English translation — תבא ב

Sicha b<pg>153</pg>

A.

The Rambam wrote in Sefer HaMitzvot: "Mitzvah 8,

it is that He commanded us to resemble Him, may He be exalted, as much as possible, and it is His statement<sup>1</sup>

And you shall walk in His ways.

And this commandment has already been repeated, and He said<sup>2</sup>

to walk in all His ways, and it is explained<sup>3</sup>

Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, is called Gracious, so too you be gracious; just as the Holy One, blessed be He, is called Merciful, so too you be merciful; just as the Holy One, blessed be He, is called Pious, so too you be pious

[(And)

this is the language of the Sifri<sup>4</sup>].

And this matter has already been repeated in another language, and He said<sup>5</sup>

After the Lord

[your God<sup>4</sup>]

you shall walk, and it is explained<sup>6</sup>

that it means resembling Him in His good actions and the noble attributes with which God, may He be exalted, is described, etc.'".

And in the responsa of Rabbi Avraham ben HaRambam<sup>7</sup>

it is stated — that they asked him,

"Behold

[this commandment]

includes the commandments as is clarified from the verses that return in this matter as it is written<sup>8</sup>

In all the way which the Lord your God commanded you shall you walk,

and likewise because<sup>9</sup>

you shall keep all this commandment

[to do it]

which I command you today etc. to walk in His ways all the days and likewise And now<sup>10</sup>

Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you,

And already said our master, may his memory be for a blessing,

[in his principles at the beginning of Sefer HaMitzvot]

regarding the principle

[root]

the fourth, that it is not proper to count the commandments that include the mitzvot."

[And there is to add explanation in this, that all the mitzvot, all of them, are called "His ways" of the Holy One, blessed be He,

that this is not only because the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded us to walk in them,

but rather that they are the ways in which He, may He be blessed, walks,

as our Rabbis, may their memory be for a blessing, said<sup>11</sup>

on the verse<sup>12</sup>

He declares His words to Jacob etc.,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfills, as it were, all the mitzvot,

"What He does He tells Israel to do and to keep"

(And as it is stated in the Gemara that "the Holy One, blessed be He, lays tefillin"<sup>13</sup>,

"the Holy One, blessed be He, prays"<sup>14</sup>

and more),

therefore,

behold, all the mitzvot are "His ways" of the Omnipresent.

And so it is explained in the Zohar<sup>15</sup>

on the verse<sup>16</sup>

"For straight are the ways of the Lord",

that the entire Torah is "the paths of the Holy One, blessed be He"].

And the Ra'avad, son of the Rambam, responded to this,

that "a great principle in the religion..

that we do not rely on what the simple meaning of the verse indicates

[alone,

like the method of "the Karaites"]

but on what the verse and the tradition together indicate..

And even if the simple meaning of this verse absolutely indicates that the intention is the fulfillment of all the commandments,

nevertheless we are obligated to believe that it is a specific commandment because the tradition explains regarding it what is called gracious etc..

This is not a general commandment according to what the tradition explained",

And as he explains in the continuation of the response the necessity for this also<pg>154</pg>

From the language of the verse,

that "after it said 'because you will keep the commandments of the Lord your God,'

which includes all the commandments,

it added upon it and said 'and you shall walk in His ways,'

regarding which it was possible to think that it is not as obligatory as the obligation of the commandments,

since the commandments are practical,

'and you shall walk in His ways' are matters dependent on character traits as the tradition explained what is called gracious..

And the general principle of the matter is that by the addition of 'and you shall walk in His ways' to the condition of the commandments in general, it will be explained that the intention is something other than the commandments explicitly stated at the beginning"<sup>17</sup>.

That is,

that "and you shall walk in His ways" is not a general command,

because according to the "Kabbalah" the verse<sup>18</sup>

speaks of the fulfillment of all the commandments altogether,

but deals only with "matters dependent on character traits",

such as gracious,

merciful and the like.

2.

And there is room to discuss this: if "His ways" in this verse refers only to "matters dependent on character traits",

then there is no novelty in this commandment — because the conduct of merciful and gracious and the like is included in the commandment "and you shall love<sup>19</sup>

your neighbor as yourself"<sup>20</sup>,

and as the Rambam wrote<sup>21</sup>

"He commanded us concerning compassion and mercy and charity and kindness, and it is His saying 'and you shall love your neighbor as yourself'".

And in the language of the Rambam in Principle 4

(above)

"He did not command to do anything other than what we knew".

And so wrote the Rambam<sup>22</sup>

regarding "visiting the sick and comforting mourners and burying the dead

[that these actions are "the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He",

as it is brought in tractate Sotah<sup>6</sup>

in the explanation of the verse<sup>5</sup>

"After the Lord your God you shall walk",

"walk after the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He: just as He clothes the naked, etc.<pg>155</pg>

so you too etc. the Holy One, blessed be He, visited the sick etc. so you too etc. the Holy One, blessed be He, comforted mourners etc. so you too etc. the Holy One, blessed be He, buried the dead etc. so you too etc."]..

All of these actions and similar ones are included under one commandment..

and it is His statement, blessed be He, "And you shall love your neighbor as yourself".

[And although the Rambam did not enumerate these details in Sefer HaMitzvos here<sup>23</sup>,

behold he wrote explicitly "And this matter has already been repeated in a different language and said 'After HaShem

[your God]

you shall walk' and it is explained

[meaning from the aforementioned Chazal in Sotah]

that he meant to say the imitation of His good actions and the noble attributes etc.",

behold that the Rambam holds that these details are included in the commandment of "And you shall walk in His ways"<sup>24</sup>].

3.

At first glance one can say,

that the intention of R. Avraham ben HaRambam in what he said "that the mitzvos are practical,

and 'You shall walk in His ways' are matters dependent on character traits",

is — that the commandment of "And you shall walk in His ways" is

(not about conduct in actual deed in a manner of mercy etc.,

but rather)

about the feeling in the heart — and this is the novelty in this commandment that we did not know from another place.

But this is not a sufficient excuse,

because:

a)

From the simple language of the Rambam

(both in Sefer HaMitzvos<sup>25</sup>

and in Sefer HaYad<sup>26</sup>)

it implies,

that the commandment "And you shall love your fellow as yourself" includes not only conduct in a manner of friendship towards one's fellow<sup>27</sup>,

but also its simple literal meaning of "And you shall love" — the emotion of love in the heart<sup>28</sup>

— and when a person feels love in his heart,

this arouses automatically also a feeling of compassion<sup>29</sup>

etc. towards one's fellow.

b)

The phrase "and you shall walk in His ways" indicates a matter of action,

conduct in practice,

and not

(only)

a feeling in the heart.

And as the simple meaning of the aforementioned language of our Sages: "You too, clothe the naked, etc., visit the sick, etc."

And as the conclusion of the words of the Rambam in Sefer HaMitzvot here: "This matter is repeated..

the imitation of His good actions, etc.'"

[And as explained elsewhere³⁰,

that it can be said that this is the difference between two statements of our Sages regarding this matter —

(a)

"Go after the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He"⁶

(corresponding to the language of the verse: "After the Lord your God you shall go",

"and you shall walk in His ways",

"to walk in all His ways"),

(b)

"cleave to His ways"³¹

(as the language of the verse: "and to Him you shall cleave"³²,

"and to cleave to Him"³³)

— that walking in His ways and attributes is the conduct in practice according to the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He,

and the cleaving to His attributes is the feeling in the heart

(as the simple meaning of the concept of cleaving,

which is a matter of feeling³⁴)].

<pg>156</pg>

And so it is proven from the words of the Rambam in the Guide for the Perplexed&lt;sup&gt;35&lt;/sup&gt;,

that he brings&lt;sup&gt;36&lt;/sup&gt;

that "the ultimate purpose of man is to resemble Him, may He be exalted, as much as possible

[for this is the commandment of "And you shall walk in His ways",

in his language in Sefer HaMitzvot there]

meaning that we make our actions similar to His actions..

they said: just as He is gracious, you too be gracious; just as He is merciful, you too be merciful" — that the precision in this is "that we make our actions similar to His actions",

and as he explained there at length&lt;sup&gt;35&lt;/sup&gt;,

that the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, which are His attributes, "are the descriptions of His actions",

that "He performs actions similar to the actions performed by us as a result of attributes, i.e., from psychic dispositions,

not that He, may He be exalted, possesses psychic dispositions",

and this is the ultimate perfection in the conduct of man,

that "these actions should be performed by him in measure and towards the one who is fitting,

not from mere emotion..

all emotion is evil"&lt;sup&gt;37&lt;/sup&gt;.

See there at length.

4.

And therefore it seems,

that the innovation in the commandment of "And you shall walk in His ways" "beyond what we knew" — is explained in the words of the Rambam himself,

that he precisely states "He commanded us to resemble Him, may He be exalted, as much as possible",

and that is that "And you shall walk in His ways" is not a commandment that comes to obligate man in conduct

(in practice)

in mercy and grace and the like&lt;sup&gt;38&lt;/sup&gt;,

but rather it is a commandment about resemblance — "to resemble Him, may He be exalted, as much as possible"&lt;sup&gt;39&lt;/sup&gt;,

that his conduct in mercy and grace, its intention and purpose is to resemble the Creator

(except that incidentally the conduct in practice comes about).

And it is found,

that this commandment is from the duties of the hearts,

that the intention of a person in his conduct with mercy and grace etc. must be

(not

(only)

because the intellect obligates to conduct in these ways because they are good and upright conducts,

but)

in order "to imitate Him, may He be exalted",

for since these ways are the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He,

therefore he imitates Him,

and according to the precise language of our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, "Just as He is etc., so too you etc.",

that all the intention of a person in this walking is in order to imitate the Creator.

[And this is not a contradiction to what we said that "And you shall walk in His ways" is not a command about the feeling in the heart,

but about the walking

(and doing)

in actual deed in His ways — for the explanation does not negate the actual walking

(and on the contrary,

as above),

but rather that in our case the emphasis is on the intention and content of the walking in the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He,

which is nothing other than "to imitate Him, may He be exalted",

matters of the heart and the intention of a person,

that his walking in these ways is only because they are "His ways" of the Holy One, blessed be He].

And it is resolved simply that the reason that "and you shall walk in His ways" is not an inclusive commandment — because of the novelty in the intention of walking in these ways,

"to emulate Him, may He be exalted"⁴⁰.

5.

And it can be said,

that according to this there is a practical difference also in the actual manner of doing — and with the preface of the words of the Rambam in the Book of the Hand,

in the explanation of the commandment of "and you shall walk in His ways":<pg>157</pg>

At the beginning of the Laws of Opinions, the Rambam elaborates that "the straight path

is the middle measure in every single disposition, of all the dispositions that a person has, and it is the disposition that is distant from the two extremes,"

and brings examples for this,

and among them — that "he should not

become angry except over a great matter that is worthy to be angry about, etc. he should not desire except for things that the body needs, etc."

And after the lengthy explanation about the "middle measure" in all the dispositions,

he continues

: "And we are commanded to walk in these middle paths, and they are the good and straight paths, as it is said, 'and you shall walk in His ways.'"

And in the following law

: "Thus they learned in the explanation of this commandment,

Just as He is called Gracious, so you be gracious; just as He is called Merciful, so you be merciful; just as He is called Holy, so you be holy,

and in this manner the prophets called God by all those appellations, etc. to inform that they are good and straight paths, and a person is obligated to conduct himself with them and to resemble Him according to his ability."

And in the following law

the Rambam explains "How shall a person accustom himself to these dispositions..

according to the middle dispositions, etc.",

and concludes "And because these names are called by them the Creator, and they are the middle path that we are obligated to walk in,

this path is called the path of God."

And superficially the matters are perplexing — that the Rambam includes here in the commandment of "and you shall walk in His ways" two different matters,

which superficially have no connection between them:

(a)

"the middle measure in every single disposition",

(b)

"good and straight paths" that "a person is obligated to conduct himself with them",

which are "all those appellations" of Gracious and Merciful etc. with which God is called

And it must be said that this is the very same thing,

that when a person conducts himself with these "good and straight paths" in order "to resemble Him according to his ability",

this itself obligates him "to walk in these intermediate paths".

6.

And this will be understood according to what is explained in the Guide for the Perplexed

(the aforementioned),

that the ways and attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He, are "titles of His actions",

namely "actions similar to actions performed by human beings out of emotion and psychic traits",

and he continues that "it is fitting for the leader of the state..

to resemble these titles and these actions shall be performed by him in measure and for whom it is fitting, not out of mere emotion..

for all emotion is bad",

and he brings an example — "and there will be times for some people merciful and gracious not out of mere sensitivity and compassion but as is fitting, and there will be times for some people vengeful and wrathful and angry as is fitting for them and not out of anger..

and his intention will be to extract from that action the greatest benefit for many people".

And he concludes

(as above)

that "the ultimate perfection of man is to resemble Him, may He be exalted, as much as possible..

that we make our actions similar to His actions".

And from the continuation of the matter it is understood,

that what the Rambam said, that with Him, blessed be He, all the attributes are actions that are not from emotion,

his intention in this is not to negate the matter of emotion and change, only&lt;pg&gt;158&lt;/pg&gt;

because this is not possible with Him, blessed be He,

(as it says there "not from emotion and not from change..

they are done by Him, blessed be He, not from any additional matter upon Himself at all"),

but rather because this pertains to the content of the actions of the attributes — since these actions came from Him, blessed be He, not from emotion,

therefore they are truly good and straight ways,

that each and every attribute is in the manner appropriate to be done.

And this is the continuation of the words of the Rambam,

that after he explained the content of the matter of the attributes with regard to Him, may He be blessed,

he continues,

that thus it is fitting for a person to conduct himself,

that "the ultimate level of man is to resemble Him, may He be exalted, as much as possible..

that we make our deeds similar to His deeds..

Just as He is gracious, you too be gracious, etc." — for when a person resembles his Creator,

and his conduct in the attributes is like the conduct of the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, according to His attributes, may He be exalted,

then,

the attributes of the person will be "as is fitting",

and the required benefit from that attribute will be achieved.

And based on this will be understood the connection between the two matters in the Book of the Hand — the "middle way in each and every disposition",

and the command "to resemble Him as much as his power" by means of a person conducting himself in good and straight paths according to all those appellations with which God is called: the conduct according to the "extremes"

(in each and every disposition)

derives,

in general,

from the emotion

(of the heart),

which does not give place to the opposite conduct,

and there is no discernment of the intellect to decide whether in this situation it is fitting to do so or not — and therefore it brings a person to "extremes"; but when a person conducts himself in these attributes in order "to resemble Him as much as his power",

and consequently his conduct in these attributes is not

(only)

from the emotion of the heart,

but rather from intention and alignment with the truth that is in these attributes

(as they are with Him, may He be blessed),

then he holds to the middle way in each and every disposition,

and as the language of the Rambam in the Guide for the Perplexed "as is fitting",

and consequently,

sometimes the conduct is in a manner of mercy and sometimes with some people etc.

7.

According to what was explained above, that the point of novelty in the command "and you shall walk in His ways" is — "to imitate Him, may He be exalted, to the extent of one's ability",

one must also explain the precise wording of the verse "and you shall walk in His ways",

walking specifically⁴⁶

:

"Walking" its meaning is — ascent from level to level

(as it is written⁴⁷

"they will go from strength to strength"),

and primarily — ascent to a level that is infinitely higher than his previous level.

[for this is the reason that the angels are called by the name "standing ones,"

as it is said⁴⁸

"And I will give you walkers among these standing ones,"

"because they stand all their days on one level"⁴⁹

— for superficially it is not understood: behold, it is explained in many places that angels always ascend in ascent after ascent,

and this is their song etc.,

and what is the explanation "that they stand all their days on one level"?

And it is explained regarding this⁵⁰,

that the ascents of the angels are ascents in gradation,

from level to level which have a relation to each other,

therefore,

even though they ascend from strength to strength,

they are not entirely removed from their first place and their first level

(because even the highest level has a relation to the lowest level),

and this is as if "they stand all their days on one level"].

And this is the explanation

(the inner meaning)

of "And you shall walk in His ways" — that the two details in the verse

[(a)

And you shall walk

(b)

in His ways]

are dependent on each other: when can a person attain "to be like Him, may He be exalted<pg>159</pg>

"according to the ability" — "His ways"

(of the Holy One, blessed be He)

— when he fulfills in himself the matter of "and you shall walk",

a walking and ascent without measure,

for the nature of a created being is that his attributes are drawn after the emotion in the heart,

and in order that his conduct in his attributes be only in order "to imitate Him, may He be exalted, according to the ability" — he must elevate and raise himself above the nature of his attributes by means of "walking" until he becomes similar to his Creator.

And with this will be understood in greater depth the foundation of our Sages, of blessed memory, to explain that this verse refers to "ways that depend on attributes"

(and not to "commandments" that "are practical")

— even though we find in several places⁵¹

that all the commandments are included in "His ways" of the Omnipresent: man's actions are in measurement and limitation; but not so "attributes",

which are "psychic traits"

(spiritual),

behold, relative to "action" they are above measurement and limitation.

And therefore our Sages, of blessed memory, explained that "and you shall walk in His ways",

the matter of "walking" and ascent without measure,

refers to "things that depend on attributes"⁵²,

for the main matter of man's ascent from level to level

(until a manner of "walking",

above measurement and limitation)

is in regard to his "attributes"

(and not in his actions,

which are in measurement and limitation).

8.

Explanation of the concept "and you shall walk in His ways" in a deeper sense

(in the manner of Chassidus)⁵³

:

The soul of each and every Jew is "literally a part of G-d from above"⁵⁴,

from this it is understood,

that the soul itself is essentially unlimited,

only that its extension within the limbs of the body is in measure and limit.

And from this it is understood,

that when a person awakens to his service of the Blessed One with the essence of his soul,

this elevates him and effects in him an ascent beyond measure,

and simply — that he has vitality beyond measurement and limit in his service of the Blessed One,

to the extent of self-sacrifice

(beyond reason and intellect).

And this is the content of the command "and you shall walk in His ways,"

"to be like Him, blessed be He, as much as possible" — that the service of man in the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos

[which are all called "His ways,"

as above]

must be in a manner of walking⁵⁵,

without measure or also above measurement and limitation,

by means of man arousing and revealing the essence of his soul,

which is "literally a part of G-d from above,"

that then he becomes "similar to his Creator,"

"to be like Him, blessed be He, as much as possible"⁵⁶.

(From the talk of Shabbos Parshas Vayechi 5741)