Musar untuk Yesaya 5:14

And there is yet another confusing joy that casts smoke over all the Commandments and causes reverence for the Lord, may He be Blessed, to be forgotten from the hearts of men, for instance — those who get themselves drunk and rejoice in the banquet houses. And after this type of joy comes sorrow, for much hurt comes from drinking feasts. And who in wisdom was as wise as Solomon, the son of David, who said: "Who cries 'Woe!' Who cries 'Alas!' Who has quarrels? Who has ravings? Who has wounds without cause? Who has red eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that constantly try mixed drinks" (Ibid. 23:29, 30). Also the prophet said: 'Woe unto them that rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink. They tarry late into the night till the wine inflames them" (Is. 5:11). And he said further: "And the harp and the psaltery, the tabret and the pipe and wine are in their feasts, but the work of the Lord they do not regard and the work of His hands they have not seen" (Ibid. : 12). And he said : "Therefore, my people are gone into captivity for want of knowledge, and their honorable men are famished and their multitude are parched with thirst" (Ibid.: 13). And he said : "Therefore, has the netherworld enlarged her desire, and opened her mouth without measure and down go their glory and their tumult and their uproar and he that rejoices, among them" (Ibid. : 14). And he said: "But these also reel through wine and stagger through strong drink, the priest and the prophet reel through strong drink; they are confused because of wine, they stagger because of strong drink, they reel in vision; they totter in judgment" (Ibid. 28:7). See how much harm comes from the wine! And it is written : "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is riotous and whoever reels thereby is not wise" (Prov. 20:1).

There is an interesting comment by Yalkut Shimoni on 11,13 item 863. We note that the word כל is missing when the Torah speaks about our collective observance of its commandments. The Torah writes: והיה אם שמוע תשמעו אל מצותי אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם היום, "It will come to pass when you will surely listen to My commandments which I command to you this day." The Yalkut explains that the wording is designed to forestall our argument that we cannot fulfill all the commandments, that "its measure is longer than the earth" (Job 11,9). We may compare the situation to a king who possesses a deep pit, so deep that no one has probed its exact depth. He tells a member of his staff to hire workers to fill up the pit; he does so. One of the more foolish of the workers takes a look into the pit and asks: "Will I ever finish filling up this hole?" The intelligent worker relates quite differently to the task at hand He is not concerned with the time it may take to complete the task but reasons that, since he is a day laborer and gets paid for the amount of time he puts in, he is happy to have found work which may assure him of a continued livelihood for an indeterminate period. This is what G–d says here to the Jewish people. He tells us not to worry about the immensity of the task but to view ourselves as day laborers and to be happy that we will receive a reward for every day that we keep observing His commandments. Thus far the Yalkut. This Yalkut presents a difficulty. We can understand the comparison offered when we adopt the viewpoint expressed by Rabbi Yochanan in Sanhedrin 111 in connection with Isaiah 5,14: "Sheol has opened wide its gullet and parted its jaw in a measureless gap." Rabbi Yochanan differed from Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish; the latter applied this verse to the consignment to purgatory of people who have omitted only a single statute in their observance. Rabbi Yochanan did not agree that G–d is so demanding and therefore preferred the opposite interpretation, i.e. that observance of a single statute is enough to save a person from being consigned to purgatory. How can we reconcile the view of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish with that of the Yalkut?