(טו) וַיִּקַּ֛ח יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֑ם וַיַּנִּחֵ֣הוּ בְגַן־עֵ֔דֶן לְעָבְדָ֖הּ וּלְשָׁמְרָֽהּ׃
"The human being was placed in the Garden of Eden to till it and to tend it."
אליהו רבה (איש שלום) פרשה כו
כך אמר להם הקב"ה לישראל, בניי, כלום חיסרתי לכם, מה אני מבקש מכם, הא
איני מבקש אלא כדי שתהיו אוהבין זה את זה, ותהיו מכבדין זה את זה, ותהיו
יריאין זה מזה, ולא ימצא בכם לא עבירה ולא גזל ולא דבר מכוער, אלא שלא
תבואו לידי פסול לעולם
Eliyahu Rabbah, 26
This is what the Holy One said to Israel: My children, I have lacked for you nothing - what do I seek from you? I seek no more than that you love one another and honor one another and fear one another and that there should not be any sin, thievery, or harmful actions among you so that you do
not come to invalidate the world. [AJWS translation]
Mussar text
(from the Ethical Will of R. Hillel Milekovsky, my great-great-great-grandfather):
Our Sages said regarding the people of God, the children of Israel,
there are three attributes that are common to our people; mercy,
modesty and kindliness, and these virtues are all truly implanted
within the Jewish people and are not rejected/canceled by other
attributes that come in opposition to them to drive them off.
But all this will only happen if you practice these attributes always, in
other words, habituate yourself to have compassion of the
downtrodden, to be modest and to perform deeds of loving kindness,
then and only then will they be truly implanted , and all the forces in
the world will not displace them, but if you do not practice these
attributes then you will be like the wise saying says, “I passed by the
field of a slothful man, , and thorns arise, and a thicket covered its
surface”.