Questions to Ponder:
1) Your dream job out of college is hiring, but they want someone with 10 years experience. Do you skip the application altogether or go in there and carry yourself like a seasoned executive?
2) Your sister has a friend you would really like to date. You ask your sister to make the introduction, but she tells you, no way, my friend Rachel is looking for someone much more religious than you. You've always had an interest in Judaism, but never really taken action, what a perfect time to put things into practice! Can you boost your religious observance and score a date with Rachel?
3) New Years is coming up and your have big plans for 2019. You really want to improve your life and some re-branding is in order. You change your first name, make whole new social media accounts, and start walking the walk of the person you're looking to be. Bold innovation or character assassination?
(ז) מִדְּבַר־שֶׁ֖קֶר תִּרְחָ֑ק...
(7) Keep far from falsehood...
(14) So Tamar took off her widow’s garb, covered her face with a veil, and, wrapping herself up, sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, yet she had not been given to him as wife. (15) When Judah saw her, he took her for a harlot; for she had covered her face. (16) So he turned aside to her by the road and said, “Here, let me sleep with you”—for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. “What,” she asked, “will you pay for sleeping with me?”
The Gemara asks: And why did they call Elisha Man of Wings? Because on one occasion the evil kingdom of Rome issued a decree against Israel of anyone who dons Tefillin. Nevertheless, Elisha would don them and defiantly go out to the marketplace. One day, an official saw him; Elisha ran away from him, and the official ran after him. When the official reached him, Elisha removed the tefillin from his head and held them in his hand. The officer asked him: What is that in your hand? Elisha said to him: It is merely a dove’s wings. He opened his hand, and, indeed, it was found to be a dove’s wings. Therefore, they would call him Elisha, Man of Wings.
(א) אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ (ויקרא כו, ג), הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב (תהלים קיט, נט): חִשַּׁבְתִּי דְרָכָי וָאָשִׁיבָה רַגְלַי אֶל עֵדֹתֶיךָ, אָמַר דָּוִד רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם בְּכָל יוֹם וָיוֹם הָיִיתִי מְחַשֵׁב וְאוֹמֵר לְמָקוֹם פְּלוֹנִי וּלְבֵית דִּירָה פְּלוֹנִית אֲנִי הוֹלֵךְ, וְהָיוּ רַגְלַי מְבִיאוֹת אוֹתִי לְבָתֵּי כְנֵסִיּוֹת וּלְבָתֵּי מִדְרָשׁוֹת
(1) If you will walk in my statutes: This is what is written (Psalms 119:59), "I considered my ways and I turned my feet to your testimonies." David said, "Master of the universe! On each and every day I would consider and say, 'To place x and to the home of y am I walking,' but my feet would bring me to the synagogues and to the Houses of Study. - this is what is written, "I considered my ways and I turned my feet to your testimonies."
(2) בכל לבבך LOVE GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART — The form of the noun with two ב instead of the usual form לבך suggests: Love Him with the good inclination and the bad inclination.
A mitzvah performed with ulterior motives garners reward, as Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: A person should always engage in Torah study and performance of mitzvot, even if he does so not for their own sake, as through the performance of mitzvot not for their own sake, one gains understanding and comes to perform them for their own sake.