Jedermann ist verpflichtet für das Böse ebenso Gott zu danken, wie man für das Gute Gott dankt. Denn es heisst (Dent. 6,5): Du sollst den Ewigen deinen Gott lieben von ganzem Herzen, von ganzer Seele und aus allen Kräften. Von ganzem Herzen heisst: Mit beiden Trieben, dem guten und dem bösen. Von ganzer Seele heisst: Selbst wenn er dir das Leben nimmt. Aus allen Kräften heisst: Mit deinem ganzen Eigentume. Eine andere Erklär.: <span dir="rtl">בכל מאדך</span> heisst: Bei jedem Geschick, das Gott dir zuschickt, schicke dich zum höchsten Danken. Man benehme sich nicht leichtsinnig gegen das östliche Tor (des Tempels); denn es liegt dem Allerheiligsten gegenüber. Man gehe nicht auf dem Tempelberge mit seinem Stocke, nicht mit Schuhen, nicht mit einem Geldgürtel, nicht mit Staub an den Füssen. Man mache ihn nicht zu einem Richtweg und speie darauf noch viel weniger. — Alle, die im Heiligtum einen Segen schlossen, sprachen: (gelobt sei der Gott Israels), von der Welt (Ewigkeit). Als aber die Gottesleugner fälschlich lehrten, es gebe nur eine Welt, verordnete man, dass sie sprechen: Von Welt zu Welt. Auch verordnete man, dass Jeder seinen Nächsten mit dem Namen Gottes begrüsse, denn es heisst (Rut 2, 4): Da kam Boas von Betlehem und sprach zu den Schnittern: Gott sei mit euch! Und sie erwiderten: Gott segne dich. Auch heisst es (Richter 6, 12): Gott sei mit dir, du starker Held! Und es heisst ferner (Sprüche 23, 22): Verachte deine Mutter nicht, weil sie alt geworden: und endlich (Psalm 119, 126): In einer Zeit wo es galt für Gott zu wirken, zerstörten sie deine Lehre, welches R. Natan erklärt: Man verletzte Gottes Gesetz, weil es Zeit war für Gott zu wirken.
Duties of the Heart
(1) One who trusts G-d accepts His judgment in all his matters, and thanks Him for good as well as for bad, as written "G-d gave, G-d took back, blessed be His Name" (Iyov 1:21), and as written "of kindness and of judgment I will sing to You" (Tehilim 101:1), which the sages explained "if kindness, I will sing, if justice I will sing" (Berachos 60b) (Rashi: when You bestow kindness upon me, I will praise you [with the blessing:] "Blessed be He Who is good and does good", and when You perform judgment upon me, I will sing, "Blessed be the true Judge." In either case, to You, O Lord, I shall sing), and they also said: "a man is under duty to bless G-d on the bad (with joy - ML) just like he blesses on the good" (Berachos 54a).
Such striving does the Almighty require of us, according to the words, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might”,11Deut. VI, 5. that is, with all the faculties of thy soul, each faculty having as its sole ideal the love of God.12Cf. Moreh, I, 39 (end) which refers to this passage in the Peraḳim, and to the Mishneh Torah (Yesode ha-Torah, II, 2). The prophets, similarly, urge us on in saying, “In all thy ways know Him”,13Prov. III, 6. in commenting upon which the sages said, “even as regards a transgression (of the ritual or ceremonial law),”14Berakot, 63a. This does not imply that the end justifies the means; that crime may be committed to bring about religious or charitable ends. It refers only to the violation of the ceremonial or ritual laws, as the breaking of the Sabbath, and eating on Yom Kippur, for the sake of saving life, etc. Cf. Ketubot, 5a, “You must remove debris to save a life on the Sabbath”; and Shabbat, 30b, “Better to extinguish the light on the Sabbath than to extinguish life, which is God’s light”, etc. The distinction in regard to the various kinds of transgressions which M. makes below, Chapter VI, pp. 76—78, applies here. See Shemonah Peraḳim, ed. Wolf, 1876, p. 53, n. 5. meaning thereby that thou shouldst set for every action a goal, namely, the truth, even though it be, from a certain point of view, a transgression.15Cf. M.’s Commentary on Berakot, IX, 5: ובכל לבבך בשני יצריך ביצר הטוב וביצר הרע. Cf. also his Commentary on Abot, V, 20 (Rawicz, Commentar, p. 108), and Moreh, III, 22 (end). The sages of blessed memory, too, have summed up this idea in so few words and so concisely, at the same time elucidating the whole matter with such complete thoroughness, that when one considers the brevity with which they expressed this great and mighty thought in its entirety, about which others have written whole books and yet without adequately explaining it, one truly recognizes that the Rabbis undoubtedly spoke through divine inspiration. This saying is found among their precepts (in this tractate), and is, “Let all thy deeds be done for the sake of God”.16Abot, II, 12. This, then, is the thought we have been dwelling upon in the present chapter, and what we have said must be considered sufficient for the needs of this introduction.17That is, the Shemonah Peraḳim, which constitute M.’s introduction to his Commentary on Abot. See Introduction, p. 5. H. Deot, III, 3 contains a summary of the contents of the latter part of this chapter.
Judaism made this notion more profound when it combined the idea of the repair (tikkun) of evil and its elevation with the perfection and elevation of goodness. Judaism states that the kindnesses of God are not given to man as an unconditional gift, without obligation; they require something in return; their very essence impose a moral, halakhic demand upon the man who enjoys them. Indeed, while loving-kindness emanates from the open, overflowing, generous hand of the Holy One, it is not an unlimited or unconditional gift. Such a gift is not absolute. The bestowing of good is always conditional and temporary. When God bestows wealth, property, influence, and honor, the recipient must know how to employ them; how to turn these precious gifts into fruitful, creative powers, how to include others in his happiness and greatness, and how to render loving-kindness with the divine kindnesses that emanate and issue forth to him from a never-ending font. If an abundance of good does not bring man to absolute subordination to the Holy One, then he is guilty of a fundamental sin resulting in the severe distress that in turn reminds him of his obligation to the Creator of the universe for the gift of His kindnesses. Our great sages have taught: “Man is obligated to give thanks for evil as he does for goodness” (M. Berakhot 9:5). Just as good obliges man to perform deeds of a higher order and demands creative and innovative actions from the individual or the populace, so does suffering require the repair of the soul and the cleansing of life — if at the time of God’s favor and beneficence one was not aroused to action. For it happens that man is summoned to repair, through his afflictions, the damage he caused in God’s creation at the hour when the Holy One extended His bounty. The feeling of subordination to the Almighty and the understanding of one’s obligation to purify and sanctify one’s self by dint of one’s suffering must brighten man’s soul when he finds himself in distress and perplexed by his existence. He must overcome the obtuseness of his heart that caused him to sin when he stood in the presence of God’s bounty. In short, man must solve, not the question of the causal or teleological reason for suffering with all its speculative complexity, but rather the question of its curative role, in all its halakhic simplicity, by turning fate to destiny and elevating himself from object to subject, from thing to man.