Sefer HaMiddot, Faith, Part I/ספר המדות·אמונה·חלק ראשון

1One’s belief in God must come through faith and not because of miracles.

2You can achieve faith by being humble.

3When you see something out of the ordinary, don’t say that it is coincidence; rather, believe that it is Divine providence.

4There are things that bring great harm to the world and it is difficult to understand why they were created. You should know that they most certainly have some aspect of good.

5Finding the words of a heretic pleasing will bring a person to thoughts of idolatry, even if those words are not heretical in and of themselves.

6A person’s faith endears him to God much like a wife is dear to her husband.

7Without first preparing his heart, a person cannot achieve faith.

8One who loses something has clearly fallen from his faith.

9One who has lost his faith should visit Jewish graves and recount the kindness that God has performed for him.

10Faith is dependent upon a person’s mouth. [Speaking about faith not only increases faith—it is faith! (Likutey Moharan II, 44)].

11Torah study destroys all heresy.

12Belief in God brings blessing.

13Overeating leads to a fall from faith.

14Gazing at the sky when it is clear and bright will bring you to faith in the Sages.

15Should you find yourself questioning God, keep silent. By virtue of this silence, your very thoughts will provide you with an answer to your questions.

16Remaining silent when you are insulted will earn you an answer to your questions and you will merit a spirit of understanding.

17You should know that when a person’s opponents are wise and very wealthy, it is because he has repeatedly fallen from faith.

18Faith is considered like charity.

19Belief in God makes one wise.

20It is first necessary to have faith in God, and only then will you be worthy of understanding Him with your intellect.

21The unification of the Holy One comes about through the souls of the Jewish people.

22A person’s sins bring him to entertain heresy.

23When a person falls from his belief in God, he will cry.

24Faith comes by remaining silent [in the face of criticism].

25A person’s jealousy causes him to fall from his belief in God.

26A person with no faith clearly belittles the words of the Torah.

27A person who is always cleaning his hands is purifying his heart.

28When a person falls from faith, he should know that he is being judged on high.

29One who has fallen from his belief in God will experience a seminal emission, and be plagued with promiscuous thoughts and thoughts of idolatry.

30Faith comes through giving charity.

31By means of faith one can come to understand God.

32Through faith one can come to trust in God.

33Because of faith, God will forgive all your sins.

34There are times when God sends a person suffering and punishment, but He does not weaken him. This is only in order to foster faith.

35Swearing falsely causes a person to fall from faith.

36A person without faith does not accept rebuke.

37A person who does not believe in the words of the Tzaddik will in the end have no benefit from them, even though he will see [them coming true].

38A person without faith certainly despises God’s statutes.

39Mashiach will come suddenly and, because of their joy, the Jews will fear.

40When Mashiach comes, all the ministers on high and also those below in this world will be weakened. But now, whenever there is an ascent by any minister, the Jews are weakened.

41In the World to Come, the “younger” one is the higher the level to which he will ascend.

42Jerusalem was destroyed only because the Jews: desecrated Shabbat; neglected reciting both the morning and evening Shema; were lax in educating their young schoolchildren; felt no shame in each other’s presence; equated the lowly with the great; did not rebuke one another, but ridiculed Torah scholars; and there were no longer any men of faith in the city.

43Jerusalem will be redeemed only through charity.

44War is the beginning of redemption.

45A person who raises pigs delays the redemption.

46Jerusalem will not be rebuilt until there is peace among Jews.

47That the Jews wander in exile from nation to nation is a sign that Mashiach will come.

48When the nations insult us a great deal, it is a sign that Mashiach’s arrival is imminent.

49The House of God will not be built until haughtiness ceases to exist.

50The spirit of oneness that will exist among Jews will bring Mashiach.

51Mashiach will come in a year of blessing.

52Mashiach won’t come until all the souls have been emptied from the body [of Primordial Man].

53When a person marries his daughter to a Torah scholar, or benefits a scholar with his possessions, or engages in business on the scholar’s behalf, he merits being resurrected from the dead.

54The breath from a liar’s mouth gives rise to the evil inclination. When Mashiach comes, falsehood will cease to exist and so there will be no evil inclination in the world.

55A person of truth can recognize in another if he is speaking falsely or not.

56A majority of people will not agree to something false.

57The Holy One despises a person who speaks one way with his lips and another in his heart.

58Reason cannot tolerate a rich person’s deceit. Even he finds himself despicable.

59Giving charity rectifies one’s speech.

60Truth protects the world from all manner of harm.

61Flattery leads to lying.

62A person who gives charity is rewarded with attaining the truth.

63A person who lies will certainly despise humble people.

64One can tell from a person’s servants whether he is fond of falsehood.

65When there is no truth, there is no kindness.

66If you are in any way false, then when God desires to save you, this falsehood brings your sins out into the open so that He should not save you.

67For telling the truth, God will redeem you from all suffering.

68A person should rather die, than live and be considered a liar by others.