Musar su Proverbi 13:26

It is written in Mishlei (13:7): "There are those who enrich themselves and have nothing, etc." It is known that Mishlei consists of analogies (meshalim). [In the above instance, the analogy is as follows:] Just as in monetary matters, it is possible for one to heap up riches, and yet, when it comes to the accounting, he may find that the great profits in his business are offset by many damages, so that when one is set against the other, he is seen to be left with nothing— so, in matters of eternity, it is possible for a man always to do mitzvoth and good deeds and yet to have an evil nature, which prompts him to slander his fellows. A man like this, when he comes to the higher world, will find that he has nothing, that all of the vines and plants that he planted in Gan Eden through his deeds have been covered with thorns and nettles, and the vines below are not visible, as it is written (Ibid. 24:31): "I passed by the field of a lazy man, and by the vineyard of a man lacking a heart, etc." That is, there are two types of people: one is too lazy to acquire Torah and good deeds for his soul. This is [what is intended by] "the field of a lazy man," one who did not learn, or who forgot through his laziness; and the second lacks a heart. He has Torah and good deeds, but his heart lacks concern for them [to see to it] that they endure. About the first, Solomon writes (Ibid. 24:30): "and, behold, it was all grown over with thorns"; i.e., instead of beautiful words of Torah there grew thorns and briers of idle speech. And, about the second, (Ibid.): "nettles had covered its face." In our context this is understood as meaning that every word of Torah and holiness that he had spoken and that could have produced "glorious fruit, holy to the L-rd," was covered and overlaid from above with the spirit of uncleanliness of his forbidden speech.

Man ought to employ this quality only in the service of God and His divine Law, as it is written (Ps. i. 2), "And his delight is in the law of the Lord," and again (id., cxix. 97), "How I love thy law," etc. Necessarily, one who occupies himself with the quest of knowledge and moral science (theoretical science and the practical arts), will be (so busy as to be) kept from his lusts. The wise one said, " If aught befall thee and no one occur to thee whom thou mightest consult with reference thereto, avoid it and bring it not near to thy passion, for passion is an enemy of the heart." And he said, "He who is submissive to his lust is routed, and he who rebels against it gains the victory." This quality is preferred by foolish men only because of the imminence (immediateness) of its delight and for the sake of the amusement and merriment and the hearing of mirthful songs which they get through it. They heed not the suffering and the wretchedness that follow in its train, and therefore incline in accord with their natural impulses to the attainment of present pleasure, as it is said (Prov. xiii. 19), "The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul,"

And, King Solomon, may peace be upon him, said in a similar vein (Mishlei 13:3): "One who widens his lips— it is 'breaking' for him," which the GRA explains: "One who widens his lips [in lashon hara], though he has a good soul, and though he has done many mitzvoth and [built] many 'fences,' his mouth will break everything."

He must also root out thorns and briers from his vineyard. That is, people to whom he has caused a loss with his tongue or whom he has shamed or grieved. He must conciliate them with his mouth, and he must also confess before the L-rd for having transgressed His will as stated in the Torah. For all sins between man and his neighbor are also sins between man and his Maker, as is well known. And even if he spoke against them not to their face and his words had no effect, in any event, he must repent before the L-rd, and thus the thorns will be removed from his vineyard, as will the spirit of uncleanliness that covered its face (see Part One, The Gate of Torah, where we expanded on this.) [The end of the (opening) verse (Mishlei 13:7): "and [there are] those who impoverish themselves and have great wealth": It is known that if one repents out of love [of the L-rd], all of the sins that he committed in the beginning become merits for him; so that it emerges that the more he had sinned in the beginning and had become impoverished, the wealthier he becomes afterwards. This can be understood according to its plain meaning: One who repents out of love is certainly embittered over each sin he has committed, and grieves over how his heart could have permitted him to transgress the will of the Creator, who gives life to all of the creation in His lovingkindness and His goodness. As a result, his sin is uprooted from the beginning, and he fulfills thereby the positive commandment of repentance. It emerges, then, that for every sin he committed in the beginning, there is now in its place the positive mitzvah of teshuvah.]

This is like what our sages of blessed memory said regarding the light which G-d stored away for the righteous (Chagiga 12a): "when G-d saw the light which He stored away for the righteous, He rejoiced, as written: 'the light of the righteous rejoices' (Prov.13:9)".

And the ninth principle is the breaking of physical desire. One should put into his mind that desire causes harm to his soul - to sin and to be pulled after iniquity for worthless vanities. So he should make a vow to protect the path of repentance: He should separate from pleasures and not be drawn after his desire - even with things that are permissible - and follow the path of asceticism. So he should only eat to satiate his spirit and preserve his body, like the matter that is stated (Proverbs 13:28), "The righteous man eats to the satiation of his spirit." And he should not approach a woman except to fulfill the commandment of being fruitful and multiplying; or the commandment of the set time [for his wife]. For anytime that a man pursues desire, he is drawn after the effects of the physical and is distanced from the path of the reasoning soul; and then his impulse will overpower him, like the matter that is stated (Deuteronomy 32:15), "And Jeshurun waxed fat and rebelled." And it is [also] stated (Proverbs 30:9), "Lest, being sated, I renounce." And they, may their memory be blessed, said (Sukkah 52b), "There is a small limb in a man - [if] he satiates it, it is hungry; [if] he starves it, it is satiated."

And behold that the desire placed in the heart of man is the root of all of his actions. Therefore, if he refines the desire - instead of all the limbs serving it, he will draw them after the intellect. So they will accompany him and serve him; and all of his actions will be proper, as it is stated (Proverbs 21:8), "but he is pure and straight in his actions." (And it appears to me that he is understanding, "but he is pure," [as] meaning to say, that he is pure from desire; "and straight in his actions," [as] all of his actions are assumed to be refined and straight. And that is something that can be learned from its [context], as its opposite is written after it - "The desire of the wicked is set upon evil" [Proverbs 21:10].) And it is [also] stated (Proverbs 13:19), "Desire niheyeh is sweet to the spirit." Niheyeh [here] is like broken, as [its usage in] (Daniel 8:27), "I was broken (niheyeti), and languished." It is stating that when a man breaks his desire - even for things that are permissible - it renders his spirit successful. So this trait is sweet to it. For the intellect raises its hand and is victorious. "But to turn away from evil is abhorrent to the stupid" (Proverbs 21:8): The stupid, who do not break their desire but rather always pursue the desires of people - when their desire confronts them [to do a] sin or any bad thing, they will not veer from it. And they are called stupid because of [their] pursuit of pleasures - as it is stated (Proverbs 21:20), "and a stupid man will swallow them." And it is stated (Isaiah 5:11-12), "Ah, those who chase liquor from early in the morning, etc. Who have lyre and lute, etc.; but who never give a thought to the plan of the Lord, etc." And it is [also] stated (Proverbs 13:25), "but the belly of the wicked is empty." And it is [further] stated (Malachi 2:3), "and I will strew dung upon your faces, the dung of your festivals." And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Shabbat 151b), "These are people for which all their days are like festivals." And it states (Proverbs 18:1), "He who isolates himself pursues his desires; he disdains all competence." Its explanation is, one who seeks to go after his desire and his will, will be isolated from any friend or countryman. As admirers and companions will distance themselves them from him, since the desires and measures of people are [all] different - the will of this one is not like the will of that one. However if he will follow the path of the intellect, many friends will join themselves to him and his admirers will be many. And they said regarding ethics, one who [insists] upon his measures will have many [against] him. And it is possible to explain, "He who isolates himself pursues his desires," about this matter itself: A man is isolated from every brother and friend, by the desire that he seeks. And since he seeks to go after his will - because of that, his companions distance themselves from him. [It is] like the matter [of], "but a poor man loses his friend" (Proverbs 19:4). "He disdains all competence": One who follows his desires will not only sin in one thing. Rather he will disdain every thing in the Torah, since he will transgress all of it - like the wording (of Proverbs 20:3), "but every fool disdains."

And behold that the desire placed in the heart of man is the root of all of his actions. Therefore, if he refines the desire - instead of all the limbs serving it, he will draw them after the intellect. So they will accompany him and serve him; and all of his actions will be proper, as it is stated (Proverbs 21:8), "but he is pure and straight in his actions." (And it appears to me that he is understanding, "but he is pure," [as] meaning to say, that he is pure from desire; "and straight in his actions," [as] all of his actions are assumed to be refined and straight. And that is something that can be learned from its [context], as its opposite is written after it - "The desire of the wicked is set upon evil" [Proverbs 21:10].) And it is [also] stated (Proverbs 13:19), "Desire niheyeh is sweet to the spirit." Niheyeh [here] is like broken, as [its usage in] (Daniel 8:27), "I was broken (niheyeti), and languished." It is stating that when a man breaks his desire - even for things that are permissible - it renders his spirit successful. So this trait is sweet to it. For the intellect raises its hand and is victorious. "But to turn away from evil is abhorrent to the stupid" (Proverbs 21:8): The stupid, who do not break their desire but rather always pursue the desires of people - when their desire confronts them [to do a] sin or any bad thing, they will not veer from it. And they are called stupid because of [their] pursuit of pleasures - as it is stated (Proverbs 21:20), "and a stupid man will swallow them." And it is stated (Isaiah 5:11-12), "Ah, those who chase liquor from early in the morning, etc. Who have lyre and lute, etc.; but who never give a thought to the plan of the Lord, etc." And it is [also] stated (Proverbs 13:25), "but the belly of the wicked is empty." And it is [further] stated (Malachi 2:3), "and I will strew dung upon your faces, the dung of your festivals." And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Shabbat 151b), "These are people for which all their days are like festivals." And it states (Proverbs 18:1), "He who isolates himself pursues his desires; he disdains all competence." Its explanation is, one who seeks to go after his desire and his will, will be isolated from any friend or countryman. As admirers and companions will distance themselves them from him, since the desires and measures of people are [all] different - the will of this one is not like the will of that one. However if he will follow the path of the intellect, many friends will join themselves to him and his admirers will be many. And they said regarding ethics, one who [insists] upon his measures will have many [against] him. And it is possible to explain, "He who isolates himself pursues his desires," about this matter itself: A man is isolated from every brother and friend, by the desire that he seeks. And since he seeks to go after his will - because of that, his companions distance themselves from him. [It is] like the matter [of], "but a poor man loses his friend" (Proverbs 19:4). "He disdains all competence": One who follows his desires will not only sin in one thing. Rather he will disdain every thing in the Torah, since he will transgress all of it - like the wording (of Proverbs 20:3), "but every fool disdains."

And King Solomon, peace be upon him, said (Proverbs 13:13), "He who disdains a precept will be injured thereby; and he who fears a commandment will be rewarded." He said this about one who disdains [concern about] light sins. For he will be injured from the angles that we mentioned. "And he who fears a commandment" - to [make efforts not to] negate (fail to perform) a commandment, like he fears from a weighty sin - "will be rewarded": He is destined to receive the full reward [for it]. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Avot 2:1) "And be careful with a light commandment as with a weighty one." And they also said (Avot 4:2), "For the payment for performing a commandment is another commandment and the payment for committing a transgression is a transgression."

6. The sixth way in which true modesty can be recognized is if a man customarily speaks soft words, as it is said: "A soft answer turneth away wrath" (Prov. 15:1), and with a low voice, for this speaks of humility as it is said: "And you shall be humbled and shall speak from the ground and your speech shall be low out of the dust" (Is. 29:4). And he should not occupy himself with the beauty of clothes and ornaments, as it is said: "For He saves the humble-eyed person" (Job 22:29). And he should not occupy himself with the pursuit of pleasure, as it is said: "The righteous eats to satisfy his soul" (Prov. 13:25), and not more. All these are the signs of Modesty.

The modest person has charm, as it is said: "And He gives grace to the humble" (Prov. 3:34). The prayer of the modest person is received before the Holy One, Blessed be He, for he, the modest person, is always generous and waives his claims against others. And it is because of this that the prayer of Rabbi Akiba was received when he began, "Our Father, our King" as is commented upon in Ta'anith 25b. The modest man merits increasing wisdom, for he is humble in the presence of the wise and sits at their feet, as it is said: "He that walks with wise men shall be wise" (Prov. 13:20). Heaven has mercy upon the humble person, as it is said: "He who confesses his wrongs and forsakes them shall obtain mercy" (Prov. 28:13).

The love of sons and daughters: The love of sons and daughters is necessitated by nature, for they are the bone from his bone and flesh from his flesh, and even ???. But one must take care that his love does not overturn boundaries, that he does not make his son suffer and longs for him greatly and gives him extra love. Shlomo has already said in his wisdom (Proverbs 13:24) "One who spares his rod hates his son, but one who loves him rebukes him." And the essence of love is love of the soul, and included in this is love of oneself, for ??? gives merit to the father. As it is written (ibid 29:17): "Punish your son and he will give delicacies to your soul." Therefore, a person should be careful to behave with his son with open rebuke and hidden love, according to what he understands in his youth. "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a youth, a rod of rebuke will distance him from it" (ibid 22:15). But the father should take care not to be cruel to his child and not to hit him and give him a bruise out of anger. Rather he should lead him with gentleness and with mercy he should hit his legs, not on a place where he will sustain a wound like between the eyes. And when he is older, "a rebuke enters deeper into a man of understanding" (ibid 17:10). And it is known (Moed Katan 17a): that he who hits his adult son transgresses because of the sin of putting a stumbling block before a blind person, etc. This does not refer to an actual adult, rather according to the son's understanding and character traits" when he is older and does not accept rebuke, "a soft tongue breaks the bone" (Proverbs 25:15) and he will not be lenient in his own honor so that his reputation will not be ruined. And he [the father] needs to be even more careful with that which our rabbi cautioned (Shabbat 10b): One should not teach his son when he is among other boys, for "jealousy is as difficult as the grave" (Song of Songs 5:6). The principle is: according to the mental ability and character traits of the son is how a father needs to behave with him in a way that he will not sin. If he does sin against him, he should be quick to forgive him so his son will not be punished on account of him, and he should not be exacting with them, and sometimes he should make himself like a deaf person who does not hear and as if he does not see, and sometimes he should submit his will to their will. And this is a major principle for one who wants to bring merit to his soul and the souls of his sons after him.

The second level is the severity of positive commandments: The foundation of the reward and the root of the recompense resulting from the service is [found] in the performance of positive commandments, as it is stated (Proverbs 13:13), “He who respects a commandment will be rewarded.” And it is [also] stated (Malachi 3:18), “And you shall come to see the difference [...] between him who has served God and him who has not served Him.” And the service [to God] is with commandments that depend upon (involve) actions - whether there is nothing besides the positive commandment or whether there is [also] a negative commandment with them, such as (Deuteronomy 15:7), “do not harden your heart, etc.” (which accompanies the positive commandment of charity). And the commandment of the service will be explained in the Gate of the Service (no longer extant), with God’s help. Nevertheless, there is a manner of reward for the one who is careful not to transgress a negative commandment that reaches [that] of one who does a commandment - such as if the opportunity for a sin comes to a man and he had a desire for a sexual prohibition, but he overcame his impulse - for this is from the essence of the fear of God, may He be blessed. And likewise someone who had the opportunity to get rich by cheating and [charging] interest and there is no one to see and to know; yet he went with innocence and clean hands - his reward for this will be like one who plants righteousness and toils [to do a positive] commandment. And so it is written (Psalms 119:3) “They have done no wrong, but have followed His ways.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Yerushalmi Kiddushin 1:9), “Since they did not do wickedness, they have ‘followed His ways.’” And we have already discussed the explanation of this verse for you. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, likewise said (Kiddushin 39b), “[If] one sits and does not transgress, he receives a reward as one who performs a commandment, [...] in a case where an opportunity to commit a sinful act presents itself to him and he is saved from it.” And they also said (Berakhot 6a), “‘Those who revere the Lord and esteem His name.’ - this is [a case] where an opportunity to commit a sinful act presents itself to him and he is saved from it.” Even [with] this reward [however], its essence and foundation is [based in] a positive commandment, since he suppressed his impulse with the fear of God, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 10:20), “You must fear the Lord, your God.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Avot 2:1), “Be careful with a light commandment as with a weighty one, for you do not know the reward for the fulfillment of the commandments.” Yet behold [that] what will be done to anyone who transgresses a negative commandment is explicit in the Torah; and it allocates punishments and statutes and a code for what to do to them. And the punishments are forty lashes, death and expiation at the hands of the Heavens and the four death penalties of the court. But the reward for the fulfillment of the commandments is not explicit in the Torah, so that [people] not prevent themselves from fulfilling the light commandments and involve themselves only in the weighty ones.

By doing so one fulfills the directive of verse 7: "to eat in the Presence of G–d." In view of the fact that one eats in the Presence of the שכינה, one has to share one's meal with the poor, and not give them anything inferior to what the host eats himself. One must observe table manners, not gulp down one's food as did Esau when he sold Jacob his birthright (Genesis 25,30). We have a tradition that a wicked person will always feel that his belly lacks something, is hungry (Proverbs 13,25). When the Torah writes לפני ה' אלוקיך, this is always to emphasize that we must feel in the presence of positive rather than negative forces, חצוניות. While consuming one's meal one must not engage in futile pursuits but concentrate on the immediate requirements of the meal and on words of Torah.

And [this holds true] especially in the area of guarding one's tongue. For if he permits, G-d forbid, his soul to be in the category of speakers of lashon hara in this world, and, as a matter of course, does not prevent his ears, too, from always hearing lashon hara and rechiluth and accepting it, (also, so that he will have later what to talk about; for this is the trait of the talebearer, to go and hear in one place and sell this "merchandise" in another place, as a merchant with his wares [viz. Torath Cohanim and Rashi's commentary on Chumash]), then he will have damaged his faculties of speech and hearing, and will certainly be punished in his soul, correspondingly, in the world to come, in these two faculties themselves, speech and hearing. [This is the language of the GRA (R. Eliyahu of Vilna) on the verse (Mishlei 13:13): "He who neglects a thing will be hurt by it, and the fearer of a mitzvah — he will be complete." "For there are 248 organs in a man, and, corresponding to them, 248 positive commandments. And likewise, every thing derives its vital strength from the mitzvoth. And, therefore, anyone who neglects any matter of mitzvah hurts himself. For he is thereby deprived of the vital strength of that matter. But one who fears forsaking any mitzvah and seeks to fulfill every thing [(of mitzvah)] will be complete in all of his organs."] And we may also say that this is the intent of the verse (Devarim 32:5): "[In the transgressions that they have committed,] they have corrupted [themselves], not Him," [G-d forbid], as it is written [Iyyov 35:6]: "If you have sinned, what have you done to Him." The intent [of the verse in Devarim] is as he [the GRA] explains — that through their sins they become blemished in the end. [see Rashi on "banav mumam" ("His sons, their blemish")]. That is, if any mitzvah becomes expendable in his eyes, G-d forbid, then the organ corresponding to that mitzvah becomes blemished in the end, as we have written in the name of the GRA. For in the issur of speaking lashon hara and rechiluth that he speaks with his mouth he transgresses "You shall not go talebearing among your people," most of which [sin] inheres in the mouth. And in hearing lashon hara and accepting it, he infringes on the transgression of (Shemoth 23:1): "You shall not bear a false report." [viz. Sefer Charedim on the negative commandments dependent on the ears, and what I have copied of his words in Principle X of the Be'er Mayim Chayim.] And it is known that these [(speaking and hearing)] are the major faculties of the "form" of man and of his perfection, even in this world. (This is well known from the ruling of Chazal that a deaf-mute [cheresh], who does not hear and does not speak is [legally] comparable to a shoteh [one who is mentally deficient] and to a minor, in all matters. And, in Bava Kamma 85b: "If one rendered another a cheresh he pays him the [legal] worth of an entire man"; for from now on he is not [legally] worth anything.) How much more so is he (i.e., "the counterpart of mouth and ear") rendered defective (for sins by those organs)] in the world to come. And even if we say that he will not be lacking entirely in these faculties, (for did he not also employ them in his lifetime in words of Torah and holiness?) in any event, they will certainly be defective, for he damaged them while yet living and did not repent. And this is known to all who have understanding — that even in this world, if, G-d forbid, a man's faculty of speech and hearing is impaired, even if — with great effort — he can still speak and hear, this greatly grieves him in his lifetime, and he will be more greatly shamed by this lack than if he were affected, in his other organs; for these are man's prime faculties and he will also not be able to conceal their loss. How much more so, in the higher world — how much will his soul grieve there before the eyes of all! Even if no punishment were inflicted upon the man of lashon hara at all, but only his speech and hearing were impaired, how much shame would he suffer because of this! For there it is known and recognized by all that his speech and hearing impairment there is due to his being a man of lashon hara and strife in this world.

The third detrimental factor is [evil] company, namely, the company of fools and sinners. This is what scriptures says: "he who befriends the fools will be broken" (Prov.13:20). We can see many times, even after the truth of a man's duty for divine service and watchfulness of it has been established by him, he becomes lax in it or transgresses certain commandments so that his friends do not mock him or in order to be able to mingle freely in their company.

And the wise man said to his son, "If it should occur to you to make friends or companions, then make friends with a wise person as it is written: 'He that walks with the wise shall be wise' (Prov. 13:20). And it is said: 'Give knowledge to a wise man and he will be yet wiser' (Prov. 9:9). And so if you wish to grow in wisdom be a companion to the wise, for if you do act wisely your wise friend will praise you and not question your wisdom, and then you will know that you can rely on your wisdom. If they honor him, he will honor you; if they praise him, he will praise you. If you need his help, he will help you, and in the things you say he will declare you to be in the right. If you grow angry he will have patience with you, and you will learn from his good deeds. And be a companion to every person from whom you can learn things that will bring you to the Service of God, Blessed may He be!" And the Sages said, "If you wish to become a friend of a man get him angry with you and if he will still admit and confess the truth of what you say even in his wrath then become his companion and friend. If not, leave him. But, when you choose a friend, choose one who knows his own worth, for if he does not know himself his wisdom is of no good. Acquire a friend who will rebuke you when you do something that is not proper and who will teach you to do the good, and who will help you with his might and money — and such a friend will be faithful. But a friend who flatters you and smooths over your mistakes and errors and comforts you when you have done evil things — separate yourself from such a one.

This is the general rule that should always remain with you: A man should not satisfy all of his desires in eating and drinking, but he should eat and drink enough to keep his body in a healthy state and should refrain from reaching for a surplus of food. A man should not love this world for the sake of eating, drinking and having pleasure. For example, the wise man says: "I will eat in order to live." And the statement of the fool is "I will live in order to eat." On this subject it is said: "The righteous eat to the point of satisfying their desire, but the stomach of the wicked is always wanting no matter how much they eat" (Prov. 13:25).

Behold, Shlomo repeatedly exhorted many times on this in seeing the evil of laziness and the greatness of the harm resulting from it. He said "a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. Then shall your poverty come as a traveler" (Mishlei 24:33). For behold, even though the lazy person is not doing evil actively, nevertheless he brings evil on himself through his very inactivity.

"it was all grown over with thorns" - refers to one who seeks the interpretation of a portion of the Torah and does not find it.

But the wisest of men (Shlomo) has taught us that all of this is contrary to the will of the Creator, blessed be He, and the attributes of His pious ones as written: "the righteous man hates a false word" (Mishlei 13:5). This is also what the Torah commands us: "keep far from a false matter" (Shemot 23:7). Notice that the verse did not say "guard against falsehood" but rather "keep far from a false matter", to rouse us on the great extent one must distance and flee far away from falsehood, as scripture says: "The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies, and a deceitful tongue shall not be found in their mouths" (Tzefania 3:13).

The expression קרבן לה' which we invariably find when the offerings to be presented on this altar are mentioned, reflect the purpose of these offerings to achieve closeness, קרבן, with G–d. The Torah constantly repeats the expression לי-ה-ו-ה in connection with these קרבנות in order to stress the profound value of this spiritual rapprochement and unification with the Celestial Regions by means of these offerings. All this is explained by the Zohar. This too is the reason that the Torah stresses in Deut. 8,3 that "Man does not live on bread alone but on everything that originates from G–d." Man lives also on the spiritual dimension of food. This is why the legislation of forbidden foods in chapter eleven follows immediately after the legislation of who and under what circumstances the priests may enter the Tabernacle. The Torah wanted to establish a conceptual linkage between food consumed by man and food consumed by the altar In chapter 15 of the above cited שער הקדושה the author – again basing himself on the Zohar – writes that the impure spirit of the חיצונים rests on the מאכלים טמאים, forbidden foods, and that anyone who eats them ingests this spirit and that his own נפש is thereby detrimentally affected. Consumption of מאכלים טהורים, pure foods, however, confers upon the person eating them some of the spirit of purity and holiness resting on those foods. This is what is meant by צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו, "The righteous man eats to satisfy his soul" (Proverbs 13,25). The entire chapter in ראשית חכמה is relevant to our פרשה, including the prayers mentioned there.

Our Sages said further : "He who loses his temper, even the Divine Presence, is unimportant in His eyes (Nedarim 22b), as it is written "The wicked in the pride of his countenance (saith) 'He will not require', All his thoughts are 'There is no God' " (Ps. 10:4). And it (anger) also causes him to forget his studies of Torah and increases his folly as it is said : "For anger resteth in the bosom of fools" (Eccl. 7:9) and "A fool will not understand" (Ps. 92:7), and, "But a fool unfoldeth folly" (Prov. 13:16). You may be sure that his sins are more plentiful than his merits, as it is said : "An angry man stirreth up strife" (Ibid. 29:22) and his punishment is very great as it is said : "A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment" (Ibid. 19:19).

Likewise, to be stringent in cases of doubt even in situations where one may be lenient. Our sages, of blessed memory, explained the statement of Yechezkel (Chulin 37b) "'behold my soul never became Tamei (spiritually unclean)' (Yechezkel 4:14) - for I never ate the flesh of an animal which a Sage was called to rule on nor did I ever eat the flesh of an animal about which one says "slaughter it, slaughter it [urgently]". Behold, all these things are certainly permitted according to the Halacha but he was stringent on himself and abstained.

The seventeenth thing to remember is that it is a very good quality to keep away from people when he can save himself from them, and sit in his room alone. For most transgressions are committed by two or more — for example, fornication, gossip, lies and flattery — and from all of these he who sits alone is saved for he will not vaunt himself over any man and he will not hear their idle talk. For when he stays with them he is obliged to rebuke them in three ways : either by striking the offender, as Phinehas did when he took the javelin in his hand (Num. 25:7); or with words, as Moses our Teacher did, when he said to the wicked man, "Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?" (Ex. 2:13); or in one's heart, as David said, "I hate the gathering of evil-doers, and will not sit with the wicked" (Ps. 26:5). And who can constantly keep quarreling with such people, inasmuch as they constantly transgress? But when you sit alone you avoid all this guilt and you are saved from many transgressions. But pious people one should join and one should sit near them and learn from them, as it is written, "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise" (Prov. 13:20).

It is in the nature of man to be influenced in his ideas and his deeds by his friends and his companions, and he usually conducts himself as the people of his country do, and what they do, he does also. Therefore a man ought to associate with righeous men and always sit among the wise so that he may learn from their deeds, and he should separate himself from the wicked, who walk in the darkness, so that he will not learn from their deeds. This is what King Solomon says, "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but the companion of fools shall smart for it" (Prov. 13:20). And he says, "Happy is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the wicked" (Ps. 1:1).

Therefore when a person has guests in his home let him be sure to serve them a generous portion or let him not invite them at all, lest he be punished as above, Heaven forbid. For it is likely that the host will be required to repent over the matter. In this light we can understand the meaning of the verse, “A righteous person eats to the satiation of his soul but the belly of the wicked is lacking” (Mishlei 13:25). For whoever partakes of the food of someone with a generous eye eats to the satiation of his soul, even if the quantity of what he eats is small. But one who partakes of food from the “belly of the wicked” will feel a lack, for even if the quantity of what he eats is great it will not satiate him. The principle is that a miserly individual cannot even satiate his own soul, let alone give of the blessings Hashem has bestowed upon him to others. Thus we find that Naval (I Shmuel 21:11) was unwilling to send a portion of what he had slaughtered to Dovid HaMelech. Through this he brought evil upon himself, for he was stricken down by plague on this account (ibid. 38). Therefore a person must distance himself from this trait and then he will enjoy goodness, selah.

And of these twenty-four things that impede repentance, five of them are such that he who does them is constantly drawn after them and finds it very difficult to separate himself from them. Therefore, a man must be very careful of these, lest he cleave to them, and they are all very evil states of mind. And these are : tale-bearing, gossip, wrath, evil thoughts, and associating with a wicked man, for he will surely learn from his deeds. For when one is always with the wicked and sees these deeds they become impressed in his heart, as Solomon said, "But the companion of fools shall smart for it" (Prov. 12:20).

Now it is known that of all the hope of a man, ennobled by the name "Israel," the primary hope is to merit life in the world to come, the greatest delight of all the delights of the world. As stated in Avoth 4:17: "Better one moment of pleasure in the world to come than all the life of this world." And it is also known what has been written in many sefarim, including the GRA, on (Mishlei 13:13): "He who cheapens a thing will be injured by it," viz.: When a man cheapens a mitzvah, he injures himself. For every thing in his organs receives its vital force from a mitzvah. For the 248 positive commandments correspond to the 248 organs of a man, as we find in the Midrash, so that there is thereafter found [(by the cheapening of a mitzvah)] an injury in the soul in [the area of] the corresponding limb.

We have to ask ourselves why these men were described as חטאים, whereas the Torah does not refer thus to the sons of Aaron. The answer is that they made common cause with Korach. Had they pursued their noble intentions without swelling the ranks of Korach and Datan and Aviram, they would not have been described as חוטאים, sinners at all. The Baal Haturim already alludes to this by quoting the number 250 as being the letters in the first word of Proverbs 13,9, ונר רשעים ידעך, that "the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished."

It seems to me that this is why Scripture says, “As a father has mercy upon his children” (Tehillim 103:13). Why is it not stated, “As a mother has mercy upon her children”? The answer is that it is the nature of a father who loves his children to discipline them, as it is stated, “One who spares the rod hates his son, but the one who loves him disciplines him every morning” (Mishlei 13:24). Every man who disciplines his son demonstrates thereby that he loves him, as is elaborated on in Midrash Rabbah, Parashas Shemos (1:1). A woman, on the other hand, is soft-hearted and does not wish for the father or teacher to strike the child. Moreover, while he is yet small the mother fulfills his every wish, granting him all his heart’s desires. Then when he becomes a youth he seeks out what he is accustomed to and eventually turns to evil ways. And all of this is caused by the woman.

And thus we find that an [interesting] inquiry arises. Since it is Hashem who determines death and life - what what will the doctor add [by aiding to heal the patient]? Is it not so that if it was decreed [in Heaven] that one will die, even if all the doctors in the world arose to heal him, they would not be able to save him from death?And thus [we can better understand] our sages statement "the error / malpractice of the doctor is the will of the Creator" and it is not in his power to save. And if it was decreed upon the person that he should live, even without a doctor, the Holy One Blessed Be He, will turn over [worlds] and cure him. For Hashem has many ways and with Him there is much deliverance and He will stretch out his word [other version "hand"] and heal him. However, the answer to this inquiry and to many others like it is that there are three different types of decrees - 1) If he is one that holds a special merit and his merit is strong and his fate is salutary - even if he doesn't have a doctor and he does things that will worsen his condition, he will not die and "live he will live". 2) And there are those, upon whom death is decreed - that is to say, even if he guarded himself with all protection in the world, his persistence of protecting himself is all in vain, and doctors will be of no help and he will not be saved. 3) However, there are those who, due to their sins, place themselves under the influence of "nature": - if they protect themselves and act with the proper cures according to nature - "live he will live" - he will surely live. - and if not they will die and on this type of person it is said "and there is death without judgment."