Halakhah zu Tehillim 5:78

So this book is now finished, built upon precious sayings. With these words the enlightened¹⁸²Lit., ha-maskil be-hakhmah, one “enlightened with wisdom, i.e., the wisdom of Kabbalah (Chavel). will discern when they’re eating, may they make themselves holy and their minds burnished fully. With these words engaged, may they be at their table; raise their table’s renown so that “all shall say ‘Glory!'”¹⁸³An allusion to Ps 29:9: kulo ‘omer kavod. Let their hearts be made pure, to withstand any test. “By these raise up the table,”¹⁸⁴Ex 28:28 so that “before the Lord”¹⁸⁵Ez 41:22 is its label. This table is greater than the table of kings, “he shall be permitted to join those attending,”¹⁸⁶An allusion to the reward of the faithful promised in Zech 3:7: “Thus said the Lord of Hosts: If you walk in My paths and keep My charge, you will in turn rule in My house and guard My courts, and I will permit you to move about among these attendants.”and to be lifted in honor to gaze on¹⁸⁷Or “envision,” because the Hebrew is ye-hazeh, as in hazon “vision,” like the verb in Ex 24:11, with connotation of prophetic vision. the face of “David among the lilies grazing,” to earn “the three-legged table” ¹⁸⁸An allusion to what is referred to in B. Ta’anit 25a: “The righteous will in time to come eat at a golden table with three legs.” See R. Bahya’s Preface, where he explains this idea in his discussion of the fourth reason he gives for calling his book Shulhan Shel Arba. There’s an untranslatable wordplay here with the Hebrew word ro‘e’ (“grazing” or “shepherd”) and the Aramaic word ker’a’ (“leg”): “David among the lilies grazing (ro‘e’)” to earn the table of three legs (ker’a’).” of gold ablazing. They will earn the physical and intellectual meals, and be counted among the benei aliyah. Blessed is the Lord who has refined His servants to perfect us, whose love for us even preceded us; may He bring us to see wonders from His Torah, the foundation of His Temple, the place of the ark and the tablets, the menorah and table and the altars. May our betrayals and sins be atoned for and forgiven, may prosperity be ours – from God’s hand gladly given.¹⁸⁹An allusion to Is 54:10. Among the saints may He raise and lift us, “west and south”¹⁹⁰An allusion to Dt 33:23. may He gift us. From the abundance of His love may He redeem our soul¹⁹¹An allusion to Ps 22:21. from Sheol when He takes it, by His counsel may He guide us¹⁹²An allusion to Ps 73:24. to the “delights ever in His right hand.”¹⁹³An allusion to Ps 16:11. May he encompass us with favor, ¹⁹⁴An allusion to Ps 5:13. in the “bundle of life” may He hide us,¹⁹⁵As opposed to She’ol – “hell” – as in Job 14:13: “O that You would hide me in Sheol.” in the path of life may He guide us, and grant us what is written, “For God is our God forever; He will guide us even beyond death.”¹⁹⁶Ps. 48:15.

It is a mitzvah to rush when going to the synagogue, or to the Beis Midrash, or to perform any other mitzvah as it is said: "Let us run to know God."²⁹Hosea 6:3. It is also written: "In the way of Your commandments I will run."³⁰Psalms 119:32. Therefore, even on Shabbos³¹It is not proper to run on Shabbos except as mentioned here. it is permissable to run in order to do a mitzvah. However, in the synagogue or in the Beis Midrash, it is forbidden to run. Upon arriving at the entrance (of the synagogue), it is proper to pause slightly in order not to enter suddenly. You should tremble with awe before the splendor of His glory, Blessed be His Name, and recite the verse: "As for me, through Your abundant kindness etc.³²Psalms 5:8. The verse concludes with the words, “I shall enter your house.” which is like a request for permission to enter; and then you should enter and walk with reverence and fear as one who walks before a king. In those communities where the Jewish people have their own streets, it is a mitzvah to put on the tzitzis [talis] and tefillin at home, and proceed to the synagogue [in that attire.] In a place where they reside among the gentiles, or if a person must walk through filthy alleys, it is preferable to put on the tzitzis and tefillin in the corridor of the synagogue, because it is of great merit to enter the synagogue enwrapped in tzitzis and crowned with tefillin.

(14) It also is apparent that [in all eight modes] he also transgresses (Devarim 28:9): "And you shall walk in His ways," whereby we have been commanded to emulate the traits of the Holy One Blessed be He, all of which [traits] are for the good alone, as Chazal have said (Shabbath 133b): "Just as He is merciful, you, too, be merciful; just as He is gracious, you, too, be gracious," and the like with the other good traits, as is explained by the Rambam (Hilchoth Deoth 1:5 and 6). And we find with the Holy One Blessed be He, in His pure and holy traits, that He hates delation [informing] in all modes, even against the most reprehensible of men, as Chazal have said in the episode of Achan [viz. Joshua 7] (Sanhedrin 11a): "Am I [the L–rd] a delator for you?" And He hopes for the good and not for the bad (viz. Tanna d'bei Eliyahu 1), and (Sotah 42a): "Four classes do not behold the Divine Presence: …the class of the speakers of lashon hara, as it is written (Tehillim 5:5): 'For You are not a G–d who desires wickedness, evil shall not dwell with You.'" Therefore, one who habituates himself to this evil trait does not walk in the way of the L–rd, which is only to do good to others, and he does the opposite — wherefore the Torah designated [lashon hara] as "evil" — so that he also transgresses this positive commandment [i.e., "And you shall walk in His ways."]
We have thus enumerated fourteen positive commandments, which tend to be transgressed by lashon hara and rechiluth (aside from the aforementioned seventeen negative commandments). And though all the seventeen negative commandments and fourteen positive commandments cannot obtain with one man and with one slur, as is clear to the reader, still, all who are habituated, G–d forbid, to this evil trait will certainly transgress all of them in the course of time. For sometimes he will come to speak lashon hara against an elder, and sometimes, against a sage. And sometimes he will demean him to his face and sometimes not to his face, as mentioned above.

Upon leaving the synagogue you recite the verse Hashem nacheini (Hashem, lead me).⁴Psalms 5:9. You should bow towards the Aron Hakodesh like a pupil taking leave from his master. When leaving the synagogue, you should not leave with your back toward the Aron Hakodesh, but you should walk out sideways, and do the same when you descend from the reading lectern.

Rabbi Yirmiyah bar Abba said,¹⁶Sotah 42a. "[The following] four categories [of people] will not see the Divine Presence [in the Hereafter]: scorners, flatterers, liars, and those who speak lashon hara (slanderers). Scorners [can be inferred], from the verse; 'He withdraws His hand from scorners."¹⁷Hosea 7:5. (Rashi explains [mashach yado] the Holy One, blessed is He, pulls away His hand, [rejecting] the company of scorners). Flatterers, [can be inferred], from the verse, "A flatterer cannot come before Him."¹⁸Job 13:6. Liars [may be inferred], from the verse, "He who tells lies will have no place before My eyes."¹⁹Psalms 101:7. Those who speak lashon hara, from the verse, "You are not a God Who desires wickedness, evil will not abide with You."²⁰Psalms 5:5. (Rashi explains [that the phrase] "Evil will not abide with You" refers to those who speak lashon hara, because it is written in this psalm²¹Psalms 5:10. "For there is no sincerity in their mouth…") [The Gemara concludes:] "Since you are a righteous God, no evil can abide in Your dwelling."²²Sotah 42a. Our Rabbis of blessed memory said furthermore,²³Sanhedrin 63b. "All ridicule is forbidden except for ridiculing idol worship,²⁴It is considered a great mitzvah to ridicule idol worship and deride an evil and immoral way of life. (Siddur Arizal) for it is written, "And it happened at noon that Eliyahu mocked them…"²⁵I Kings 18:27.

Rabbi Yirmiyah bar Abba said,¹⁶Sotah 42a. "[The following] four categories [of people] will not see the Divine Presence [in the Hereafter]: scorners, flatterers, liars, and those who speak lashon hara (slanderers). Scorners [can be inferred], from the verse; 'He withdraws His hand from scorners."¹⁷Hosea 7:5. (Rashi explains [mashach yado] the Holy One, blessed is He, pulls away His hand, [rejecting] the company of scorners). Flatterers, [can be inferred], from the verse, "A flatterer cannot come before Him."¹⁸Job 13:6. Liars [may be inferred], from the verse, "He who tells lies will have no place before My eyes."¹⁹Psalms 101:7. Those who speak lashon hara, from the verse, "You are not a God Who desires wickedness, evil will not abide with You."²⁰Psalms 5:5. (Rashi explains [that the phrase] "Evil will not abide with You" refers to those who speak lashon hara, because it is written in this psalm²¹Psalms 5:10. "For there is no sincerity in their mouth…") [The Gemara concludes:] "Since you are a righteous God, no evil can abide in Your dwelling."²²Sotah 42a. Our Rabbis of blessed memory said furthermore,²³Sanhedrin 63b. "All ridicule is forbidden except for ridiculing idol worship,²⁴It is considered a great mitzvah to ridicule idol worship and deride an evil and immoral way of life. (Siddur Arizal) for it is written, "And it happened at noon that Eliyahu mocked them…"²⁵I Kings 18:27.

Four groups do not receive the Divine Presence:¹Sotah 42a. a group of liars; a group of hypocrites; a group of gossipers; a group of scoffers; and all are referred to in Scripture. “A group of liars” (is denied the Divine Presence because it is stated) “He that speaketh falsehood shall not be established before Mine eyes” (Ps. 101:7). And also in the wars of Ahab, when he came and asked the prophets if he should go out and do battle, the spirit of Naboth came before God, and he said: “I will go forth and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And He said: etc…. ‘Go forth’” (I Kings 22:22). And our scholars explain this to mean, “Go forth from my precincts.”²Sanhedrin 102b. “Hypocrites” (are denied His presence as it is written), “A hypocrite cannot come before Him” (Job 13:16). “Those who relate evil gossip” (are denied His presence), for it is said, “For Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness; Evil shall not sojourn with Thee” (Ps. 5:5). Evil (doers) shall not sojourn with you nor enter your precincts. “Scoffers” (are denied His presence) “The boasters shall not stand in Thy sight” (Ps. 5:6). People who are scoffers confound the world. “Evil gossip,” (includes also that which is) intended to dishonor his neighbor, even though it be true.³Maimonides, Commentary on Aboth, Chapter I, p. 16. Even if it becomes a (popular) by-word, it is ignoble to indulge in its use. If one has spread an evil report about his neighbor or has disgraced him with reviling matters of which he had never been suspected and which no one had anticipated (but which were apparently true), the sin of the person who has revealed it is not atoned for, because he cannot set aright that which he has perverted, nor undo the disgrace caused his neighbor, and this is what Solomon said in his wisdom, “Lest he that heareth it revile thee” (Prov. 25:10). And so is it taught in the Jerusalem Talmud,⁴J. T. Baba Kamma 8:7. “He who sins against his neighbor, and then repeatedly goes and asks for his pardon, but his neighbor does not respond, let him form lines of people and pacify him before them. This is what is said, “He cometh before men and saith, ‘I have sinned’ against so and so and behold I repent.” And if he does so, he redeems his soul from death, for it is written after that, “So He redeemeth his soul from going into the pit” (Job 33:28). Rabbi Jose said, “This is said concerning one who does not spread evil reports about his neighbor, but if he does there is absolutely no forgiveness.” If he inflicts pain on an individual it is as though he inflicts pain on the entire world, for everything that is in the world is in man.⁵Midrash Tanhuma (Berlin: Horeb Publishers, 1924), Pekuday, p. 344. If he spits before him but the spittle does not reach him, he is free from judgement in human law, but guilty under divine law.⁶Baba Kamma 90a and 91a. Even if he inflicts a small measure of pain he will be punished at the hands of the Lord for each and every hurt which he inflicts upon his neighbor, for it is said, “That for all these things God will bring thee into judgement (Eccl. 11:9) concerning every hidden thing” (Eccl. 12:14). And our rabbis elucidate,⁷Hagigah 5a. “What is meant with ‘concerning every hidden thing’?” This refers to one who kills vermin before his neighbor and disgusts him thereby, others say it refers to one who spits. Therefore all the God-fearing and righteous through whom the Holy One, blessed be He, does not cause any stumbling, let them be cautious to forgive immediately those who kill vermin or spit or do anything repulsive so that there be no stumbling through them (the righteous ).⁸Megillah 28a. It is reported of a certain pious man that he covered all the spittle that he found in a place where he knew the offender to be a Jew and would forgive him (the offender). He covered it so that another would not come, see and be disgusted by it, and not pardon the offender, with the result that the offender stumbles thereby. And it is good to follow this procedure.
“Whether it be good or whether it be evil” (Eccl. 12:14), this ending passage they interpret to mean one who gives charity to the poor publicly.⁹Hagigah 5a. For this deed he stands in judgement because he embarasses the recipient. Also, one who gives charity to a woman privately, brings upon himself suspicion, for it is said, “Then ye shall be clear before the Lord and before Israel” (Num. 32:22). Moreover, he causes those who suspect him to stumble and be punished because of him, because those who suspect the innocent are flogged.¹⁰Yoma 19b. The Soncino translation reads: “Whosoever suspects good folks will suffer (for it) on his own body.” How do we know this? From Moses our teacher, who said, “But behold they will not believe me” (Exod. 4:1) immediately he became leprous.¹¹Shabbath 97a. Moreover others will not accept his reprimands, but will say to him, “You do such and such, and you are reproving us!” Therefore the supervisors of charity should not burden the poor man to work without pay, except for a meritorious deed, because the poor man fears them, moreover, he derives profit from them; also that the congregation should not suspect him (the supervisor) saying, “He (the supervisor) gives a greater portion to this one (poor man) than to the others so that he (poor man) should perform services for him,” and the Torah says, “then ye shall be clear” (Num. 32:22).¹²Yoma 38a. “From every evil thing” (interpreting verse “whether it be evil” in Eccl. 12:14) refers to causative matters which a man causes deliberately, and inflicts pain on his neighbor, for this he is punished. Those who steal, take or conceal a thing which causes grief to the owner who must seek it, transgress a prohibitory law.¹³Shulhan Arukh, “Hoshen Mishpat,” 348. And so our scholars interpret,¹⁴Baba Metzia 61b. “Ye shall not steal” (Lev. 19:11) in order to vex or to cause (another) pain. Even if he causes pain to an animal unnecessarily, by placing upon her an unreasonable load, and beating her so that she is unable to go, he comes under judgement for inflicting pain on a living creature.¹⁵Shabbath 128b. Similarly those who pull the ears of cats to hear them shout are sinning. Our scholars also expounded, “In that day Saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness” (Zech. 12:4). In the future the Holy One, blessed be He, will demand accounting from the riders for the harm they have inflicted on their horses for having struck them with greaves, which are called eperon in French.¹⁶The French term for spurs.

And so does the verse state, "For He does not oppress from His heart, nor bring grief to man" (Lamentations 3:33). And it is also written, "For You are not a God who desires wickedness, etc." (Psalms 5:5) - meaning to say that God, may He be blessed, does not obligate liability to any creature from His desire for the liability, as the good God always desires good. Rather, it is a man who makes himself liable in his moving from righteousness; and [so] removes from himself the preparations that allow him to receive the good. And the parable for this is the one who walks on a straight path that is free of stones and from anything that makes one stumble, but there is a hedge of thorns from this [side] and from that [side]. And one went and rubbed the hedge and was hurt - truthfully, one cannot say about this man that God desired his hurt. [Rather,] he was the cause, since he was not careful to walk straight. And so too, with one who sins, it is the attribute of justice that makes him liable for his sin regardless. And one cannot say that the good God desired his liability. [Rather,] in his preventing himself from the good, from the angle of his sin, did evil become [drawn] found to him. And similar to this thing did they, may their memory be blessed, say - "No evil thing descends from Above" (Bereshit Rabbah 51:3).

From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings and Wars 1:3) that we do not a priori set up a king in Israel except by the word of a court of seventy elders and by the word of a prophet - like Yehoshua, as Moshe, our teacher, and his court appointed him; and like Shaul and David, as Shmuel HaRamati and his court appointed them. And [also] that which they said (in Sifrei Devarim 157), that we do not set up a woman to the monarchy, as it is stated, "a king" - and not a queen. And when they would set up a king, they would anoint him with anointing oil (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings and Wars 1:7). And once he has been appointed, he acquires the monarchy for himself and for his sons, as it is written (Deuteronomy 17:20), "in order that he will have length of days upon his monarchy; he and his sons, among Israel." If he [only] left over a minor son, we preserve the monarchy for him until he grows up, as Yehoyada did for Yoash. And anyone who is precedent for the inheritance is precedent for the inheritance of the monarchy. And the big son precedes the small son. And it is not just the monarchy, but all positions of authority - in actuality or as an honorary title from the honorary titles - and all appointments in Israel are an inheritance for a man, such that his son acquires it after him, and his son's son, and his son's son's son forever. And this is when he fills the place of his fathers with the fear of Heaven. But if there is no fear of Heaven in him - even though he has great wisdom - there is no need to say that we do not appoint him to an appointment of the appointments in Israel, but it is [even] fitting to hate him and distance him. And about them, David stated (Psalms 5:6), "[You] have hated all doers of iniquity."