פרקי אבות א:ב

(2) Shimon the Righteous was one of the last of the men of the great assembly. He used to say: the world stands upon three things: the Torah, the Temple service, and the practice of acts of piety.

(18) Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel used to say: on three things does the world stand: On justice, on truth and on peace, as it is said: “execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates” (Zechariah 8:16).

(1) Shimon the Righteous was from the remnants of the Great Assembly. And he was a high priest, as they said in Tractate Tamid 21 (Yoma 69a) that he had gone out dressed with the priestly garments in front of Alexander [the Great] and [Alexander] went down and bowed before him. His servants said to him, "Our master, A king like you should bow down to this Jew?" He said [back] to them, "I see the image of this one in war and I am victorious."

(2) He would say, "On three things the world stands": This means to say that because of these things the world was created. As below (Avot 1:18), it states, "On three the things the world subsists," and they are not those that it mentions here. Hence, we need to explain that when they said "stands," it means that the world was created for them, since they are the will of the Holy One, blessed be He. This means to say that the world was created for His creatures that in the future would fulfill His will in front of Him through these things. And these three are a great pillar, such that on account of them, we are able to get to all of the [other] things that the sages, may their memory be blessed, said that the world stands because of them.

(3) "On the Torah": As it stated about it (as it is stated) (Proverbs 11:27), "He who seeks what is good pursues what is pleasing." And good is only Torah, and because of it the world was created, as it is stated (Jeremiah 33:25), "Were it not for My covenant, night and day[, etc.]. And this is what Shlomo, peace be upon him, said, (Proverbs 8:22), "The Lord created me at the beginning of His course, as the first of His works of old" - I was created before the whole world and because of me, all of the creations were created - in order to observe me.

(4) "on the service": As the Holy One, blessed be He, chose Israel from all of the nations and the Land of Israel from all of the lands, and He chose Jerusalem from all of the Land of Israel and He chose Zion from Jerusalem, as it is stated (Psalms 132:13), "As the Lord chose Zion, He desired it for His habitation." And He chose the House of Choice from everything for the sake of the service, about which it is written, "desire" - as it states (Leviticus 1:3), "desirous in front of God." Behold that because of the service the whole world was created. Then, due to our sins, the Temple was destroyed and the service was annulled. And prayer is now for us in its place, as the sages, may their memory be blessed, said (Taanit 2a), "'And to serve him with all your hearts' (Deuteronomy 11:13) - what service is there in the heart, one should say this is prayer." And this is what it states (Psalms 51:17), "Lord, open my lips," as King David said this verse about the sin of Batsheva which was volitional, and one cannot bring a sacrifice for volitional sins. And about this he stated (Psalms 51:18), "Since You do not want me to bring sacrifices; You do not desire burnt offerings." Had I been able to bring a sacrifice to atone for myself, I would have brought [it]. Now that I cannot, 'Lord, open my lips and let my mouth say your praise,' and accept my prayer in place of a sacrifice and let it atone me for my sin. Also for us that do not have a sacrifice to atone for us - not accidental sins and not volitional sins - 'Lord, open my lips' and accept our prayers in place of the sacrifices.

(5) "and on acts of lovingkindness" As the matter that they said (Sukkah 49b), "Acts of lovingkindness are greater than charity (tsedekah); since lovingkindness is both with the poor and with the wealthy but charity is only with the poor. Great is lovingkindness since it is both with one's body and with one's money, but charity is only with one's money." And this is what they said, (Bava Batra 9a), "One who gives a small coin to a poor man is blessed in six ways and one who comforts him with words is blessed in eleven." And pertinent to acts of lovingkindness is to inspect the poor and to make a distinction between the good and the bad and to give preference to the modest and those that fear God over others who are not like them (even if we must give charity to all). And it is like Yirmiyahu, peace be upon him, stated (Jeremiah 18:23), "let them be made to stumble before You; act against them in Your hour of wrath!" - even in the time that they do charity, make them stumble that they should give it in the incorrect place. And acts of lovingkindness are even to the wealthy, to lend them money at a time when it is not found in their hand and to give them advice, as King Shlomo said, (Proverbs 27:9), "Oil and incense gladden the heart, but the sweetness of a friend is better than one’s own counsel." [This] is to say, just like oil and incense gladden the heart, so [too] does one 's friend become delighted by personal advice; and when he gives him good advice, he is gladdened by it. And this trait of kindness brings God's satisfaction in front of Him, and for it was the world created - in order to do it. And about it Shlomo said in his wisdom (Proverbs 14:34), "Righteousness exalts a nation; Sin is a reproach to any people" - and adjacent to it, "The king favors a capable servant" - the will of the Holy One, blessed be He is only for Israel, who investigate [how] to do the things that are desirable in front of Him.

(5) And for that reason, from the moment of creation, when the Torah was still concealed in the wellspring of its source that is hidden from all the upper worlds, and only from afar did it illuminate all the worlds to vivify and sustain them, and its [fem.] essence did not literally unfold downwards to this world so that the gathering of those below could be involved with it, the worlds were still weak and unstable and were not settled on their real foundations, and our sages (OBM) called them (Avoda Zara 9a) “two thousand of chaos”, and their existence was conditional until the moment of the giving of the Torah, as is known from their (OBM) statement (Shabbat 88a): “that the Holy One (blessed be He) made a conditional agreement with all of creation. If Israel accepts…, and if not…”. And so too in Sh’mote Rabba chapter 47, and D’varim Rabba at the end of chapter 8 and at the beginning of Tahn-khooma. And in Rabba Shir Ha-shirrim (1:50): “‘I likened thee, my beloved’(1:9)— The rabbis stated: the beloved of my world because they accepted my Torah, for if they had not accepted it I would have returned My world to chaos and emptiness, for Rabbee Chaneena stated in the name of Rabbee Ah-kha: it is written (Tehillim 75:4): ‘the Earth melts away…’, ‘I have firmly established its pillars—Selah’—If it had not been the case that when Israel stood at Mount Sinai that they stated (Shemot 24:7): ‘Everything that God-YHV”H has said, we will do and we will obey’, the world would have melted away and returned to chaos and emptiness. And who laid the foundations of the world? I…, in the merit of ‘I am God-YHV”H your God-Elohi”m’ (Shemot 20:2) did I firmly fix its pillars, selah.”

(6) And from the time when it unfolded and descended (so to speak) from the wellspring of its concealed source into this world—as they (OBM) stated: “Moshe came and brought it down to the earth”—the entire life force and sustenance of all the worlds is the result only of the vapors from our mouths and our intellectual efforts relative to it [fem.].

(7) And the truth, without any doubt at all, is that if the entire world, from one end to the other, would be empty (heaven forefend) literally for even one moment from our involvement with and contemplation of the Torah, immediately all of the worlds would be destroyed, supernal and terrestrial, and would become emptiness and chaos (heaven forefend). And so too, the abundance of the light they receive, or its lack (heaven forefend), is totally only according to the context of and the degree of our involvement with it [fem.].