Musar su Proverbi 30:38

When sufferings of chastisement come upon a person, he returns to the good. As the sages interpreted the Song of Songs, "Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, and pleasant" - even when You bring upon me sufferings of chastisement, it is pleasant. Why? Because You return me thus to the good. Human repentance is never complete without suffering. Repentance is improving one's actions and character. It is not fasting and wearing sackcloth and wallowing in the dust and immersing in water while remaining soiled on the inside with sins and evil thoughts. And so said the prophet (Isaiah 58): "Do you call that a fast, A day when the LORD is favorable?" "No, this is the fast I desire: To unlock fetters of wickedness, And untie the cords of the yoke." [...] The intent of the Torah is that one should first cleanse oneself on the inside, casting out from one's heart the impurities of sin, and then return what one has taken unfairly or by violence, and ask forgiveness from one's friend. After immersing one's heart inwardly and doing all kinds of purification and cleansing oneself from sin, one should purify oneself also outwardly by fasting and immersing the body, and so on...

... And on this the Torah says (Exodus 13:7) "there will not be seen and there will not be found" - it will not be seen b'maaseh (in action) and will not be found b'machshava (in thought), rather one should anul it in his heart. The mitzvot have 3 categories: mitzvot of speech, of the heart and of action, as it is written (Deuteronomy 30:14) "in your mouth and in your heart to do it". Comes the Torah (instructing us) to anul it in the heart, corresponding to the mitzvot which are dependent on the heart. Comes the 'kabbalah' (instructing us) to eradicate it from the house or to burn it, corresponding to the mitzvot of action. And to say 'kol chamira', corresponding to mitzvot of speech. In this way the 3 categories of mitzvot are fulfilled through the prohibition of chametz, teaching you that the prohibition of chametz incorporates all the mitzvot... Just as the 'kabbalah' comes (instructing us) to eradicate chametz and (livdok) to check the house in nooks and in cracks, so too we are obligated to search and check the chambers of our inner being for bad (machshavas) intentions and bad (hirhurim) thoughts. Just as bedikat chametz (checking for chametz) is not valid by sunlight, nor by moonlight, nor by the light of a torch, but only by the light of a candle, so too the bedikah (checking) of the yetzer hara must be by the light of the neshama (soul) which is called 'ner' (candle), this is what is written (Proverbs 20:27) "the candle of Hashem is the soul of man, which searches the chambers of one's inner being.

Thus, we see that man is truly placed in the midst of a raging battlefield. For all matters of this world, whether for the good or for the bad, are trials for a man. Poverty from one side versus wealth from the other. This is as Shlomo said: "Lest I be satiated, and deny You, and say, Who is G-d? or lest I be poor, and steal..." (Prov.30:9). Tranquility on one hand versus suffering on the other, until the battle is waged against him from the front and from the rear.

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."

For it is clear that the servant of a king will not abandon the king's command though he bears much shame from everyone who may laugh at him for performing that which his king commanded him. And he who cannot bear the shame in performing the precept and is ashamed to fulfill the command of God — and thus forsakes the path of good out of fear of shame — this kind of shame is very evil. And thus, if he is ashamed to admit the truth, this too is an evil disease. And thus, if he is too shy to rebuke people and command them to do good. And thus if he sits before his teacher and is too ashamed to ask what he does not know, whether it be a small matter or a big matter, such an attitude is very ugly. In these cases Scripture says: "Do not act foolishly by exalting yourself nor by cunningly keeping silent" (Prov. 30:32). And our Sages of Blessed Memory said: "The one who is ashamed (to ask questions) does not learn" (Aboth 2:5). The proper way is never to be ashamed to ask concerning what one does not know whether it be a small matter or a large one. Did you not see that David, King of Israel, said in Psalms 119:46: "And I will speak of Thy testimonies before kings and I shall not be ashamed."

There are some [negative commandments] that are dependent upon the tongue, for which we give lashes. For so did our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, say (Makkot 16a), “All the warnings in the Torah - we do not give lashes for a negative commandment that does not [involve] an action, except for one who makes an oath or curses his fellow with [God’s] name.” And even though there is no death penalty from the court with a vain oath, its punishment at the hands of the Heavens is more weighty than many sins that do have a death penalty from the court. For making an oath in vain profanes [God’s] name - as it is stated (Leviticus 19:12), “You shall not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God” - and the punishment for profaning the name is more elevated than [that of] all of the sins. And it is not written like this about any of the sins besides a false oath and idolatry, as it is stated (Leviticus 20:3), “because he gave of his offspring to Molech and so defiled My sanctuary and profaned My holy name.” And it is stated in the warning about idolatry (Exodus 20:5), “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord, your God, am a jealous God.” [This] means to say, that He will not forgive the iniquity of idolatry in the way of forgiveness for other sins - like the matter that is written (Jeremiah 5:7), “Why should I forgive you; your children have forsaken Me and sworn by no-gods!” And likewise is it written in the warning for a false oath (Exodus 20:7), “for the Lord will not clear one who swears falsely by His name.” And the warning for a false oath is written (immediately) after the warning of idolatry, most certainly because the iniquity of profaning God, may He be blessed, is found under the wings of a false oath. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said regarding the matter of the verse (Proverbs 30:8-9), “Give me neither poverty nor riches, etc. Lest, being sated, I renounce, saying, ‘Who is the Lord,’ or, being impoverished (it is written fully with an aleph, but its meaning is, poor), I take to theft, and profane the name of my God,” that the latter is harsher than the former - as it is stated (Ezekiel 20:39), “As for you, O House of Israel, etc., go, every one of you, and worship his idols and continue, if you will not obey Me; but do not profane My holy name any more.” It is meaning to say that the iniquity of the one who swears falsely in a court is more weighty than the punishment of one who worships idolatry in private, due to the profaning of the name [involved in the former]. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Shevuot 39a), “For all of the other transgressions in the Torah, punishment is exacted only from the transgressor and his family; whereas here, punishment is exacted from him and from the entire world,” And if the court obligates a man to make an oath but he knows that his mouth speaks falsely (it would be a false oath), it is forbidden to [even] take the oath upon himself, saying, “I will swear” - in order to frighten his fellow - even though he does not plan to swear. For it is stated, (Exodus 20:7), “You shall not bear” - and included in its meaning is not to accept (agree) to swear falsely. And likewise did they, may their memory be blessed, say in our Mekhilta (Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael, Yitro). And the Targum (translation of Onkelos) of, “Do not bear a vain report“ (Exodus 23:1), is “do not accept.” And it is forbidden to make a needless oath, even if he is swearing about the truth, as it is stated (Exodus 20:7), “Do not bear the name of God in vain” - and its Targum is, “for nothing.” And likewise is the iniquity of one who causes his fellow to swear for nothing, great - for example when his fellow owed him a hundred and he doubled it in his claim, in order that the law would come out that one who admits partially is obligated to make a Torah-based oath; or when he claims against his fellow for nothing and asks him for what he knows nothing about and makes him take a [rabbinic] oath of inducement. And our Rabbis said (Shevuot 39a) that this man is called a thief, as he is stealing his mind (deceiving him); and about him is it stated (Zechariah 5:4), “[But] I have sent it forth - declares the Lord of Hosts - and [the curse] shall enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name, and it shall lodge inside their houses and shall consume them to the last timber and stone.” And one who knows that if he takes an oath, people will suspect him about [the truth of] the oath, should restrain himself from [taking] the oath for the honor of the Heavens - even though the truth is with him.

In the preceding chapters we spoke about the individual. How much more so must one take great heed not to impute liability to Israel in general, for this sin is very severe. As we find in Pesachim 87b on Proverbs 30:10 "'Speak not ill of a servant to his master… a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother.' …Even a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother — do not speak ill of it to its Master — the Holy One Blessed be He." And see now [the instance of] Isaiah the prophet. When he saw the glory of the L-rd and said (Isaiah 6:5): "Woe unto me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips; and in the midst of a people of unclean lips do I dwell, etc." — because he said "and in the midst of a people of unclean lips," even though his intent in this was not to shame Israel, (for he said this also of himself) but only to say that he was not worthy of seeing the Shechinah, neither in point of his deeds nor of those of the people in whose midst he dwelt — in spite of this, see what follows (Ibid. 6): "Then one of the seraphs flew unto me [Isaiah] and in his hand was a live coal [ritzpah]," concerning which Chazal say that "ritzpah" is acronymic of "retzoth peh" ["crush the mouth"] that slanders My children." And he died as a result of this, as they say in Yevamoth 49b: "[He (Isaiah) uttered the Name and was 'swallowed up' in a cedar.] the cedar was brought and sawed. When it [the saw] came to his mouth, he died, [this, for having said 'And in the midst of a people of unclean lips do I dwell.']"

And you often see people who when they are angry and persist in their wrath, are not conscious of what they are doing and do many things in their anger which they would not do if they were free from anger, for anger draws out the intelligence of a person from within him until his angry deeds multiply and he is plunged into strife and quarrel. Therefore, it is impossible that the wrathful person should be saved from great sins. And so did Elijah say to Rabbi Judah : "Fall not into a passion and you will not sin" (Berakoth 29b). And the Sages said : "By three things is a man known" (Erubin 65b) and one of them is his anger, for when a man is angry his true nature can be recognized. If his wrath is stronger than his wisdom and he does things in the moment of his anger without regard to his wisdom, then you can see the character of his wrath. But if his wisdom is stronger than his anger and he de does not say or do anything when angry that he would not say or do when he is free from anger, then you can see the extent of his wisdom. And the Wise Man said : "Three, the Holy One Blessed be He loves and one of them is he who does not anger" (Pesahim 113b). And our Sages said : "Nor is an impatient person fitted to teach" (Aboth 2:5), for because of his great anger, the pupils fear him too much to ask the things of which they are in doubt lest he be wrathful with them. And even when his pupils do ask the impatient teacher questions he has neither the mind nor the patience to explain to his pupils all that is needed to make the matter clear. Then, too, he will answer questions in anger and thus the pupils will not understand the matter clearly. As for the pupils, it is their duty even when their teacher is angry with them, to ask their questions and listen carefully and not be hurt by the anger of their teacher nor quarrel with him. Concerning such pupils our Sages taught : "So the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife" (Proverbs 30:33). Any pupil whose teacher is angry with him repeatedly but bears the teacher's wrath in silence will merit to discern between civil and criminal law. And a master said : "There is nothing more difficult than civil and criminal Law" (cf. Berakoth 63b).

We must always keep in mind that the Sanctuary on this earth is "opposite" a Sanctuary in the Celestial Regions, and that expulsion of a person from the precincts of the Sanctuary in our world signifies merely that he or his soul would not be allowed entry into the sanctuary in those "Celestial" Regions. Just as impure elements have a constant desire to penetrate into areas reserved for the pure, . similarly it is the dream of the handmaid to inherit the position of her mistress. Israel as a whole is holy by definition, careful to maintain its holiness and the sanctity of its camps.

The following is the commentary of the Rekanati on the limitation of the number of wives a king may marry: "In view of the fact that the attribute זאת must dominate in the conduct of the king, G–d has warned him not to be attached exclusively to the philosophy of מלכות represented by that attribute. Were he to do so, he would remove himself further and further from the attribute of חסד. (Cf. Solomon in Proverbs 30,20 who describes the adulterous woman as: "she eats, wipes her mouth and claims not to have committed any wrong.") In order to prevent the king from falling victim to such influences, the Torah warns the king only (because he is more at risk than the ordinary citizen) not to marry too many wives, not to amass too many horses, etc.

The ninth principle is the destruction of lust. He must lay it to his heart that lust ruins all deeds. And he should abstain from luxuries, even from things which are permitted to him. And he should conduct himself in the paths of abstinence, eating only to satisfy his hunger and to preserve his body. And the same is true in his relationship to woman. For whenever a man follows after lust he is drawn after the functions of the body and separates himself from the ways of the cultured soul. Then his evil inclination overpowers him, as it is written, "But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked" (Deut, 31:15). And it is written, "Lest I be full, and deny, and say : 'Who is the Lord?' " (Prov. 30:9). Now the lust that is given into the heart of a man is the root of all deeds. Therefore he must hurry to correct that lust, and on this subject we have dwelt above. And there is a great benefit in the breaking of lust, for in this way a man reveals that his heart is good and upright, and that he rejects the character which sin has caused him to have. And one who abstains even from what is permitted erects a great fence which will keep him from touching what is forbidden. It is as if he says, "Even in that which is permitted I do not satisfy my craving; how then shall I stretch forth my hands to that which is forbidden?"