Let all your undertakings be for the name of Heaven.² Love Heaven and fear Heaven. Hurry to perform in gladness all the precepts.

footnotes: ² Having a sincere and high purpose. ‘Heaven’ is a term for God.

Sit before the Elders and incline your ear to hear their words. Listen carefully to the words of your fellow; be not hasty to answer but give proper thought to your words. Speak of the first [point] first and of the last [point] last, and admit the truth. Speak not before him who is greater than you in wisdom.

If you desire to study,³ do not say regarding what you do not understand, ‘I understand’.⁴ If you are questioned on [even] a trivial matter and you are not acquainted with it, be not ashamed to say, ‘I do not know’. If you were taught something which you did not grasp, be not ashamed to say [to the teacher], ‘Repeat it to me’ and do not pretend to yourself ‘I understood it’.

footnotes: ³ H adds ‘the Torah’. ⁴ GRA reads: ‘and if he desires to teach [you a certain subject], do not say, “I have heard it” ’.

Do [good] deeds for the sake of their Maker⁵, interprets, ‘for the performance of them’, i.e. doing good for its own sake and not from an interested motive. and speak of them⁶ for their own sake.⁷ Make not of them a crown wherewith to adorn yourself, an axe with which to chop or a spade with which to dig.⁸ Undertake to study the Torah [even] in straitened circumstances and disregard any insult. A well-ordered [moral] stock-taking and a virtuous adolescence [yield] security and truth.⁹

footnotes: ⁵ i.e. God, Who decreed them (so RN to Ned. 62a); but Baḥya ibn Paḳuda, in the Introduction to his Duties of the Heart ⁶ viz. words of Torah. ⁷ i.e. do not study in order to be called a Sage or Rabbi; cf. Ned. 62a (Sonc. ed., p. 197). So according to the emended text of GRA. ⁸ Cf. Aboth IV, 7 (Sonc. ed., IV, 5, p. 46). ⁹ GRA’s emendation may mean: ‘and your security will be real’, or, ‘your promise [which you give] will be true’. An alternative rendering of V may be: ‘[If your deeds] are well considered, and you have good breeding, your promise will be trustworthy’. Cf. the reading in KR IV, 7, p. 466.

Love and honour the Torah; love righteous ways, reproofs¹⁰ (Prov. 9, 8). and uprightness. Do not run after honour; do not be presumptuous in giving decisions. Realize that from now until tomorrow everything you have, whether it belongs to you or not, is not yours;¹¹ because what is yours is [in reality] not yours, so how can what is not yours be yours! Of him who regards what is not his as his own, Scripture declares, *Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! How long? and that ladeth himself with many pledges!*¹² Accustom yourself to end on an auspicious note.¹³

footnotes: ¹⁰ Levelled at you. Cf. Reprove a wise man, and he will love thee ¹¹ ‘Is not yours’ is added by GRA. ¹² Hab. 2, 6. ¹³ i.e. if you must criticize or predict misfortune, your last words should inspire confidence and comfort. Or, ‘accustom yourself to finish anything good which you began to do’, otherwise it will be credited to him who completes it. Other possible interpretations are: ‘Accustom yourself to complete a deal with goodness’, i.e. there should be no cause for resentment by the other party; ‘Accustom yourself to end everything well’.

Be modest and amiable towards all, and be humble and gentle of speech. Be quick [to render service] to a superior and easy of approach to a suppliant [for your service].¹⁴ [Be like] a good merchant¹⁵ and broad-shouldered.¹⁶, ‘liberal with money’. Another interpretation is: ‘Be like a good merchant (i.e. well stocked with goods so that a customer need not be kept waiting while the required article is brought from outside), and like a carrier who can carry a big load easily’. The meaning may then be: Be well stocked and carry a heavy load of learning, so that you are ready to supply knowledge to an inquirer.

footnotes: ¹⁴ Cf. DER II, p. 540, n. 41. ¹⁵ Who can distinguish between the genuine and the spurious; so know how to react towards different types of persons. ¹⁶ i.e. able to deal with all types. H reads reḥab kesef

Keep aloof from anything which may bring you to sin. Recoil from [even] a minor sin that it may not lead you to a major sin. Hasten to [perform] a light precept¹⁷ and flee¹⁸ from even] a trivial transgression lest it will lead you to commit a grave transgression.

footnotes: ¹⁷ Cf. Ps. 119, 60. One is more liable to be slack and procrastinating with an easy task and so forget it; to obviate this a man should hasten to perform it as soon as it presents itself. ¹⁸ Not merely avoid, but put as long a distance as possible between yourself and transgression.

Let the honour of your fellow be as dear to you as your own.¹⁹ Show respect to all persons; say not, ‘I will flatter this man that he may give me to eat, or that he may give me to drink, or another man that he may clothe me, or yet another that he may give me shelter’.²⁰ It is better that you be ashamed of yourself²¹ than be put to shame by others.²² Let not your teeth bring shame upon you,²³ nor your mouth bring you to abuse.²⁴ Let not your tongue [cause others to] curse you or your lips discredit you, and do not bow down to your words.²⁵, ‘do not spread your words’, i.e. do not be verbose.

footnotes: ¹⁹ Cf. Aboth II, 15 (Sonc. ed., II, 10, p. 20). ²⁰ Cf. Beẓah 32b (Sonc. ed., p. 165): ‘He who is dependent on another’s table, the world is dark for him and his life is no life’. ²¹ i.e. be the first to recognize your faults and rectify them. ²² Cf. Sanh. 42a (Sonc. ed., p. 274). ²³ i.e. by spending more than you can afford on food so that you become reduced in circumstances. ²⁴ By drinking more than is good for you. ²⁵ Do not speak in haste without premeditation so that you will not have to humble yourself by asking pardon or having to retract. Other possible interpretations are: Do not regard your words as dogmatic; or, do not be self-opinionated; or, do not be a slave to your words, i.e. refrain from making a promise. H reads tishtaḥ

If you desire to secure your fellow’s love, concern yourself with his welfare. If you want to keep away from sin, go, reflect and consider its consequences well. Take delight in the performance of a miẓwah, study hard and exult in [carrying it out] in all its details.²⁶, but there is no MS. confirmation for it. A suggested reading is, shekan urebaẓ biftaḥeha, ‘Dwell and couch at the doors of [the Academy]’; i.e. by constant study make yourself familiar with the miẓwoth.

footnotes: ²⁶ So GRA who conjectures bifraṭeha

If you did [someone] a great favour regard it as small, and do not say, ‘I did this good act with my own [money]’. Rather was it [from what God] had graciously given you and you should offer thanks to Heaven.²⁷ If others have done you a slight favour regard it as if it were great, and do not say, ‘The favour was done to me because of my worthy acts’, but [say, ‘In spite of] my unworthy acts a favour was done to me’, as it is stated, And repayeth them that hate Him to their face, to destroy them.²⁸ If you wronged someone slightly regard it as a great wrong and exclaim, ‘Woe is me, for I have sinned! Woe is me, because harm was done through me!’ If others did you a great wrong regard it as small and exclaim, ‘I suffered slightly; I deserved more’.

footnotes: ²⁷ For the means with which to do good. ²⁸ Deut. 7, 10. It is better not to receive the reward in this world but to store it up for the hereafter