Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Mga Kawikaan 16:20

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya--happy is the one who gave birth to him!: The undifferentiated expression, 'happy' is a category that includes all of the virtues through which a person is happy. And when it mentions the trait [with it], it is [referring only to] a particular [trait]. And we have found it stated about fear as in "Happy is the man who fears the Lord" (Psalms 112:1). And also about the designation of a fixed place for Torah [study], as it is written (Proverbs 8:34), "Happy is the man who listens to me, coming early to my gates each day, waiting outside my doors," and it states (Psalms 84:5), "Happy are those who dwell in Your house; they will still forever praise You." And about devotion, as it is stated (Psalms 65:5), "Happy is the man You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts." And about faith (Psalms 84:6), "Happy is the man who has refuge in You." It is also stated about one who prevents himself from [involvement with] evildoers (Psalms 1:1), "Happy is the man who has not followed the counsel of the evildoers, or taken the path of sinners, or joined the company of the scorners." It is also stated about those that keep the Shabbat (Isaiah 56:2), "Happy is the man who does this." It is also stated about those that walk in the Torah of the Lord (Psalms 119:1), "Happy are those whose way is blameless, who follow the Torah of the Lord." It is also stated about those that keep the commandments (Psalms 119:2), "Happy are those who observe His decrees, who turn to Him wholeheartedly." It is also stated about one who benefits from his toil (Psalms 128:2), "You shall enjoy the fruit of your labors; you shall be happy and it shall be good for you." It is also stated about those that keep the law and do justice (Psalms 106:3), "Happy are those who act lawfully, who do justice at all times." It is also stated about trust [in God] (Proverbs 16:20), "he who trusts in the Lord is happy." It is also stated about wisdom (Proverbs 3:13), "Happy is the man who finds wisdom," and it is also written (Proverbs 14:21), "he who shows pity for the lowly is happy." And about this is it said, "happy is the one who gave birth to him" undifferentiated; meaning to say he is happy with all of the happy traits - great in his wisdom and refined by his traits and in all of his affairs.

(1) too blind to recognize .. (2) comprehend .. (3) think over -- He specified three terms corresponding to the three types of blindness which tends to affect human beings. (1) Benefits which one does not recognize at all and which one is completely ignorant of - on this he wrote "too blind to recognize". (2) Benefits which he realizes a bit, but he does not contemplate them to "comprehend their high excellence" and goodness. (3) Thirdly, and this is worse than the first two, that some benefits seem at first impression to be bad, and they require to deeply "think over" to recognize their benefit and understand the good concealed in them. On those like this it is written, "the wicked do not understand, but the thinkers will understand" (Yirmiya 12:10), and the wise man said "he who thinks on the matter will find good" (Mishlei 16:20) i.e. he who is not satisfied with the first impression that appears to him but instead applies his intellect and understanding on it - "will find good", i.e. after thinking it through he will find the thing to be good, unlike the superficial appearance which deemed it evil. He will now explain that these three types of blindness are due to three reasons and that each reason is a cause for one of the above three types of blindness. I will explain each of them, G-d willing, after his words.