Self Discipline

(1) When Joseph was taken down to Egypt, a certain Egyptian, Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh and his chief steward, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. (2) The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he stayed in the house of his Egyptian master. (3) And when his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD lent success to everything he undertook, (4) he took a liking to Joseph. He made him his personal attendant and put him in charge of his household, placing in his hands all that he owned. (5) And from the time that the Egyptian put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed his house for Joseph’s sake, so that the blessing of the LORD was upon everything that he owned, in the house and outside. (6) He left all that he had in Joseph’s hands and, with him there, he paid attention to nothing save the food that he ate. Now Joseph was well built and handsome. (7) After a time, his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” (8) But he refused. He said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me here, my master gives no thought to anything in this house, and all that he owns he has placed in my hands. (9) He wields no more authority in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except yourself, since you are his wife. How then could I do this most wicked thing, and sin before God?”

(1) David went from there and stayed in the wildernesses of En-gedi. (2) When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told that David was in the wilderness of En-gedi. (3) So Saul took three thousand picked men from all Israel and went in search of David and his men in the direction of the rocks of the wild goats; (4) and he came to the sheepfolds along the way. There was a cave there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the back of the cave. (5) David’s men said to him, “This is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘I will deliver your enemy into your hands; you can do with him as you please.’” David went and stealthily cut off the corner of Saul’s cloak.

(1) At the turn of the year, the season when kings go out [to battle], David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him, and they devastated Ammon and besieged Rabbah; David remained in Jerusalem. (2) Late one afternoon, David rose from his couch and strolled on the roof of the royal palace; and from the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, (3) and the king sent someone to make inquiries about the woman. He reported, “She is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam [and] wife of Uriah the Hittite.” (4) David sent messengers to fetch her; she came to him and he lay with her—she had just purified herself after her period—and she went back home. (5) The woman conceived, and she sent word to David, “I am pregnant.”

(1) and the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said, “There were two men in the same city, one rich and one poor. (2) The rich man had very large flocks and herds, (3) but the poor man had only one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He tended it and it grew up together with him and his children: it used to share his morsel of bread, drink from his cup, and nestle in his bosom; it was like a daughter to him. (4) One day, a traveler came to the rich man, but he was loath to take anything from his own flocks or herds to prepare a meal for the guest who had come to him; so he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” (5) David flew into a rage against the man, and said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! (6) He shall pay for the lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and showed no pity.” (7) And Nathan said to David, “That man is you! Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘It was I who anointed you king over Israel and it was I who rescued you from the hand of Saul. (8) I gave you your master’s house and possession of your master’s wives; and I gave you the House of Israel and Judah; and if that were not enough, I would give you twice as much more. (9) Why then have you flouted the command of the LORD and done what displeases Him? You have put Uriah the Hittite to the sword; you took his wife and made her your wife and had him killed by the sword of the Ammonites. (10) Therefore the sword shall never depart from your House—because you spurned Me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite and making her your wife.’ (11) Thus said the LORD: ‘I will make a calamity rise against you from within your own house; I will take your wives and give them to another man before your very eyes and he shall sleep with your wives under this very sun. (12) You acted in secret, but I will make this happen in the sight of all Israel and in broad daylight.’” (13) David said to Nathan, “I stand guilty before the LORD!” And Nathan replied to David, “The LORD has remitted your sin; you shall not die. (14) However, since you have spurned the enemies of the LORD by this deed, even the child about to be born to you shall die.”

(1) In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it. (2) The Lord delivered King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, together with some of the vessels of the House of God, and he brought them to the land of Shinar to the house of his god; he deposited the vessels in the treasury of his god. (3) Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief officer, to bring some Israelites of royal descent and of the nobility— (4) youths without blemish, handsome, proficient in all wisdom, knowledgeable and intelligent, and capable of serving in the royal palace—and teach them the writings and the language of the Chaldeans. (5) The king allotted daily rations to them from the king’s food and from the wine he drank. They were to be educated for three years, at the end of which they were to enter the king’s service. (6) Among them were the Judahites Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. (7) The chief officer gave them new names; he named Daniel Belteshazzar, Hananiah Shadrach, Mishael Meshach, and Azariah Abed-nego. (8) Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the king’s food or the wine he drank, so he sought permission of the chief officer not to defile himself, (9) and God disposed the chief officer to be kind and compassionate toward Daniel. (10) The chief officer said to Daniel, “I fear that my lord the king, who allotted food and drink to you, will notice that you look out of sorts, unlike the other youths of your age—and you will put my life in jeopardy with the king.” (11) Daniel replied to the guard whom the chief officer had put in charge of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, (12) “Please test your servants for ten days, giving us legumes to eat and water to drink. (13) Then compare our appearance with that of the youths who eat of the king’s food, and do with your servants as you see fit.” (14) He agreed to this plan of theirs, and tested them for ten days. (15) When the ten days were over, they looked better and healthier than all the youths who were eating of the king’s food. (16) So the guard kept on removing their food, and the wine they were supposed to drink, and gave them legumes.

(1) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: (2) Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy.

(1) Each and every human being has many dispositions, and each one is both very different and very distant from any other: One person may have a violent temper, always angry; but another's mind is at ease and he is never angry, or if he does feel anger it is a soft anger once in several years. A person may be very haughty, but another has a very humble disposition. A person may have very strong desires, never satisfied; but another may have a very pure heart, not even desiring those few things that the body requires. A person may be very greedy, not satisfied by all the wealth in the world, as it states, "A lover of silver never has his fill of silver" (Ecclesiastes 5:9). But another may have modest desires, and is satisfied with the smallest thing even if it is not truly enough for him, and he will not exert himself to acquire what he needs. A person may torture himself with hunger and saves through this and does not eat from a farthing of his own, excepting in great duress. But another may consciously waste all of the money that is in his hand. And in these ways are the other dispositions - for example, the jolly [fellow] and the morose [one]; the stingy and the generous; the cruel and the merciful; the weak-hearted and the courageous, and similar to these.

(2) Between each pair of extremes, there is a middle disposition equidistant from each. There are some dispositions that are innate, and some that individuals are more predisposed to than other dispositions, and still others that are not innate at all, but are learned from others or self-taught, either because he decided to acquire [this trait] or he heard from others that it is a good one to have and he practiced it until it became part of his personality.

(3) Neither of the two extremes within each trait are appropriate ways to live, and one should not practice these extremes, and if he finds himself naturally inclined to one of them, or susceptible to one of them, or he already learned one of them, he should work himself back to the path of the good, that is the "straight path."

(4) The "straight path" is (generally) the middle trait within each [pair of] dispositions, equidistant from each extreme. Therefore the early sages commanded that a person should constantly evaluate his dispositions, measure them, and keep them on the middle path so that he might be physically healthy (lit. complete in his body). How is this? One should not be temperamental and easily angered, nor should he be numb like a corpse. Rather, he should be moderate - not getting angry except over something important that is worth it, and then just enough to ensure it won't happen again. Similarly, he only desires the things that the body actually needs to live as the matter that it states (Proverbs 13:25), "The righteous man eats to satisfy his body" (i.e. he enjoys healthy food in moderation, neither an ascetic nor a glutton). Similarly, he should only work enough to acquire that which he needs for the moment, as the matter that it states (Psalms 37:16), "a little is good for the righteous" (i.e. neither lazy nor a workaholic), neither overly cheap nor generous. Rather he gives as much charity as he can afford and gives sensible loans to those who need. He should not be constantly jolly and joking, nor should he be sad and morose, but rather be calm and content, with a pleasant demeanor all his life, and so on for all his other dispositions. This path is the path of the sages; anyone whose dispositions are balanced may be called a sage.

(5) One who is carefully self-reflective, and who [thus] moves himself from a moderate disposition toward one side or the other is called pious. How is this? One who moves oneself away from proud-heartedness towards the opposite extreme and attains a very lowly spirit is called pious, and this is the trait of piety. But if he moves himself only toward the middle [of the scale] and becomes humble, he is called wise, and this is the trait of wisdom. And [like] this is it with all the rest of the dispositions. The early pious ones would incline their dispositions from the middle of the scale toward one of the two extremes. There is a disposition where they would incline toward the first extreme and there is a disposition where they would incline toward the other extreme. This is going beyond what the law requires. We are commanded to walk in these intermediate paths which are good and straight, as it states (Deuteronomy 28:9), "and walk in His ways."

(6) They taught the following explanation of this commandment: "Just as God is called 'Gracious,' you too must be gracious. Just as God is called 'Compassionate,' you too must be compassionate. Just as God is called 'Holy,' you too must be holy." In this way did the Prophets call God by many appellations: "Slow to anger," "Abundant in kindness," "Just and Fair," "Pure," "Mighty," and "Powerful," and similar to these - in order to demonstrate that these are good and proper ways and that a person is obligated to accustom himself to act according to them, to imitate God, according to his ability.

(7) This is how one trains himself towards these dispositions until they become part of his personality: By constant, repetitive practice of the actions [characteristic of] moderate dispositions and drilling over and over, constantly, until these actions are easy and are no longer a burden upon him. And [these] dispositions will [then] become fixed in his personality. And since [these attributes] are names used to call the Creator and they are the middle path which we are obligated to walk, this path is called the "Path of God." This is what our father Abraham taught his sons, as it states (Genesis 18:19), "for I know him, so that he will command, etc." And one who follows this path brings good to himself as it states (Genesis 18:19), "in order to bring to Abraham all that He spoke of him."