Musar su Salmi 145:78

The sage said, "Mercy is the result of kindliness and honesty." In regard to it, Solomon the Wise spake when he exhorted to mercy and compassion (Prov. xxiv. 11), "If thou forbear to deliver them that are born unto death." A beautiful feature of this quality in connection with the Creator, exalted and hallowed may He be, is that He is merciful in dealing with all His creatures. Thus it is said (Ps. cxlv. 9), "The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works." In the book of Al-Kuti, it is said, "Spare no effort to deliver those who are confronted with death." Again he said, "Do not wrong the weak, for their Protector is God, the mighty One." He said, "Prosperous are they whose heart is ever merciful and meek," and again we find therein, "He who is not merciful will die by the hand of one who is merciless."

To have mercy upon all of the creatures: He must also have his mercy extend to all the creatures. He [should] not disgrace them nor destroy them. As behold, the Highest Wisdom is spread over all the creatures - the inanimate, the growing (plants), the living (animals) and the speaking (people). And we are warned about disgracing food for this reason. And about this thing it is fitting that [just] like the Highest Wisdom does not disgrace anything in existence and everything was made from There, as it is written, "You made all of them with wisdom" - so [too, should] the mercy of a person be over all of His creations, may He be blessed. And for this reason was the holy Rebbe punished: Since he did not pity the young calf that was hiding with him and said to it, "Go, you were created for this," afflictions came upon him (Bava Metzia 85a). As they were from the side of judgement; since behold, mercy protects from judgement. And when he had mercy on a weasel and said, "It is written (Psalms 145:9), 'and His mercies are over all of His creatures,'" he was saved from the judgement - since the light of Wisdom was spread over him and the afflictions withdrew. And upon this way, he [should] not disgrace anything in existence from that which exists, as all of them are with Wisdom. And [so] he [should] not uproot a plant except for a need nor kill an animal except for a need. And [then] he [should] chose a nice death, with a checked knife, to have mercy in as much as is possible.

In פרשת מטות the Torah deals with laws designed to perfect our souls, our spiritual development. The laws dealing with vows contain the warning to honor all our utterances, ככל היוצא מפיו יעשה "he must carry out all that crosses his lips" (Numbers 30,4). This is addressed to the soul, because the power of speech derives from the attribute of wisdom which itself is an outgrowth of the soul. Speech is only an externalized version of one's thoughts, something that elevates man above all other living creatures. Man is called a מדבר, "a talking creature." This is why he must not "profane" his word, "לא יחל דברו." We also find that Onkelos renders Genesis 2,7: ויהי האדם לנפש חיה as "man became a talking spirit." You are already aware that man has been designed along the superior lines of a higher world, that each one of his limbs is a branch of a "tree" in the Celestial Regions, and that the mouth he has been equipped with is meant only to enable him to proclaim the greatness of the Lord and to tell His praises. It is a vessel to be used only for the service of the Lord. This is what David meant when he said in Psalms 145,21: "My mouth shall utter the praise of the Lord."

And you will discern and understand the great virtue of this quality of mercy in that the Creator conducts Himself with that quality with all His creatures, as it is said: "And His tender mercies are over all His works" (Ps. 145:9).

Rashi explains (Brachos 33a) that when an arod (a poisonous reptile) or a snake bite a person, if the animal reaches water first, the person dies, and if the person reaches water first, the animal dies. Rabbi Yitzhak tells us that we may infer that the Holy One Blessed is He created a spring beneath Rabbi Chanina’s feet, in fulfillment of the verse, “He performs the will of those who fear Him and hears their cry and saves them.”

While they were still walking they saw a snake dancing before them. Rabbi Shimon said, “This snake is surely going to perform some miracle. The snake ran on ahead and entangled itself with a certain viper. The nature of the viper is such that if it gazes at a human being or a human being gazes at it, the person immediately dies from the poison of its gaze, Heaven spare us. After the snake entangled itself with the viper they began striking each another until they both died. When they arrive at that spot and saw the two of them lying dead upon the road Rabbi Shimon recited the verse, “No evil shall befall you, and no plague shall come near your tent” (Tehillim 91:10). He continued, “The Holy One Blessed is He has created every creature to perform an errand. Thus we must not disparage anything that He has made, for it was created for the sake of its mission. Concerning this was it written, ‘Hashem is good to all and His mercies are upon all His works’ (Tehillim 145:9).”

It seems to me that this is also the meaning of the verse, “How many are Your works, Hashem, all of them You made them all with wisdom, the earth is filled with Your possessions” (Tehillim 104:24). And it is also written, “All Your works will thank You, Hashem” (Tehillim 145:10). Suppose, then, that Hashem in His mercy and lovingkindness has granted someone a particularly amazing deliverance — from bandits, for instance, or from fire or water or the like, or if he was severely ill and recovered. Surely he has an obligation to institute some beneficial matter that will serve manifestly in the place of a thanksgiving offering in Hashem’s honor.

The mystical dimension of all this is described in Deut. 33,2: וזרח משעיר למו … כל קדושיו בידך והם תכו ברגלך. When food descends in a beneficial manner and is sacred in nature it is described as: "G–d You open Your hand" (Psalms 145,16). Nowadays we are under the dominion of Edom; Jews residing in countries belonging to the Moslems are also considered as in the exile of Edom, as explained by Nachmanides on Numbers 24,20. Nachmanides questions whence the Edomites have acquired sufficient sanctity to enable them to lord it over Israel. He explains that this stems from the time described in Deut. 33,2, when "G–d shone forth from Se'ir," (the land of Edom). Esau, or rather the שר של עשו, its celestial representative, at that time hosted the שכינה for a very brief time. The Zohar explains this at length in connection with the above verse. The sanctity of Israel is personified by the ten fingers of its hands [symbolizing the ten emanations. Ed.] as anyone who has studied some Kabbalistic texts is aware of. When Deut. 33,3 speaks about אף חובב עמים … הם תכו לרגלך, this is an allusion to the pig stretching out its cleft hooves as explained. Although it is true that only a minute amount of sanctity can be found in ordinary foods (non-sacrifices) of the emanation מלכות, (our physical world), yet G–d recognizes the great distinction in this regard between the Jewish people and the Gentile nations.

God made man to be upright (see Eccl. 7:29), and the seal of the Holy One, Blessed be He, is Truth (Shabbath 55a and see T.P. Sanh. 1:5). And it is written, "He that speaketh falsehood shall not be established before mine eyes" (Ps. 101:7). When a man occupies himself with falsehood, then the falsehood does not cleave to the truth. And where there is Truth is as though one were able to describe it as the place of His dwelling in the heavens and directed towards mankind, for where there is Truth among mankind, then everyone concedes that He made heaven and earth and the sea and all they contain. And this is what is said, "Who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is" (Ps. 146:6). And this is followed by, "Who keepeth truth for ever" (ibid.). But where there is treachery and falsehood, it would appear that the place of the dwelling of the Eternal One is not in the heaven and the earth. And he who is worthy to consider these things, how the souls are hewn out from the source of Truth, will conduct all of his affairs with Truth, and he will not permit falsehood to enter into the place of the holiness of truth. And therefore the verse says, "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him in truth" (Ps. 145:18). For the Holy One, Blessed be He, who is Truth, draws near to him who calls upon Him in truth. And what is meant by, "Who call upon Him in truth?" This refers to the one who cleanses his heart of everything in the world, and draws near to the Holy One, Blessed be He, alone; and whose mind continually strengthens itself to cleave to the supernal light; and who directs his thought in that desire always. And this is what a man can attain when he sits alone in his room and studies, and for this reason every pious person should often separate himself and sit alone, and should not associate with people, except for a great need. But if he prays with only the movement of his lips, facing the wall, and thinks about the affairs of the world, and he calls to God with his tongue, while his mind is on some thing else, or if he expects to be honored because of the sweetness of his voice, and he tries to find favor in the eyes of people, in order to receive praise from them, then his service is not true. And he is one of those of whom it is said, "Thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins" (Jer. 12:2).

And our Sages, of blessed memory, said that repentance is not denied to the sinner unless his heart remains evil. But as for him who wants to draw nearer to God, God does not close the gates of repentance before him, but he opens the gates of repentance for him and teaches him the righteous path, as it is said, "Good and upright is the Lord, therefore doth He instruct sinners in the way" (Ps. 25:8). And further, "But from thence ye will seek the Lord thy God; and thou shalt find Him, if thou search after Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul" (Deut. 4:29). And further, "But the word is very nigh unto thee in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it" (Deut. 30:14). And further, "The Lord is nigh unto all those that call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth" (Ps. 145:18).

The word מגדיל, on the other hand, commences with the vowel Patach suggestive of G–d's outstretched hand, His initiating relations with man. Accordingly, the vowel Chirik in that word occurs later and under the letter ד near the end of the word. A complete treatise dealing with the symbolism of the vowels is found in Pardes Rimonim in the שער הנקודות. Consider also that the spelling מגדול used in Samuel represents a higher degree of sanctity, since the Holy Spirit with which the Books of Prophets have been composed is of a higher order than that of the Hagiographa, which include the Book of Psalms. It makes sense therefore, that on such days as Sabbaths and New Moons, days on which we are suffused with more spirituality than during the week, we should say מגדול rather than מגדיל. Both the Sabbath and the New Moon are days on which we are aware of our ultimate destiny to be worthy of the אור של בראשית, and of a world which is filled with sanctity daily, not only on the Sabbath.

That night a great treasure was stolen from the king of the city. The thief had taken all the king’s jewels. This created quite a furor in the palace and the king commanded that all the streets and houses be searched. The king’s servants searched the entire town and when they found the man sleeping in the street and they decided that he must be the thief. So they arrested him and he was sentenced to be tortured and then executed. While he was being lead to the scaffold to be hung he was accompanied by a priest, as is the way of the gentiles. This priest was very distinguished and highly thought of by the king and as they walked he tried to persuade him to convert. At one point they came across a dump and worms from the dump were crawling about on the ground. The priest asked the executioner to lead the prisoner by a different path so that they would not inadvertently kill any of the worms. “After all,” he said, “It was written in Scripture, ‘His mercies are upon all His works’ (Tehillim 145:9).” When the man heard this he said to himself, “This priest is also one of those hypocrites of whom it is said, ‘And your righteousness.’ Then he turned to the king’s servants and confessed that in fact he and the priest had committed the theft together! The priest was immediately arrested and the king ordered that the distinguished clergyman’s quarters be searched. There the stolen jewels were indeed found.

It is difficult to understand the statement of the sages that the crown of the good name supersedes the other crowns. Surely the other crowns were to be worn by people of a good name! It seems, therefore, that the Mishnah meant that the three crowns in our world are subject to decisions made in a "higher" world by someone wearing the crown of the good name, i.e. by G–d, whose name is טוב, the "Good One." We know this from Psalms 145,9: "The Lord is good to all."

Meanwhile Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair came and kissed Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, saying, “I have kissed the mouth of Hashem that has been spiced with the spices of His Gan Eden!” First they rejoiced together and then they sat down. When they were seated all the birds that had been providing them with shade flew off and dispersed. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai turned and raised his voice towards them, saying, “Birds of the sky! Have you no concern for the honor of your Master [i.e., the Shechinah] who is standing here?” But the birds remained where they were and would not approach. Rabbi Pinchas said to Rabbi Shimon, “Tell them they may go on their way.” So the birds scattered and went on their way. In the meantime three trees spread out their branches over them and a brook flowed before them, causing all the companions to rejoice. Rabbi Pinchas said, “Those birds provided an abundance of shade but it caused them great sorrow and it is written, “And His mercies are upon all His works” (Tehillim 145:9). For that reason I did not wish to sit in their shade.” Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai said, “I was not the one who put them to the trouble. It was the Holy One Blessed is He who had mercy upon us. Therefore we bear no guilt, nor can we send them away.” Then they all sat together beneath the tree and drank from the water. Rabbi Shimon began a discourse: “Fortunate is our lot that we engage in study. For it is stated, ‘But only in Hashem’s Torah is his desire ׀ he will be like a tree set into the ground near streams of water…’ (Tehillim 1:2,3) Come and see what the Holy One Blessed is He did for us — He planted for us those three trees and caused this brook to flow from this place!” To this day those trees stand there with their great boughs spread wide and people refer to them as, “The plantings of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai and Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair.”

It is well known that in order to rehabilitate oneself spiritually one must exercise תשובה, תפלה וצדקה, repentance, prayer and the performance of charitable deeds. All of these three factors of man's rehabilitation depend on his mouth. Prayer and the reciting of G–d's praises are, of course, functions of the mouth. We know that repentance has to include verbalizing one's confession and one's resolution not to sin again. The Torah in 30,14 mentions that Torah is easy of access, i.e. בפיך ובלבבך לעשות. Rabbi Yitzchak says (Eruvin 54) that the Torah is easy to fulfill, לעשות, once one has repented both by mouth and in one's heart. Confession of one's sins with a broken heart is the principal ingredient of repentance. Charity, too, involves the mouth. Our sages (Baba Batra 9b) say that anyone who gives charity acquires six blessings; if someone also tries to make the recipient feel better by kind and encouraging words he will qualify for eleven blessings. Interestingly enough we have three words which symbolize three aspects of repentance, i.e. צום, קול, ממון, each one of which has a numerical value of 136. This suggests that all three aspects of תשובה are of equal importance. Stated differently, תשובה, צדקה, and תפלה equal קול. The very first part of our פרשה alludes to all the three ingredients of repentance. The Torah speaks about going to war, the plain meaning of which refers, of course, to actual warfare and battles with the enemy. Over and beyond this, however, the paragraph refers to the ongoing battle between man and his evil urge. Many of our commentators are at pains to point this out in their commentary on the relevant section in פרשת שופטים when they comment on the verse discussing the siege laid to a city (20,19). In actual fact, the war with his evil urge is the greatest battle man has to fight in this life. The matter is illustrated in the Talmud by the story of the elderly sage who met soldiers of the army of Alexander the Great at the time of his victorious return from a major battle. These soldiers were in a very exuberant frame of mind. The sage, while he congratulated them on their victory, pointed out that the victory they had won was minor, and that they had to get ready for the battle of their lives against the evil urge. This is what the sages meant when they described the whole paragraph of the יפת תואר as an illustration of man's ongoing battle against his baser instincts (Kidushin 21). By extending this allegory a little further we may come to understand the whole reason why a מלחמת רשות, a war which is expansionary, is allowed: We are always permitted to conduct aggressive action against our evil urges. We can be sure of G–d's ongoing support in that undertaking once we make the first move in the struggle against the evil urge. Our sages point out that we would be unable to subdue the יצר הרע without G–d's active assistance, but that we have G–d's promise: ונתנו בידו, "He will deliver him (the evil urge) into your hand" (21,10). It is significant that the Torah here employs the singular whereas in פרשת שופטים it speaks in the plural (20,2—20,3--20,4). This may be a reminder that the fight against the evil urge can only be fought on a person-to-person basis. We have a tradition that a nation neither succumbs to another nation nor to the Jewish people unless its protective spirit in the Celestial Regions had first suffered defeat. We have pointed out examples of this such as Israel observing "Egypt" instead of "Egyptians" "dead on the beaches of the sea" (Exodus 14,30). We learn from all this that our enemy (the evil urge), assumes many guises, i.e. attacks us in the plural, and this is why the Torah always describes our enemy in the plural (אויביכם, אל תערצו מפניהם). We have to battle all these manifold "enemies" because each transgression we commit creates a negative force in the world which comes back to haunt us. All of these negative forces created by our very selves are presided over and directed against us by Samael/Satan/Angel of Death, etc. The Torah describes victory over this multifaceted but essentially single force with the words: ונתנו ה' אלוקיך בידך ושבית שביו, "The Lord your G–d will deliver him into your hand and you will take him captive." Taking this enemy prisoner is possible only with the help of Torah study and מצוה observance. David describes this victory over the evil works in Psalms 68,19: He speaks about: עלית למרום שבית שבי, "You went up to the heights, having taken captives."

The camp of Ephrayim, which faces West, the direction of our prayers, the direction of the שכינה, the Holy of Holies, is the region behind which the angel רפאל is positioned We find an allusion to this in Moses' prayer for Miriam, 12,13, "א-ל נא, רפא נא לה" Prayer corresponds to the letter ו in the Ineffable Name of G–d, because the conditions for successful prayer are 3, i.e. in reality 6. 1) Prayer is called עין ולב, eye and heart. It is called "eye," because Psalms 145,15, says: "all eyes are on You." It is called "heart," since the Torah in Deut 11,13, requires us to serve the Lord "with all your hearts." This demand may appear as a contradiction in terms.