meta: {"file": "/data/tomer/Sefaria-Export/txt/Musar/Messilat Yesharim/English/Sefaria Community Translation.txt"}
text: Messilat Yesharim
  מסילת ישרים
  Sefaria Community Translation
  
  
  Messilat Yesharim
  
  Introduction
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The scale of chassidus/piety. What needs to be explained now is this scale of piety, and this is a very, very important thing. You should know, in truth, that this is the hardest part of piety, because it is very delicate and the yetzer ([evil] inclination) has a big entrance. Therefore the danger is very real, because many good things the yetzer is able to distance as if they are bad, and many sins he can draw close as if they are great mitzvos. And the truth is that nobody can succeed with this scale unless he has three things: 1) that his heart is the straightest of hearts, whose focus is nothing but to please Him, may He be blessed, and nothing but that; 2) that he should think about his actions with much introspection, and try to fix them according to this goal [pleasing Hashem]; 3) And after all this, he should cast his burden upon Hashem, bcause then it will be said of him (Tehilim 4:6,12) "Praiseworthy is the man whose strength is in You...He will not hold back good for those who walk in purity."
  But, if one of these conditions are lacking, he won't reach completion, and he is more likely to fail and fall, that is--either if his intentions are not the best and purest; or if he is negligent in his introspection of what he can think deeply about; or if after all this he does not put his trust in his Creator--it is very difficult for him not to fall. But, if these three things he guards as he should--purity of thought, introspection, and faith--then he will certainly walk in truth and nothing bad will happen to him. This is what Chana said in her prophecy (Shmuel 1, 2:9) "The foot[steps] of His chassidim He will guard", and David likewise said (Tehilim 37:28) "He will not foresake his chassidim; forever they will be guarded."
  And behold, what needs to be understood is that you can't judge matters of chassidus/piety by their first appearance; rather, you need to think deeply and understand what the consequences of your actions will be. Because sometimes the action itself will look good, but since the results will be bad, he's obligated to leave it, and if he would do it, he'd be a sinner, not a chassid. The story of Gedaliah ben Achikam is obvious to us [in hindsight] that because of his piety to not judge Yishma'el unfavorably, or to not accept lashon hara/slanderous talk, he said to Yochanan ben Korach, "You are lying about Yishma'el! (Yirmiyahu 40)," and what did he cause? The result was that he died, and all the Jews were scattered, and the last burning coal was put out. The verse already attributes the killing of men that was caused by him as if he personally had killed them, with their saying (Niddah 61) on the verse "all the corpses of the people that were killed by Gedaliah." 
  
  
  
  