Komentarz do Przysłów 6:38

My son, if you have stood surety Our Sages explained this as referring to surety in monetary matters, according to its apparent meaning.

go, humble yourself Heb. התרפס [a combination of two words, התר פס], open the palm of your hand for him to pay him his money.

and give your fellow superiority Heb. ורהב. And if he has no money with you, only that you were trapped with the sayings of your mouth by speaking harshly to him, bring many friends to him to beg him to forgive you.

Another explanation: [1] My son, if you stood surety for your Friend After you stood surety for the Holy One, blessed be He, Who is your “friend,” as it is written (Song 5:16): “This is my beloved and this is my friend”; you undertook at Sinai and in the plains of Moab with a curse and with an oath to observe His commandments.

have given your hand to a stranger You have repented and turned from His ways and clung to the disbelievers to go in their ways.

[2] you have been trapped by the sayings of your mouth You have given your hand to cling to strangers.

[3] Do this, then, my son, and be saved Since you have come into the palm of your Friend at Sinai and you have accepted His Godliness over you,

go, humble yourself Heb. התרפס. Humble yourself before Him like a threshold, which is trodden (נרפסת) and stepped on.

and increase your friends Bring many friends who will pray for you before Him. In this manner it is expounded on in Midrash Psalms.

Save yourself like a deer from the hand Hasten and extricate yourself from there like a deer that extricates itself from a man’s hand.

Go to the ant, you sluggard...and become wise Heb. וחכם, and wisen yourself.

for she has no chief who would reprove her and alert her and take out of her hand if she steals anything from her companion, nevertheless...

yet she prepares her bread in the summer, she gathers her food in the harvest She gathers her food, each one of them, and does not rob her companion.

a little folding of the hands The sleeper folds his hands, embrasser in French (abrasar in Provencal,) umfassen [in German], to embrace. In Rashi ms. plier in French [to fold] in German et was falten, to fold a little.

And your poverty shall come like a fast walker If you do this [keep sleeping], your loss and the thing from which you are impoverished shall come to you immediately, like a man walking fast, and your want will come and fill up

like an armed man. who comes quickly to protect his master. These verses are mainly an allegory concerning those who are [too] lazy to engage in the Torah.

walks with a crooked mouth He walks with crooked lips.

he winks with his eyes winks of deceit.

shuffles with his feet He rubs one on the other.

points with his fingers They are all expressions of hinting: one applies to the eye, one applies to the foot, and one applies to the finger, but the main idea is that it is speaking of the wicked.

he incites quarrels between man and his Creator.

suddenly, etc. suddenly Heb. פתע פתאם. This is an expression of immediacy; he will not be aware of the downfall that is ready to descend upon him.

There are six things that the Lord hates, and the seventh is an abomination of His soul The seventh, too, is [included] with them.

[one who] speaks Heb. יפיח, lit. he blows. This is an expression of speech since all speech is a product of the breath of the mouth.

tie them Heb. ענדם, an expression of tying, as in (Job 31:36) “I will tie it (אענדנו) as crowns to me.”

When you walk in your lifetime.

it shall lead you Heb. תנחה אותך, like תנהיגך.

when you lie down in the grave.

and when you awaken for the resurrection of the dead, to stand in judgment.

it shall speak for you It shall speak on your behalf.

For a commandment is a candle, and the Torah is light Just as light always illuminates, so does the merit of the Torah stand for a person forever, but the merit of the commandment is only for a limited time, like the light of a candle. Another explanation: For a commandment is a candle, etc. The command of the father is a candle. Whoever fulfills the command of his father is as though he takes a candle in his hand to light a dark place, and if he loses anything there he finds it by its light; similarly, whoever fulfills his mother’s instruction—it is light to him, and so [Scripture] states (verse 20): “and forsake not the instruction of your mother.” It is certain that this verse speaks of the commands of one’s father and mother, for it is written (20:20): “If one curses his father or mother, his candle will be put out in the blackest darkness.” Now if a person’s candle goes out when he does not fulfill the commandments of his parents, conversely when he fulfills the command, his candle lights up (Rabbi Joseph Kara).

and disciplining rebukes are the way of life Disciplining rebukes incline a person to life. It is found that they are the way of life.

to guard you from an evil woman The Torah shall guard you from a woman of evil behavior—perforce, Solomon did not speak of an evil woman, but concerning idolatry, [the prohibition of] which is equal in gravity to all [commandments], for if you say that he meant a real harlot, is that all the reward and the praise of the Torah that it guards one only from a harlot? Rather, perforce this is idolatry, [the prohibition of] which is as stringent as all other [commandments].

from the smoothness of the alien tongue From the sealing of the eyes by an alien tongue.

do not let her captivate you And let her not take away your wisdom from you with her eyelids that she winks at you.

Because a man is brought to a loaf of bread for a harlot He is reduced to poverty and the lack of all good things.

Can a man rake Can a man pick up live coals with the skirt of his garments without burning them? Every expression of חתיה is an expression of raking according to its apparent meaning, that he fills the vessel in the fire.

to his neighbor’s wife According to its apparent meaning, and it can also be expounded upon as referring to the idolatry of the pagans.

They will not despise a thief, etc. And if he is found, he will pay sevenfold, etc. One who commits adultery with a woman The three of them are combined in one statement. If a thief commits a theft, he should not be despised as much as the adulterer. Why? Because he steals in order to sate his hunger, and perhaps he has nothing to eat. And, when he is found, he can rectify his sin with payment; at the most, he will pay sevenfold i.e., many times the double payment and even fifty times for one. Some explain “sevenfold” as referring to one who steals an ox and his trappings and slaughters it, who pays five cattle and double payment of the trappings (totalling seven). he must give all he owns lit. he must give all the property of his house. And, even if he must sell all he owns because of this, he can nevertheless rectify it, and from the beginning he did it because of hunger. But...

One who commits adultery with a woman is devoid of sense since he does not do it because of hunger.

one who would destroy his soul—he will do it The lewd act.

He will find wounds and disgrace Lesions are sent for idolatry and immorality.

for jealousy For the jealousy of the Holy One, blessed be He, Who is the Mighty One over all, will be aroused to mete out retribution upon him, and He will not have pity on the day of vengeance.

He will not have regard for any money to expiate for his denial of Him and his cleaving to idolatry. And our Rabbis expounded (Tosefta Baba Kamma 7:3): They will not despise a thief—This is one who steals away from his friend and goes to the study hall and engages in Torah. If he is found, he will pay sevenfold. [The intention is that] eventually, he will be appointed as a judge, and he will render legal decisions, for “sevenfold” refers only to the Torah, as it is said (Ps. 12:7): “refined sevenfold.”