repentance and good works are as a shield against punishment.”
“I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor (paraclete), that he may be with you forever.”
John 14:16
14. R. Yochanan the Sandler said, “Any assembly is in the name of duty will in the end be established; and that which is not in the name of duty will not in the end be established.
15. R. Elazar said, “Let the honor of your disciple be dear to you as the honor of your associate, and the honor of your associate as the fear of your master, and the fear of your master as the fear of Heaven.”
16. R. Yehuda said, “Be careful in study, for error in study amounts to sin.”
17. R. Shimon said, “There are three crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of Priesthood, and the crown of Royalty (Exodus 25:10,11,23,24;30:1, 3) but the crown of a good name mounts above them (Ecclesiastes 7:1).
18. R. Nehorai said, “Exile yourself to a place of Torah, and do not say that it shall come after you, for your friends will confirm it to you, and lean not upon your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5).”
19. R. Yannai said, “Neither the security of the wicked, nor the afflictions of the righteous, are in our hand (to explain).”
20. Matya ben Charash said, “Initiate a greeting to every man, and be a tail to lions, rather than a head to foxes.”
21. R. Yaakov said, “This world is like a foyer before the world to come, prepare yourself in the antechamber, that you may be admitted into the hall.”
22. He used to say, “Better is one hour of repentance and good works in this world than all the life of the world to come. Better is one hour of refreshment of spirit in the world to come than all the life of this world.”
23. R. Shimon ben Ele’azar said, “Conciliate not your friend in the hour of his passion, and do not console him in the hour when his dead is laid out before him, and “interrogate” him not in the hour of his vow, and strive not to see him in the hour of his disgrace.”
24. Shmuel ha-Katan said, “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles (Proverbs 24:17).”
25. Elisha ben Abuyah said, “He who learns as a child, to what can he be likened? To ink written on fresh paper, and he who learns when old, to what can he be likened? To ink written on used paper.”
26. R. Yose ben Yehuda of Kefar ha-Bavli said, “He who learns from the young, to what can he be likened? To one that eats unripe grapes, and drinks wine from his vat. And he who learns from the old, to what can he be likened? To one that eats ripened grapes, and drinks old wine.”
“He also told a parable to them. “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old garment, or else he will tear the new, and also the piece from the new will not match the old. No one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved. No man having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, “The old is better!”
Luke 5:36-39, cf. Matthew 9:15-17
27. R. Meir says, “Regard not the flask, but what is inside. There is a new flask that is full of old (wine), and an old one in which there is not even new.”
28. Eliezer ha-Kappar said, “Jealousy, and lust, and ambition, put a man out of the world.”
“Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy.”
Romans 13:13
29. He used to say, “The newborn will die, and the dead will live, and the living will be judge. To know, and to notify, and that it may be known, that He is the Framer, He the Creator, and He the Discerner, and He is the Judge, and He the Witness, and He is the Plaintiff, and He is about to judge . Blessed is He, with whom there is no iniquity, nor forgetfulness, nor respect of persons, nor taking of a bribe, for everything is His, and know that all is according to plan. Let not your ‘inclination’ make you think that the grave is an refuge. For against your will you were framed (Jeremiah 18:6), and against your will you were born, and against your will you live, and against your will you die, and against your will you are about to give account and reckoning before the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed is He.”