A Spiritual Awakening Through Deeds

(1) If you see your fellow’s ox or sheep gone astray, do not ignore it; you must take it back to your fellow. (2) If your fellow does not live near you or you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home and it shall remain with you until your fellow claims it; then you shall give it back to him. (3) You shall do the same with his ass; you shall do the same with his garment; and so too shall you do with anything that your fellow loses and you find: you must not remain indifferent. (4) If you see your fellow’s ass or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it; you must help him raise it. (5) A woman must not put on man’s apparel, nor shall a man wear woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is abhorrent to the LORD your God. (6) If, along the road, you chance upon a bird’s nest, in any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or eggs and the mother sitting over the fledglings or on the eggs, do not take the mother together with her young. (7) Let the mother go, and take only the young, in order that you may fare well and have a long life.

(3) Mishpatim. — Judgments or Principles of Justice. — All these ideal theories have only value, however, if thou really livest, as thou hast gained the conception, in a Divine world, with Divine powers, man-Israel. The first requisite is, Justice! Respect every being around thee and all that is in thee as the creation of thy God; everything belonging to them as given them by God or in accordance with law which He has sanctioned. Leave willingly to each being that which it is justly entitled to call its own. Be not as regards aught a curse. Especially honor every human being as thy equal, regard him in his essence, that is to say, in his invisible personality, in his bodily envelope and in his life. Extend the same regard to his artificially enlarged body, his property; to the demands which he may be entitled to make upon you for assistance by grants of property or acts of physical strength; in measure and number; in recompense of injury to his person or possessions. Have regard, also, to his rightful claim of truth; of liberty, happiness, and peace of mind, of honor and undisturbed tranquillity. Do not abuse his weakness of heart, mind, or body; do not unjustly employ thy legal power over him.

(1) The hidden good in store for the righteous is, life in the World to Come, which is a life connected with no death and a kind of good connected with no evil; such as is described in the Torah: "That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest prolong thy days" (Deut. 22.7), which was traditionally deducted to mean, "That it may be well with thee" in a world which is entirely good; "and that thou mayest prolong thy days"—in a world existing forever; and this is the World to Come. The reward of the just is, that they will acquire the sweetness thereof, to be in such goodness; and the punishment of the wicked is, that they will not share in such life, but will suffer excision and eternal death. And, whosoever does not earn such life, is to be dead, without coming to life forever; for he is severed from life by his iniquity and goes to oblivion like a cattle. This is the meaning of excision described in the Torah, saying: "That soul shall utterly be cut off" (Num. 15.31), which was traditionally deducted to mean, "utterly cut of," both in this world and in the World to Come.¹The translation here can not be literally given on account of the English text of the quotation. “Utterly”, stands for the Hebrew word “Hikorat” and “cut off”, for “Tikorat”. The Talmud (Sanhedrin, 64b) defines “Hikorat” literally, being cut off of itself, to refer to this world; and “Tikorat”, literally, being cut off by another, refers to the World to Come. G. as if saying: "That soul which was separated from the body in this world shares not in the life of the World to Come, for even from the World to Come is it cut off".²Baba Mezi’a, 58b-59a; Kiddushin, 39b-40a; Hullin, 142a. C.

(1) Deuteornomy 22,6. “if you chance to come upon a bird’s ‎nest, etc.;” it is well known that there are two types of ‎התעוררות‎, “animated awakenings;” one is a spiritually positive ‎one, an urge to elevate one’s spiritual potential; the other is a ‎sometimes overwhelming urge to embrace everything ‎physical.
It is forbidden to use one’s spiritual urges in a ‎manner that results in one’s leaving one’s livelihood and matters ‎connected with it merely to G’d, i.e. to rely on miracles. Instead, ‎one must strive to earn one’s livelihood by the work of one’s ‎hands, leaving it to G’d to make one’s efforts in this direction ‎successful. If one pursues this path it is reasonable to expect that ‎one will be blessed with Divine inspiration at critical times in ‎one’s life. G’d is in the habit of adding additional wisdom to those ‎who use their common sense...
Turey Zahav (Rabbi David ben Rabbi ‎Sh’muel Halevi) in its glossary on the Shulchan Aruch ‎section 1,1 quoting Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher, author of the original ‎‎“Shulchan Aruch, (‎ארבעה טורים‎) writes that it is up to us ‎‎(the ones provided with intelligence) to “awaken the morning and ‎not to wait for the morning to awaken us.”‎
This thought is alluded to in our verse above when the Torah ‎speaks of “morning,” i.e. the word ‎צפור‎ in Aramaic is ‎צפרא‎, ‎‎“brightness, morning.”‎
If we were to translate our verse allegorically, it would go ‎something like this: “when you experience spiritual awakening, ‎brightness, indicating that G’d has paved the way for you to ‎acquire insights, insights which reveal to you something about a ‎world beyond our physical world, you will perform good deeds ‎and study Torah in order to qualify for eventual membership in ‎the society inhabiting that world. The ‎אפרוחים‎, fledglings, ‎mentioned in our verse as lying helpless in the nest, symbolize ‎man as a helpless infant, dependent on the mother for its ‎nourishment. We are taught through the parable of the Torah ‎that we must not rely on being spoon fed by our mothers one day ‎longer than necessary, but must learn to fend for ourselves. The ‎Torah promises a reward, ‎למען ייטב לך‎, for this initiative we will ‎display in securing our nourishment by our own efforts unless we ‎are disabled through no fault of ours. G’d derives satisfaction from ‎our efforts to work for our livelihood.‎
Our sages in the Zohar III 7 state that the Israelites ‎provide G’d’s sustenance for Him. His “sustenance,” of course, is ‎not of a physical kind, but consists of the enjoyment He ‎experiences when His creatures use their “animated awakening” ‎in the proper manner. The response by G’d to our spiritual input ‎corresponds to the quality and quantity (frequency) with which ‎we do so. This is why the Torah speaks both of ‎‏ למען ייטב לך‎ “in ‎order that you may fare well,” and ‎והארכת ימים‎, “you will enjoy ‎long life.”‎
These “rewards,” i.e. blessings, are promised only if you ‎yourself initiated your “animated spiritual awakening,” ‎התעוררות‎. ‎When the Torah speaks of ‎אריכות ימים‎, “long days,” in describing ‎a long life, instead of speaking of years, or attaining old age in ‎the line: ‎שלח תשלח את האם‎, the meaning of the word ‎שלח‎, is ‎similar to when one divests oneself of one’s clothing and throws it ‎away. The Torah advises us urgently to divest ourselves of secular ‎and mundane concerns if we wish to experience this “animated ‎spiritual awakening”, ‎התעוורות‎, which emanates in the celestial ‎regions, described here as ‎האם‎, “the mother,” so that we will find ‎a spot for our feet to rest on in order to serve the Lord.‎