Ethics of the Fathers

a iia i alii iia einai aaa Naik <iiede ~ ven: ieee drinking old wine. 27. Rabbi Meir said: Do not look at the container but at what it contains, for a new flask may contain old wine, and an old flask may not contain anything, even new wine. 28. Rabbi Elazar HaKappar said: Envy, lust, and the seeking of honor, drive a person out of the world. 29. He used to say: Those who are born will one day die, those who die will live again, and the living will be judged. It is for us to know, make known, and confirm that He is God, He is the Maker; He is the Creator; He is the Discerner; He is the Judge; He is the Witness; He is the Plaintiff; and He will deliver the judgment. Blessed is He before whom there is no unrighteousness, no forgetfulness, no favoritism and no taking of bribes; and know that all is according to a strict reckoning. Do not let your evil impulse persuade you that the grave is, for you, a place of refuge: for without your consent you were formed, without your consent you were born, without your consent you live, without your consent you will die, and without your consent you will in the future have to give an account and reckoning before the Supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. Rabbi Hananya ben Akashya said: The Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to confer Makkot 23b merit on Israel. That is why He gave them a copious Torah and many command- ments, as it is said, “It pleased the Loro, for the sake of [Israel's] righteousness, Is. 42 to make the Torah great and glorious.” If there is a minyan, mourners say the Rabbis’ Kaddish (page 628). * * * All Israel have a share in the World to Come, as it is said, Senha “Your people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever; _ Is. 60 they are a shoot of My own planting, a work of My own hands, that I may be glorified.” CHAPTER 5 1. By ten acts of speech the world was created. What does this teach us? Could not the world have been created by a single act of speech? It is to exact punishment from the wicked who destroy a world created by ten acts of speech, and richly to reward the righteous who sustain the world created by ten acts of speech.