Middot - Character Traits

One who loves God cannot bear the desecration of His name, as Solomon says (Proverbs 28:7), "The deserters of Torah will praise the wicked and the observers of Torah will rebuke them," and David says (Psalms 97:10), "Those who love God hate evil."

One who truly loves the Almighty knows how to accept hardships lovingly, with an understanding that everything God does is for the best, even hardships. Not only are they for his own good, they constitute a reason for loving the Almighty even more.

Fear and love of God are the two pillars of true divine service without which it is impossible to truly serve God. The chief aspect of the fear of God is the fear of His exalted nature, and this implies fear based upon admiration and adoration.

A person should not say, “Honor is important to human beings, but the Almighty is above such things.” It is true that the Almighty has no need for honor, but we, from our standpoint, must serve Him as adamantly and impeccably as possible.

Kindness is greater than charity in three ways: Charity is performed with one's wealth, and kindness with one's body; charity is given to the poor, kindness to the rich as well; charity is given to the living, lovingkindness to the dead as well.

Rav Zeira's students asked him, “How have you lived to such a ripe old age?” He responded, “I was never officious in my own household, nor did I ever walk before somebody greater than I, nor did I ever dwell upon the Torah in unclean places . . . ”

If a pious person sees that his fellow stands to suffer some kind of loss and he has the power to prevent it, he goes out of his way to do so. It goes without saying that he himself is most careful not to do anything that will incur loss to another.

Abstinence calls for separating oneself completely from transgression, even from matters which merely resemble transgression. Piety, however, means performing anything which even resembles a commandment, even if it is not an outright commandment.

Pious abstinence leads to purity. And what is purity? It is the perfection of the heart and the thoughts so that all a person's actions are carried out with wisdom and fear of God, as King David says, “Create in me, God, a pure heart” (Psalms 51:12).

It is obvious that in order to purify the heart completely considerable spiritual refinement must be achieved. Before performing any commandment or studying Torah one must stop and consider what it is he is about to do and before Whom he is doing it.