* 59 Some Aspects of the Final Maqâla of Saadya’s Kitâb al - Amânât commandments, man of his own free will can attain ultimate happiness and merit the eternal rewards proffered to the righteous . However, it is possible to observe the divine commandments literally, and still lead a life not fully in accord with Torah and reason – in Naḥmanides’s words, to be a “sordid person within the permissible realm of the Torah” ( naval be - reshut ha - torah ) . 27 Therefore, Saadya does not end his book with his accounts of these eternal rewards, for he is concerned with people such as those he describes, people who might well be decent and moral individuals, yet who take a good and permissible thing too far . Saadya turns to such a person and urges him for his own good and for the good of society to be moderate and live a balanced life, combining all these loves in accordance with the guidance of wisdom and Torah . This is the ethical teaching of the last maqâla, and its justification, as we ha...
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