Halakhah for Proverbs 1:7

The beginning of wisdom is fear of God.¹(Perush.) This is the preferred sequence. In the original text the first verse “the beginning of wisdom” appears later. This is the foundation for God-fearing men. When you set out to do anything think (of it as) if another person were doing it and asked for your advice: what would you say to him? So did the rabbis say, “That which also honors him in the sight of mankind.” ²Aboth 2:1.As you advise others so do for yourself. The beginning of wisdom is to acquire wisdom. When your son reaches the age of learning, acquire for him a teacher who is a scholar, and God-fearing, for it is written “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7). This is to introduce him to the fear of the Lord. In addition, from all firstlings give Him, “The first of all the first fruits of everything, and every heave offering of everything” (Ezek. 44:30). So too, give Him the beginning of the day and night (in which) to bless Him for that which man enjoys day and night.³J. T. Yoma 1:1, also Midrash Rabbah, ed. Horeb, Leviticus, Chapter XXVI, p. 69. Thus does he say, “When I behold the heavens the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast established” (Ps. 8:4). It is He who brings on the evening twilight and forms light when you arouse from your sleep and awaken. She⁴“She” refers to Torah. will speak to you, and when you open your eyes put upon your heart your tasks and needs,⁵This is a paraphrase of Proverbs 6:22. but prior to setting yourself aright there is fear of the Lord, as it is written “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7). How so? When a man leaves prison he is obliged to thank the Holy One, blessed be He, and inasmuch as there is no greater imprisonment than sleep,⁶Berakoth 60b. he must bless the Holy One, blessed be He, because prior to awakening there was no power to do anything nor mastery over body. Bless Him for every limb with which you perform your work which was previously immobilized but is now useful. And concerning the hands which were initially in a state of uncleanliness with the spirit of uncleanliness prevailing over them,⁷Yoma 77b. in order that you not be harmed, wash your hands. Similarly do not put your hands to your eyes until you wash them. Our scholars instituted blessings for every activity. It happened with a certain pious man who recited a blessing for each and every limb and Scripture supported him “My heart and my flesh sing for joy unto the living God” (Ps. 84:3). And it is written, “All my bones shall say, Lord who is like unto Thee” (Ps. 35:10), and he prayed for all of the limbs that were created part of him that they serve Him who created them for His glory and that they not sin against Him. For the Holy One, blessed be He, puts into the heart of the good that they (do) not sin against Him, nor that sin be brought about through them, for it is said, “There shall no mischief befall the righteous” (Prov. 12:21).⁸Yebamoth 120a. Good and evil inclinations can serve beneficent ends with the righteous. He sees how the wicked with deliberate cunning seek to fulfill their lusts even but for a moment, and because of their appetites they often place their lives in danger for (this) momentary fulfillment, as in the case of robbers, thieves, and adulterers, who do so, all for the sake of questionable results.⁹They don’t know if they will succeed. But I have all the more need to be cunning because of the Holy One, blessed be He, who grants to His loved ones their desires in the hereafter and for eternity supreme joys far beyond the voluptuous indulgences of the wicked.¹⁰This is the preferred reading. (See Mekor Hesed, note 10.) If man’s good inclination overpowers him to do good, as the evil inclination bends him toward the lusts of his flesh and his ambitions, then with ingenious cunning he would seek to fulfill the desires of heaven. That person who has the ability to do everything that his heart desires, and it is possible for him to do it without risk of shame, he need not be so cunning in the matter. But where the power is not within him to do that which the heart desires, because of so and so and because of someone in such a matter, then he must be cunning so as to make the desires of his heart such that this other matter does not harm him. Since all of these matters involve depth of wisdom and great exertions which are found in those who lust, and are jealous and pursue honor, (therefore) he who fears the word of God sees how they search and lurk to fulfill their lusts which are momentary and questionable of achieving, and they hurl their souls from the distance, so much the more (let him apply this tenacity to himself) myself.¹¹“I need to be cunning.” “But I will be hallowed among the children of Israel” (Lev. 22:32) refers to those who are slain in Sanctification of the Name,¹²Sifra, ed. Weiss, p. 99b. for it is said “Nay but for Thy sake are we killed all the day” (Ps. 44:23). Behold, the evil inclination is good for man, for if there is no evil inclination to govern man, of what significance is the reward which he receives for doing good.¹³Baba Kamma 38a. Now that his evil inclination overwhelms him and he subdues it because of the Holy One, blessed be He, he receives the good reward. For those that are evil the good inclination is bad, because if they did not taste the good inclination they would have been able to say we did not know the value of the good inclination. If anything presents itself to you in accord with the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, but because of shame you desist from doing it and the matter seems awkward to you or if your evil inclination overpowers you to transgress or to act,¹⁴Used here in the sense “to act wrongly.” reflect accordingly. If you were living at a time of religious persecution, you would have been visited by all afflictions, even death, for the sake of the Creator, for it is said, “Therefore do the maidens love thee” (Cant. 1:3).¹⁵Midrash Rabbah, ed. Horeb, Song of Songs, Chapter I, p. 11. If they wanted to kill you or inflict punishment upon you to the extent that death would be preferable to life, you would endure them, all the more in this matter which is not so great, where your evil inclination overpowers you. And the person that overwhelms his evil inclination receives greater reward than for a hundred commandments where his evil inclination did not incite, overwhelm or compel him to sin. For they said, there is no reward for meritorious deeds that they shall perform in the hereafter.¹⁶For there is no evil inclinations.
“Before the evil days come” (Eccl. 12:1). These are the years of old age¹⁷Midrash Rabbah, ed. Horeb, Ecclesiastes, Chapter XII, p. 128. and the weariness of years of which you say, “I have no pleasure in them” (Eccl. 12:1), which are the days of the Messiah which have neither merit nor guilt It is therefore better to do that thing wherein the evil inclination overpowers him¹⁸Baba Metzia 32b. but he subdues his inclination because of the Creator, rather than commandments wherein the evil inclination does not assert itself. You shall not say behold the commandments are of equal weight, the light ones as the more serious ones. He carries greater sin in a hundred commandments where the inclination does not bother him and he transgresses, than in those commandments where the inclination opposes him.¹⁹Menahoth 43b. This is a parable to a king of flesh and blood who commands his servants to go to a certain place. One comes and says to his (the king’s) servant, “do not go to that place where the king sends you, and I will give you a pound of gold,” the servant accepts and does not go. The other does not go because one promises to give to him two pennies. Behold this one accepts but two pennies his punishment is greater, because he voids the will of the king in a small matter. Similarly, this one who sins in a matter where his evil inclination does not overpower him his punishment is greater. Anything that comes to your hand to do and you do not do because of the shame, lest they call you “pious fool,” consider yourself as if living during time of religious persecution; you would (suffer death) over a light transgression even a shoestrap,²⁰Sanhedrin 74a.
/21/ Toseftah, Baba Kamma, Chapter VII. (therefore say) all the more that I will subdue my passion which is given into my hand. If you stole learning it will suffice for you. And if the shame embarrasses you, behold it is for you as an atoning sacrifice.²²Berakoth 12b. Better that you be embarrassed before a hundred and not be embarrassed before tens of thousands after death.²³Kiddushin 81a. And so he who withholds himself from a meritorious deed because of shame whether in a positive commandment or in a prohibitory commandment, he will be shamed publicly after his death in their presence and perhaps even in his lifetime, as with Zedekiah who said, “Lest they deliver me into their hand and they mock me” (Jer. 38:19), he did not submit to the Lord and they blinded him.²⁴II Kings 25:7.
Consider the two letters kof kof, “For every boot stamped …”²⁵The letter appears both in the verse from Isaiah and in the verse from Deuteronomy. The letter kof has two forms, one is a final letter used at the end of a word, the other is for initial and medial use. The kof in the verse from Isaiah begins the quotation and is the initial letter for the word “all.” The kof in medial form appears in the last word which concludes the quotation from Deuteronomy. Here again the word is “all.” (Isa. 9:4) for the entire world is judged measure for measure for it is said, “because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things; therefore shalt thou serve thine enemy whom the Lord shall send against thee in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things” (Deut. 28:47). And all who have mercy on the cruel show no mercy to the merciful. A man who is obliged to have mercy upon others, such as his sons, his daughters, his brother and his near ones, and they are in need and he is able to feed them but does not, behold everything that he possesses will come into the hands of others and he will receive for this neither merit nor credit.²⁶i.e., into the hands of his sons, daughters, and relatives. Even if he supports others, but knows that his father, mother and brothers are poor and does not support them, in the end these others that he supports will deal cruelly and mercilessly with him; they will become his enemies and not consider it as a favor the kindness that he did with them. For there is a matter for which a person receives no merit if he does it, but if he does not do it, it is regarded as evil. For instance a man and his wife who love their children and they possess the means for their support and have mercy upon them, behold this is no merit or righteousness²⁷Ketuboth 50a. because out of love they do this for them, as in the case of dogs, bears and all animals who put their lives in danger to bring prey to their offspring.²⁸Ibid., 49a. If parents do not support their children or if they strike them unnecessarily or show no mercy to them or never admonish them and their offspring have nothing, the parent’s transgression is grave. Therefore a father who does favors for some of his children and reviles others and does no good for them, him that he loathes will be his heir.