מוטיבציה (הנעה)

Let no man say: "Behold, I perform the precepts of the Torah, and engage myself in its wisdom so that I will receive all the blessings described therein, or so that I will merit the life in the World to Come; and I will separate myself from the transgressions against which the Torah gave warning so that I will escape the curses described therein, or so that I will suffer excision from the life in the World to Come". It is improper to serve the Lord in such way, for whosoever serves the Lord in such way, he is a worshiper because of fear, which is neither the degree of the prophets nor the degree of the sages. And the Lord should not be worshiped that way, save only by ignorant men, women and infants who are trained to worship because of fear, until their knowledge increases when they will worship because of love. The worshiper because of love, engages himself in the study of the Torah and the observance of precepts and follows the paths of wisdom on no account in the world, neither for fear of evil nor in order to inherit the good; but he does the true thing because it is true, and in the end the good comes because thereof,. That degree is a great degree, indeed and not every scholar attains it; for such was the degree of Abraham our father, whom the Holy One, blessed is He! called His beloved, because he worshiped not, save because of love, and it is, furthermore, the degree concerning which the Holy One, blessed is He! commanded through Moses, saying: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God" (Deut. 6.5); for, when man will love the Lord with a proper love, he will momentarily perform all of the commandments because of love. And what is the proper love? He shall love the Lord with an exceeding great and very strong love so that his soul be tied to the love of the Lord, finding himself in a constant tremor, as if he were suffering of lovesickness, when his mind is free because of love for that woman, being continuously agitated about her, whether he sitting down, or whether he is standing up, even when he is eating and drinking. More than this should the love for the Lord be in the heart of those who love him, meditating therein constantly, even as He commanded us: "With all thy heart and with all thy soul" (Ibid.). This is what Solomon allegorically said: "For I am love-sick" (Songs 2.5). And, the whole book, Song of Songs, is an allegory on this subject. Said the ancient sages: "Peradventure you will say, behold, I study the Torah so that I will become rich, so that I will be called Rabbi, or so that I will receive reward in the World to Come, learn from what it is said: "That thou mayest love the Lord" (Deut. 30.20), all that you do, you shall not do save because of love. The sages, moreover, said: "For his commandments crave exceedingly, but not for the reward of His commandments". And the great sages likewise commanded particularly their intelligent and progressive disciples: "Be not like servants who minister to their master on condition of receiving a reward; but be like servants who minister to their master without condition of receiving a reward"; for, because he is the master it is proper to minister to him, as if saying, minister because of love. He who engages himself in the study of the Torah in order to receive a reward, or in order to prevent himself from being overtaken by punishment, is one who studies the Torah not for its own sake. But he who studies it neither because of fear nor because of reward, but because of love for the Lord of the whole earth Who commanded concerning it, is one who studies it for its own sake. Therefore when instructions are given to infants, to women and the ignorant in general, they should not be instructed save to worship because of fear, until their knowledge will increase, and they will became wise in wisdom, when this secret is revealed to them little by little, and get them acquainted with this subject slowly, until they will attain and know it, when they will serve Him because of Love. It is a known and clear matter that the love for the Holy One, blessed is He! does not become tied up within the heart of man unless he will constantly feel its proper tremor, and abandon everything in the world save that alone, even as He commanded: "With all thine heart and with all thine soul" (Ibid. 6.5). No one loves the Holy One, blessed is He! save by the measure of knowledge that he knows Him. According to that knowledge will that love be; if it be small, the love will be small; if it be abundant, the love will be abundant. It is, therefore, necessary for man to dedicate himself to understand and acquire intelligence in the sciences and reasonings which make known to him his Owner, in the measure of power that man possesses to understand and attain it, as we have elucidated it in the treatise concerning the Foundations of the Torah.

THE WORDs OF the Koheleth, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith Koheleth; Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit hath man of all his labour Wherein he laboureth under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; And the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, And the sun goeth down, And hasteth to his place where he ariseth. The wind goeth toward the south, And turneth about unto the north; It turneth about continually in its circuit, And the wind returneth again to its circuits. All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; Unto the place whither the rivers go, Thither they go again. All things toil to weariness; Man cannot utter it, The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing. That which hath been is that which shall be, And that which hath been done is that which shall be done; And there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing whereof it is said: ‘See, this is new’?—it hath been already, in the ages which were before us. There is no remembrance of them of former times; neither shall there be any remembrance of them of latter times that are to come, among those that shall come after. I Koheleth have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven; it is a sore task that God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. That which is crooked cannot be made straight; And that which is wanting cannot be numbered. I spoke with my own heart, saying: ‘Lo, I have gotten great wisdom, more also than all that were before me over Jerusalem’; yea, my heart hath had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly—I perceived that this also was a striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation; And he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.