1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The experts in the law and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore pay attention to what they tell you and do it. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they teach. 4 They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by people, for they make their phylacteries wide and their tassels long.

R. Hanina b. Pappi expounded: He told them: If you keep the Torah I shall consider it as if you had made yourselves, [this being the implication of] AND YE MAKE THEM.? R. Hiyya taught: This refers to one who learns with the intention of practising and not to one who learns with the intention of not practising. He who learns with no intention of practising had been better unborn. R. Johanan said: If one learns with the intention of not practising it were better for him had the after-birth in which he lay been turned over his face and he had not come out into the open air of this world. R. Aha said: He who learns with the intention of practising will be privileged to receive the Holy Spirit.