Chapter 29: 7-9
Character Traits to Follow
7. Perhaps, a person would say: "Since envy, lust, the desire for honor and the like are an evil path and 'drive a person out of his world,' I will separate myself from them to a great extent and go to the other extreme - i.e., I will not eat meat, drink wine, marry a woman, live in a pleasent home, or wear attractive clothing. Rather, I will wear sackcloth..." - This is also an improper path and is forbidden to be followed.
A person who follows such a path is called a sinner, for it is written regarding a Nazarite (Numbers 6:11): "And it will atone for him, for having sinned against his soul..." Ta'anis 11a relates: "Behold, if a Nazarite who separated himself only from wine requires atonement, how much more so one who abstains from everything."
Accordingly, our Sages have commanded a person to refrain from indulging only in those things which the Torah has forbidden, and not to cause any permitted things to be forbidden through oaths and vows. The Jerusalem Talmud, Nedorim 9:1, asks rhetorically: "Is it not enough what the Torah has forbidden you? Why have you caused the permitted to be forbidden?"
The Sages have forbidden a person to afflict himself with fasts. Concerning these matters and the like, King Solomon declared (Ecclesiastes 7:16): "Do not be overly righteous, not exceedingly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?" Similarly, in Proverbs 4:26, he writes: Balance your foot's path and firmly establish all your paths." *
* {See ibid., Chapter 3.}
8. We have already quoted (Chapter , Law3) the statement of Yehudah ben Tema: "Be bold as a Leopard...," which teaches not to be embarrassed before people who mock those who serve the Creator, blessed be His name. However, one should not reply to them with bravado, lest one develop a tendency towards insolence even in matters unrelated to the service of G-d.
9. Similarly, one should not quarrel over a mitzvah - e.g., who will have the privilege of leading the congregation in prayer, who will receive an aliyah, and the like. We find a parallel with regard to the showbread in the Temple. Even though it was a mitzvah to partake of it, [Yoma 39a] relates that the modest would withdraw, while the gluttons would grab their portion and eat.
