Rabbi says: Which is the just path that a man should choose for himself? All that is gratifying to its doer and that earns him the praise of man. [And this will obtain when he walks in all the middoth (character traits) in the middle path and does not incline to one of the two extremes. For if he is extremely stingy, this is gratifying to him, for he thereby amasses great wealth, but men do not praise him for this. And if he is vainly extravagant, the men who receive from him praise him, but this (extravagance) is not gratifying to its doer, for he thereby reduces himself to poverty. But the middah of generosity, which is the mean between stinginess and extravagance, is gratifying to its doer, for he thereby preserves his wealth and is not overly extravagant, and this earns him the praise of men for living as he should. The same is true of all of the middoth]. And take heed of a "light" mitzvah as of a "heavy" one, for you do not know the reward of mitzvoth. [The Torah does not specify the reward of one who fulfills a positive commandment nor the punishment of one who fails to fulfill it. For the punishments of the negative commandments are specific: stoning, burning, the sword, strangulation, cutting-off, death at the hands of Heaven, stripes — the light punishment for the "light" transgression, and the heavy punishment for the "heavy" one], and weigh the "loss" of (performing) a mitzvah [i.e., what you lose of your wares or your money by engaging in a mitzvah] against its reward [in this world or the next, which will exceed that loss], and the "reward" of a transgression [i.e., what you gain from it] against its loss [i.e., what you are destined to lose by it.], and contemplate these things and you will not come to transgression: Know what is above you — a seeing eye and a hearing ear and all of your deeds are recorded in a book.
Sefer Chasidim
At all times you should love your Creator with all your heart and all your soul and take counsel with your heart and a lesson from man who is but worms; if a person gives you ten gold pieces or more, how deeply engraved would his love be in your heart. And if he provides your support and the support of your children and of your household you would certainly think, “This man which I have never seen and who has extended to me such kindness I would not be able to repay for all the goodness he has shown me should I live a thousand years. I would love him with all my heart and with all my soul; he could not command me to do anything that I would not do for him, because both my wealth and my being are his.” As with the love of man so with the love of the Holy One, blessed be He, raised and exalted be His fame. It is He who gives sustenance to all, how much better that we should cleave to the love of the Creator, fear Him, nor transgress His commands whether great or small. For we do not know the reward of each commandment,1Aboth 2:1. and the punishment for transgressions though they appear light in our eyes, as it is written, “When the iniquity of my supplanters compasseth me about” (Ps. 49:6). The transgressions to which a man becomes habituated in this world will encompass him on the Day of Judgement.2Abodah Zarah 18a. If he is deserving his good deeds will bear witness for him.3Ibid., 2a. True and firm it is that we are not to transgress the commandments of our Creator even one of the small ones for a house full of gold and silver. If an individual says, “I will transgress a commandment and with the gold and silver they give me I will fulfill the difficult commandments. With this I will support the poor, invite wayfarers, I will do very many favors.” These are all futile thoughts, for perhaps soon after the transgression he will die and not succeed to the gift. Moreover, if he should not die the money would soon be dissipated so that he dies in his sin. Come and see how much you should love your Creator who does wonderful kindnesses with you, He creates you from a decayed drop, He gives you a soul, draws you forth from the belly, then gives you a mouth with which to speak, a heart to understand, ears to hear the pure words of His mouth, which are refined as silver and pure gold. It is He who leads you on the face of earth, who gives sustenance to all, who causes death and gives life to all. In His hand are the souls of all the living. It is He who distributes your share of bread. What is there to say? for the mouth is unable to speak, the ear unable to hear, for to Him all praise is as silence, there is no end to the length of His days, His years will have no end, He is the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be His name and His fame. It is He who has created the heavens and earth, sea, and all that is therein. He is the provider of all, for His eyes are open upon all men’s paths recompensing each according to his ways and the fruit of his deeds, whether good or bad. Behold it is He who sets forth before men two paths, the path of life and the path of death and says to you, “Choose life” (Deut. 30:19). In spite of all this, we who are filled with worms do not think and do not set our hearts but to fill our appetites freely. We do not think that man’s days are numbered,4Job 7:1. today he is here, tomorrow in the grave,5Berakoth 28b. that suddenly he dies. For no man rules over his spirit6This refers to the breath of life, actual breathing. retaining it (forever). Therefore it is good for man to remove himself from all appetites and direct his heart to love and fear the Lord with all his heart at all times and to revile the life of vanity. For we will not be able to humble ourselves and subdue our passion which thrusts us from the land of the living, except through subduing our heart and returning to our Maker in complete repentance, to serve Him and to do His will with a whole heart. Our sages have said, “Bread and salt shalt thou eat and water in measurement shall you drink 7Aboth 6:4. and beware of gazing at women which drives a person from the world.8Ibid., 4:28. Love humans9Ibid., 1:12. and judge all people in the scale of merit.”10Ibid., 1:6. And this is what the Torah has said, “ But in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor” (Lev. 19:15). Be humble before all, busy yourself with Torah, which is whole, pure and upright and do not praise yourself for it, because for this were you created.11Ibid., 2:9.
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Sefer HaChinukh
And this commandment is only practiced in the Land [of Israel], since we only judge capital cases in the Land. And whoever has [it] in his hand to make a judgment and does not do so, has negated this positive commandment. And his punishment is great - 'as were it no for the fear of [judgment], man would swallow his fellow alive.' And Ramban, may his memory be blessed (on Sefer HaMitzvot LaRambam, Shorashim 14) does not count this commandment in his calculation. And so [too] does he not count any of the four death penalties of the court - which are stoning, burning, killing (decapitation) and strangulation - that Rambam, may his memory be blessed, counted as four commandments. And [Ramban] said that through the verse of "and you shall destroy the evil from within you" (Deuteronomy 17:7), the Torah commanded more generally that we destroy those that do evil from among us; and within it are included all of the laws. And when Scripture specifies the laws according to their punishments afterwards, it is not considered a [separate] commandment, as it is only an elucidation of the topic. And 'the sage will choose for himself that which is straight in his eyes.'
