Musar su Giudici 5:78

There is no research into his wisdom and many of the heart research that is with him.

Indeed the meticulous make it a practice to gaze at the Heavens at nightfall, just as the stars begin to shine, and recite, “How manifold are Your works, Hashem, etc.” (ibid. 104:24). One should be especially zealous to gaze at the Heavens when the sun begins to shine and to “go out in its strength” (Shoftim 5:31), for at that time the Side of Evil and impure beings and the forces of strict judgment are aroused by the sun’s fierceness. The same applies when the moon begins to shine. This is because the Side of Evil cannot appear in the light of the moon; therefore its minions, which float about the world in great force, take refuge in the moon’s shadow. Concerning this was it written, “The sun will not strike you by day nor the moon by night” (ibid. 121:6). One should have this in mind when reciting the morning prayer, “Who forms light, etc., who illuminates the earth and its inhabitants in mercy.” That is, He causes the luminaries to shine in mercy so that no Jew will come to harm on account of their light.

And we find in Midrash Tehillim 49:2: "'To the chief musician, to the sons of Korach, a psalm.' This is as Scripture says (Koheleth 11:7): 'And sweet is the light, and good for the eyes.' How sweet is the light of the world to come. Happy is the man who has the good deeds to see that light, as it is written (Judges 5:31): 'And His lovers [will be] as the rising of the sun in his might.'" R. Abba said: "How sweet are those things which are compared to light. As it is written (Mishlei 6:23): 'For a mitzvah is a lamp, and Torah, light, etc.' Happy is the man who sees the Torah white as snow, for there is no end to its reward. When the Holy One Blessed be He will come to pay Israel the reward of the toilers in Torah and will bestow upon them of the secreted light in its merit — at that time they will say to the peoples of the world: 'We merited [this] because we occupied ourselves with Torah. And you used to say to us: "You are wearying yourselves for nothing." — See its reward!' As it is written (Psalms 49:2): 'Hear this [zoth] all you people.' And 'zoth' is the Torah.' (Psalms, Ibid.): 'Hear, all you dwellers of the earth [chaled]' — these are the men who raise rust [chaludah] in Gehinnom. And who are they? (Ibid. 3): 'Both the sons of "Adam" and the sons of "Ish."' "Adam" — this is Abraham, viz. (Joshua 14:15): 'the great man [Adam] among the giants.' Also the sons of Adam' — Yishmael and the sons of Ketura. 'Also the sons of Ish' — the sons of Noach, who was called ish tzaddik (Bereshith 6:9). Another interpretation: These are the idolators, who descend to Gehinnom. (Ibid.): "rich and poor together" — rich in Torah and poor in Torah. "rich" — Doeg and Achitophel. Even though they were heads of sanhedrin, they descended to Gehinnom. "and poor in Torah" — one who can learn but does not learn. Therefore, the sons of Korach said (Ibid. 4): 'My mouth shall speak wisdom' — the wisdom of Torah; 'and my heart shall meditate understanding' — the understanding of Torah. (Ibid. 5) 'I will incline my ear to a parable' — the parable of Torah." And this is the language of the holy Zohar, Parshath Vayeshev:"

And concerning these that are not worried about their own honor but love God, it is written in Judges 5:31 and commented upon in Shabbath 88b : "But they that love Him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might." (Our Rabbis taught: "Those who are insulted but do not insult, hear themselves reviled without answering, act through love and rejoice in suffering.")

Let a man always be among the shamed ones rather than among those who shame others, and among those who hear insults and do not respond, for of them it is said in Judges 5:31 "But they that love Him shall be as the sun when he goes forth in his might". This is commented on in Shabbath 88b: "Measure for measure! Because he heard insult and his face turned pallid (and yet he was silent) God will cause his face to shine more than the light of the sun, as it is similarly said in Isaiah 60:1, 'And the glory of the Lord has shone upon thee.' "

One who does not perpetuate a dispute against those who stand on a path that is not good, and those that haul in iniquity, is surely punished for their transgressions in all their sins (of the actual sinners); and [also] transgresses a negative commandment - as it is stated (Leviticus 19:17), “and not bear sin because of him..” And it is stated (Hosea 10:9) “You have sinned more, O Israel, than in the days of Gibeah; there they stand; shall they not be overtaken [as] at Gibeah by a war upon scoundrels?” Its explanation is [that] if that generation (of Hosea) was standing there, they would not have overtaken those in Gibeah in war, to destroy the evil, as that generation had overcome [the evildoers of that time] in war. The understanding of “there they stand” is, if they stood there. And likewise “and leave his father” (Genesis 44:22) is, if he left. [This is] meaning to say, that their sin was of the type of sin of Gibeah. However [the earlier generation] was better than these, since they gathered and stood with their lives to destroy the evil. And it is stated (Judges 5:23), “‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord; ‘Bitterly curse its inhabitants, because they came not to the aid of the Lord, to the aid of the Lord among the warriors.” And it is stated (Deuteronomy 1:17), “do not fear in front of a man.” And anyone who is for God, may He be blessed, should give over his life for the sanctification of God, as it is stated (Exodus 32:26), “‘Whoever is for the Lord, come to me’; and all the Levites gathered to him.” And it is [also] stated (Numbers 25:7), “And Phinheas saw, etc. and he took a spear in his hand.” And it is an obligation on all that fear [God] - even if he is one that loves pureness of heart - to arouse zealotry when he sees that behold, the officers and the prefects are in trespass, as it is stated (Ezra 9:2), “and it was the hand of the officers and prefects who were in this trespass first.”

ויקח שש מאות רכב בחור וכל רכב מצרים. The Zohar asks if the 600 choice chariots were not also part of Egypt's cavalry that the Torah had to add the words "and all the chariots of Egypt?" The Zohar answers that the subject in this verse is Samael who took the chariots of other nations with him in the pursuit of the Israelites. G–d paid those people back when Sisera lost all his iron chariots in the battle against Barak and Deborah (Judges 5,20-21).

And, likewise, any man, if he merits [attaining] this trait in perfection, will be accounted in the future among the lovers of the Blessed L-rd and will shine as "the sun coming forth in its strength" As Chazal have said (Shabbath 88b): "Those who are shamed but do not shame [in return], who hear themselves abused and do not retort, who serve [the L-rd] out of love and rejoice in afflictions, — of such it is written (Judges 5:31): 'And His lovers, as the sun coming forth in its strength.'"

There is a comment by the Zohar on פרשת בלק, (Sullam edition page 54) which may help to explain this. Deborah says in Judges 5,4: ה' בצאתך משעיר, בצעדך משדה אדום. "G–d, when You left from Se-ir and when You stepped forth from the fields of Edom, etc" G–d, before he gave the Torah to the Jewish people, first approached the descendants of Esau, as alluded to in Deut. 33,2. They refused to accept the Torah, as hinted at in וזרח משעיר למו. G–d then approached the Ishmaelites who also refused, as hinted at in והופיע מהר פארן. G–d thereupon offered the Torah to Israel. So far our tradition.

Moses speaks of G–d as וזרח משעיר למו הופיע מהר פארן "He shone upon them from Se'ir, He appeared from Mount Paran" (33,2); Moses alludes to the partial revelation of this hidden light at the time the Torah was given on Mount Sinai. The Zohar on Parshat Balak (Sullam edition pages 54-56) described in detail how G–d first offered the Torah to the nations of the world, and how they not only rejected it but suggested G–d offer it to Israel, even offering bribes so that Israel could be persuaded to accept it and hopefully be found inadequate. [We have quoted all this in Torah Ohr section of Parashat Yitro].

The wise men commanded that one must always remove himself so far from anger as to accustom himself not to feel any humiliation or hurt whatever, even at things which usually cause anger to any man until he completely roots out anger from his heart; This is the best path, and the way of the righteous : "They are shamed, but they do not shame; they hear people speak words of disgrace against them, but they do not retort, they do their deeds of goodness with love and rejoice in God's chastisements." And concerning them the Scripture says, "And those that love Him are like the sun when he goes forth in his strength" (Judges 5:31).

Israel's dispersion to many parts of the globe instead of exile to a single country held another advantage for us, as described by Rabbi Oshiyah on the same folio. He interpreted Judges 5,11: "G–d did Israel a favor by dispersing it." He based his interpretation on the remarks by a heathen to Rabbi Chaninah that they were superior to the Jews in religious tolerance. Whereas Yoav and his men killed all the male population of Edom in six months, as reported in Kings I 11,16, the Jews had been in exile amongst the Gentiles for many years and had not been harmed. Rabbi Chaninah delegated a student to engage in a discussion with this heathen, and Rabbi Oshiyah was the student chosen for that task. The latter told the heathen that they could not claim to be tolerant. They had not been able to kill all the Jews since the Jewish nation was dispersed all over the globe. Had they killed the Jews in one country, that country would have acquired a reputation of killing off its own citizens. The heathen was forced to admit that they did indeed have the problem of how to kill all the Jews. This incident illustrates how G–d did us a favor by dispersing us all over the globe.

This alternative is alluded to when the Torah in Deut. 28,25 speaks of: בדרך אחד תצא אליו ובשבעה דרכים תנוס לפניו, "you will go out (to war) against your enemy on one path but flee from him in seven directions." The allegorical meaning of this verse is that there are many ways which may, G–d forbid, lead away from G–d's purpose for His universe. I have mentioned earlier that on the one hand G–d remains concealed, i.e His essence is concealed from us, whereas on the other hand He is manifest through His actions. His being concealed becomes especially noticeable when He manifests Himself and we do not "see Him." The closest we can come to appreciate Him is within the framework called בנין. It is appropriate for us therefore to partake as little as possible in the הבל הבלים of the physical world created during the seven days of Creation and instead seek communion with Him in the higher regions, the seven days of Creation of the higher world. This is the message of the man on crutches, the "cripple" in our parable. If, however, a person needs to venture into the physical world in order to fulfil any of the commandments of the Torah he should do so only for as long as required to perform the מצוה in question. He should return without delay to his communion with G–d in solitude. This is why the Torah (28,6) stresses: ברוך אתה בבואך וברוך אתה בצאתך. "You are blessed when you enter and you are blessed when you exit." This is why the parable described the attainment of solitude in terms of קפיצה, that the earth, so to speak, contracted under the runner to enable him to reach his destination more speedily. There is also an allusion in the parable that we find ourselves suddenly in front of a "cave;" the "cave" is hyperbole for our grave, our death. Since we do not know the day we die, we must hurry to achieve what is our task in life while we have a chance. When the parable describes the seven palaces as being as brightly lit as the sun this is a hint that those who prefer to suffer insults rather than to insult others are viewed as emitting light similarly to that of the sun.

They further said (Shabbat 88b): "Those who are insulted but do not insult back, hear themselves insulted but do not answer back... of them scripture says: 'But they who love Him shall be as the sun when it goes forth in its might' (Shoftim 5:31) ".

Therefore the pious deemed it good for a man to afflict himself sometimes, in order to put down the evil inclination of arrogance, which grows strong only through abundance, similar to what our sages, of blessed memory, said: "a lion does not roar over a basket of straw but over a basket of meat" (Berachot 32a).

At the head of all the detriments to humility is foolishness and lack of true knowledge. You can observe that arrogance is found most prevalently among those who are most foolish.

The sense of touch also stands in relation to four qualities, and these are Liberality, Niggardliness, Valor, and Cowardice. Liberality in connection with touch is possible only through the action of the hand. Liberality consists in open-handedness, even as niggardliness is but close-fistedness. With regard to giving, it is said (Prov. xviii. 16), "A man's gift maketh room for him, and before great men it will lead him." Of niggardliness, it is said (Prov. xiii. 11), "He that gathereth by close hand will increase." That valor is in connection with the touch is evident from the connection between seizing hold of (something) and the hand; thus it is said (Jud. v. 26), "Her hand she put forth to the nail." In opposition to this, it is said of cowardice (Isa. xxxv. 3), "Strengthen ye weak hands"; and again (Ezek. vii. 17), "All hands shall become feeble," and so forth.

For this reason I must issue an admonishment regarding the trait of humility itself. It is written, “Mount and ride on behalf of truth and righteous humility” (Tehillim 45:5). As this verse indicates, humility must be righteous and not a deception to make an impression on others. This is a matter that God will examine, for the God of all spirits will bring to judgment anyone who fails to conduct himself with integrity and humility. But concerning the one who does behave with integrity and humility it is written, “And those who love Him will be like the sun going forth in its strength” (Shoftim 5:31). Amein.