Komentarz do Pirke Awot 4:6

Rabbi Yosi says: Anyone who honors the Torah, etc.: And what is the honor of Torah? That he not place [holy] books on the floor and that he not sit on a chair or bench together with them on the same level; and that he honors it and its learners. As it is a known thing by force of the verses - and logic attest to it - that we can assume that someone who speaks well about the good and about the sages is righteous. And [regarding] any one who judges them unfavorably, takes [up] their actions to say that they are not thought out and does not see them to be a merit for them; and when evildoers are spoken about, he justifies their deeds - it is known that he has a trace of evil. And do not have a doubt that you can discern the hearts of men by this. And there is a whole verse about this that Shlomo, peace be upon him, stated (Proverbs 27:21), "For silver, the crucible; for gold, the furnace; and a man, according to his praising" - meaning to say, according to what he praises. And even though it is written (I Samuel 16:7), "but the Lord sees to the heart," that is speaking concerning heresy. As a man does not have the ability to discern if his fellow is a heretic, since these are matters hidden in the hearts of the heretics. But the speech of the believers (the editor said, according to the [context], some words are missing here, and there are those that have the textual variant, "but they are like believers in their speech.")

Honor of the Torah is in teaching alacrity in its performance and honoring the sages that support it and the books that they wrote abut it. And so [too], desecration of the Torah is the opposite of [these] three.

"Anyone who honors the Torah": There is no greater honor of the Torah than the one who expounds on all the missing letters and extra letters in the Torah, and gives a reason for each and every embellishment on [its letters]; to say that there is nothing purposeless in it. And also (another explanation) is, the one who honors a Torah scroll and honors those that study the Torah and those occupied with it - all of these are included in "one who honors the Torah."

Introduction Rabbi Yose was one of Rabbi Akiva’s students. He was one of Rabbi Judah Hanasi’s teachers, and is one of more prevalent sages in the Mishnah.

his body will be honored by the created beings: He is helped from the Heavens that the created beings will honor him, since he honors the Torah and does the things that we mentioned. And about their opposites, they said:

Rabbi Yose said: whoever honors the Torah is himself honored by others, and whoever dishonors the Torah is himself dishonored by others. There are several explanations as to what it means to “honor the Torah”. One is that to honor the Torah is not to place a Torah scroll on a bed or a bench, or a book of the Torah (the Pentateuch) on a Torah scroll, or a volume of the “Prophets” or “Writings” on a volume of the Torah, or a volume of the Talmud on top of any book of the Bible. These are all physical ways of honoring the Torah. Others explain that honoring the Torah means to honor its commandments and to perform them eagerly. Still others explain that honoring the Torah means acting in a moral manner when performing the commandments.

Anyone who desecrates the Torah - his body will be desecrated by the created beings: About these they said, one who reveals [improper] faces of the Torah and says, "Why was it necessary to write, 'And Timna was a concubine'?" (Genesis 36:12), and similar to it - behold this is one who desecrates the Torah.