ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף משלי 5:4

This kind of mental anguish and sickness is far more serious than a bodily dysfunction as it is likely to result in a broken spirit. Proverbs 18,14 states: “a man’s spirit can sustain him during sickness, but who can lift up a dejected spirit?” The meaning of this verse is that the spirit, i.e. the soul, is able to relieve the sickness of the body to an extent as it sustains the sick body by itself going without food or drink for many days and offering solace to the body. When the mind is sick however, who can sustain it? Who will offer it solace or comfort?
Furthermore, just as there are physical afflictions so there are mental diseases. The latter are more serious and harder to combat than diseases of the body. Most people suffering mental disease are victims of sins committed or are the result of such a person (mind) having believed in the wrong values. This is what Solomon referred to when he said in Proverbs 2,16: “to deliver you from the alien woman, from the strange woman whose talk is smooth.” He continues about this “strange woman” in Proverbs 5,3 “for the lips of an immoral woman drip honey;” Solomon compares beliefs in the wrong values as equivalent to an alien woman who destroys her victim in the end.” This is why Solomon said: “but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword” (Proverbs 5,4). Another verse dealing with the same subject is Proverbs 5,5: “her feet go down to death, her steps support she'ol.” By having provided man with the ability to speak and to communicate his thoughts to others, G’d has also given man a decisive advantage over all other creatures. He enabled us to heal people whose minds are sick and to bring them close to the protective wings of G’d’s presence, the Shechinah (compare Ruth 2,12). Being under these protective wings of the Shechinah means to enjoy true and everlasting life. Avraham possessed this attribute of being able to heal spirits and this enabled him to attract so many people to the one and only G’d (compare Sotah 10). All of this he achieved by healing people through judicious use of his tongue. When the sages describe that he had a pearl around his neck which conferred a cure upon people they meant the power of speech (compare Baba Batra 16). We are told that the single pearl which hung around Avraham’s neck had the effect that any sick person who looked at it would be cured instantly. When Avraham died G’d took this pearl and made it part of the planet sun. The Midrash obviously needs elucidation as it is a euphemism expressing a certain idea. The author compared Avraham’s attribute which enabled him to gain converts to monotheism to the sun and its ability to illuminate matters that were previously concealed. The mention of Avraham’s neck in this connection is to be understood as the source of the “pearl” being in his throat, the source of verbalising one’s thoughts. What the author of the Midrash meant was that anyone suffering from spiritual dejection who listened to Avraham’s words would be cured.
When Avraham died he did not leave behind him any person or creature capable of teaching the Divinity of G’d and His uniqueness other than the planet sun; this is why G’d removed this “pearl” and hung it around the “sun in its orbit.” This is confirmed by Psalms 19,2: “the heavens proclaim G’d’s glory,” and this is also the meaning of the words מרפא לשון עץ חיים which we quoted from Proverbs as the introduction to this essay. The healing power demonstrated by the judicious use Avraham made of his tongue was the reason that so many of the people with whom he came into contact adopted his belief in monotheism. These were the people referred to in Genesis 12,5 as ואת הנפש אשר עשו בחרן, “and the people whom they had converted to monotheism while in Charan.”
The healing power of Moses’ tongue was demonstrated in verse 8 of our chapter when the Torah reports Moses as telling his father-in-law about all the miracles G’d had performed on behalf of the Jewish people. Yitro converted to Judaism after hearing his son-in-law describe what had transpired since he had left him. He abandoned his prestigious position in Midian as the High Priest, wealth, and his many children, and went into the desert in order to place himself under the protective wings of G’d’s Shechinah as soon as he hard Moses tell him what had happened since he had returned to Egypt at the time.

A root nurturing bitter herbs, like the bitter gidin herb. [The latter is] a species of bitter herb. And similarly, the Targum Yonasan translates Bitter as la'anah in Mishlei (5:4), and la’anah and rosh in Eicha (3:19) as gidin.

It is a well known fact that if man dedicates himself to the pursuit of the pleasures which life has to offer, this estranges him to G’d and makes it difficult for him to serve the Lord at the same time as he is busy pursuing his major concerns. Making earthiness a priority must result in making godliness a secondary concern. We see this best reflected when Esau sold the birthright and the Torah (25,34) describes this in a few words: ויאכל וישת ויקם וילך, ויבז עשו את הבכורה, “he ate, he drank, he arose and went of his way; thus Esau demonstrated his disdain for the birthright.” Anyone who is characterised by this negative virtue will eventually find himself deceived. [I believe the author means that sooner or later such people will be disappointed in what they had expected out of life. Ed.] In the case of Esau we find him describing himself as deceived twice when he said to his father (27, 36) “and he (Yaakov) has tricked me twice, he took my birthright and now he has taken my blessing.” Whatever pleasures and satisfactions such people do experience are only temporary and the time will come when they rue their former lifestyle and they cry out bitterly when they realize that “life” has deceived them. This is what Solomon had in mind when he said in Proverbs 5,3-4: “for the lips of an immoral woman drip honey; her mouth is smoother than oil. But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.” This is precisely the lifestyle of Esau and all those who support him. The philosophy and lifestyle of Yaakov are diametrically opposed to this, for someone characterized as איש תם and as יושב אהלים is the antithesis of someone described as יודע ציד, איש שדה. Not only this, whatever Esau was willing to give up, i.e. to sell, Yaakov was anxious to buy. When the Torah speaks about the dish of lentils, something round, always returning to its beginning, this merely illustrates the concept of the pursuit of the pleasures of this world. This physical universe and all the phenomena in it are constantly being recycled, as Solomon said already at the beginning of Kohelet: “there is nothing new under the sun.” What is perceived as progress, eventually is seen to be merely a retread of something old. Yaakov who had perceived this was therefore anxious to sell such “merchandise,” in return for something which promised enduring progress. The instrument of securing this spiritual progress is the birthright, as it represents the privilege of performing service for the Lord in sacred precincts.