רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר אִישׁ בַּרְתּוֹתָא אוֹמֵר, תֶּן לוֹ מִשֶּׁלּוֹ, שֶׁאַתָּה וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלּוֹ. וְכֵן בְּדָוִד הוּא אוֹמֵר (דברי הימים א כט) כִּי מִמְּךָ הַכֹּל וּמִיָּדְךָ נָתַנּוּ לָךְ. רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, הַמְהַלֵּךְ בַּדֶּרֶךְ וְשׁוֹנֶה, וּמַפְסִיק מִמִּשְׁנָתוֹ וְאוֹמֵר, מַה נָּאֶה אִילָן זֶה וּמַה נָּאֶה נִיר זֶה, מַעֲלֶה עָלָיו הַכָּתוּב כְּאִלּוּ מִתְחַיֵּב בְּנַפְשׁוֹ:
R. Elazar Ish Bartotha says: "Give Him what is His." [i.e., do not keep from engaging in the desires of Heaven, both with your body and with your money, for you do not give what is yours, neither your body nor your money], for you and yours are His. And thus is it stated in respect to David (I Chronicles 24:14): "For everything is from You, and from Your hand have we given to You." R. Shimon says: If one is walking on the road and learning and he interrupts his learning to say "How beautiful is this tree! How beautiful is this furrow!" Scripture reckons it to him as if he is liable for his soul. [The same is true of any vain talk, but the common instance is given, it being the way of wayfarers to speak of what they see with their eyes. Others say that we are being apprised of something special — that even though (in the instance of tree or furrow he recites the blessing "who has it thus in His world," still it is accounted to him as if he is liable for his soul, for having interrupted his learning.]
Keter Shem Tov
"The one who walks alone on a path and studies and makes a break from their study..." (Pirkei Avot 3:4 [in Sefaria's version, Avot 3:7]). A problem: "and makes a break from their study" alone would tell us that they were studying [i.e. and we don't need "and studies"]. A further problem: "the verse is applied to them... [as though they were liable for death]" (ibid.) -- and it doesn't explain which verse! And it's possible to explain as follows: "the one who walks on a straight path" -- and even if they are alone, which is to say that they are not fused to the Name may it be Blessed -- "and studies and makes a break in their study", here the text wants to say "makes a break" [between] the person themself and the Name may it be blessed. They do this by means of their study, since greatness and glory come to them by means of their study, and they think that they own their study. "They say 'how beautiful is this tree'" (ibid.) -- and regarding themself they say the same in their heart, as it is written "for is a man a tree of the field" (Deuteronomy 20:19). And they further say that "this tree [that you saw] grow and become mighty" (Daniel 4:17) [c.f. use of the verse in Zohar 3:53b in reference to tree of life/Torah]. "How beautiful is this newly ploughed field" (Avot 3:7) -- as it is written "Break up your fallow ground" (Jeremiah 4:3). Meaning, that they say they are preparing for themself a portion in the world to come by means of their study. "The verse is applied to them" (Avot 3:7) -- meaning, the verse "You shall be wholehearted with the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 18:13) -- meaning, even when you are engaged with Torah! As it says of Torah, "the Torah of God is whole" (Psalms 19:8) -- and that which it says "You shall be wholehearted" -- even in engagement with Torah, "you should be with the Lord your God." And do not say "Isn't the Torah itself called 'Torah of God'?" [and that this suffices for one's relationship with God]. And that is what it says this "verse is applied to them" -- that it includes all the Torah, "as though they were liable for death."
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