Said the Khazarite: Not in accordance with that which thou hast said before; but in the opinion of the philosophers he would be a pious man, even if he does not care by which religion he draws near to God, whether by becoming a Jew or a Christian, or by a religion which he devises for himself. Now we have returned to analogy, reasoning, and dialectics. Accordingly, every man would endeavor to establish that law to which his reason would lead him, and this would be absurd. Said the Rabbi: The divine Law does not impose asceticism upon us. It rather desires that we should keep to the golden mean, and allot to every mental and physical faculty its just share, without giving too much to one faculty and too little to another. One who inclines toward the faculty of lust, decreases his thinking faculty; and, on the contrary, he who inclines toward continence decreases some other faculty. Prolonged fasting is no act of piety for a man whose appetites are weak, whose faculties are feeble, and whose body is emaciated; he rather should pamper his body. Nor is the decreasing of wealth an act of piety, if it happens to have been gained in a lawful way, without trouble, and the acquisition thereof does not disturb him from occupying himself with knowledge and good deeds, especially for one who has dependants and children, and whose desire is to spend money for the sake of God; he rather should amass wealth. As a general rule, our Torah is divided into fear, love, and joy, by each of which one may draw near to God. Thy contrition on fast-days is not nearer to God than thy rejoicing on Sabbaths and festivals, provided thy rejoicing is with devout intention and perfect heart. Just as supplications require concentration of mind and devout intention, so also the rejoicing in His commandment and His Torah requires concentration of mind and devout intention; thou shouldst rejoice in the commandment itself, because thou lovest Him who enjoined it, and shouldst thereby acknowledge the bounty He bestowed upon thee. For thou art, as it were, enjoying His hospitality, being invited to His table and bounty, and shouldst thank Him for it inwardly and outwardly. Now if this rejoicing leads thee to singing and dancing, thou thereby worshippest God and cleavest unto the divine influence. These matters were not left by the Torah free to the discretion of man, but all were strictly regulated, since it is beyond the power of human beings to apportion to each faculty of the soul and the body its right measure, or to decide what amount of rest and movement is good for it, or to determine the quantity that the ground should produce, so that it may rest in the years of release and jubilee, and that tithes may be given thereof, and so forth. God commanded to rest on the Sabbath, to rest during the festivals, and that the earth should rest; all this as a remembrance of the going forth from Egypt, and as a memorial of the work of creation.