It is from the roots of the commandment [that it is] because God, blessed be He, wanted the good of His people, Israel, that He chose as a people and wanted to give them merit and to make them a paragon in His world - a wise and understanding people - in order that all who see them would recognize them as the seed of the blessed of God, men of truth and men of repute... And from the statutes that strengthened and supported the wisdom among them was for there to be one entire tribe among them without a portion and inheritance in the lands, and that it not go out to the field to plow and to seed and to dig wells [from which] to water. And all of this was to be a cause for it to spend its time, no matter what, to study the wisdoms and to understand the straight ways of God, and they would teach its judgments to their brothers in each and every country and in all of the cities. And therefore in that this tribe is selected - it and its seed - forever for the occupation of wisdom and understanding, and that all of Israel will [therefore] need to seek Torah from their mouths, agree with their opinions and follow their counsel in everything that they teach them; it was from His will that their brothers provide them all of their sustenance, lest their wisdom get swallowed up, due to the lack of their portion. And from this foundation, the double warning came to all of Israel in this verse with "Be careful" and "lest," that they not forsake and not be negligent at all in all of their matters. And it mentioned about them a warning of the land, as it stated, "all of your days upon your land"; to say, be very careful with them, as your inheritance is the land, but God - who is the One that makes its seeds grow - is its inheritance. [This] means to say, do not think to be proud in front of it because of your inheritance of the land, as it is the master. Or we can say that the mention of the land is to say that he needs you regardless, as you are the master of the inheritance and everyone needs it. As anyone who does not have land - even if he has many monies - requires mercy, since everything is from the land, and there is nothing as solid for a man, that his heart can rely upon it, like it. And the landowners are those that raise choice calves and stuffed geese, they have fattened chickens, doves of the cote, goats and sheep. And in the way that the workers of the land bring of all these things on the holidays to kings of the land and its ministers, so were the Children of Israel warned to do for the Levites...
(י) אַרְבַּע מִדּוֹת בָּאָדָם. הָאוֹמֵר שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלִּי וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלָּךְ, זוֹ מִדָּה בֵינוֹנִית. וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים, זוֹ מִדַּת סְדוֹם. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלְּךָ וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלִּי, עַם הָאָרֶץ. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלְּךָ וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלָּךְ, חָסִיד. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלִּי וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלִּי, רָשָׁע:
(10) There are four temperaments among men: the one who says "what is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours" -- that's an [average] temperament. And there are some who say that is the temperament of Sodom. [A second type is one who says] "what is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine" -- [that's an] am ha'arets (uneducated person). [A third type is one who says] "what is mine is yours, and what is yours is yours" -- [that's a] pious person. [A final type is one who says] "what is yours is mine, and what is mine is mine" -- [that's a] wicked person.
He who pursues ill-gotten gain makes trouble for his household; He who hates gifts will live long.