Just Wisdom

     Said the Hafetz Hayyim: "An infant in his cradle imagines that he can do anything, but in reality he is helpless. The same is true of the grown man."
— Aryeh Pupko, Mikhtevei ha-Rav Hafetz Hayyim, p. 100, in Maggidim and Hasidim: Their Wisdom, Louis I. Newman, p. 141.

     Said the Dubner: "A thief broke into a delicatessen store one night and stole some of the provisions. He left the door ajar, and others who chanced to pass by early in the morning also helped themselves. Then dogs and cats entered and added to the damage. The original thief was caught and offered restitution for what he had stolen. The owner refused the offer, however, saying: 'You must be punished severely because you left the door open and considerable loss resulted as a consequence.'
     "From this we learn: 'the transgression of a man who points out the way or who is respected and imitated by others, must be expiated much more thoroughly than the offense of an ordinary person.'"
— Israel J. Zevin, Alle Meshalim von Dubner Maggid, i, pp. 306-307, in Ibid., pp. 180-181.

     The Dubner Maggid was asked: "Why does a rich man prefer to aid a needy cripple more than a needy learned man?"
     "Because," replied the Maggid, "the wealthy man is not sure that he may not become a cripple himself some day. But it is a certainty that he will never become a learned man."
— Ibid., i., 46, in Ibid., p. 187.

     Said the Besht: "Just as a man cannot fully appreciate the taste of a new article of food until he has tasted it, so he cannot comprehend the estate of being attached to God in reverence and love before he has attained this state. No amount of explanation in words will avail."
     "An unclean thought breeds an unclean view of life. It is a spiritual hybrid."
     "Your body was given to your soul as a gift. Keep it clean and do not castigate it."
     "God has sent you into this world on an appointed errand. It is His will that you accomplish your errand in a state of joy. Sadness implies an unwillingness on your part to do God's will."
     "A man is in error if he declares that the world is without meaning. On the contrary this world is beautiful and good if you behave properly therein."
     "If a man engages in severe fasting and imagines that thereby he has achieved much, he is mistaken, for the soul becomes no purer by such conduct."
     "Your prayer is worthier if you do not move your body during it. But you are permitted to pray thus if no foreign thoughts assail you."
     "There are two ways to serve the Lord. One is to separate yourself from people and from mundane affairs, and to devote yourself wholly to a study of religious books. This is the safe way. The other way is to mingle with people, to engage in the affairs of the world, and, at the same time, to seek to teach godliness by example. This is the dangerous way, but it is by all means the worthier."
     The Besht observed a man completely absorbed in studying a religious book. He remarked: "This man is so deeply buried in his studies that he forgets there is a God in the world."
     Said the Besht: "My Disciples will be as numerous as the leaves on a tree, and each one will act differently from the other. Yet every one will maintain that he truly imitates and follows my ways."
— Z. S. Srebrak, Sippure Zaddikim, p. 18, in Ibid., pp. 235-236.