In both good and bad, choose the best of your options. A seasoned merchant choosing an investment will choose the merchandise that will bring the greatest profits. And even if he deals with several types of goods in order to service many customers, he nevertheless deals mainly with whichever merchandise is the most profitable one. So, too, a wholesome person who budgets his time, will choose to use his time on those activities that are the most beneficial and necessary. Likewise, when he decides what Torah to study, he will choose the subjects that are the most beneficial and necessary for himself. When he comes to spend his money on a mitzvah, he will choose that which is the most important before Hashem and he will give his money to whatever is best and necessary. Of course one needs to keep all mitzvos and learn all subjects of Torah, but nevertheless one should focus mainly on whatever is the best and most pleasing before our Father in Heaven.
A person who does not know which is the best path to choose [in any of these matters] should go to a Torah sage who will instruct the person and lead him with his counsel. The one thing a person must know on his own is that the ultimate form of tzedakah is supporting Torah scholars — It is a tree of life for those who grasp it (Mishlei 3:18), and there really is no greater good than that.
The same applies to negative matters. If a person is forced to do something bad, then at least let him choose the lesser of all evils. For the more he minimizes the evil, the lighter will his penalty be, and it will prove that he only did it because he was forced to. But if he does more evil than what he was forced to do, then even what he was forced to do will be considered willful [transgression], for there is proof that he committed it willfully — if it were not so, he would not have done more than what he was coerced to do, whereas if he minimizes his transgressions it proves that he does fear God and he will not be punished for what he committed under duress.
