Musar su Salmi 5:78

The eighth: "He suppresses our iniquities" - behold, the Holy One, blessed be He, acts with Israel with this trait, and that is the secret of the suppression of iniquities. As behold the commandment, 'it is like when it blossoms, its bud arises' and it pierces and climbs until no end, to enter in front of Him, may He be blessed. But the iniquities, however, do not have passage there, God forbid. Rather, He suppresses them, such that they not enter - as it is written (Psalms 5:5), "evil does not dwell [with] You (yegurcha)"; evil shall not dwell in Your domicile (megurcha). If so, the iniquity does not enter inside. And from this reason, "There is no reward for a commandment in this world" (Kiddushin 39a) - as [the commandments] are in front of Him, may He be blessed. And how can He give him from that which is in front of Him - a spiritual reward - in the world that is physical? And behold, the entire world is not worth one commandment and the satisfaction [from it] in front of Him. And for this reason, He does not take the bribe of commandments. The metaphor for this is that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not say, "He did forty commandments and ten sins; there remain thirty and the [other] ten go [away] with the ten" - God forbid! Rather, even if he was a completely righteous one and he committed one sin, it is similar in front of Him as if he burned the entire Torah, until he satisfies his debt. And afterwards, he can receive the reward for all of his commandments. And this is a great kindness that the Holy One, blessed be He, does with the righteous ones - that he does not reduce [the reward], as the commandments are very important and climb until [they reach] in front of Him, may He be blessed. And how could He reduce from them on account of sins - as the repayment of sins is from the share of Geihinom, from that which is disdained; whereas the reward of the commandments is from the honored, the radiance of the Divine Presence. How could these be reduced [on account of] those? Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, collects the debt of the sins and pays the reward of all of the commandments. And this is [the meaning of] "He suppresses our iniquities" - that the iniquities do not intensify in front of Him, like the commandments. Rather He suppresses them that they should not rise and not enter - even as He is supervising over the ways of a man, good and bad. Nonetheless, He does not suppress the good, but rather it blossoms and climbs until [it grows] very much. And [so] one commandment is grouped together with [another] commandment and a great edifice is built, and a fine suit [is formed]. But iniquities do not have this special quality, but He rather suppresses them, that they should not have this success, and [not] enter inside [in front of Him].

“When you go out to war, etc., and see horses and chariots - forces larger than yours - have no fear of them” (Deuteronomy 20:1). We were warned with this that if a person sees trouble nearby, the salvation of the Lord should be in his heart and he should trust in it - like the matter that is stated (Psalms 85:10), “His salvation is near those who fear Him”; and likewise is it written (Isaiah 51:12), “What ails you that you fear man who must die.”

Explanation of the words of iniquity of four groups:
Our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Sotah 42a), “Four groups will not greet the Divine Presence: The group of scoffers, the group of liars, the group of flatterers, and the group of slanderers. The group of cynics, as it is written (Hosea 7:5), ‘He draws His hand from cynics’; the group of liars, as it is written (Psalms 101:7), ‘he who speaks falsehood shall not dwell before My eyes’; the group of flatterers, as it is written (Job 13:16), ‘that a flatterer cannot come before Him’; the group of slanderers, as it is written (Psalms 5:5), ‘For You are not a God who has pleasure in wickedness, evil shall not sojourn with You.’”

And this is the thing about the group of flatterers - the content of this group is divided into nine sections:
The first section: The flatterer who recognizes or sees or knows that there is injustice in the hand of his fellow, and that he is holding fast to deception; or that he sinned to another person with evil speech or verbal abuse - and he blandishes him [with] improper speech, saying, “You did not do evil.” The sin of one who refrains from reprimand - as it is stated (Leviticus 19:17), “you shall surely reprimand your countryman and not bear sin because of him” - is too small for him; so he increased the sin by saying, “You did not sin.” It is like the matter that is stated (Jeremiah 23:14), “they encourage evildoers.” And behold this is a criminal offense in the hand of the foolish flatterer, for he was not zealous against falsehood, but rather assisted the falsehood, and said about the bad, “Good,” and made darkness, light. He also placed a stumbling block in front of the sinner in two aspects. The first one is that he will not regret his evil. And the second is that he will repeat his evil on the next day. For the one who flatters the other one about his desire praises [that] evildoer. Besides that he will carry the punishment for the damage that he caused to the one towards whom the sinner was guilty, by justifying [the sinner]; he will [also] be punished for the false words, as it is stated (Psalms 5:7), “You doom those who speak lies.” And it is stated (Proverbs 17:15), “To acquit the guilty and convict the innocent; both are an abomination to the Lord.” All the more so if the injustice in the hand of his fellow, the evildoer, is revealed to the public. For when he, the flatterer, said to him in front of people, “You are pure, without transgression” - he has profaned and disgraced the religion and the law.

Chazal have explained that the class of slanderers is one of four classes who do not behold the Shechinah, viz. (Sotah 42b): "R. Yirmiyah b. Abba said: Four classes do not behold the Shechinah: the class of flatterers, the class of liars, the class of scoffers, and the class of slanderers … The class of slanderers, viz. (Psalms 5:5): 'For You are not a G-d that desires wickedness; evil will not sojourn with You.' You are righteous, O L-rd; evil will not sojourn in Your dwelling place.'" This section deals with the sin of lashon hara, as Rashi explains there. And the speaker of lashon hara is even called "evil," as we find in Aggadath Mishlei on the verse (Mishlei 12:20): "There is deceit in the heart of plotters of evil" — R. Chamma b. R. Chanina said: "One who speaks with his friend and eats and drinks with him and speaks lashon hara against him, the Holy One Blessed be He calls him 'evil,' etc." He is also judged in the fourth level of Gehinnom for this sin, as stated in Midrash Hane'elam on Ruth.

In the morning, he [should] connect himself to the traits of the three fathers that are included in Splendor: When the dawn rises, he also begins to come to the synagogue and bind himself to the three fathers. At the opening of the synagogue, he says, "But I, through Your abundant kindness, enter, etc." (Psalms 5:8). And he includes himself in the secret of the Splendor of Man that includes Kindness, Severity and Splendor, and he enters the assembly of Kingship.

Jacob made Joseph swear by his own "root," seeing Joseph symbolized the ברית, the covenant with G–d, as we have pointed out on numerous occasions. Placing his hand on his father's organ then was not symbolic of the covenant of circumcision, but of the ברית העליון, the covenant between G–d and man that ensures the continued existence of the universe. The word ירך in that context represented the seat of reproductive activity, the root of physical man, not merely its sanctification by circumcision. When Joseph made his brothers swear, he merely made them swear by his own מדה, attribute, not in his capacity as symbol of something higher. Since Joseph considered himself as an "extension," a pipeline of the domain of his father, he merely made sure that his bones would be moved from the ארץ התחתונה, the lowest level of earth (in this case Egypt), to the "lowest" level of היכל השם, Sanctuary, to the land of Israel. It is precisely because Joseph was that pipeline between the ארץ עליונה, the equivalent of earth in the Celestial Regions, that Jacob blessed Joseph's children by invoking their father. This is the meaning of ויברך את יוסף, "He blessed Joseph," before the line: המלאך הגואל אתי מכל רע הוא יברך את הנערים, "May the angel who blessed me bless the lads" (48,16). No רע, evil, stuck to our patriarch Jacob. Evil is the very reverse of maintaining the Holy Covenant as we know from: ויהי ער רע בעיני השם, "Er was evil (same letters reversed) in the eyes of the Lord" (38,7). Concerning people who are evil, it is written: לא יגורך רע, "Evil cannot abide with You" (Psalms 5,5), seeing Evil has no foothold in ארץ העליונה, the celestial equivalent to earth. That ארץ is known only as ארץ טובה, and טוב is the צדיק, the foundation of the universe as we know from: אמרו צדיק כי טוב הוא, "Say (about) the righteous he is good" (Isaiah 3,10). This is why the seed of Joseph, the keeper of the Covenant, was more sacred than any other, and as a result merited to be counted among the other founders of the tribes.

For the angels are closer to Him due to lacking physical bodies. Thus it is easier for them to conceive of His exalted greatness. Therefore His fear weighs upon them more strongly than upon human beings. However, king David would praise G-d saying: "I shall prostrate myself to the Temple of Your holiness in fear of You" (Tehilim 5:8), and scripture says: "and he was afraid before My Name" (Malachi 2:5), and "my G-d, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to You" (Ezra 9:6).

Likewise our sages, of blessed memory, said regarding the Levites: "because they knew that whoever carries the Ark merits great reward, they abandoned the Shulchan, Menorah and Altars, and all ran to the Ark to gain reward. Then, this person argued saying 'I will carry it from here' and that person argued saying 'I will carry it from here' until they came to lightheadedness and the Divine presence would hit them..." (Midrash Raba 5:1).

Now we must explain to you in four chapters four classes of people that do not receive the Divine Presence (Sotah 42a). A company of scoffers, as it is written, "He stretcheth out his hand with scorners" (Hos. 7:8). A company of liars, as it is written, "He that speaketh falsehood shall not be established before mine eyes" (Ps. 101:7). A company of flatterers, as it is written, "That a hypocrite cannot come before Him" (Job 13:16). A company of gossipers, as it is written, "For Thou are not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness; Evil shall not sojourn with Thee" (Ps. 5:5). And now it is important to acquaint you with their ways and to divide the matter into proper divisions, for there is great advantage in understanding this matter thoroughly.

“Hashem, You hear my voice in the morning” (Tehillim 5:4). On the surface this verse is difficult to understand. Does Hashem hear only the voice of supplicants in the morning? Does He not hear our voices and listen to our prayers whenever we call out to Him? The explanation is as follows: When people pray at other times, their petitions are scrutinized first to see whether they are worthy of acceptance in light of their deeds. This is not the case, however, if one prays in the morning. Thus the Zohar relates in Parashas Balak (204a) that Rabbi Elazar, Rabbi Aba and the rest of the company were traveling along the road when Rabbi Elazar began a discourse with the verse, “Hashem, You hear my voice in the morning.”

The Midrash explains that though the letter א would have been appropriate as a symbol of the creation of the Hereafter, the world in which the unity (אחדות) of G–d is manifest, the fact that the letter also symbolizes ארירה, curse, is the reason why G–d chose to commence with the letter ב which represents blessing. It teaches that in עולם הבא there is no such thing as a curse. It is written in Psalms לא יגורך רע, "Evil cannot dwell with You," that in the Heavens there is no evil or curse. The עולם הבא under discussion is rooted in the emanation בינה, a region higher than that of חסד, which is the uppermost that the קליפות can draw on.

The patriarchs and David are described as holding the "sanctities" in their hands; this may allude to the 70 years that David lived during which he repaired some of the damage wrought by Adam. He and the Messiah between them will complete that work of rehabilitating the universe. There are many mystical aspects to this number of seventy years. We have discussed the significance of the tithes, i.e מעשר תרומה, as well as תרומת מעשר, and how they are related to the source of blessings. Due to our numerous sins, unfortunately, the scalp of the High Priest Rabbi Yishmael [who was scalped at the request of the daughter of Hadrianus Caesar who wanted to preserve the beauty of his skin, see the liturgical poem אלה אזכרה in the Mussaf prayer on the Day of Atonement. Ed.], is weighted down with gold, and the representative of Esau is paraded on top of Jacob adding insult to our injury. The very fact that this festival was celebrated by the Romans only once in 70 years may symbolize the seventy שרים of the gentile nations and their having achieved ascendancy over Israel (as predicted by Isaac in the event that Jacob/Israel would not live up to its spiritual task). They may have wanted to indicate that it was they who would inherit נאות אל-הים mentioned in Psalms 5,5.