잠언 16:4의 Halakhah

If one was reclining and eating at the table, and the time for minhah came, if there isn’t enough time to wait before it’s too late, he interrupts his meal and prays. But if there is enough time to wait, he finishes his meal and then prays.¹²⁸B. Shabbat 9b, and so the Tur and Orah Hayim 232. And likewise if during the festival of Sukkot he forgot to wave the lulav, and he is standing over his table, if there is enough time in the day to wait, he finishes his meal, and then waves it, but if there is not enough time in the day to wait, he interrupts his meal and waves the lulav.¹²⁹B. Sukkot 38a, because one must wave the lulav during the day time.

You already knew from “The Wisdom of Formation”¹⁵⁴I.e., Sefer Yetzirah, 4:7. that a human being has seven apertures: two ears, two nostrils, two eyes, and the seventh is the mouth. And the “sevenths” are what the Holy One Blessed be He has “chosen.” He created the heavens, and chose the seventh one, which is “aravot” (“deserts”),¹⁵⁵According to B. Hagigah 12b, “Resh Lakish said: There are seven heavens. Vilon, Raki’a, Shekhakim, Z’vul, Ma’on, Makchon, and Aravot.” as it is said, “Cast up a highway for Him who rides through the deserts [aravot].”¹⁵⁶Ps 68:5. He created seven days of the week, and chose the seventh day, which is Shabbat, as it said, “the days were formed, and for Him there was one among them.”¹⁵⁷Ps 139:16. He created seven climates, and chose the seventh one, which is the land of Israel, as it is said, “For the Lord has chosen Zion.”¹⁵⁸Ps 132:13.And meditate well on this verse: “The Canaanites were then in the land.”¹⁵⁹Gen 12:6. The secret meaning of the verse is “and a girdle she gives to the merchant [la-kana’ani –‘to the Canaanite’]”¹⁶⁰Prov 31:24. “Canaanite” can be a generic term for “merchant” in Biblical Hebrew, just as “gypsy” can generically refer to any wanderer in English, though this is not how R. Bahya reads “kana’ani” here. – a girdle is put on the middle of a body.¹⁶¹In other words, the Cana’anites were originally given the “girdle” – the land, that like a girdle, is in the “center” of all the other lands; its centrality is proof that God prefers it over other lands. Chavel suggests that R. Bahya alludes to a mystical interpretation found also in his contemporary R. Menahem Recanati’s comment on Gen 12:6. Recanati says that “The Canaanites were then in the land” hints that even before God handed the land of the Canaanites over to the Israelites, it was his “chosen” land. For Prov 31:24 says to the Canaanites was given the “girdle” – the center of all the lands. This was when God assigned to each nation a piece of the earth, and an angel above to rule over it. However, no nation below falls from power until its ruling angel above falls – hence “the Canaanites were then in the land.” Eventually this does occur, and so the Israelites get the “girdle” that had originally been assigned to the Canaanites and their ruling angel. He created seven apertures in the head, and chose the seventh one, which is the mouth. And it is well known that he did not choose it because it eats and drinks, but rather because of the Torah and the mitzvah to bless His Name and declare His praise, just as the heavens and their hosts declare His glory, as it said, “The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky proclaims His handiwork.”¹⁶²Ps 19:2. And thus it is written, “This people I formed for Myself, that they might declare My praise.”¹⁶³Is 43:21. It is obvious that all that the Holy One Blessed be He created in the world, He created only for His glory, and so the prophet proclaimed: “Everyone who is called by My Name, I created for My glory,”¹⁶⁴Is 43:7. and it is written, “The Lord made everything for a purpose – le-ma’anehu,” to praise Him, like in the expression, “And Miriam chanted – ve-ta’an – for them.”¹⁶⁵Ex 15:21, i.e., led the women in a song of praise after God saved them at the Red Sea. R. Bahya interprets le-ma’anehu and va-ta’an midrashically as if they came from the same verb. So if everything was created to praise Him, it goes without saying that the mouth, which is the particular instrument for praising Him, was created for none other than this.

Anger is also a very evil trait, and it should be avoided it at all costs. You should train yourself not to become angry even if you have good reason to be angry. And when it is necessary to impress your authority on your children and your household, you may pretend to be angry in order to admonish them, while retaining your composure inwardly. [The Talmud relates] "Eliyahu said to Rabbi Yehudah, the brother of Rav Salla, the Pious: "Do not become angry, and you will not sin," (do not become angry, because anger will induce you to sin), "Do not become intoxicated, and you will not sin."⁷Berachos 29b. Our Rabbis of blessed memory said furthermore,⁸Rambam, Hilchos Dei’os 2. "If anyone becomes angry it is considered as though he worships idols, and the torments of Gehinnom will be inflicted on him as it is written, "Therefore, remove anger from your heart and put away evil from your body."⁹Ecclesiastes 11:10. The word "evil" connotes Gehinnom as it is written: "Indeed, even the wicked for the day of evil."¹⁰Proverbs 16:4. The life of angry men is no life. Therefore, [our Sages] ordained that a man should distance himself from anger to the point that he can conduct himself with utter disregard even for things that evoke [justifiable] anger. This is the proper path [to follow] and it is the way of the righteous, [as stated in the Talmud]¹¹Yoma 23a. "They suffer insults but do not insult, they listen to abuse heaped on them but do not answer, they are motivated by love in whatever they do, and they rejoice [even when] suffering pain." Concerning them, the Biblical verse says: "But those who love Him are as the sun when it comes out in its might."¹²Judges 5:31.

From the laws of the commandment is that which they said (Makkot 5a) that the matter of refutation is upon the witnesses themselves, as we have said - for example that they say to them, "You were with us in place x." But with the matter of contradiction, we do not believe these over those; and the testimony of all of them is nullified. And what is the content of contradiction? For example, that they testify about the testimony itself: that the first group says, "Thing x happened," and the latter says, "It did not happen," or it comes by implication of their words that it did not. And [also] that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Makkot 3b) that colluding witnesses are not killed, nor do they pay money nor are they lashed until they are both refuted. And [also] that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Makkot 3b) that colluding witnesses do not need warning, but rather once they are refuted, they are judged; and that witnesses that were first contradicted and, afterwards, refuted - behold these are also judged; as they, may their memory be blessed, said (Bava Kamma 3b), "Contradiction is the beginning of refutation." And [also] that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Ketuvot 20a), that we only refute witnesses in front of them, but we contradict witnesses [also] not in front of them. And if they extracted money with their testimony, the court returns the money to its owner, and the witnesses pay according to the amount of money that they thought to make him lose. But with capital cases, it is not like this: As if one is killed according to them and they are refuted afterwards, they are not killed - as so does it come in the received tradition (Makkot 5a), "[If] they did not kill, they are killed, if they killed, they are not killed." And there is somewhat of a reason to give about the matter: [It is] because 'God is present in the congregation of judges.' And were it not that the convicted was guilty because of his [other] evil deeds, the judicial procedure would not have been concluded against him. But rather he was fit for this [punishment], and the judgement against this evildoer was orchestrated from the Heavens. And about similar to this is it stated (Proverbs 15:4), "even an evildoer for an evil day." And since the matter is clarified to our eyes that this man was to die, the Torah did not want that we should kill the witnesses over him. And the analogy about this is one that kills a treifah (someone who is deathly ill) is not killed over him. [And] this one is like that - since we knew in the way that we said that he is guilty in the Heavenly court, [it is considered as if] he had no blood. And the rest of the details of the commandment are elucidated in Tractate Makkot (Chapter 1).