אִם־יִמָּלְא֨וּ הֶעָבִ֥ים גֶּ֙שֶׁם֙ עַל־הָאָ֣רֶץ יָרִ֔יקוּ וְאִם־יִפּ֥וֹל עֵ֛ץ בַּדָּר֖וֹם וְאִ֣ם בַּצָּפ֑וֹן מְק֛וֹם שֶׁיִּפּ֥וֹל הָעֵ֖ץ שָׁ֥ם יְהֽוּא׃
Kapag napuno ng ulan ang mga ulap, ibubuhos nila ito sa lupa; at kapag bumagsak ang isang punongkahoy sa timog o sa hilaga, sa lugar na binagsakan ng punongkahoy, doon ito mananatili.
Rabbeinu Bahya
The ישר is the person who knows straightforward honesty, he treasures it, and he deliberately chooses to pactice it. He is prepared to endure all the various unpleasant effects of sticking to his mode of life. All of this he does because he is captive to the motto of being truthful. The בוגד, the treacherous person, on the other hand, is the reverse. First of all, in many instances he does not even recognise the truth when he sees it. Secondly, even when he does recognise the truth he does not admit it but endeavours with all the means at his disposal to pervert the truth.
In spite of all this we find that in some verses in this Book Solomon contrasted the virtue of uprightness with wickedness (instead of with treachery) and in the verse we quoted at the beginning of this paragraph he tells us that the upright man who dwells in a town causes the entire town to be morally and ethically uplifted on his account; in other words, Solomon defines the upright man as someone conferring benefits on his fellow citizens so that the whole town benefits from his conduct. Not only do the words of his mouth benefit his townspeople but he benefits them by means of the blessing which rests upon him. In other words, whatever G’d has endowed him with is transferred also to the community within which such an upright person resides. The very reverse is true of the wicked person, and this is why our verse continues with ובפי רשעים תהרס , “by the mouth of the wicked the town is destroyed.” The wicked person not only does not make a contribution to society, i.e. to the people with whom he associates, but he causes such a society to disintegrate due to his very presence. He does so merely by the words which come out of his mouth and by his haughty and overbearing manner. The righteous, on the other hand is not only a source of honour to the town he lives in but even his property is also a blessing for that town. This is the meaning of the words בברכת ישרים תרום קרת. The general principle which Solomon teaches is that the good deeds of the righteous as well as his words bear fruit. This is the meaning of Kohelet 11,3: ואם יפול עץ בדרום ואם בצפון מקום שיפול העץ, שם יהוא “If a tree falls down in the south or the north, wherever it falls there it remains.” Solomon speaks of a righteous person. The “tree” in the parable is a symbol for the righteous. Wherever he makes his residence there he will produce fruit. When our portion commences with the words ויצא יעקב וגו’ “Yaakov departed, etc,” this implied that a worthwhile person left the Holy Land and the whole land experienced his absence. When a righteous person resides within a city this makes an impression on that town’s fortunes. This is why the Midrash (Bereshit Rabbah 68,6) used this wording to teach this lesson. The Midrash felt that surely Yaakov had not been the only person who had ever left Beer Sheva. Why then did the Torah make special mention of his departure? [Remember that we already read about his leaving in 28,8 when he is reported as וילך פדנה ארם, “he went in the direction of Padan Aram.” Ed.] We can understand then that his departure is mentioned as it may have been the first time that a righteous person left Beer Sheva permanently. Since it would have sufficed to tell us where Yaakov was headed, i.e. “he went towards Charan,” the words ויצא יעקב מבאר שבע tell us that with his departure the glory of that town departed also.
In spite of all this we find that in some verses in this Book Solomon contrasted the virtue of uprightness with wickedness (instead of with treachery) and in the verse we quoted at the beginning of this paragraph he tells us that the upright man who dwells in a town causes the entire town to be morally and ethically uplifted on his account; in other words, Solomon defines the upright man as someone conferring benefits on his fellow citizens so that the whole town benefits from his conduct. Not only do the words of his mouth benefit his townspeople but he benefits them by means of the blessing which rests upon him. In other words, whatever G’d has endowed him with is transferred also to the community within which such an upright person resides. The very reverse is true of the wicked person, and this is why our verse continues with ובפי רשעים תהרס , “by the mouth of the wicked the town is destroyed.” The wicked person not only does not make a contribution to society, i.e. to the people with whom he associates, but he causes such a society to disintegrate due to his very presence. He does so merely by the words which come out of his mouth and by his haughty and overbearing manner. The righteous, on the other hand is not only a source of honour to the town he lives in but even his property is also a blessing for that town. This is the meaning of the words בברכת ישרים תרום קרת. The general principle which Solomon teaches is that the good deeds of the righteous as well as his words bear fruit. This is the meaning of Kohelet 11,3: ואם יפול עץ בדרום ואם בצפון מקום שיפול העץ, שם יהוא “If a tree falls down in the south or the north, wherever it falls there it remains.” Solomon speaks of a righteous person. The “tree” in the parable is a symbol for the righteous. Wherever he makes his residence there he will produce fruit. When our portion commences with the words ויצא יעקב וגו’ “Yaakov departed, etc,” this implied that a worthwhile person left the Holy Land and the whole land experienced his absence. When a righteous person resides within a city this makes an impression on that town’s fortunes. This is why the Midrash (Bereshit Rabbah 68,6) used this wording to teach this lesson. The Midrash felt that surely Yaakov had not been the only person who had ever left Beer Sheva. Why then did the Torah make special mention of his departure? [Remember that we already read about his leaving in 28,8 when he is reported as וילך פדנה ארם, “he went in the direction of Padan Aram.” Ed.] We can understand then that his departure is mentioned as it may have been the first time that a righteous person left Beer Sheva permanently. Since it would have sufficed to tell us where Yaakov was headed, i.e. “he went towards Charan,” the words ויצא יעקב מבאר שבע tell us that with his departure the glory of that town departed also.