(1) Then Eliphaz the Temanite said in reply: (2) If one ventures a word with you, will it be too much? But who can hold back his words? (3) See, you have encouraged many; You have strengthened failing hands. (4) Your words have kept him who stumbled from falling; You have braced knees that gave way. (5) But now that it overtakes you, it is too much; It reaches you, and you are unnerved. (6) Is not your piety your confidence, Your integrity your hope? (7) Think now, what innocent man ever perished? Where have the upright been destroyed? (8) As I have seen, those who plow evil And sow mischief reap them. (9) They perish by a blast from God, Are gone at the breath of His nostrils.
(יד) וְכִֽי־תִמְכְּר֤וּ מִמְכָּר֙ לַעֲמִיתֶ֔ךָ א֥וֹ קָנֹ֖ה מִיַּ֣ד עֲמִיתֶ֑ךָ אַל־תּוֹנ֖וּ אִ֥ישׁ אֶת־אָחִֽיו׃ ... (יז) וְלֹ֤א תוֹנוּ֙ אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־עֲמִית֔וֹ וְיָרֵ֖אתָ מֵֽאֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ כִּ֛י אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃
(14) When you sell property to your neighbor, or buy any from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another... (17) Do not wrong one another, but fear your God; for I the LORD am your God.
(יב) כְּשֵׁם שֶׁהוֹנָיָה בְּמִקָּח וּמִמְכָּר כָּךְ יֵשׁ הוֹנָיָה בִּדְבָרִים שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ויקרא כה יז) "וְלֹא תוֹנוּ אִישׁ אֶת עֲמִיתוֹ וְיָרֵאתָ מֵאֱלֹהֶיךָ אֲנִי ה'". זֶה הוֹנָיַת דְּבָרִים:
(יג) כֵּיצַד. הָיָה בַּעַל תְּשׁוּבָה לֹא יֹאמַר לוֹ זְכֹר מַעֲשֶׂיךָ הָרִאשׁוֹנִים. וְאִם הָיָה בֶּן גֵּרִים לֹא יֹאמַר לוֹ זְכֹר מַעֲשֵׂה אֲבוֹתֶיךָ. הָיָה גֵּר וּבָא לִלְמֹד תּוֹרָה לֹא יֹאמַר לוֹ פֶּה שֶׁאָכַל נְבֵלוֹת וּטְרֵפוֹת יָבוֹא וְיִלְמֹד תּוֹרָה שֶׁנִּתְּנָה מִפִּי הַגְּבוּרָה. הָיוּ חֳלָאִים וְיִסּוּרִים בָּאִין עָלָיו אוֹ שֶׁהָיָה מְקַבֵּר אֶת בָּנָיו. לֹא יֹאמַר לוֹ כְּדֶרֶךְ שֶׁאָמְרוּ חֲבֵרָיו לְאִיּוֹב (איוב ד ו) "הֲלֹא יִרְאָתְךָ כִּסְלָתֶךָ" (איוב ד ז) "זְכָר נָא מִי הוּא נָקִי אָבָד":
(12) Just as there is on’nah (overreaching) in buying and selling, so to there is overreaching with words. As it is written (Leviticus 25:17) “And ye shall not wrong one another; but thou shalt fear thy God; for I am the LORD your God.” This is wronging with words.
(13) How? If one was a Ba’al Teshuvah, one should not say to him “remember what you used to do”. If someone is a descendant of converts, do not say to him “remember the doings of your ancestors”. If someone was a convert and comes to learn torah, do not say to him “A mouth that ate nevilah and treifa should come and will learn Torah that was given by God on high?!? If sickness and sufferings are coming to him, or if someone buries his child, one should not address him as the friends of Job addressed Job (Job 4:6-7) “Is not thy fear of God thy confidence, And thy hope the integrity of thy ways?Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? ” (JPS 1917)
(כ) וְגֵ֥ר לֹא־תוֹנֶ֖ה וְלֹ֣א תִלְחָצֶ֑נּוּ כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
(20) You shall not taunt a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
(ג) וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר׃
(As written by Noah Marlowe)
A celebrated story in “the yeshivas” tells of a young Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin). Young Naftali, like others his age, didn’t take Torah too seriously. However, that changed one evening when Naftali overheard his parents discussing his educational progress. They had decided, following Eastern European style parent-teacher conferences, that Naftali’s lack of intelligence and/or effort showed him unfit to continue learning in yeshiva. Instead, Naftali would be trained as a shoemaker. When Naftali overheard this gloomy conversation about his future, he broke into tears, burst down the stairs, and begged his parents for one more chance. What did they do? They conceded to the distraught child, and the rest is history. When the Netziv had completed his commentary on the Shi’iltot, dubbed the Ha’emek She’ayla, he had invited friends and students to a party in celebration. At this party, the Netziv recalled the aforementioned childhood story. The Netziv concluded the story with the following thought: What if he had become a shoemaker (perhaps a good one)? What would he say at the Heavenly tribunal when they asked him for his work the Ha’emek She’ayla or his commentary on the Torah, Ha’emekDavar, or his commentary on the Talmud, Meromei Sade? He would reply, ‘I am but a shoemaker, unable to read, let alone write, any of those works.’ It was then the Netziv realized his calling.