Musar do Przysłów 16:7

However, in the case of a man who is pure in his deeds and does not boast or vaunt himself since he knows that there is sin in this matter, then the evil desire comes and conducts a war to the death, to overthrow and capture him in his net, and teaches that that which is forbidden is really permitted and presents opinions and citations to the effect that he will be following the commandment and will receive reward for his self honor and boasting. And thus the evil desire says, "You have already attained the heights of wisdom and piety, and it is proper for you to conciliate yourself with a natural desire and try to be liked by people even though you may have to fawn upon them and reveal to them your wisdom and righteousness in order to win their love." The evil desire will even bring proof from the words of our Sages: "Everyone whom people like, God also likes" (Aboth 3:10). But all this is false proof, for this type of reasoning is already a branch of arrogance. But the truth of the matter is, as it is written: "When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him" (Prov. 16:7). And the meaning of this verse is, 'If a man does not boast before others and does not try to be liked by them because of his good deeds, and yet people like him, this is great evidence that the Holy One, Blessed be He, loves him, and has sown (the seeds of) love for him in the hearts of people and has made him a good name on their tongues. In truth there are some individuals who are loved by people and the Holy One Blessed be He hates them, for they do not fulfill His Commandments. For the Holy One Blessed be He loves only those who study the Torah and fulfill its precepts.

THIS is one of the praiseworthy qualities, since it is rarely to be met with, except in the case of a noble-minded person, who accepts things just as they come to him and looks not for better ones. The quality of contentment is also derived therefrom. This is, as thou knowest, reader, an excellent quality, which we have portrayed and extolled above in the second chapter of Part I, whilst treating of the quality of meekness. If the righteous man be well disposed toward his fellow-men and the latter similarly disposed toward him, it is certain that he will be acceptable unto God.¹Cf. Diez (vol. i., p. 18, No. 29); cf. Bahya, v. 5, and vii. 20 (pp. 270, 271), and Brull (p. 76, note i). Yea, more, even his enemies will make peace with him. Thus the sage saith (Prov. xvi. 7), "When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him," as thou knowest from the goodwill Abimelech bore Abraham, peace be upon him, and the latter's making peace with him; thus also in the speech of our sainted Rabbi to R. Hiyya, and so forth.

When a righteous man likes people and people are pleased with him, then the Holy One, Blessed be He, also is pleased with him. For thus did they say : "One with whom men are pleased, God is pleased" (Aboth 3:10). And even his enemies make peace with him, as it is written : "When a man's ways please the Lord, He maketh his enemies to be at peace with him" (Prov. 16:7), as you know concerning Abimelech and Abraham … (Genesis Rabbah 54a). And when they make peace with him it is said "In the light of the King's countenance is life, and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain" (Prov. 16:15).

And if he has robbed money, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will see to it that he gets money with which to repay his victim, and the victim will accept restitution and forgive him. And if he has done evil to another man, either to his person or to his property, the Creator, Blessed be He, will cause to enter into the heart of the victim a desire and love (so that he will forgive him). As Solomon said, "When a man's ways please the Lord, He maketh his enemies to be at peace with him" (Prov. 16:7). And if the person he has robbed is far from him, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will bring him near to him until he is placated and forgives the robber. And if the sinner does not know how much money he has stolen and does not know whom he has robbed, then the Holy One, Blessed be He, will enable him to perform some public service, for example, building a bridge, or fixing wells, or building synagogues, or other things that the people need. And thus there will be benefit from his act to everyone; to the one whom he robbed, and also to others. And if the victim of the robbery should die, the robber must return the money to the heirs. If he has injured him physically, or slandered him, he must go to his grave in the company of ten men and ask forgiveness from God, Blessed be He, and from the dead man, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, will forgive him.

What do we mean by repentance in which one builds a fence between himself and his temptation? A man should not look at the laughing amusements of matrons and virgins and he should not look directly in the face of a woman or between her breasts, and not even at his own wife before she has immersed herself after the period of prohibition. And thus should he make a fence around all the commandments. And our teacher, Abraham ben David, of blessed memory, wrote: "And we have seen in connection with our Sages that they were completely pious men and they used to build many fences to protect themselves from temptation. And there was among them even one who separated himself from his wife after he had fulfilled the commandment of "Be fruitful and multiply!" And each of them would fence himself off from temptation according to the manner of man he knew himself to be. For there is a man who has a lust to commit one sin but not another. For example, one may have a desire to commit fornication but not to steal, and another may have the lust to steal but not to commit the sin of fornication. Therefore every one must make fences according to what he sees in himself, against those temptations wherein his evil inclination is gaining strength. If his mind is drawn to theft, let him refrain from receiving pledges in trust or from managing the property of others. And thus must one make fences for everything wherein he is tempted. And thus our Sages said concerning Abraham, that his desire made peace with him (Gen. Rabbah 54a). And concerning this it is said, "When a man's ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him" (Prov. 16:7). And King David waged war against his desire, and when he saw that his desire was not mild and his nature gentle, and when he realized that he could not overcome it, he stood up and slew it, as it is said, "And my heart is wounded within me" (Ps. 109:22). And the meaning of it is that Abraham had a desire that was gentle, and his nature was easy and pleasant, and it was not necessary for him to wage war against it. As they said (Nedarim 32b): At first, the Holy One, Blessed be He, caused Abraham to rule over two hundred and forty-three limbs. But later God caused him to rule over two hundred and forty-eight limbs, by giving him dominion over his two eyes, his two ears, and his membrum (i.e., because of his willingness to undergo circumcision, he achieved complete control over any sex impluse). But as for David, his desire was always hard and strong, and he had to wage war against it every day, and when he saw that he could not withstand it, he arose up against his evil desire and slew it. There are those who say that David slew his desire by fasting, and there are those who say he kept away from women altogether, for he feared lest that which was permitted might seduce him into doing something that was forbidden. Whichever version is correct (they both agree that) after David saw that his desire was gaining mastery over him, he set himself to make it yield, to fight against it, until he succeeded in subduing it.

When they see that G–d approves of a person's conduct, even his enemies make peace with him. This is why we find that Samael, the perennial accuser, concurs in blessing Jacob, something described in Talmudic literature as ומלאך רע יענה אמן, "the "evil" angel confirms by saying "Amen" (Shabbat 119); when this occurs, the red string will turn white. [A reference to the killing of the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement and the visible sign that G–d had granted forgiveness to the people. Ed.] An allusion to this is found in the legislation dealing with נגעים, skin diseases, that require quarantine. The Torah in Leviticus 13,13 describes a situation where the entire body is covered with a disease which makes the skin white, as one where the party so afflicted is considered ritually pure, [as distinct from a situation where only part of the body is afflicted]. When a person is so afflicted the Torah describes his skin as כלו הפך לבן. This description, in an allegorical sense, fits Laban the Aramite perfectly. The latter's roots were in the סטרא אחרה, the left side of the emanations. He was thoroughly infected with the serpent's lies. The serpent was the world's first liar, Laban an eager student, the רמאי, swindler. He is spiritually identical with בלעם, whose stock in trade was נחש ינחש, to rely on snake-charming and the like, [in the immediate sense this is a form of sooth saying. Ed.] Chullin 95 stipulates that any נחוש which is not patterned after the נחוש, sign guessing, employed by Eliezer when he wanted to enlist G–d's support in finding a suitable girl for Isaac, is inadmissible, smacks of paganism. Eliezer managed to put Laban's power of employing charms into the service of something approved by G–d. This means that he personally did not employ that method. I shall explain this in due course. This is why he “נתהפך ללבן,” "became totally white," i.e. he remained spiritually pure. Even though Laban was very wicked, he was extremely wise; he realised that Isaac represented the secret of the tree of knowledge, as we have discussed earlier.

The Midrash tells us that the number of Israelites would never be fewer than 600,000. Dogs is a hyperbole for קליפה. Our sages in Baba Kama 60 say that it is the dogs that call out: "the angel of death is coming!" When the firstborn of Egypt were slain and the Jews were about to leave Egypt, the Torah described the dogs as having remained silent towards the Israelites (Exodus 11,7). The hyperbole used in the Midrash saw Jacob as appointing the dogs as guards over the sheep i.e. Jewish people in exile, so that they would not become further infested with the pollutants of the original serpent. The opinion cited that he used 1,200,000 dogs is in accordance with the view expressed in Shabbat 88 that when Israel committed the sin of the golden calf, 1,200,000 destructive angels descended in order to remove each man's jewelry from him. This had been bestowed on them at the time Israel volunteered to accept the Torah. Jacob wanted to make these dogs subservient to the flocks, i.e. the Jewish people, in order to fulfil what is written in the verse in Proverbs 16,7: "When a man's ways please G–d, He makes even his enemies be at peace with him." We have stated that צאן is an allusion to the people of Israel. An interesting mnemonic note may be the halachic term צאן ברזל, which is used for inalienable property of the wife which returns to her family regardless of any rights of the husband. The four wives of Jacob produced the twelve tribes. Their names were: בלהה, רחל, זלפה, לאה. The first letters of their respective names spell ברזל, something that will endure under all circumstances.