Playing with Fire Chapter 3, Law 2 “A person must direct all his actions towards ‘knowing G-d’ alone. His sitting, standing, and speech should all be directed to this. How? When he is involved in business or working for a salary, his intention should not be the amassing of wealth alone. Rather, he should do…

Maimonides on Life Man as Body and Soul Chapter 3, Law 1 “Perhaps a person will say, ‘Since lust, honor and the like are a bad path which remove a person from the world, I will separate from them exceedingly and distance myself to the opposite extreme.’ [And he will pursue this] so much so…

Maimonides on Life The Pain of existence, Part II Chapter 2, Law 7(e) “…Neither should a person be one prone to arguments, nor one obsessed with jealousy or obsessed with lust, nor a pursuer of honor. Likewise did the Sages state, ‘jealousy, lust and the [pursuit of] honor remove a person from the world’ (Pirkei…

Maimonides on Life The Power of the Human Eye, Part I Maimonides, Laws of De’os – Chapter 2, Law 7(b) “…Neither should a person be overly greedy (lit., ‘one of a wide soul’), obsessed with the pursuit of riches, nor one lazy and neglectful of work. Rather he should be one with a good eye,…

Maimonides, Laws of De’os – Chapter 2, Law 7(a) Torah through Laughter “One should not be a person of levity and mockery (‘s’chok v’hatail’), nor sad and somber, but cheeful (‘samai’ach’). So too did the Sages say, ‘Mockery and lightheadedness accustom [a person] to lewdness’ (Pirkei Avos 3:17 – http://www.torah.org/learning/pirkei-avos/chapter3-17a.html). They likewise commanded that a…

Maimonides, Laws of De’os – Chapter 2, Law 4 Law 4 (end) “A person should always accustom himself to keeping silent… “So too regarding words of Torah and wisdom. The words of the scholar should be few and their content much. This is as the Sages instructed: ‘One should always teach his student in a succinct…