L’he’damos
– Mitzvah #1 in the header to De’os is “l’he’damos”, also mentioned in 1:6. It is impossible to know HKBH’s essence, but we are to mold ourselves (“l’he’damos”) to imitate His actions/middos.– Rambam describes sefer Maddah as “ikar das Moshe”.
Hilchos teshuva 10
Middah Beinonis means being in control
– Middah beinonis means being sholet on his middos and not being enslaved to any middah; he has both extremes in him and does whatever is correct– End of 1:1 – Rambam doesn’t distinguish between bein adam lachaveiro and l’atzmo
Hilchos teshuva 11
Bechira Chofshis. Middah Beinonis.
1) Deos 1:2 + Teshuva 5:2,4 – innate middos & tendencies, habituation, bechira chofshis 2) for any given trait, there are only three essential middos – the two extremes and the middah beinonis
Hilchos teshuva 12
Chacham vs. Chassid
1) Deos 1:4-5: definition of chacham/tzaddik vs chassid. Lifnim mishuras hadin doesn’t contradict middah beinonis given the correct definition thereof, i.e. being sholet on both middos and mixing them as dictated by ratzon Hashem. 2) Chiyuv derabbanan of shom deosav
Hilchos teshuva 13
Lifnim Mishuras Hadin
Deos 1:5, “zehu lifnim mishuras hadin” – the ikar hadin of of Hilchos Deos of “v’asisa hatov…” is the source of lifnim mishuras hadin in other areas of Halacha.
Constancy. Avraham’s Discovery.
– 1:7 – “tamid”: attention and effort to fix deos must be constant. We may go through stage of aspects Torah feeling onerus until we improve ourselves.