My son, if you have guaranteed for your fellow that you will do something for him, and afterward have struck your palm for a stranger concerning something contrary to your guarantee to your fellow—for example, you guaranteed that you would sell your fellow a house or field and afterward struck your palm with a stranger to sell him that same property. There is an ordinary guarantor and a guarantor who assumes primary liability; he adds that to the stranger you gave a handshake, which is stronger than an ordinary guarantee.

You have been ensnared by the sayings of your mouth. First you were ensnared by guaranteeing for your fellow, and you are obligated to fulfill your word both because his guarantee came first and because he is your fellow. Afterward, you were captured by the sayings of your mouth, for by giving your handshake you were caught in a trap.

Do this, therefore. This is the counsel you should follow in order to be saved. Since you have come into your fellow’s palm and his guarantee came first, go, humble yourself before the stranger so that he releases you from the handshake; and press your fellow, or magnify and appease your fellow by fulfilling his desire until he releases you from the obligation you assumed.

Give no sleep to your eyes—no settled sleep—and not even a momentary slumber.

“Save yourself like a gazelle from the hand.” A captured gazelle escapes by the strength of its body and its horns.

And like a bird from the hand of the trapper. A trapper places adhesive, and the bird is ensnared when its feathers stick to it. It escapes by plucking out the feathers adhering to the snare.

So too you should escape: either through your bodily strength, or by leaving your money and clothing in the hands of the person for whom you guaranteed.

All this is a parable. Its meaning concerns the guarantee that every person has given the Lord to observe His Torah and commandments, as the Sages said, “Everything is held as collateral”; or the guarantee to preserve his soul in purity. Afterward he strikes his palm for the stranger—the evil inclination or the desiring material body that he follows to act contrary to his guarantee. Through this, “you are ensnared by the sayings of your mouth.” Throughout this book the mouth alludes to wisdom: first he is ensnared by the sayings of his mouth to act according to the laws of wisdom, and afterward he is captured into acting contrary to those laws.

The counsel is this: since you have come into the palm of your Fellow—having promised and sworn to the Lord to observe His commandments, and having obligated yourself to protect your soul from the traps of the evil inclination—you must subdue your material nature. This is the meaning of “go, humble yourself.” You must also exalt and magnify your Fellow, meaning the Holy One, blessed be He, or the soul. Give no sleep to your eyes, but serve the Lord continually and escape from the evil inclination. “Like a gazelle from the hand”: run like a gazelle to do the will of your Creator, and when the evil inclination has seized you in its hand, wrench yourself free through your strength for Torah and testimony. If it has drawn you into its net through enticement, escape like a bird from the trapper’s snare by abandoning your feathers—your external garments: distribute your imaginary possessions to the poor, shave your hair for Heaven like the Nazirite who came before Simeon the Righteous, and afflict your body through suffering.

“Go to the ant, sluggard.” All the powers of creation are implanted in the human soul. Every power and trait found in any species of animal is therefore also found in the human soul. Animals possess many traits unnecessary for their own survival; the Lord implanted those traits so that people would learn from them, as our Sages said: had the Torah not been given, we would have learned modesty from the cat, and so forth. The Lord implanted in the ant the trait of diligence in gathering and storing, so that a person would learn from it to apply himself and greatly increase his gathering of wisdom. Thus: you, sluggard, who think that diligence is absent from your soul, or that it is neither good nor useful, go to the ant. You will find this trait implanted in it not merely for its survival, but so that you may observe its ways and become wise—learning from it to gather the laws of wisdom with diligence and great effort.

Which has no chief, officer, or ruler. Among people, individuals sometimes adopt a particular trait even when it is not good because a chief—the distinguished person standing at their head—conducts himself that way and all imitate his deeds, or because an officer and ruler compels uniform conduct through officials and taskmasters. The ant does not act for either of these reasons, and nevertheless—

It prepares its bread in summer, after gathering its food at harvest. Harvest precedes summer. Throughout the harvest it gathers kernels of grain for food; afterward, when harvest has ended and summer begins, with no more kernels in the field, it prepares its bread by placing it in a protected location and cutting off the tips of the kernels so they will not sprout. Learn from this to gather abundantly the laws of wisdom and words of Torah in your heart throughout your youth; do not say that you have enough. After gathering them all, understand them through your intellect, as the Sages said: first a person should learn, and afterward reason. Prepare provisions for the appointed day, just as the ant prepares for winter, for only one who labored on the eve of the Sabbath will eat on the Sabbath. After gathering the laws of wisdom, prepare them through understanding and intellect to become the soul’s bread, for wisdom and Torah are the radiant nourishment of the soul for the appointed day.

How long, sluggard, will you lie down? Harvest has passed and summer has ended, yet you still lie idle and have done nothing. A sluggard habitually sleeps for hours into the day; after awakening, he spends the rest of the day lying upon his bed. Thus, “How long will you lie down?” More than this: When will you arise and awaken from your sleep? Allegorically, in youth he sleeps and discerns nothing because of foolishness. Even after awakening and understanding the purpose of man and that he should engage in the Lord’s Torah, he afterward lies down and does nothing because of laziness. Therefore: how long will you be lazy, and more seriously, how long will you remain immersed in foolishness?

A little sleep. First he sleeps a settled sleep; afterward, a little slumber, neither fully asleep nor fully awake. Even after awakening from slumber, there is a little folding of the hands to lie down upon the bed and do nothing.

And your poverty will come like a traveler. As his property is depleted, poverty arrives like an ordinary traveler proceeding unobstructed, because at first he does nothing against the poverty approaching him. And your want like an armed man. Afterward want comes upon him, lacking bread and all his needs. Then he rises and fights against want, wishing to drive it from his house; but want stands against him like a man bearing shield and buckler, and he cannot drive it from his house or do anything against it.

A man. One who is a worthless man casts off the yoke of Heaven in commandments between man and God, and in commandments between man and his fellow he is a man of iniquity. His sin is recognizable in seven things. First, in the organ of speech: he walks with a crooked mouth, speaking perversely against the laws of wisdom, for the mouth alludes to wisdom. Second, regarding the instruments of action and the eyes, it says—

He winks with his eyes, contrary to “Do not stray after your eyes.” Third, with the organs of movement, he signals with his feet, hinting evil messages with them. Fourth, with his hands, he points with his fingers. Fifth, regarding thought—

Perversities are in his heart. In matters of faith he thinks ideas contrary to faith; in human affairs he devises evil against his fellow. Seventh, he sends forth quarrels between one person and another.

Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. His calamity will arrive quickly in time, and the execution of his punishment will also be swift: he will suddenly be broken, without remedy, because he will not repent.

These six—the first six matters he listed—the Lord hates; and the seventh, sending forth quarrels, is an abomination to His soul. It is worse than all the others because it destroys society as a whole.

Haughty eyes. He lists them again in detail with more severe forms. Corresponding to “he winks with his eyes,” he adds haughty eyes—pride that arrogantly opposes faith. Corresponding to “he walks with a crooked mouth,” he adds a lying tongue. The tongue always signifies understanding, which is set against wisdom by means of arguments of understanding and deceptive syllogisms. Corresponding to “he points with his fingers,” he says, hands that shed innocent blood.

A heart. Corresponding to “he devises evil,” he says, a heart that devises thoughts of iniquity. Corresponding to “he signals with his feet,” he says, feet that hurry to run toward evil. Corresponding to “perversities are in his heart,” he adds—

He breathes lies as a false witness. He speaks falsehood and bears false testimony regarding matters of faith. Corresponding to the seventh, which is the Lord’s abomination, he again says, and one who sends forth quarrels among brothers.

My son, preserve your father’s commandment. A commandment is something by which the commander compels the commanded person to carry out his instruction, like a father’s command to his son or a master’s to his servants. Torah consists of teachings, such as beliefs, opinions, and ethical instruction. He therefore attributes commandments to the father who compels obedience, and directs that they be preserved even when contrary to the heart’s nature. Do not forsake your mother’s Torah. He attributes Torah to the mother. Once a person preserves his father’s commandments, he will naturally not forsake the mother’s Torah, because the human soul is naturally drawn after Torah. Only when a person rejects a commandment does he abandon Torah and deny foundations of faith so that he can cast off the commandments’ yoke. One who preserves the commandment will not forsake Torah.

Bind them continually upon your heart. Although the commandments are remote from the heart’s nature, bind them with cords so that they remain continually attached to your heart, and incline your heart—the governing power within the body—to observe them. Tie them around your throat as well: speak of them continually, for through repetition they will also be preserved in your heart. All this concerns the commandments. Regarding your mother’s Torah, he says—

When you walk about. He speaks of the three situations mentioned above (3:23–25): walking on the road, lying down, and arising at home. When you walk about on the road, where dangers are present, she will guide you along the straight way. When you lie down, when danger exists because you are not employing your senses or intellect, she will guard you. When you awaken from sleep, she will be your conversation.

For a commandment is a lamp, and Torah is light. An individual commandment is compared to an individual lamp; the comprehensive Torah is compared to the universal light. A lamp burns only while oil and wick are present. So too a commandment applies while a person is confined within the body. Light shines by its own nature; similarly, the light of Torah cleaves to the soul because it is a Divine soul, and after separation God’s light still shines above them and their crowns are upon their heads. Just as light enables a lamp to shine, so engagement in Torah enables a person to observe commandments, for an ignorant person cannot be pious. Light comes from above and a lamp from below; likewise, Torah’s light is from above, while the lamp of the commandment operates below in bodily matters and is joined to the soul, resembling oil and wick in which light catches and shines. And the reproofs of discipline are the way of life. Even one possessing light and a lamp must walk upon the way of life; otherwise the light and lamp will not help him. What leads him on that way? The reproofs of discipline. By accepting rational reproof through discipline and fear of the Lord, he walks on the way of life. The lamp of commandment and light of Torah then protect him from pits, thorns, and briars, as it says, “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”

To guard you from an evil woman—an Israelite harlot—from the smooth tongue of a foreign woman—a gentile harlot—even though she entices you with smooth speech. Allegorically, the evil woman signifies branches of wisdom leading to denial of God, and the foreign woman’s smooth tongue signifies the ways of idolatry, although they proceed through seemingly rational syllogisms. The tongue always alludes to understanding.

Do not desire her beauty in your heart. Guard yourself from being captured by her beauty and from being enticed when she signals with her eyelids. Allegorically, do not desire their methods of speculation and inquiry, and do not be drawn after their proofs, which may appear substantial to you and seem to perceive the very eyelids of dawn.

For on account of a harlot who is unmarried, a person may be reduced to a loaf of bread, losing his wealth and livelihood. But another man’s wife hunts a precious soul: she hunts the soul itself, even if it is precious and exalted, like that of a prophet or prince.

Can one scoop up fire? He gives two parables. The first is of scooping fire into one’s bosom—actual fire placed in his bosom, which will completely burn his garments. The second is—

Can a man walk upon coals? They are not flames but coals, and he does not scoop them into his bosom but merely walks upon them; nevertheless, his feet will be burned.

So is one who comes to his fellow’s wife. He resembles one who scoops fire into his bosom. Moreover, whoever touches her—even if he does not lie with her but merely touches her, like the second parable of walking upon coals—will not go unpunished; his feet will be burned.

People do not despise a thief. A thief is superior to an adulterer. First, necessity compelled him, for he steals to fill his soul when he is hungry. Second, if—

He is found, his punishment has a limit: he shall pay sevenfold. If he stole an ox or sheep, he pays four additional oxen or three additional sheep, besides returning the stolen animal itself. Through this, he may give all the wealth of his house and discharge his punishment through money.

One who commits adultery with a woman, however, lacks a heart. He is unlike the thief who stole to fill his hungry soul. He does it because he destroys his own soul, for adultery will not satisfy his hunger; there is one organ in man such that feeding it only makes it hungrier.

A wound. The thief pays only money, while the adulterer finds a wound. The thief is not despised, but the adulterer finds disgrace. The thief’s shame is erased through the fourfold or fivefold payment, but his disgrace will not be erased.

For jealousy is a man’s fury. The fury of the woman’s husband burns because of jealousy: he is jealous for his honor and because the honor of his household was profaned. Therefore, he will not show compassion on the day of vengeance, for vengeance caused by jealousy knows no compassion.

He will accept no ransom. If the adulterer wishes to give him monetary compensation, he will not accept it, because his wife has become forbidden to him and his children’s status has been profaned; money cannot atone for this. He will not consent even if you increase the bribe. Even if you offer the judges a great bribe so that they declare his wife permitted and thereby remove the cause of jealousy, he will not consent, because vengeance will still burn within his heart.