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How to be Good

There was once a house about to collapse in Babylonia.  Rav sent one of his disciples to clear everything out of the house.  as soon as he finished the house collapsed.
The sages asked, “What good deeds did you do to merit that?”
He said to them, “In my entire life I went to the synagogue early and got there before anyone else.  When I went out I never walked more than four cubits without speaking words of Torah.  I also never mentioned the teachings of Torah in an inappropriate setting.  I never overslept.  I never tried to advance myself over my colleagues.  I never called a colleague by a nickname.  I showed them respect.  I never cursed my fellow.  I never walked to the marketplace to collect money from someone who owed me.  I also never lost my temper with my family.

This is what is meant in Psalms, "I will walk with integrity of heart within Your house.”  - from the Jerusalem Talmud, Taanit
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