Mishnah
Mishnah

Musar for Pirkei Avot 3:15

הַכֹּל צָפוּי, וְהָרְשׁוּת נְתוּנָה, וּבְטוֹב הָעוֹלָם נִדּוֹן. וְהַכֹּל לְפִי רֹב הַמַּעֲשֶׂה:

All is seen. [Whatever a man does in his innermost chamber is revealed to Him.], and permission is given [to him to do good or evil, as it is written (Deuteronomy 11:26): "Behold, I set before you this day, etc."], and the world is judged by good, [by the attribute of mercy, notwithstanding which not all are alike in respect to this attribute, for] all is according to the abundance of deed. [One who is profuse in good deeds is given a profusion of mercy, and to one who is sparse in good deeds, the Holy One is sparse in mercy. Alternately, "And all is according to abundance of deed": A man is judged according to the majority of his deeds. If the majority are merits, he is innocent; if the majority are sins, he is guilty. Rambam explains: "All is seen": All the deeds of a man, both what he has done and what he is destined to do — all is revealed before Him. And do not say: If the Holy One Blessed be He knows what a man will do, if so, he must be compelled in his deeds to be righteous or wicked! (Do not say this, for) permission is given him to do either good or evil and he is under no compulsion whatsoever. And, this being so, he is judged by the Good One of the world, to exact (punishment) of the wicked and to grant reward to the righteous. For the sinner, who sinned by his will, deserves to be punished; and the righteous one, who was righteous by his will, deserves to be rewarded. "And all is according to the abundance of deed": In accordance with one's increasing and persisting in the doing of good will be the abundance of his reward. For there is no comparison between one who distributes a hundred gold pieces to charity at a hundred different times, to one who gives them (all) at one time. This is the reading of Rambam. "And all is according to the abundance of deed," and not "according to the deed."]

Orchot Tzadikim

Our Sages, of blessed memory, said further, "The quality of generosity depends upon habit, for a man cannot be called generous unless he gives of his own free will at all times, and at all hours, according to his ability. A man who gives a thousand gold pieces to a worthy person at one time is not as generous as one who gives a thousand gold pieces on a thousand different occasions, each to a worthy cause. For the man who gave the thousand gold pieces at one time had a sudden impulse to be generous, but after that the desire left him. Also in the matter of reward, one cannot compare a man who redeems one captive for a hundred dinars, or gives alms to one poor man in the amount of one hundred dinars (which is completely sufficient for the poor man's needs) with a man who has redeemed ten captives, or has helped to cover the needs of ten poor men, each one receiving ten dinars. Concerning this our Sages said, "Everything must be according to the multitude of the task" (Aboth 3:15); they did not say according to the greatness of the task."
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