Musar su Salmi 58:78

We learned in Chullin 89a: "R. Yitzchak said: (Psalms 58:2): 'Haumnam eilem, righteousness shall you speak; with justness shall you judge the sons of men': What is [the proper] craft [umanuth (similar to hauman)] of a man in this world"? Let him make himself as an ileim [mute]. Scripture's purpose in referring to this as a "craft" is to teach us several different things: It is well known that if one who is not a craftsman would want to fashion a vessel, even if he can easily visualize its fashioning in all its details, still, its actual making will be difficult for him, for his hands are not yet used to this. As opposed to a craftsman, who is habituated to this from youth. The same is true with the trait of silence. Even though anyone who has sense can perceive that this trait is very desirable, for one is protected thereby from all of the issurim that come through speech and without it he is prey to various pitfalls, as we shall explain below, still, if one resolves to exercise this trait only when he is compelled to do so because of mitzvoth of the Torah, such as [to keep himself] from lashon hara, rechiluth, levity, and other [forms of] forbidden speech, and otherwise he will [permit himself to] say whatever he likes, even what is not essential, then certainly this will not avail, for he will not have habituated his tongue to silence. To the contrary, from his [earliest] youth he will have taught it to say whatever entered his mind. As opposed to one who "trained" his mouth to the trait of silence as a craftsman [trains himself] to his craft, to the point where silence becomes natural to him and speech, unnatural — as with a mute. Then he will be absolutely confident that his tongue will be guarded from evil and that he will not revert to his former folly.

And even if he sees that there are some people who entirely neglect their Torah studies and yet succeed in business, let him reflect always upon their affairs, and he will see that very often they run into adversities, such as being set upon by brigands and the like and losing much of their money thereby. And this, because of their having amassed money which was not theirs [viz. (Jeremiah 17:11): "One who makes money, but not by just (means) — in the half of his days he shall lose it"], or in a time that was not theirs, but which should have been set aside for Torah study and Divine service. As we find in Avoth d'R. Nathan (29:2): "All who nullify words of Torah are assigned 'nullifiers' correspondingly (who come and nullify what they have labored in until now), such as lions, wolves, leopards, tigers and snakes. And brigands and robbers come and belabor him and exact payment of him. As it is written (Psalms 58:12): "But there is a G-d who judges the land," measure for measure. Because he nullifies Torah and toils for wealth, he is assigned "nullifiers," who nullify what he has toiled in until now. For even if the lions and the wolves do not kill him, they nevertheless cause him monetary loss, so that he must flee them and abandon his possessions or heal himself from their wounds. And many times great suffering and rare illnesses come to him from Heaven until, in the end, he spends [on doctors] that money that he did not want to give for charity. As they have said: "A house that is not open to the poor is open to the doctor." And this, too, sometimes results from the neglect of Torah study. As Chazal have said (Berachoth 5a): "If a man sees afflictions besetting him, let him examine his deeds. If he did examine [them] and did not find [anything to attribute them to], let him attribute [them] to neglect of Torah study."

והיה עקב תשמעון . In the previous paragraph (7,7) the Torah explained that G–d's love for the Jewish people is not based on our superior numbers, seeing that we are "small," numerically speaking. The Talmud Chulin 89a states in the name of Rabbi Eliezer that the meaning of this verse is that G–d likes the Jewish people because even when they are riding high (economically) they still humble themselves, i.e. they behave as if they were מעט מכל העמים, the least significant of all nations. Abraham, for instance, described himself as: אנכי עפר ואפר, "I am but dust and ashes" (Genesis 18,27). Moses and Aaron (Exodus 16,7) said of themselves: ונחנו מה, "What do we amount to?" David described himself as: ואנכי תולעת ולא איש "I am only a worm, not a man" (Psalms 22,7). On the other hand, the "great" men among the Gentile nations did not react in this fashion to the greatness I (G–d) have bestowed upon them. I have given greatness to Nimrod; he responded by building a Tower in order to assert himself against Me. I gave greatness to Pharaoh; he responded by claiming "Who is the Lord that I should listen to Him?" (Exodus 5,2). I made Sancheriv a mighty ruler and he reacted by saying: "Who among the gods of all these lands has saved them from me that you should imagine that the Lord will save you from me?" (Kings II 18,35). Similar expressions of arrogance are recorded as having been used by Chirom the king of Tzor, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and others. Rava or Rabbi Yochanan are reported to have said that the continued existence of the universe would not have been permitted had it not been for Moses and Aaron and people of their caliber, all of whom said of themselves: "what do we amount to?" It is interesting that G–d is described in Job 26,7 as תולה ארץ על בלימה, "suspending earth over merely מה" (hardly something), a reference to Moses and Aaron who had described themselves as נחנו מה. Rabbi lla'i, also on folio 89 Chulin, suggests the meaning of the verse in Job to be that the earth will be allowed to survive for the sake of people who בולם את עצמם, "put the brakes on their ego" at times of strife. Rabbi Abahu, on the other hand, says that he who considers himself as if he did not exist is the "salt of the earth." He uses Deut. 3,27: ומתחת זרועות עולם, in the sense of "he who is trampled by the world is the real 'arms' supporting the universe." Rabbi Yitzchak derives this same message from Psalms 58,2: האמנם אלם צדק תדברון מישרים תשפטו בני אדם. He understands this verse to mean that maintaining a silent (אלם) profile and speaking out only in matters of צדק, i.e. Torah, is what keeps the world going.

(Ibid.): "As the opening of a suit of armor shall it [its neck-opening] be for it, so that it not be torn." Why need the Torah add "as the opening of a suit of armor"? Is it not sufficient to have stated "And the mouth of its head shall be [folded over] within it. A border shall there be for its mouth"? It must intimate, then, that just as one dons armor for protection, that he not be harmed by the arrows shot at him, so, if one clamps shut his mouth, it affords him protection against his antagonist, and, in the end, it serves to silence him by giving him no answer. If he answered him, however, the quarrel would widen and he would come to blows, as it is written (Ibid. 21:18): "And if men quarrel, and a man strike his neighbor with stone or fist, etc." And the Holy One Blessed be He is also his Protector because of this, because "the earth depends upon him," as mentioned above. (Ibid. 33-34): "And you shall make on its (lower) hem pomegranates of purple … and golden bells in their midst roundabout [one bell between every two pomegranates]. A golden bell and a pomegranate [next to it], a golden bell and a pomegranate, on the hem of the me'il roundabout. The allusion here would seem to be to what Chazal have said (Chullin 89a): "What is a man's 'trade'? Let him make himself a mute. I might think, even to words of Torah. It is, therefore, written (Psalms 58:2): 'Righteousness shall you speak.'" It is found, then, according to this, that whenever one has time, he should not remain idle, but he should learn Torah. And the learning should not be silent, as we find in Eruvin 54a. And when one cannot learn Torah, whatever the reason might be, he should make himself a mute, who cannot open his mouth. And for this reason there were on the hem of the me'il, "a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate," alluding to the study of Torah, as mentioned above. And, in the midst of this, when he cannot learn, he should embrace the trait of silence [as our sages of blessed memory have said (Avoth 1:16): "R. Shimon ben Gamliel said: 'All my life, I grew up among the wise, and I found nothing better for the body than silence.'"] And this is alluded to by the pomegranate next to the bell; that is, like a pomegranate, that makes no sound. And, if one conducts himself in this manner, the Torah assures us (Ibid. 35): "and its sound will be heard when he comes to the sanctuary." That is, the sound of his prayer and his Torah will be accepted on high, which will not be the case if he does not guard his faculty of speech and mixes his speech with lashon hara, rechiluth, and the like, in which case the forbidden speech will defile his words of holiness and they will not be accepted on high, as mentioned above in Chapter I.

The fact that a pregnant woman did not experience a miscarriage due to the stench of the meat on the altar corresponds to the statement of Rabbi Akavyah that we must be aware of the smelly drop of semen our body originates from.. This subject is mentioned in Yuma 82 where we are told about a pregnant woman who experienced a terrible urge to eat on the Day of Atonement and whose predicament was presented to Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi. The latter instructed that one should whisper to this woman that the date was the Day of Atonement. When this advice was followed the woman's hunger pains subsided. Concerning this incident they applied the verse in Jeremiah 1,5: "I have known you before you were even formed in the womb." The baby that this woman gave birth to was the famous scholar Rabbi Yochanan. The Talmud next reports about another similar case involving Rabbi Chanina and a pregnant lady. The same procedure was followed, but it did not assuage the lady's terrible urge to eat. The bystanders applied to that lady Psalm 58,4: "The wicked are defiant from birth." The child born from that pregnancy was a certain Shabtai who hoarded produce during years of drought and sold it at exorbitant prices. We draw a parallel from the experience of pregnant ladies who passed the Temple and who did not abort an embryo due to the unpleasant smell of the sacrificial meat to women who did not feel revolted by the smell (or awareness) of their own flesh and blood. According to Rabbi Akavyah the mere thought of it should have been revolting.