The Torah of Hashem is Perfect, Making Wise the Simple (Auto Translated) | תמלול וסיכום מתורגם

Lecture on Eight Chapters of the Rambam – Chapter 4: The Middle Path, The Path of Healing, and the Torah’s Way of Healing

Introduction and Framing of the Lecture

Instructor:

Very good, yes. I’m making a recording here for backup.

So today’s lecture is roughly like this, roughly this is the subject, and I forgot to bring the books, he’ll come with the books too at some point anyway. But it’s like this, today’s lecture is built on the fact that we’re holding basically at the beginning of Chapter 4, not exactly the beginning, a little bit on the second piece. And generally speaking, the entire Chapter 4 of Shemonah Perakim is a very important chapter, I mean I already spoke, I mean that it’s Chapter 4 and 5 that are the central chapters of Shemonah Perakim, the main theory and practice stands there.

The Two Foundations of Chapters 4 and 5

And Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 are built basically on two things, it’s framed in a certain way, but it’s built on two foundations, and one must understand very well the connection of these two things.

Derech HaMemutza – The Middle Path

The first thing is the topic that’s called, what’s it called? The derech hamemutza [the middle path], yes? It begins with the fact that the middot tovot [good character traits] are the derech hamemutza, and one must be neither on this side nor on that side, and there is a way how to arrive at the middle path. And there’s the derech harefuah [the path of healing], if someone is, the way is simply to repeat the actions as if one is already holding there, as if, fake it until you make it, that’s the derech ha’avodah [the path of service/work] of the Rambam [Maimonides].

Derech HaRefuah – The Addition to the Middle Path

And there’s also the addition to this, another detail that’s called derech harefuah, that sometimes, since the main work is to do, it’s not just to understand, understanding is not enough, one must do it, if someone finds himself very far, or in certain things where most people find themselves far, one must move to the other side, not to remain permanently on the other side, one must learn a whole lecture, I don’t know if there was already a lecture here explaining what it means, I mean that it was already explained once that it doesn’t mean literally, yes? To be long, but not to become too extreme, rather more than you think, because you think it’s going to extremism, it’s not to be an extremist, yes? And they don’t hold with the people who say one must be extreme, because then one becomes crazy and never goes back. It only means to say that you need to go very far, you need to go very far, because you’re still very far on that side. That’s the topic of the second derech hamemutza.

The Rambam’s Question and Answer Regarding Torah and Extremism

And on this the Rambam asked a question, or with this he answers a question that he asks there from a person, that the Rambam claims that the good thing is the middle path, and people say, but I see in the Torah one sees various things that are extreme, or one hears chassidic stories – here come in chassidic stories – hachasidim [the pious ones], that’s what the Rambam spoke about, what is told about the chasidim, that they conducted themselves in various ascetic practices, or various, they went into the desert, yes, the Jews went into the desert, as you remember the story. The Jews went into the desert. These are all such things that don’t look like the derech hamemutza.

The Rambam’s General Answer

To this the Rambam says a general answer, that the answer is that, come in Rabbi Yoel, we need to bring more tables. The answer generally is that the Torah comes to heal people, the Torah doesn’t come just to say what the truth is, on that one must say sharply, not for that was the Torah given to know what the truth is, the Torah was given to heal people. Consequently, since the Torah knows that people are afflicted in certain things, the Torah must be extreme and bring ways that he should return to the other way.

And the Rambam brings many examples of this, how one sees that the Torah goes to extremes in order to heal people. And with this the Rambam says, that consequently if someone goes even further than the Torah, he is certainly completely confused, because he can’t say, “Ah, the Torah stands for the ideal, but I’m not ideal, I go further.” Because you don’t grasp that the Torah is already not ideal, the Torah is already to heal you, and you go even further, you’re completely off the path. So says the holy Rambam, yes? You remember this piece of Torah, this is more or less the progression of the entire chapter.

Example: The Nazir

Yes, this week’s Torah portion. The Torah is against a nazir [Nazirite], but the Torah says “ki yafli lindor” [when one sets himself apart to make a vow – Numbers 6:2]. Why must he go the opposite way? Yes? Simple meaning. The Rambam doesn’t say exactly this meaning, he speaks of a nazir, but presumably he means this. Yes, then, but a normal person doesn’t need to be. If you can be somewhat wayward, you need to be a nazir. Someone who isn’t wayward, doesn’t need to be a nazir. Yes?

This is a proof. And also one sees very strongly how he argues. He argues very strongly. One sees very clearly that the Rambam holds that people have an error. People think that extremism is good. And not only do they think it’s good, they think it stands in the Torah. And he argues very strongly with these people. He’s proving to them that they’re not right. It’s hard to say what he’s questioning, because he doesn’t go too strongly into what they thought, but he shows that what they think is not correct.

Methodological Framework: Three Categories for Learning Rambam

But what I want to emphasize today, the group already knows this, right? The group already knows this. What I want to emphasize today is just, that it comes out that here there are two points, like all chapters of Rambam there are two, three points. I made a summary once of this book, of the first few chapters that we learned, I actually need to make one on this with God’s help, I haven’t made it yet, but I’m just saying it as a preview. I’m going to present to you now what I need to present, and we learned once that in every chapter of Rambam in general, there’s a good way to learn Rambam, and Rambam and Rashi [Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki], there are three things. This is my framework, it’s a good framework to know for learning many things. Three things.

1. Content and Subject – The Essential Idea

The first thing is, what is the content and subject? What is the foundation? What is the, you can call it the philosophy? What is the idea that he wants to bring out in this piece? What is the idea that he’s bringing out? The idea can be discussed at length, but that’s the first thing. What is the essential idea? For example, one says the idea of the derech hamemutza, the idea of the derech harefuah, of derech hamitah [the path of death – likely referring to ascetic practices], of derech hahergel [the path of habit], these are the ideas.

2. Interpretation – Explanation of the Torah

The second thing, a second entire point, which people are confused about, and many times people start from the second point, but it’s another entire topic, is what’s called, Rabbi Yoel calls it interpretation, the interpretation, yes? In Yiddish one says the explanation, in Hebrew one says interpretation, and in Yiddish explanation, the same thing. How the Rambam, or whichever book one is learning, explains the Torah with these foundations? Yes? And here you can have further questions, there’s a dispute, one says a different interpretation, many times, the novel interpretations, he says an interpretation in a verse that never occurred to me, or it stands like that there, and the other commentators don’t think of such interpretations at all. This is the topic of explanation of the Torah according to the foundations, yes? The Rambam, many times very clearly he goes in that seemingly it doesn’t stand like that, one must answer. This is the topic of most Jews who learn Torah start from here, and they forget that one must first know what the essential idea is. That’s the second thing.

3. Debates – Debates and Disputes

And the third thing is debates, yes? Now that we understand that on both these things there can be debates basically, right? Either someone can understand completely differently, and either someone can understand differently, or he understands the Torah differently. Sometimes there are people who understand differently, but say the Torah stands differently. These are the funniest people. He understands this way, but he says the Torah says nonsense. What do I want to talk with you? You’re not the mother I need to talk with. But there are many such people. But the normal person says, either he understands differently, or the Torah stands differently. And we need to argue and show that he is wrong.

Application of the Three Categories to Chapter 4

So for example in this chapter you see very clearly the three things, right? First of all, the Rambam brings out the idea, he brings out the idea briefly. I have some complaints about the Rambam that he greatly abbreviates in bringing out the ideas in this book, and all his books truthfully. But so, that’s the way of writings, they write their concise ideas. One, he brings out explanation of the Torah, he explains the Torah. The truth is that the explanation of the Torah already comes out from the fact that he brings proofs from the Torah for his idea. Yes? One doesn’t see in the Torah that the Torah says that people should be nazirim [Nazirites]. The Torah is against nazirim. Yes, this week’s Torah portion. The Torah is against a nazir, but the Torah says “ki yafli lindor”. Why must he go the opposite way? Yes? Simple meaning. The Rambam doesn’t say exactly this meaning, he speaks of a nazir, but presumably he means this. Yes, then, but a normal person doesn’t need to be. If you can be somewhat wayward, you need to be a nazir. Someone who isn’t wayward, doesn’t need to be a nazir. Yes?

This is a proof. And also one sees very strongly how he argues. He argues very strongly. One sees very clearly that the Rambam holds that people have an error. People think that extremism is good. And not only do they think it’s good, they think it stands in the Torah. And he argues very strongly with these people. He’s proving to them that they’re not right. It’s hard to say what he’s questioning, because he doesn’t go too strongly into what they thought, but he shows that what they think is not correct. These are the three, three topics, three categories of things that he does in this chapter. Right? Agreed?

The Torah’s Rationale and Approach – A Deeper Point

So, I perhaps forgot the second. I know the third, it will be better. The third is just because people aren’t familiar with this, one must clarify this. So, this week was the holiday of Shavuot, brings the Torah, it’s very important, I want to make the connection of these two things. The truth is, here there is an important thing. It’s not just an interpretation, what stands in this chapter is not just an interpretation. It stands in the Torah, this thing. It’s better than an interpretation, it’s like a rationale for the entire Torah, or most of it, a large part of it. The Rambam here with this piece where he connects his idea with the Torah, he explains in an unusual way strongly the entire Torah, what is the goal and the progression how the entire Torah works. Right?

So here there is a very important thing to understand what this means. I want to think about this in at least two ways that I want to think about a few points that I want to bring out about this. Agreed? In other words, the Rambam here in this section, in the second section, the first section we’re not talking about now, the second section where he says that this is the meaning of the Torah, he comes to answer a great question. He comes to… he doesn’t answer the question, but he comes to answer the question.

Connection to Shavuot – The Great Question

Because what is the question of Shavuot, right? What is the question? One may not ask any questions on Passover. On Passover one asks a question why do we eat matzah. It’s basically the same question. But on Shavuot one asks a question why did the Almighty give the Torah, right? That is to say, it’s the same question. I already asked the question on Passover. Therefore it doesn’t stand in the Haggadah of Shavuot, because that’s already the answer. One is already holding by the answer in the Haggadah of Passover, because it’s basically the same thing, yes? Rabbi Gavriel Weisman made a Haggadah of Shavuot, you understand, he made four questions, I mean he only made answers.

Yes, what is the question of Shavuot? By the way, the question is a heretical question, but it stands in all the Chassidic books, because I figured out the trick of the Chassidic books. One of the tricks is to figure out how one can ask the good questions without being a heretic, right? Important thing.

The Ramban’s Question on “Torat Hashem Temimah”

So what does one ask the question? What do all Jews ask the question here? By the way, the Ramban [Nachmanides] has an interpretation, he has a sermon, what’s called, the Ramban has a sermon “Torat Hashem Temimah” [The Torah of God is perfect – Psalms 19:8]. The Ramban also looked at the verse “Torat Hashem Temimah”. The verses, they expound on the same verses. There are certain old sermons on the verse “Torat Hashem Temimah”, yes, from the psalm “The heavens declare” [Psalms 19].

And the Ramban asks a question. Do you know what the first question the Ramban asks in his book is? In this sermon? He says like this, there stands a verse “Torat Hashem temimah meshivat nefesh” [The Torah of God is perfect, restoring the soul]. The Torah is tremendous, it’s whole, it’s perfect. The Ramban asks, “Hmmm… I see the non-Jews have quite good laws, it’s not dangerous. A little better, a little higher. What’s the big deal? The Torah is so good, it’s better than everything that stands before it? Yes, there is a sense, everything is good, but the Torah is even better. That’s the Torah. I’m not saying that the person who doesn’t have Torah is somehow completely…”

So the Ramban asks a question. In order to ask the question one must live among quite decent non-Jews. I’m not saying, not everyone will say “yes, I see them yes”. But it depends on which neighborhood one has. But basically, one can imagine that there are quite good non-Jews. It’s a good question this, right? So the first… okay, I’m not going to say now the entire sermon of the Ramban. He has seven answers, as far as I remember. Always if there are seven answers, one must figure out what’s going on. Right? I don’t know what the answers are to such a simple question. But there is seemingly a bit of a deficiency in the question. Do you hear a gap? If you won’t see the gap, you won’t have the question.

The Chassidic Way to Ask the Question

But there is a Chassidic way to ask the question. A Chassidic way, it stands in many Chassidic books they ask such a question. Why? Abraham our forefather was a righteous person?

Why Does One Need the Torah? – The Chassidic Question and the Rambam’s Answer

From the Ramban’s Question to the Chassidic Question

What is the great virtue that the Torah is so good? It’s better than everything that stands before it? Yes, there is a sense, everything is good, and the Torah is even better.

But Torah, one doesn’t see that the people who don’t have Torah are somehow completely… How does the Ramban [Nachmanides, 1194-1270, Spanish Torah commentator] ask a question? He asks the question, one must live among quite decent non-Jews. We’re not saying, not everyone, many people will say yes, they are yes. But it depends on which references one has. But basically, at least, one can imagine that there are quite good non-Jews. So it’s a good question this, right?

Translation

Actually, I’m not going to say the entire discourse of the Ramban now, he has seven answers if I remember correctly. And whenever there are seven answers, one must ask how the parent is doing. I don’t know why one needs seven answers to such a simple question.

But anyway, this is seemingly a somewhat external question. This is a gentile, if you hadn’t seen the gentile you wouldn’t have had the question. But there is a Chassidic way to ask the question. The Chassidic way, it says in all the Chassidic books to ask such a question.

The Righteous Before Matan Torah (the giving of the Torah)

Was Avraham Avinu (Abraham our forefather) a tzaddik (righteous person)? A great tzaddik, yes? Even a chassid (pious person). Was Yitzchak (Isaac) a tzaddik? Was Shem ben Noach (Shem son of Noah) a tzaddik? Noach (Noah) himself was certainly a tzaddik, perhaps a slightly smaller tzaddik than Avraham, perhaps a slightly greater one? There’s a verse that says he was a tzaddik, right? There’s even a tune that says he was a great tzaddik. Certainly he was a tzaddik, yes?

What was his name? Ah, well, Chanoch (Enoch), was Chanoch a tzaddik? Was Metushelach (Methuselah) a tzaddik? They were all tzaddikim, right? Great tzaddikim.

Did they have a Torah? How does my opinion stand, right? They didn’t have any Torah. Again, let’s be clear, we’re talking about Matan Torah. Whatever it was, there in Shavuot in the morning they had something. According to the Midrash (according to the Midrash) they had, but you know that one can’t get married with a Midrash. They didn’t have any Torah, they were great tzaddikim, they were perfect people, they went straight from nothing, they’re not just that, they founded the whole thing, the people who would receive the Torah, I mean the Avot (the Patriarchs).

So we see that one doesn’t need any Torah, right? Very good. But not the Torah, not Moshe Rabbeinu’s (Moses our teacher’s) Torah did they have. From this we see, it’s clear that one can be a good person without the Torah, there’s no doubt whatsoever, it’s stated explicitly in the Torah. It’s stated explicitly in the Torah that one can be a tzaddik without knowing a single word of Torah, not a single word of Chumash Rashi (Pentateuch with Rashi’s commentary) did Avraham Avinu learn. Where did he learn? He had the Torah in his essence, but didn’t have, and one doesn’t need to have.

The Sharp Question: What Do We Need Matan Torah For?

But the question isn’t correct, I don’t want to get into what is the meaning of the Torah that existed before Moshe Rabbeinu. I even want to ask a question, if so, what do we need Moshe Rabbeinu for? Why do we need to make Matan Torah? What does this accomplish? So that we should know not to murder? Avraham Avinu didn’t murder, he knew that one may not murder, he conducted himself that way. What do we need to have the entire Torah? Right? It’s a good question.

Two Meanings of “Torah”

We see that they weren’t successful in transmitting it further. They didn’t keep Pesach (Passover). They didn’t keep Pesach, the question. They broke themselves over the question of Pesach. And the Torah stands in the chapter, right?

That is, when one says Torah, this has two different meanings. There is what one calls Torah as the ideal, what the ideal of a person should be. This one can even figure out without the Torah, even without the Almighty telling you, right? Even without the Almighty telling you, because do you know?

The Mabul (the Flood) and the Nature of People

Because the Almighty even turned to this, and also He made a Mabul (flood) for people who never knew that there is a Creator, they didn’t know that there is a Creator, they never knew that there is a Torah, they didn’t even know about the seven mitzvot bnei Noach (the seven Noahide commandments), you know? This is stated in the Gemara (Talmud), the seven mitzvot bnei Noach. They didn’t learn that piece of Gemara with a drasha (homiletical interpretation) on “vayetzav Hashem Elokim al ha’adam” (Genesis 2:16), that it’s gematria (numerical value) seven mitzvot bnei Noach. They didn’t know about this.

What did they know? Simply they could have known that one may not murder, one may not steal, one may not commit adultery, all these things that are stated in the Aseret HaDibrot (the Ten Commandments) they knew themselves, to such an extent that they were chayav onesh (liable for punishment).

The Rambam (Maimonides, 1138-1204) says this, these aren’t my teachings, everything is stated in the holy Rambam. You see, it appears that it’s one of the seven mitzvot bnei Noach. Everything the Rambam says, let’s not get into extremes. The thing is stated clearly in the Chumash (Pentateuch), in the entire Sefer Bereishit (the book of Genesis) it’s stated clearly that there is a thing of tzaddikim, there is a thing of resha’im (wicked people). Pharaoh received a punishment, later he already received a punishment, beforehand. Certainly was a bad person. There are good people, there are bad people, and not for this does one need a Torah.

The Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin, 1816-1893) on Sefer Bereishit

So it’s stated explicitly in the entire Sefer Bereishit, says the holy one who was called Rabbi Netziv, that this is why it’s called Sefer Bereishit, and Chazal (our Sages of blessed memory) say it’s called Sefer HaYashar (the Book of the Upright), because an upright person is enough for Sefer Bereishit. Sefer Bereishit teaches how to be an upright person. And if someone is very pious but he’s not upright, then he gets a Mabul, it doesn’t help. This is mechabel (an impediment). This is the nosa (theme) of Sefer Bereishit.

The Answer: For Whom Is the Torah?

So, what does the Torah do? Here one needs a tremendous thing. The Torah is a… well, what is the Torah for? Why does one need a Torah?

First Answer: For Sick People – The Brazenness of Jews

For sick people. Very good, for sick people. Or for large communities that by default have many sick people. The Torah is… or, there are two things. Either the Torah is for sick people, that is, as it says in the Gemara in Beitzah (Talmud tractate Beitzah), “ilmalei nitnah Torah l’Yisrael ein umah yecholah la’amod bifneihem” (were it not for the Torah being given to Israel, no nation could withstand them). Such chayot ra’ot (wild beasts) without the Torah, imagine what it would have been.

What is the ra’ayah (proof) that the Gemara is right? That the moment the Jews stopped being religious, they already had a medinah (state). They are azin (brazen), the Jews have a lot of courage and a lot of strength. And why did they… what holds them back from being wild beasts and conquering all the nations b’derech hateva (in the natural course of events)? It’s the Torah.

What is the proof for this? The religious Jews who don’t have the Torah… the secular Jews indeed have brazenness. So whoever has gone to Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) knows that Israelis are azin, they’re azin sheba’umot (the most brazen among the nations), no doubt whatsoever. Yes. One has already seen, yes, in the Torah it already says, yes.

So, but the Torah is made to somewhat restrain the Jews, so they should be people after all. If there weren’t any brazenness, one wouldn’t need any Torah. Right? They are azin, yes. You’ve already meant this. Hello, they also need a Torah, I didn’t say. They’ll still get on Satmar… worse, perhaps better, I don’t know worse. If the person has so much strength, he needs something to restrain him, he should use it correctly. So… yes.

Second Answer: Most People Are Naturally Not Good

So the Torah isn’t… so the olam (world), we are far from emet (truth), we think, I mean it’s true for us because we are so far from the truth and we need the Torah to tell us the truth. But ideally, the Torah, Matan Torah, not the Torah.

When I say Torah, the word Torah has two meanings, Torah exists in the aspect of chochmah (in the aspect of wisdom), which Avraham Avinu learned Torah, he meant the truth, he didn’t need the Torah, I don’t know what to call the two words. Yes, the Zohar (the Zohar, foundational work of Kabbalah) calls this Torah d’leila and Torah d’letata (the Torah above and the Torah below). Whoever heard the shiur (lecture) in English knows that the Zohar speaks about this. The Zohar calls this Torah elyonah and Torah tachtonah (the higher Torah and the lower Torah), Torah d’Atzilut, Torah d’Beriah (the Torah of Atzilut, the Torah of Beriah – Kabbalistic worlds), there are all kinds of ways of speaking about this in the Zohar. The Zohar had ways of speaking about this.

But the ideal Torah, this is what Avraham Avinu learned, what Moshe Rabbeinu learned, this is the truth, truth, this is the emet la’amitah (the absolute truth). But the Torah of Moshe Rabbeinu, the Torah shel matah (the Torah below), the Torah sheba’olam hazeh (the Torah in this world), came in order to heal the people who are sick.

Or a second way of saying this is, so that many people can be better than they would have been without it. Why? Because most people are not good people.

The Proof from Sefer Bereishit: The Nature of People

How do I know that most people are not good people? From the same Sefer Bereishit, right? Naturally, the Almighty made the world, this is stated in Parashat Bereishit, Parashat Noach. The Almighty made the world, this is the teva (nature), yes, seven days He made the world, the Almighty made the world, on the sixth day He made the world, on the seventh He rested. Afterwards were the first people, the second person killed his brother. This is the derech hateva, that’s how it goes. This is the normal, this is the nature. It’s not good.

Later, there were many people, “ki rabah ra’at ha’adam” (for the wickedness of man was great – Genesis 6:5), “ki kol yetzer machshevot libo rak ra kol hayom” (for every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the day – Genesis 6:5), all the beautiful ma’amarim (sayings) that you know, and so on. This is how people are, they are like this by nature. “Vayomer Hashem el libo lo osif lekalel od et ha’adamah ba’avur ha’adam ki yetzer lev ha’adam ra mine’urav” (And the Lord said to His heart: I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth – Genesis 8:21).

One tzaddik appears, he grasps that this doesn’t make sense, he gathers his family, he tries to teach himself, he tries to keep his people, very advanced before Avraham Avinu, he tries to keep his people. But you see from the story itself that most people are not good.

Why are most people not good? If people could be good, people could recognize the truth by themselves, one wouldn’t punish them. But b’derech hateva most people are bad. As we learned what the Rambam says, why the bnei adam (children of man) means, b’derech hateva, you give people power, they’ll be oppressive and make others slaves. This is how people work. human nature, it’s predictable. Whoever is predictable differently doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

The Torah as an Educational Program

So for this came Moshe Rabbeinu and he said he has an etzah (solution) for the problem. The Torah isn’t a solution for not knowing the truth, it’s a solution for the fact that most people are not capable of grasping the truth. Most people, even if one would come give a shiur and explain everything that Chanoch knew, they’ll quite possibly become worse people if anything, or it won’t help them at all, they won’t remember the entire drasha, the entire explanation, the entire understanding, the entire hakarat ha’emet (recognition of truth), it won’t change them at all.

Sechar V’Onesh (reward and punishment) – Candy and Spanking

So what is the answer? Torah is the answer, sechar v’onesh. As you learned in Chumash, what is said at the brit (covenant), yes? Torah is the answer, forget about the truth. Not forget, not forget, but you won’t be able to convince with the truth, you’ll be able to convince with some candy and with spanking.

This is the meaning of “chanoch lana’ar al pi darko” (train a child according to his way – Proverbs 22:6). What is the meaning of “chanoch lana’ar al pi darko”? It doesn’t mean what Rav Hirsch (Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, 1808-1888) and all the modern people say that one should speak to the soul of the child, it means one should speak the language that children understand. Which language do children understand? Spanking and candy. Okay? Today there are more sophisticated versions of spanking and candy, but it’s still the same thing, right?

What he likes, what he likes, one says you like this? I have this, be a good boy, they’ll give you this. You don’t like this? Be a bad boy, they won’t give you this. This is basically what is the meaning of chinuch (education), and Torah is a chinuch program, not a truth program, but a chinuch program. Right? Very very simple, and this is the solution to the whole thing.

Transition to the Rambam’s Examples: Money-Mitzvot

So I want to explain a bit better how this works, because I feel that if one grasps this one can understand most mitzvot, at least the idea of most mitzvot one can understand, and one can also understand what the Rambam says here that it goes somewhat b’derech kitzuni (in an extreme way). What does he mean b’derech kitzuni? right?

So I want to speak about the examples that he speaks about. I didn’t bring my version because I put it together a bit to bring here, but he speaks here about certain examples, okay? So let’s speak about the examples that he speaks about. The examples, we already spoke that there are two types of middot (character traits) that the Rambam speaks about in this chapter: one is about ta’avot ta’anugei haguf (bodily pleasures), and the second is about money, two important things in life.

And now I’m going to speak about what he speaks about regarding money, okay? Because I just want to show, I want to speak about this a bit, and I’ll speak about this also for the sake of the shiur of Shavuot, that we learned Megillat Rut (the Book of Ruth), and it says there, I don’t know why one says that one shouldn’t go into Shavuot a bit.

So he says like this, look what the Rambam says here, after he finishes speaking about ta’avot, which came back to this also, he says like this: “vechen kol mah sheba baTorah” (and so too all that comes in the Torah), everything that’s stated in the Torah, and he makes a long list: ma’asrot (tithes), leket (gleanings), shichechah (forgotten sheaves), pe’ah (corner of the field), peret (fallen grapes), olelot (incompletely formed grape clusters), shemitah (sabbatical year), yovel (jubilee year), tzedakah dei machsoro (charity according to his needs), and so on.

The Torah’s Unusual Way of Giving Charity: Why There’s No Simple Commandment to Give Money

Introduction – The Rambam’s List of Mitzvot That Are “Close to Wastefulness”

I just want because I want to speak about this a bit, and one spoke about this. It’s also a shiur of Shavuot, one learned Megillat Rut, it says there, and it must be said with oneself like Chaim Malka’s been Shavuot a bit.

He says like this, look what the Rambam says here, after he finishes speaking about ka’as (anger), ta’anugim (pleasures), which came back to yichud (unity/seclusion), he says like this, vehin kol mah sheba baTorah (and behold, all that comes in the Torah), everything that’s stated in the Torah, and he makes a long list, of ma’asrot (tithes), leket shichechah ufe’ah (gleanings, forgotten sheaves, and corner of the field), peret ve’olelot (individual grapes and small clusters), shemitah veyovel (sabbatical year and jubilee), tzedakah dei machsoro (charity according to his needs), how many things do I have already? That’s five, six, seven mitzvot.

He says, all this is karov lifazranut (close to wastefulness/excessive giving), all these mitzvot are almost pazranut. We remember that there are two ketzavot (extremes), pazranut is one, yes, being a pazran (wasteful person), how giving too much is one bad thing, the other side is being a kamtzan (miser), a kamtzan (stingy person), one who doesn’t give enough, and in the middle, that’s the correct middah (character trait) of giving tzedakah, of helping whoever needs, whoever one needs to help in the way one needs to help, at the time one needs to help. The Rambam says, but in the Torah this is not stated.

The Great Question: In the Written Torah There’s No Simple Mitzvah of Charity

I want to note here a very interesting thing, I mean other people who have learned about these things already know how, that in the Torah, you know that in the Torah there’s no mitzvah stated to give tzedakah literally? Interesting thing, yes? For example, or one even speaks of supporting a person who learns, all kinds of ways that one gives tzedakah, in the Torah there’s not stated a single one of these mitzvot, or almost not, and not befeirush (explicitly). The Torah shebichtav (Written Torah), the Rambam says that one speaks of the Torah, the mitzvot that are said in the Torah shebichtav. The Rambam says “vehin kol mah sheba baTorah”, but it’s not translated.

The Strangeness of the Torah’s Approach to Helping the Poor

Yes, as was read, we read on the second day of Shavuot the portion of Re’eh, yes? There it states almost all the commandments about helping a poor and destitute person. “Aser te’aser” [you shall surely tithe], yes, we read it on the holiday, because the holiday is the time when one makes joyful, one must calculate for a poor and destitute person.

What the Torah Says About Helping the Poor

What does the Torah say? It says this way, one should give maaser sheni [second tithe] for a poor and destitute person, for Levites, and one should give leket, shikcha, and pe’ah. I mean, it already states in Emor [the portion of Emor], by the holidays and in Kedoshim [the portion of Kedoshim], and one should give, on the holiday one should give him to eat also. What else does it say? If he is poor one should give him a loan, and one should forgive it in the shemitah, and if he is sold one should redeem his house, if he sells himself, a relative should redeem him from the Jew who bought him, or the non-Jew who bought him. Very much about social help, but one thing doesn’t make sense, they give money.

The Problem: It Only Mentions Loans, Not Gifts

Giving, the loan is an anti for the sake of cash. But lending, not giving. “Ha’avet ta’avitenu” [you shall surely lend him], give him with collateral, yes? Give him with collateral, give him with a guarantor. It doesn’t say you should give without a guarantor even. That which it says shemitah one must forgive, okay, but it doesn’t say what one gives, it says that one lends. It almost doesn’t say to give, true? “Patoach tiftach et yadecha” [you shall surely open your hand], the Gemara interprets the verse not according to its plain meaning. I mean to say, what?

The general person, nu? There was money, I don’t know. There wasn’t any Tyrian silver, I don’t know, no Tyrian silver is iron, but something with money. “Ha’avet ta’avitenu” means one gives him money? No. Something one gives him. Let’s not even talk about money, about bread, I know about wheat. Why doesn’t it say that one gives kemach de’pischa [flour for Passover]? It says something up in the field one lets them give. It’s very strange, right?

Chazal Interpret the Verse Not According to Its Plain Meaning

I understand that my question is, Chazal [the Sages] interpret the verse not according to its plain meaning. Okay, the Rambam will say that it’s Torah she’be’al peh [Oral Torah]. “Patoach tiftach et yadecha lo ve’ha’avet ta’avitenu dei machsoro asher yechsar lo” [you shall surely open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs], the Gemara translates from here the general commandment of giving tzedakah, it means giving money, even lechatchilah [from the outset] giving a gift of money. But it’s not the plain meaning in the verse. The verse speaks of a loan, there’s no doubt, the plain meaning of Scripture speaks of a loan, and he must still pay back, except if shemitah comes and he hasn’t paid back, then one must forgive. But in the Torah it doesn’t say to give tzedakah.

The Strangeness of the Torah’s Approaches

It’s an interesting thing. Let’s say what it says. There are two reasons, one can think in two ways. I want to first say the Rambam’s way, and then another, a slightly different way, which is perhaps connected to it.

Usually, what does it say every time? There are people who need money, people who have money. There’s a commandment to help another. This is the good character trait of generosity, right? The Rambam says there’s a good character trait of generosity. Generosity means, there’s a certain amount that it’s right to help another, and this is a good character trait, it’s a commandment, it’s a good character trait. Abraham our forefather understood this, true? Abraham our forefather gave, I don’t know, whatever he had to give. Hospitality to guests, by the way, hospitality to guests is another commandment that doesn’t appear in the entire Torah, and we only think of it from Abraham our forefather. There’s a derasha, there’s a derasha that says a way, it’s a way that doesn’t appear in the Torah. Abraham our forefather did kindness and tzedakah and justice with thousands of people, he didn’t know, he didn’t give any leket, shikcha, and pe’ah, I don’t know what he gave. He gave what needed to be given, he gave, he gave a garden with the door, whoever needed he gave. The Torah never says, “Give as much money as is lacking you should give.” It doesn’t say in the Torah.

What Would Be Normal? A Charity Fund

What does it say in the Torah? All kinds of approaches. This is somewhat strange. And it’s a whole long list. You could say, a poor person, what would be normal? What would one say today? Let’s make a charity fund. Fine, distribute every month for whoever doesn’t have enough money, so much, according to his needs. A fund, a soup kitchen, distribute every week for whoever doesn’t have food, there’s food. Whoever doesn’t have money to buy rent, pay him at the end of the month, I don’t know how much one needs to make sure he can have. Whatever the social approach is, give him money and the problem is solved.

The Torah didn’t think of it, it didn’t occur, it’s so primitive, it didn’t occur to Moses our teacher? One could say, gentlemen, “When you see a poor person from Israel, and you shall gird yourself for him.” What is this? It’s not at all crude, not at all normal. No. A sheaf from a forgotten sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to take it, let him take it. Can you think of a more undignified, humiliating way to give tzedakah than this? You know what? Take it, I didn’t have the nerves to go back to the field, let him have it. It’s very strange. It would have been in addition to other charity, one can say teachings about this.

Pe’ah – An Unusual Way of Giving

Pe’ah is nothing. Pe’ah means “you shall not finish.” You shouldn’t take the corner of your field. It’s not leket, shikcha is you forget. Pe’ah is officially a thing, every time in the field, give a little. Yes, give a little. It’s better on the corner, which is not a normal way of giving money. The normal way is, take a little, give a little. I mean, what, he has to come dragging himself, searching, and the householders still watch which poor people can come, yes? It’s not so simple. And there’s no measure for pe’ah, one can fulfill the obligation with just a small bit. It’s very strange truly. I believe one doesn’t have to give the measure of pe’ah, yes? It’s calculated, a bit more dignified than leket and shikcha, but I don’t hold it’s a normal way of giving money for a poor person.

Priestly Gifts – Why Not Just Money?

But it’s still a… even a priest and Levite, he should get terumah and ma’asrot [priestly gifts and tithes] with all kinds of things. Why can’t he give a few dollars on a good day? There wasn’t any money then, you say. I mean that there was already money then. Money had already been used then. In Moses our teacher’s times money had already been used. It’s somewhat strange.

The Rambam’s Answer: The Torah Is for Most People, Who Are Inclined Toward Miserliness

And the Rambam says an answer to this question. But I want to note. Second, there are two questions. You can ask, the Rambam asks here like two questions. One is it’s strange, I ask the question. What does the Rambam ask the question? We don’t do all these clever things. We know that one doesn’t do, one isn’t observant of, not the commandments of pe’ah, not leket, not shikcha. It’s not so necessary, because there are workers, and there are combines, and there are machines. One gives money, one gives him. One doesn’t give him money these things more or less.

Second, priestly gifts, yes, it’s symbolic, that you don’t have a priest, you can’t eat it. It’s another thing. It’s another topic. There isn’t a single yeshiva that supports itself from priestly gifts, true? The original purpose of priestly gifts doesn’t exist, right? The yeshiva needs to support itself from money. There’s a commandment of priestly gifts, one has three gifts, one has this and that. But it’s not the topic, right? We’re talking now about tzedakah. Why are we talking about tzedakah? Because there is the commandment. One must distribute money. And in the Torah there’s no commandment to give tzedakah. We derive it, I know, according to the homiletical interpretation it perhaps states. But there’s no commandment of giving tzedakah. And there are seven other ways of giving, seven other lower approaches, right? Seven other approaches. Pe’ah yes, one gives also. But what do you say that pe’ah is normal? It’s not normal pe’ah. Does the householder normally stand in his field and leave a large piece of pe’ah? What does he want with all these things? It’s so much and so much and so much.

Shemitah – Another Strange Approach

About this the Rambam says an answer to this. I’ll say what the Rambam says. I mean, in place, shemitah and yovel [sabbatical year and jubilee], also forgiven every seventh year. Every year give a seventh. What is the strange shemitah? Everything is strange. A whole Torah comes and it throws you. Perhaps there are still reasons for shemitah, but let’s talk about the reason. There are very many things. The Rambam says, the Rambam says… what?

Student: It’s shemitah. It states in the Torah, “and the poor of your people shall eat.” It’s an explicit verse. The Torah states, “and the seventh year you shall release it and abandon it, and the poor of your people shall eat.” Or “and you shall not sow the sabbatical year.” Which verse does it state on? It also states in the portion of Behar, similarly. What he doesn’t take, it’s ownerless, he can take it, he takes. It does grow yes.

Instructor: That’s a good question. The answer is that aftergrowth is rabbinically prohibited, and he gives it for everyone. It’s ownerless for everyone, not only for the poor. Very good. But the point of this is that it’s the poor… It states in the verse, you’re arguing with the verse, and the verse states “and the poor of your people shall eat.” Certainly, the Gemara says, the Midrash says in the portion of Behar, it learns a derasha, not only the poor, the animals may also eat. He’s also a poor person, he doesn’t have what to eat. Very good, he doesn’t have to die of hunger, he may also eat. But all are equal, yes, he gives also for the poor. When it’s clear in about twenty verses in the portion of Mishpatim that it’s so that the poor should have to eat.

There are all kinds of strange things. Okay, you can argue. The laws of shemitah are still in Yoreh De’ah [section of the Shulchan Aruch dealing with ritual law].

Summary of the Two Questions

The question is, two questions. First of all, why can’t one say normally, be a person and give what’s needed? “Dei machsoro asher yechsar lo” – this is the verse, the Gemara interprets. “Dei machsoro” – if he needs a car, lend him a car. He needs a hat, lend him a hat, give him a hat, and so on. What he needs, it includes everything. “Dei machsoro” already includes everything. Suddenly there are other things. So these are the two questions. It could be that it’s one question. And second, there are so many other approaches, and each time such a trick. It’s very strange.

The Rambam’s Answer: For Whom Was the Torah Given?

The Rambam’s answer here is basically this, as I understand what he states here, he doesn’t say why he states, he says this way, this one must remember. When you expect that normal people who give, certainly you understand that the money isn’t yours, the Almighty gave you the money so that you should share it with whoever needs, according to what’s right. It’s not waste and not squandering. The person really doesn’t need any commandments. Not for you was the Torah given. The person who really gives for each one properly, not for him was the Torah given. The person who really gives for each one properly, not for him was the Torah given. On Sukkot I already said once a sermon, that one is the Torah scroll, he is already the differences in customs on Shavuot. Not for him was the Torah given.

But for whom was the Torah given? For most other people. Most other people, they are inclined toward the side of miserliness. Most people are not inclined toward the side of wastefulness.

Aristotle’s Insight: Why Most People Are Miserly

I saw Aristotle says a very interesting thing – the Rambam took all these things from Aristotle. What is the explanation that most people… It happens very rarely that people have a problem that they give too much tzedakah. There are a few such people, perhaps, but it’s very rare. Most people give too little.

The Self-Reinforcing Mechanism of Character Traits

He says why? Because think about it, that to be a character trait, character traits have like a self-reinforcing mechanism, that the more one does them, the more they become. Someone who gives too much tzedakah, it’s self-healing, because he’ll use up his money, he’ll stop more quickly. Usually, the problem of giving too much money solves itself. Eventually one runs out, and one returns to the middle path.

Not so the problem of giving too little money, on the contrary, it becomes worse and worse. He always has more money that he doesn’t give, and he keeps it for himself.

The Torah’s Indirect Strategies to Deal with Human Miserliness

The Shulchan Aruch’s Permission to Squander for Orphans and Widows

Maggid Shiur:

The Shulchan Aruch says that there’s a permission, one may squander on the orphans, on the widows, there is such a permission.

What? Yes, and why? What about the squandering? Isn’t it a sin? The rabbi was also.

The Satmar Rebbe’s Extreme Charity Practice

But the Satmar Rebbe, okay, in practice, the Satmar Rebbe didn’t die either, no one punished him, it’s not dangerous, he had a position. The Satmar Rebbe said, he knows, he is his rabbi, his job is not a problem.

The Satmar Rebbe gave money for perhaps, he collected money, I don’t know, I mean that his son complained that he takes, he wants to give the money he had for him, and he wanted to give for another.

He says, no, it’s not a problem, you say, there are people who say that the rabbi’s son should be given money, that one is not the rabbi’s son.

He didn’t understand that he said that he used to pay out all his money every day, and I swear, I don’t present myself in the appearance, one may not squander more than a fifth.

He said that his Satmar Rebbe is worth much more than all the money he gave out every day. It’s income, his Satmar Rebbe makes a lot of money, he made himself very much money with this.

He said, ah, he didn’t run out of money? He said, no, I ran out, I borrowed. One may borrow, he said, I will sometime borrow.

He had credit, he had good credit, the Satmar Rebbe. The Satmar Rebbe had a thousand credit score, right? He could borrow as much as he wanted. Yes, and his name is also part of his net worth.

Nu, it’s not a sin, it states that certainly, it’s a measure of piety, perhaps for most people one shouldn’t do too many excesses. But what the Satmar Rebbe said, he had a measure of leniency, this was it went extreme.

The Rambam’s Principle: “Everything According to the Majority of Deeds”

But, the Rambam says, so he says, most people usually don’t have this problem. Usually there isn’t this problem. So, but what the problem is yes, that most people it’s very hard to separate them from their money. This is the order.

So therefore, and remember also that the Rambam, the very famous Rambam says this in his commentary on the Mishnah regarding tzedakah, yes, “everything according to the majority of deeds,” yes?

The Rambam’s Answer: “Everything According to the Abundance of Actions”

Says the Rambam, there is one answer [answer], a simple answer why one needs many things, “hakol lefi rov hama’aseh” [everything according to the abundance of actions]. Says the Rambam, if someone sees he has a midas hakilos [the trait of stinginess], like most people who don’t give enough tzedakah, and he has a thousand dollars, he should rather distribute one dollar at a time than the entire thousand dollars at once.

Practical Illustration: The Baal Habayis Who Gives Once a Year

So, what? Is that right? I spoke with a certain Jew, a baal habayis-ish Jew, a couple of years ago. Okay, I hope he doesn’t hear this from here. And he told me that first of all, it bothers him very much to give. People always come to shul to give money. He gives once a year a hundred thousand dollars to his, and I do it for whom, and he gives a check.

But this, says the Rambam, that one should not do this. Why? Because the person has remained a non-giver. True, it may be that he gives in the end more tzedakah in the accounting than other people, but he in practice, truly, how I know him and know, just [simply], I don’t know anything personal, but he’s not a good person, because he is essentially [in essence] a selfish person. He hasn’t become unselfish.

Says the Rambam, to distribute a little money every day for those who come to shul, is to become less selfish. By the way [incidentally], that one gave less money perhaps. That’s a different accounting, that one should have enough money. But he became less selfish.

The Same Thing: Every Step is a New Action

The same thing is what he says here. One needs every step, every step is here “ma’aseh rishon” [first action], “ma’aseh sheni” [second action]. One must constantly [in order] do new things in order to uproot the midas hakilos, to become accustomed [to get used to], to weaken the midas hakilos. That’s one thing.

The Deeper Principle: People Become What They Do

But I think there is a deeper thing here. This is simple, yes? This everyone understands simply. I think there is also a deeper thing here.

The deeper thing is, that the trick here is built on the fact that people become what they do, not what they believe, not what they think. Yes?

Today people think that they have the right hashkafos [perspectives], with shitos [methods], “It helps something, I hold that one must give.” I don’t care what you hold. Do you give? Do you not give? Not only do I not care what you hold, your nefesh [soul] doesn’t care what you hold.

If you give, even if you do it leshem shamayim [for the sake of Heaven, for God], you say that you do it for the klal [community], you have explained to yourself [explained] leshem shamayim, it will be explained to you leshem shamayim. If you don’t give with a good accounting, it will be explained to you why not. That’s the way how people work.

The Torah’s Two-Pronged Approach

So, if one speaks to a klal, let’s remember, the Torah [the Jewish Bible/law] spoke that there are two things: first of all [firstly], the Torah made for the sick people, and secondly, it is made for the klal. Also because the klal is sick people. But one must speak to a klal, and one must speak in a manner [in a way] that one can speak with a klal.

So, and the virtue [virtue]… a small genius [genius] is here, but a great genius is a great chiddush [new thing]. So, to a klal one must find ways how one can speak to the klal, and one must make ways how he shouldn’t catch that he gives tzedakah. That’s the point [point].

If he catches, he has his midas hara [bad trait], his middah that says to you “my money, why should I give for you?”.

The Torah’s “Tricks”: Indirect Mechanisms for Tzedakah

So, there are all kinds of tricks that one makes that you don’t catch that one gives you tzedakah, that you don’t catch that you give around yours.

Leket, Shichechah, Pe’ah: “It Costs Nothing Anyway”

For example [for example], the Torah says, “Come listen, you cut your field, forget one section.” Even the finest… it’s shichechah [forgetting]. It means after all [in total]… Rabbi Elisha always says that it means, it doesn’t have to be a chazir [pig, impure person] that a person…

What is today? For example, that a person makes a simchah [joy, celebration], there is such an organization that collects the food after the simchah, because it’s a shame, one can give it for aniyim [poor people]. It doesn’t have to be a chazir. Ah, it’s with good, take it home. Hello, you have at home, tomorrow you have supper at home. Right? It doesn’t have to be…

I say, there is such, one lives from a tzimtzum [constriction] that has a bundle in a person, that always… he makes sure that in shul there should be three glasses of coffee, because three people come. Buy enough, there should be for other people.

The Parable of Shemittah: Abundance vs. Constriction

I had a friend [friend] who explained to me even, I don’t know if this is the correct pshat [simple understanding], but it’s true [true], and one should understand what is the pshat that the Torah says that one doesn’t do with the shefa [abundance] that it is already an abundance just like a nes [miracle], and one uses because of what a nes happened every six years, it doesn’t make sense.

The Rav says, he knows, he thinks that it’s simply as the beginning of simplicity [as the beginning of simplicity]. He says like this, go into a Chassidish beis medrash [study hall] for the kiddush [kiddush], you will see, it never runs out the kugel, and there is always enough kugel for everyone.

Go into a Litvish beis medrash, God forbid [God forbid] Litvish, but where more restrained, more stingy [stingy] beis medrash, you will see that many weeks, one guest comes, there is already no kugel for him. Or even if he would have calculated, he says what is the pshat?

If one calculates with the surroundings from the start [from the beginning], the gabbai [gabbai] who buys, he always buys two tates, because he knows that there is enough for everyone. If one lives with a tzimtzum there isn’t enough for anyone. That’s the simple meaning in the blessing [blessing] that he makes shemittah [sabbatical year].

But this is… where do you see shemittah? Shemittah means that he thinks already the sixth year, what means “vetzivisi es birchasi bashanah hashishis” [and I will command my blessing in the sixth year]? He thinks the sixth year already, just like “mi shetarach be’erev Shabbos yochal beShabbos” [whoever prepared on Friday will eat on Shabbos].

He thinks… no, I’m not saying that one should think to prepare, I’m saying that not only should one think, one should think with the mitzvah [mitzvah]. Think that there are surroundings who won’t have the seventh year. So there is, one lives with a shefa, one lives with a merchav [breadth], there is for everyone, there is enough. That was his parable’s [parable’s] pshat.

Evaluation of the Parable

He wants to make it even more moral, more… the parable understands that the importance [importance] of sukkah [sukkah] is there is usually coffee for everyone. There is sometimes a Lifshitz, sometimes there isn’t. If you don’t take it on, it’s not right? Okay, it’s not right. The parable is better that you take it. It’s an “al tehi ke’eved hameshares al menas lekabel pras” [don’t be like a servant who serves in order to receive reward]. It’s not right.

I think that shemittah speaks about a different thing, because it means that he will do more so that there should be enough. Okay, one can argue. One must certainly put away, but the Almighty puts away for everyone. Shemittah means that one has in mind the other, so one has in mind more, one has in mind…

Okay, let’s say it’s not a good pshat on shemittah, we’ll find a better pshat. I’m just saying that the idea of “this is an elevated ko’ach she’yesh bo po’el” [a power that has an effect], this is a simple idea.

Divrei Torah Against the Yetzer Hara: The Torah Doesn’t Go Directly Against the Yetzer Hara

But I think that according to the Rambam it’s simpler or deeper than this, that one can’t say to a person “give money, give money”. It doesn’t go directly against his yetzer hara [evil inclination]. The Torah, the divrei Torah against the yetzer hara [words of Torah against the yetzer hara], the Torah doesn’t come directly against the yetzer hara.

The Problem with “Ve’ahavta Lere’acha Kamocha”

If the Torah… there are many people, I’ll say an interesting thing, there are many people who come and say, “What is the whole Torah about? I know, you need to reach, yes? It says Rabbi Akiva [Rabbi Akiva] ‘zeh klal gadol baTorah’ [this is a great principle in the Torah], one should think of the other, one shouldn’t think only of oneself.” Okay, work on thinking of the other.

No, you don’t catch. The Torah came to solve the problem of needing to think of the other. Do you understand? That person, many times that person is bad. Not always, if he conducts himself in the way of the Torah [in the way of the Torah] he truly becomes good, because he sets the intention [intention].

But many times, the people who say that someone is an egoist, he is the total, the whole Torah wants that he shouldn’t be an egoist, he shouldn’t think of himself. In practice, he lives as an egoist, that person, and he speaks a whole mussar drashah [mussar sermon] how it’s so hard to stop thinking of oneself, and it requires mesiras nefesh [self-sacrifice]. It’s not so. The Torah came to help the problem. It is truly hard.

Rabbi Akiva and “Chayecha Kodmin”

If one wants to go directly say “stop, don’t think of yourself”, he thinks of himself. Rabbi Akiva is the same Rabbi Akiva of “chayecha kodmin” [your life comes first]. Also a question [question]. Okay, that’s already a small [small] question.

But what Rabbi Akiva says is, that the mitzvos [mitzvos] of the Torah are made that at the bottom line [line] you should stop thinking of yourself. “Meleches leket shichechah u’pe’ah” [the work of leket, shichechah and pe’ah] costs nothing. What has the Torah thanked you? It costs you nothing. A few olelos [olelos] remained, leave it, don’t be bad. As if [as if], it’s not really a bad person would do it without the Torah.

It may be that this is the derech hamemutza [middle way] that you said, I don’t know. The Torah goes a bit more radical, says “don’t be bad. Leave, leave, you have so much, let the other also have a little.”

The Torah’s Strategy: Giving Without Catching

Now, you catch yes? Now you say, there is already that the Torah has found a trick how to make the person should give tzedakah without he should catch that he gives tzedakah. Little by little, he does all these tricks. Tell him, he says, give, what are the other tricks that one says? Do “azov ta’azov imo” [help help with him], do…

Okay, the Rambam says a different thing. Give shemittah, give yovel [jubilee], every seventh year. Why? Shemittah also has other reasons [reasons], right? Not only… the Rambam says that shemittah is about this. Let’s accept what the Rambam says. Shemittah is so that the poor should have to eat.

The Torah stands many other reasons why one should do shemittah. “Veha’aretz lo timacher litzmisus” [and the land shall not be sold forever], and according to Kabbalah [according to Kabbalah], shemittah is a holy time, yes? It stands in the verse [verse], yes? “Vekidashtem es shnas hachamishim” [and you shall sanctify the fiftieth year], it stands almost [almost] in the first verse, it’s holy. And consequently it’s a holy time, one should sit in kollel [kollel] learning and not work. That’s a good answer.

This is divrei Torah against the yetzer hara. This is because one can’t tell you directly “give for poor people money”, one finds you all kinds of tricks that you should give money. Whether shichechah is no difference [difference]. It may be.

Practical Applications: Fundraising and “Chai Dollar”

Today also, everyone who does fundraising knows, almost no one will give money. I made a campaign, I hold that it’s exactly the gematria [gematria], and one gives chai dollar [eighteen dollars]. What is chai dollar? Someone told me that chai dollar is not inflation-adjusted, one must change it. But, it’s little, eighteen dollars, let it be so. Once it was six dollars, yes?

But… by the way, why do I say this? Because you said simply that it’s not called “parmashto” [his prutah], because it’s not your action. The point is, why does the Torah say “keminyan yovlos” [according to the number of jubilees]? Yes, it’s a better word. A root is called “parmashto ben kashta” [his prutah, son of his bow].

Because it makes much more money this way. By the way, what? A second tzaddik [tzaddik] said this. He says, he says, you know why he lies? One makes more money.

But this is because a person, it’s hard for a person to part with his money. One gives him excuses, not excuses, one gives him motivations [motivations]. This is the whole Torah entirely [the whole Torah]. Yes, one says another Torah. It’s an investment. It’s an investment.

The Torah as a Means for the Public: Leket Shichechah U’Pe’ah and the Collective Nature of Livelihood

Shelo Lishmah: The Torah’s “Tricks” Help Even Without Proper Intention

It’s a better word, instead of it being called “parmashta ben kakashta”, because it makes much more money.

In any case, what? A second side is what you say, it’s a thing that lies, he makes more money. But this is because a person, it’s hard for a person to part with his money, one gives him excuses [excuses], not excuses, one gives him motivations, this is the whole Torah entirely. Yes, one says another Torah. Yes. It’s an investment. Even when he doesn’t think and he doesn’t feel that it’s an influence, that it’s a way of ownership. Yes, yes, it helps, exactly. Because the people are, they don’t say that it’s enough, they need to add understanding later, but it helps that he becomes less egoistic. Yes, it helps.

This is certainly, if he needs to have understanding, if he errs and he does it with revenge, I’m not speaking. But even when he does it not for its own sake, shelo lishmah, yes, shelo lishmah. He doesn’t catch, yes, he thinks that he does it because it’s a holy matter, meanwhile he becomes good. I can tell you that it works. I know that one and I hold that he is already good. Yes, you know how bad he would have been without this, yes? It helps, it helps. It’s not a thing for perfection, but the Torah is not made for perfection. The Torah is made, as I told you the second Torah.

“Toras Hashem Temimah – Machkimas Pesi”: The Torah is for the Public

Therefore he brings here the verse, “Toras Hashem temimah, edus Hashem ne’emanah, machkimas pesi” [Psalms 19:8 – “The Torah of Hashem is perfect, the testimony of Hashem is faithful, makes wise the simple”]. Who is not a pesi? Not for him is the Torah. The wise and the Torah, he already knows the Torah. The Torah came to help the pesi, and this is with many such sorts of tricks. So I think is the secret. And one truly uses many such sorts of tricks, and this is all so that the public should be good. Not only that the tzaddikim should be good. The tzaddikim were always good, for the tzaddikim one doesn’t need Torah. The virtue of the Torah is that the public should be good. This is one pshat.

New Pshat: Megillas Rus and the Collective Nature of Leket Shichechah U’Pe’ah

The Context of Megillas Rus on Shavuos

Shavuos I thought another pshat about nichsei melog [property that a woman brings into marriage that remains hers], and we’ll speak about this. In Megillas Rus [the scroll of Ruth, read on Shavuos], yes, one reads Megillas Rus Shavuos afternoon. I saw, and one sees there, it’s very interesting, one sees there in Megillas Rus, it appears almost from the verses, that that Rus should be able to glean there by the field, this is itself a portion of hers. Yes, one must understand the context of geirus [conversion to Judaism]. Let’s say very well. In other words, it stands there that, I don’t remember the language of the verses, it stands there that she came and she sought some place, and Boaz first she went from the back somewhere, “vatelakket basadeh acharei hakotzrim” [Rus 2:3 – “and she gleaned in the field after the reapers”], in the back, stood in the back some girl, and she said that she wants to go glean.

Student: No wait, look what stands later, you will see. Still before. What stands there in the verse?

The Harvest Hierarchy

Instructor: What does it say? Yes, very good. It says there “al telkhi lilkot besadeh akher” [Ruth 2:8 – “don’t go to gather in another field”]. Yes, very good, it says there “al telkhi lilkot besadeh akher”, correct.

The Hierarchy at the Harvest

In other words, she comes out a stranger, and it seems that the order was that there was the ba’al habayis (landowner), Boaz comes in with his… “Hashem imakhem” [Ruth 2:4 – “May Hashem be with you”], yes, the ba’al habayis comes with his entourage, and he says such a blessing too, they make a l’chaim there for the rebbe, he gives the first cut, you know, and afterwards the people work. So, but in the back stand the mekuravim (close ones), like the mildly close ones stand, and after them are the completely foreign ones, the actual gerim (converts), whom they can practically throw away normally.

It seems that it’s correct, that’s how it is according to halakha (Jewish law) too, one may not let whoever wants gather, just as in all tzedakah (charity) there is tovas hana’ah (the right to determine who gets the benefit), the ba’al habayis may decide from whom there will be leket shikhekhah ufe’ah (the fallen stalks, forgotten sheaves, and corners of the field that must be left for the poor). So, the simple meaning is that one sees, and afterwards Boaz came and he brought her close, he simply said “huggad huggad li” [Ruth 2:11 – “it has been fully told to me”]. What does huggad mean? He says, ah, are you indeed a part? I heard that you left, you came lakhasos takhas kanfei Yisrael (to seek shelter under the wings of Israel), I saw that you want to be a part of us. I know that the matter, he brought her even closer, you can go, he instructed that they shouldn’t bother her, you shouldn’t go to another, there they will indeed bother you, go here they won’t bother you.

“Lemi Hana’arah Hazos” – The Question of Belonging

So, what do I see here? What I see is, this is basically part of the… Why a na’arah (young woman)? He had all the Jews, did he need to get a new interpretation? For what purpose? No, he should make it known in the Torah. This is the Torah. What I want to bring out is, I mean that the simple meaning that it seems is, that if a new interpretation came out, mainly to jump. Because what should you do? If it’s there to help a worker, what does it concern you? It doesn’t concern the ba’al habayis who made him fulfill the mitzvah (commandment), and he goes to life. Usually a person who fulfills a mitzvah, it doesn’t concern him. So it seems that the simple meaning is something else. And this is why they, after he gave the answer, he gave, “gam sha’alta sha’alta lo al mitzvosekha”, why he did the trick, he knew that they wouldn’t forget it. It won’t be forgotten, says Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, the main commentary on Tanakh), it won’t be forgotten. So I mean that this is really the simplest interpretation, but he gave even more. So it’s obvious, what does it have to do? Only the mitzvah he gave mainly. This is not the main thing, this is not a crawler, it has no taste.

The answer is thus, the answer is a new answer, and this is the topic of Chag HaKatzir (the Festival of Harvest, another name for Shavuos), why one makes Chag HaKatzir Shavuos. This is a new answer. I almost said the answer erev Shavuos (the eve of Shavuos), but it’s a better interpretation.

The Collective Nature of Katzir: Then and Now

The answer is, that katzir (harvest), what does katzir mean? Yes, we’re not accustomed. By us, I mean our way of making money is not most people, or most people who are employees, and not people who are like investors, is a bit different. Most people don’t make money from what they succeed with projects for the whole world, which has to do with the communal prayer and with the whole thing. A person has his job, he succeeds, he makes money. But think about how it goes in the old times, in the agricultural world, yes? A wealthy person is indeed the one who is the leader, but it’s not necessarily that he is even the majority. The fields belong to the family. Many times there is one who is in charge of it, and it’s not even clear that he is truly more his than the brothers, than the others. He is only the heir, he takes care, right? But he’s not really the ba’al habayis. It belongs to the tribe of Yehudah, Beis Lechem, Kalev is a family, whatever, it belongs to Chetzron, it belongs to them, to the family it belongs essentially, right? In a certain sense.

Tefilas Geshem: Everyone’s Prayer, Everyone’s Harvest

Now, afterwards all the Jews go, all the groups, the family of Chetzron from Chaf, and there from Beis Lechem, they go to shul Rosh Chodesh, they need the Almighty to give rain, yes? To whom will He give rain? What are the normal Jews who are praying tefilas geshem (the prayer for rain) in ta’anis (fast day) intending? What have we seen? That rain should come? Does it concern me that rain should come? Does it concern me that gas should go up, go down? Perhaps, I don’t know. What is the rain? Right? One can say, we’re talking about parnassah (livelihood). But today parnassah is a very individual thing. Each one has his own parnassah, more or less. Yes, the economy goes up, it helps everyone a bit. But the normal way is private, that I make money and you don’t make money. Or you make, I have better, I have more luck, I don’t know, I have more prayers, I worked better than you.

But if one thinks that the normal way of making money in the past was crops, and everyone lived on his parnassah, that everyone, the people had larger fields, the people who work for a ba’al habayis, not everyone owned it. But the praying for rain everyone prayed together, true? Rain, most, a large part of what you have, the Almighty makes it rain. Not you, Mister Boaz, that you were a tzaddik, that it should rain for your field. It doesn’t rain extra for your field than for another’s field, true? If the Jews had a good year, it brought abundance, that means that Boaz had a lot of money, right? What do I have from this? Will I stop praying? It’s tefilas ovrei derakhim (the prayer of travelers), what does it concern me that the wealthy have money? I can go around. Yes? No, it doesn’t go that way.

Leket Shikhekhah Ufe’ah: A Right, Not a Charity

But now, just as, now comes the katzir, and Boaz cuts his field, I come along and I say to myself, hello, money is coming to me from my Tehillim (Psalms). I also said Tehillim that it should rain. I’m making a joke, but think about it, the field is ours. Certainly, I recognize that you are the ba’al habayis. It’s not socialism that says you’re not the ba’al habayis. You are too, you are the ba’al habayis, you come out from that whatever. But I am not, that I am part of a family means that I am entitled. It’s my field just as it’s your field in a certain sense. We are, I am from the residents of Beis Lechem. There are the residents of Beis Lechem, the wealthy, the important ones, who take the lead, and there are the poor alef who take in the back, leket shikhekhah ufe’ah. If they are slightly more important young men, they take the front row of the leket shikhekhah ufe’ah. It’s not something novel, it’s not a halakha, I meant. It’s normal, everyone takes. Boaz takes a portion at the head, he takes the head, by virtue of his work for him, and the ne’arim (young men), yes, the young men work, they grow up, they become ba’alei batim (householders) themselves. Meanwhile there are in the back the nebekhs (poor souls), they take, but they are still also part of the thing. From the harvest, it can’t be that it’s not for them, it’s also for them.

“Lemi Hana’arah Hazos” – The Question of Belonging

Now, only about this, when some new person comes, comes from Moav, Boaz asks, “Vayomer lena’aro hanitzav al hakotzrim lemi hana’arah hazos?” [Ruth 2:5 – “And he said to his young man who stands over the harvesters: to whom does this young woman belong?”]. Lemi, not mi. And all the commentators, you have the Yefeh To’ar (a commentary on Megillas Ruth), the Rashi, the Chida (Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai) brings it in Shem Tov (a book by the Chida), I don’t understand. Did you read the story? You ask a question, it can’t be. It sounds so dangerous. No, but it doesn’t say definitively that the question is guilty. The Chazal (our Sages of blessed memory) say a midrash. But what does it say? It doesn’t say mi hana’arah hazos, it says lemi. What does lemi say? Yes, the other commentators want to translate that it means what is she doing here, they also want to twist the word. But lemi in Hebrew translation means to whom does she belong. That is, I understand that my cousins come here, I know what, very good, they belong here. To whom does she belong? How did she come? He told him, ah, she came with Naomi. Naomi is also a bit of a cousin, and she brought herself close to him for the connection, she belongs here already yes.

The Conclusion: Leket Shikhekhah Ufe’ah Belongs to the Entire Community

So what do you see? That leket shikhekhah ufe’ah is not just when one gives money for your people, it has to do with the fact that the harvest belongs to everyone, also to the poor. And the wicked of Sodom, they don’t accept this, they say I don’t care, it’s my brother, you’re not the ba’al habayis, it’s not my problem, go somewhere else. If you are a good society where everyone belongs, then this goes together.

Chag HaKatzir: Why All Jews Are Happy on Shavuos

This is the festival, for this all Jews are happy on Chag HaKatzir, even though they didn’t receive the Torah. The Torah is only for the scholars, but they are all Jews.

A Story: “I Dance at My Neighbor’s Celebration”

You know the story, there was a Jew, not such a great Torah scholar, he danced a lot on Simchas Torah. The rabbi comes, he considered himself a great scholar, and he says, “Why are you dancing? Did you learn anything of the Torah?” He says, “I don’t know, but I have a neighbor who made a wedding for his rabbi, and the rabbi said that I may dance at the rabbi’s celebration too.”

Summary: The Torah Is Made for the Public as a Whole

The point is that the Torah was given for all Jews together, and the Torah is mainly for all Jews together. When you are alone a tzaddik, you don’t need the Torah. When you are alone a rasha, the Torah won’t help you so much. It helps you when it’s part of all people, when they do all the tricks, then this is what the Torah was made to help. For the Jews, that with all kinds of such sorts of tricks, and all these sorts of tricks they are a bit scattered, and indeed much more, it’s not simple, if one has understanding he gives, he has to give for everything for shikhekhah for whatever it is, he has to give he will already know himself, that since most people don’t know, they need to find such tricks how they give, and through this they become people gradually, this is the Rambam’s Torah, enough Torah for today, yes?

The Torah as a Practical Mechanism for People Without Understanding

The Rambam’s Approach: Torah as “Tricks” for People Who Don’t Know

Then this is what the Torah was made to help for the Jews, that with all kinds of such sorts of tricks. And all these sorts of tricks they are a bit processes, and indeed much more than not simple. If one has da’as (understanding, independent judgment), he gives, he has to give from a blow from shikhekhah, whatever it is, he has to give, he will already know himself. But since most people don’t know, they need to find such tricks how they give, and through this they become people gradually. This is the Rambam’s Torah.

Enough Torah for today, yes? It’s not enough? For this the Torah was given. Do you understand why the Torah was given?

Historical Proof: From Avraham to Moshe – The Progress of Righteousness

I’ll tell you one Torah. What the kushya (difficult question) is, Avraham Avinu (our father Abraham) was a tzaddik without the Torah, and Yitzchak was a tzaddik, but he had one son a rasha and one son a tzaddik. Afterwards Yaakov Avinu (our father Yaakov) exactly succeeded twelve Jews are tzaddikim also, and we only say so, we have grandchildren from all of them, which is not really so simple that they were tzaddikim.

And afterwards came Moshe Rabbeinu (our teacher Moshe), it is “vekhol amkha tzaddikim” [and your entire people are righteous], all Jews are tzaddikim. Why? Because they were given all kinds of hergalim (habits), which they don’t even grasp. Most Jews, for this mitzvos must be done even if one doesn’t know the reason.

Critical Principle: Doing Mitzvos Without Knowing the Reason

Yes, it’s very important, people think it’s the reason, it says that one must do mitzvos even if one doesn’t know the reason. And the Gemara says “there are mitzvos whose reasons were revealed, and King Shlomo sinned upon them”, yes? And this is their point, because the mitzvos that are revealed their reasons, this is the thing that it says one should do this with straightness of heart, that it’s thought through.

Practical Illustration: Kiddush Early on Pesach Night

What did he mean exactly? But it means thus, I mean that it means thus, someone told me in my shiur in Ein Yaakov (a classic collection of aggados from the Talmud), that he knows one halakha that is revealed its reason and no one does it. Ashda they said the process, it says in Shulchan Aruch (the Code of Jewish Law), in the Mishnah I mean, it says in Shulchan Aruch that one should, and on Pesach night one should make kiddush early so that the children shouldn’t fall asleep. Yes? Except for matzah and maror, verses in the Gemara, one must make kiddush immediately because the children should fall asleep.

Do you know one house where this custom is practiced? That you make kiddush early on Pesach night, earlier than a normal Shabbos? A normal Shabbos the children can fall asleep, it doesn’t matter. Pesach I need to have a means they should be awake, true? Should I make kiddush earlier than Pesach, than a normal Shabbos, right?

Okay, true, ask yourself if it will help you. Do they actually sleep? By you do the children sleep on Pesach? By you were you a child who slept? I had three, one of them was the trick. They don’t sleep. The Sages were clever, they thought out the brilliance that the children shouldn’t sleep for long, they knew that it doesn’t work, true? It doesn’t just say, everyone, all children learn it, and one can’t fulfill it. Why? Okay, they shouldn’t fall asleep, so that’s the thing, I can make myself “I will not sleep”. In practice they fall asleep, right? You look like this, they fall asleep, true?

One can fulfill another interpretation, and give the children matzah for the Mah Nishtanah (the Four Questions), this is another interpretation in snatching matzah. But in practice, the law of making kiddush immediately, no one does it. Except for those who make longer the ma’ariv (evening prayer) in shul, they say the Hallel in shul, it’s a nice custom, but apparently it makes the halakha worse. And so on. So, why? Because they said the reason.

The Segulah That Would Have Worked

Why Shiurim Cannot Fix a Person – The Necessity of Action Before Understanding

Aristotle’s Parable: If Learning Could Fix People

Imagine, it says that it’s a great strictness (kefidah), that just as in all shuls they daven late Maariv on Shavuos, because it’s a flaw (pegam) in the matter of completeness (inyan temimus), nobody understands exactly what, but that’s what it says in the holy books (sefarim hakedoshim) and we do it. Imagine if there stood a wondrous remedy (segulah niflah) from Shimshon Ostropolia [a kabbalist from the 17th century] to make kiddush (la’asos kiddush) no more than twenty minutes after the time (zman) on Shavuos, Pesach night, no Jew would make kiddush anymore. Why? We wouldn’t know the reason, it would work better. But now that we know the reason, “Ah, so that the children shouldn’t sleep,” they sleep anyway, I’m not strict (makpid), it’s not such a big deal.

The Principle: Torah for People Without Da’as

What I mean to bring out is that the entire, all of the entire Torah (kol haTorah kulah) came to, I can’t say to trick people, but to educate people when they don’t have da’as. When people have da’as they don’t need Torah. This is very important.

Na’aseh Venishma – The Deep Meaning

This is the secret (sod) of man and beast (adam u’vehemah), which Rashi says a very serious (khamurdige) thing, this means “we will do and we will hear” (na’aseh venishma). What does na’aseh venishma mean? People think it’s a strange thing. Na’aseh venishma means that he’s a righteous person (ish betzedek). It means exactly that. When I know what to do, certainly (vadai) I do it. It’s not a feat. The problem is that people don’t live in the world of the soul (neshamah), and they’re not in the world (olam) of knowing always. Most people, most of the time, don’t know what’s happening with themselves.

And the moment that if I say “I’m something important (khashivah), I’m a serious Jew, I only do what I know,” certainly it’s a great matter (inyan) to know what one does, there’s no doubt (safek) at all. But in practice, and you don’t only do things that you don’t know, most things will fall into the great principle (kelal gadol) of the words of the sages (divrei khakhamim) who said “the essence of learning is to learn so that it will bring to action” (ikar limud lelamed kedei sheyavi lidei ma’aseh).

When Knowing Weakens the Fulfillment

In practice, and not only that, when one knows it, many times it works weaker. Because I’ve heard, I already know. In other words, you tell a Jew, “You shouldn’t feed (makhil zein) non-kosher meat (neveilah).” “Yeah, forget it (shakhoakh), I also agree, I hold by not making a desecration of God’s name (khilul Hashem), but I already know about that. Forget it.” Why did they say “the essence of learning is to learn so that it will bring to action”? And when you tell him “to learn so that it will bring to action,” and you even tell him the reason, he’s already heard the reason. He hasn’t heard, he hasn’t become more serious, he hasn’t become frightened of excision and punishments (kares ve’onashim). He’s become frightened more of feeding. This is no novelty (khidush), I already know this.

King Solomon – The Danger of “I Already Know”

You can tell him a story, “Why did King Solomon (Shlomo HaMelekh)… the wisest of all men (khakham mikol adam), no greater sage than us. Yeah, it actually happened to us, right? Why did it actually happen? Because the problem isn’t when you know, the problem is when you don’t know. Somehow, you can come to a piece of Torah, the house thing, why is this? It’s not something probable (mistama), the books already say, there were deep matters, deep intentions (kavanos) in the private altars (bamos) that he built there, he only thought to build, and whoever wasn’t protesting (mokheh). And so there were these great intentions, great matters, suddenly there was a calculation (kheshbon), there was an error in the calculations. He didn’t grasp it, and because he said, “I know that here there’s an error, and it didn’t grasp.”

The Mitzvah Is Given for When One Doesn’t Grasp

And the mitzvah wasn’t given so that one should say, “his heart shall not turn away” (lo yasur levavo). This was known before the mitzvah. The mitzvah was given because you hold by doing it, and if not you hold by, it’s not necessarily (lav davka) you hold by, and when you don’t grasp, it will happen.

Ta’am Kamus – The Rambam’s Principle

So about this the Gemara says, it’s better that one shouldn’t say the reason for the mitzvah. Because the moment you say, people only hear the reason, and they’re even quite right, not that it’s not important, it’s more true, but then it won’t work. A person, yes? Don’t tell him in advance. Not always does it work to tell in advance.

Metaphor of a Business Meeting

I tell him, sometimes do such a thing. Yes, a person, I’m giving practical advice (eitzah) so to speak (kivyakhol), it’s the same idea, right? A person needs to make a meeting with someone to, I don’t know, to open something, he wants to make a deal, he wants to sell him something, buy, yes? He calls him, he tells him, I want to sit with you. He tells him, tell me at least for a minute what it is, I’ll tell you then already. And if he’s serious, he says, it’s not a meeting, because that would have been an email, and he says right away either yes or no. He doesn’t say sometimes, he already knows yes, okay. But, I’ll open something for you with this meeting? I also know that the meeting was to sell you something. The content I don’t know. But the meeting is for everything. A meeting I can talk to you better there, there’s a bit of time, you’ll give me a bit more attention than you would give me on WhatsApp. It’s a bit better. You say fine, but the meeting is only so I should sell you. Well, I’m buying it already! No, that’s not what I meant. I say, you know what? I won’t tell you what the meeting is. Let’s sit and drink coffee. You understand? I drink coffee, it’s a good thing. Afterwards we’ll already buy and sell and do whatever needs to be done.

The Basic Thing: We Are People Who Don’t Know

There’s a basic thing, we are people who are righteous, who only want to do what gives their souls pleasure (nakhas). There’s a problem with such things about this, because…

Student: What? Character traits (midos) is repentance (teshuvah), what is the start?

Maggid Shiur: One can say so, but I’m talking about the doing (asiyah), not just the start. The start is still an action (ma’aseh). It’s said simply about this, that the mitzvos are… because people who don’t know, and who are the people who don’t know? Us.

Student: Yes.

Jacob Our Father and the Coat of Many Colors – Another Example

Maggid Shiur: He says that the Almighty said to Jacob our father “you shall not take your brother’s wife” (eshes akhiv lo tikakh). After the Torah was given, even if Elijah the Prophet (Eliyahu HaNavi) should come and say that this is his brother’s wife and there shouldn’t be any jealousy (kin’ah), even if Elijah the Prophet should come and say that there’s no jealousy, we still won’t believe him, because that’s how the Torah is established. “It is not in heaven” (lo bashamayim hi). Right? So they went out with jealousy. Ah, you should work even if it doesn’t work! So we came to the Torah, which we learn that it’s certain that… This is what the early authorities (Rishonim) tell you.

The Torah Learns from Jacob’s Failure

The Torah actually says, why is Jacob our father worried (khoshesh) about Esau? In those times they didn’t yet know that one must forbid it (asern). From Jacob our father’s failure we learned. You ask a question, it says in the Gemara “a person should never distinguish his child among the children” (le’olam al yeshaneh adam beno bein habanim), because Jacob our father distinguished (meshaneh) and it happened. But Jacob our father, such a great righteous person, there’s no answer in the Gemara. The Gemara was learned from Jacob our father, which wasn’t known. A politician had a good reason why he gave Joseph (Yosef) the coat of many colors (kesones pasim).

But the point is, that Jacob reckoned with the Torah, with the jealousy, it didn’t succeed. He knew that there would be jealousy. Okay, one should talk a lot to the child. But this is a way that was tested (bodek) that there’s almost (kimat) always jealousy. And you’re wise, by me there won’t be jealousy. They said, ah, by you there will also be jealousy. They said, you know what, you may not even when there’s no jealousy.

Ta’am Kamus – Not a Manipulation

Usually when one says you may not even when there’s no jealousy, one means to say hidden reason (ta’am kamus). Yes, ta’am kamus. The Rambam says such a thing, ta’am kamus, that one shouldn’t say the reason, because people won’t take it seriously. Not because they don’t believe the reason, that’s what people think, that it’s a manipulation. Sometimes it actually is a manipulation, every good thing can be used falsely, right? The other says that one shouldn’t reveal (megaleh zein), this is a difficult thing, that when one makes a decree (gezerah) one shouldn’t say the reason, because people don’t take it seriously.

What people think is, that when you’ll give me the reason I’ll say “eh, it’s not a good reason.” No, when you’ll give me the reason I’ll say “certainly, it’s right, that’s all the theory. Certainly, one may not, one may not open a shiur below (mateh).” The problem is that it doesn’t help. Even when you say the reason, he says “Ah, but I have another solution, I don’t know, by me ‘I will draw near and not bear’ (ani ikrav velo yesa), I’ll make a linen cloth (shash).” And the problem is that it does happen through linen.

“He Shall Not Multiply Wives” – The Torah’s Anticipation

This tells you the reason. The reason says, what does it say in the Torah? “He shall not multiply wives lest his heart turn away” (lo yarbeh lo nashim pen yasur levavo). The Torah doesn’t say, the people who are by linen his heart will turn away (yasur levavo) shouldn’t do it. The Torah says, wives (nashim) are such things that can cause his heart to turn, and this is written in the Torah. You say, “what wives (mah nashim), not all wives.” You’re a stronger person, you’re against this. Yes, I know, when there aren’t wives you also won’t. Now that there are the wives you’ll also yes. But for some reason, people have this, especially wise people, like Solomon, this is what the Torah brings out, the Midrash brings out. Especially wise people have such an inclination (netiyah) to think that they don’t have the inclination. Okay, it goes to the same thing.

Closing Metaphor: The Doctor Who Cures Cancer

If one could make from a bad person a good person with a shiur, he brings from some poet, he says, one would make with this shiur much more money. Imagine how much money makes a doctor who helps people from cancer, right? A million, I don’t know. If there exists one who has a tested and tried (baduk u’menusah) test for a cure for cancer, he can make as much money as he wants, no?

Why Shiurim Cannot Fix a Person – The Necessity of Action Before Understanding

Aristotle’s Parable: If Learning Could Fix People

Especially liars, they have such an inclination to think they have the error.

Let’s go back to the same thing. If one could make from a bad person a good person with a shiur, Aristotle brings from some poet, he says, the lecturers would make much more money. He says, imagine how much money it would make a doctor who heals people from cancer, right? A million, I don’t know. If someone would actually have a cure for cancer, he would make as much money as he wants, true? Imagine if someone would actually have a cure for being selfish. Every father will pay him. And today there are people who for the lie make so much money. You have there a whole institution of some therapy, which he says to the fathers, “I’m going to make from your son a diligent student.” Thank you very much, first of all, how many diligent students have you already made? None. But he only says so, and that one makes so much money. Imagine if it actually works, right? Imagine I can say to someone, people always come to me, to my shul, not my shul, but to people like this, he sends him, he hears that he’s struggling with something, “Go to this rabbi, go to this shul, go to this thing, it will help you.” If it would really help, he would make much more money than that one.

Why Shiurim Don’t Help: Habits Are Not Errors

The response is that it doesn’t help. Why doesn’t it help? Because people have problems, bad character traits or habits, not because they have errors in their knowledge. Even an error is also a habit that he has, not just a theoretical error. It’s hard to uproot an error from a person, even when it’s only a purely intellectual error, he also insists, yes? Imagine when he also has a desire for it too. It doesn’t exist, it’s not made, people don’t work, most people. There are perhaps exceptional individuals, which even those exceptional individuals it works once. What? Yes, true. But then he already becomes a bit of a person, he needs to work on himself, he needs to do something himself. There’s no way of healing that one by saying a shiur, at least for most people.

The Paradox: One Must Already Be a Tzaddik to Listen

And even, let’s say, you need to already be a tzaddik basically to be able to become such a sort of person who becomes impressed by a shiur. If you’re already a person who follows his intellect, and what he understands is only explained to him, even that will still take a few years that I’ll explain to you, afterwards you’ll understand. But first he needs to be such a thing, a person who is at all affected by what the intellect says. Most people aren’t born such people. And the law is born a person who likes to be, what should Candice say, right? And if we’ll wait until all people should be so, Mashiach will never come.

The Practical Solution: Speaking to People in Their Language

So what does one do? One speaks to people in their language. One gives them candy for being good, one comforts them, one tells them all kinds of things, one doesn’t tell them why it’s good, because telling only makes it worse. He has, even you can say, what he knows doesn’t help him, he already knows, or he doesn’t know and it doesn’t make him not afraid that he knows. What actually brings fear into action? The distress that a person has. And one gives him all the tricks.

Story with the Young Man and the Rabbi: Service as Medicine

Then, in other words, once someone told me like this, he went to a tzaddik, he told me that he has heretical thoughts, a young man told me this story. He has heretical thoughts, and he doesn’t know what to do. And the rabbi told him, the young man was like this, I don’t know what it means, he had great wisdoms, we weren’t, you understand such things. Yes. Actually he didn’t have any thoughts, he already had conclusions too. But that’s how he said to the rabbi. He told me the story, he told me that he said to the rabbi, and the rabbi was completely right.

And the rabbi told him, “I have advice for you.” What is the advice? The rabbi said, “Do you read Shema and put on tefillin every day?” No. Okay, come to me. Every day you’ll get up early in the morning, you’ll read Shema, you’ll pray three times a day in a minyan, and I tell you, your heretical thoughts will go away.” And it was done, and it went away.

Question and Answer: What Is the Innovation?

Student: What do I mean to bring out? What? Yes, this is simple, this is easy. I’ll tell you later what I want to bring out, I don’t know.

Maggid Shiur: This brings out that avodah, one can learn that one must go through all the difficulties, no problem. That’s not the problem I mean to bring out. I mean to bring out that this is the kind of answer that can work. It’s not the right one, it’s not what you say, “I don’t believe you, because you believe in tefillin.” No problem, tefillin is made for people who don’t believe, for people who do believe. What does that actually mean? The one who believes and he believes, even if he puts on tefillin, he’s already a tzaddik. Even if he wouldn’t put on tefillin, he would already be a tzaddik.

The Barditchever Rav’s Statement: “If You Had Intended Before Sinai, the Torah Would Not Have Been Given”

This is indeed the Barditchever Rav’s statement, “Ilu kavanta lifnei Sinai lo nitnah Torah,” yes? I saw that Rabbi Yoshiyahu was a great baal habayis on this statement. He said the statement, he said that he believes it can’t be. The Barditchever Rav said, “Ilu kavanta lifnei Sinai v’lo nitnah Torah,” what did we gain from this? A lot for the statement, he says it’s a peketa d’nafshot ra’ot.

Right, I mean to say, that this is true for the kavanah. Most people weren’t drawn close to Har Sinai in this. This is only by the shridei shridim who knew that this means the kavanah of Har Sinai. Most people thought he means that you eat cheesecake there, or sheep with good health, shelamim. They didn’t know about the kavanah of Har Sinai level at all.

Certainly, and the Torah is what gives them this. Through this, after he fulfills all the tricks of the Torah, he has this. But if it would have been that, one really wouldn’t have needed it, but all these things.

Na’aseh V’nishma: The Order of Doing and Understanding

So the advice is to accept the na’aseh, the na’aseh, the na’aseh, this makes it become nishma. Afterwards, let’s understand, even the nishma was so, I didn’t speak about this. Because why, how do we begin to understand that it’s actually good? Yes, what is the difference of nishma and shelo nishma? Shelo nishma doesn’t understand why it’s good, he thinks it’s good because he heard such a thing. And nishma understands that it’s actually good.

Yes, but what is actually good? It’s very hard to know what one is talking about before one does it, or before one sees others do it. We’ve spoken many times about this. Right? People say, what does it mean to be a good person? Most people have never seen a good person, and never done a single good thing. How should he know why it’s good to be a good person? He doesn’t know what one is talking about.

The Methodology of This Shiur: One Must Already Do in Order to Understand

I can’t from a drashah make you aware of the goodness of a good person. If you’re accustomed to you like the chevra calls it, you already do certain things, he’s already engaged in lekutshikerei for, now I’ll come explain to you, understand, why do you do lekutshikerei for? Because essentially there are poor people that you need to help, you need to be a good person. Ah, now you actually become a good person, because you’ve done this. But if you’ve never done it, what will I explain to you? How will I begin my shiur?

My entire shiur is built on the fact that people already go with black hats, and I explain to them why? If they wouldn’t go, I would have needed a different shiur. It would be based on what that one does, what that one doesn’t do. I can’t say anything, I would have needed a different thing. I would have needed to find a good thing that he already does.

Understand? I can’t give a shiur if there wasn’t… if one wasn’t first a complete tzaddik. Understand? In short, in short, what? Yes, that’s what he means here. One must have good ground. A list of chinuch, a list of a certain chinuch.

The Rambam’s Ta’amei HaMitzvot: Not in Order to Do, But in Order to Understand

Because there are people who have a problem, they don’t believe, they think the Torah is “stupid”. The Rambam’s ta’amei hamitzvot is “by the way” not written so that one should do the Torah. The Rambam didn’t think that after he goes to say his reason, he says even if it applies to the halachah l’ma’aseh. The Rambam doesn’t say, the Rambam says when he says ta’amei hamitzvot it’s in order to “justify” the Ribbono Shel Olam, not in order that we should do the mitzvot because of this. He learns the opposite, that one must do the mitzvot to see. The Rambam says that the Ribbono Shel Olam does things only with seichel, and if you think that the Ribbono Shel Olam does things only with seichel, it has a face in emunah, and perhaps it’s not believing in the Torah and the like, but mainly this. And therefore one must have explanations of what the Ribbono Shel Olam meant with the mitzvot. And the explanations, the explanations are a thing of explanations, he doesn’t say more than this.

Why must one know the mitzvot? No, the Rambam’s te’amim don’t solve this. It’s better to know for another “reason”, because one doesn’t need to do it consequently, one may not. There are various other “reasons” why one should know the te’amim. There’s a mitzvah to learn ta’amei hamitzvot, I don’t know what, I haven’t seen it. I haven’t seen it. But after one does it, shouldn’t one understand what one does?

Beinoni and Tzaddik Gamur: The Rambam’s Distinction

The claim is that one mustn’t not be able to arrive at the avodah. If to an avodah one doesn’t arrive at the avodah, one must do it. A tzaddik gamur is a different person. This is what the Rambam says, he divides it into a beinoni and a tzaddik gamur. A beinoni is one who does “sometimes” things that he doesn’t understand, because he needs this. When he’s a tzaddik gamur, and this is what he says that one must learn ta’amei hamitzvot, this is the whole thing to become a tzaddik gamur, that you are worthy to understand what you do and why you do it, then you already no longer need to do the false things, the things that you don’t know what you’re doing. But as long as he’s not a tzaddik gamur, and if one speaks for the klal, the klal is never a tzaddik gamur, one must always say so.

One doesn’t let them off, because he already knows what to do. He already knows what to do, which thing. The geulah is not that one doesn’t do. Rather he actually knows what to do, he always does the right thing, he doesn’t stop doing the good things. Also he does also the neshamah makes the miracle of itself. Will he give more tzedakah than it says in the Torah or less? He’ll know exactly what he needs to do, it’s not a problem. He goes further, he needs to take care of the… he’ll also become a rebbe, he won’t be able to do in front of the olam things, because he’s for the klal, he needs to be mechanech the klal. But even for himself, it’s not such a big problem.

Against the Claim “I Don’t Need the Mitzvah Because I Already Have the Meaning”

People are very afraid about the questions with shtutim, because you need to catch exactly about this, this is what the statement says from the nisgaleh ta’amei Torah. Many people come all the time: “Ah, the Torah has why? The meaning, on me, I already have the meaning, I don’t need the thing.” No, you don’t have the meaning. This is what it says, therefore one needs the mitzvot should… you don’t have the meaning. If you would have the meaning, if you would have been a tzaddik you would already have done it much more.

Examples: Tefillin, Shabbat, and Tzedakah

When someone comes and he says: “I don’t understand why I need to give tzedakah only ma’aser, I hold I need to give half.” Okay, it’s also not good, but let’s say he gives chomesh, whatever. No problem, you actually don’t need to give ma’aser, you’re exempt, you give more than ma’aser.

But what is the kind of person? People are bad people or don’t catch that they’re bad people. He says: “Ah, why do I need to put on tefillin, I remember the Ribbono Shel Olam anyway.” Okay, come back two weeks after you stopped putting on tefillin, let’s see if you still remember the Ribbono Shel Olam. From the middle of putting on tefillin one needs to have mercy.

So what are you talking about? This was indeed the “ekra v’lo yechta,” the “ani arbeh v’lo asir,” because when one tells him actually, he doesn’t catch. People are very dumb in these ways. I tell you exactly this. If not that you put on every week, you have Shabbat, will you forget about ma’aseh bereishit? He says: “Okay, anyway how can one remember ma’aseh bereishit without Shabbat?” No, that’s exactly what He told you: you’ll forget! “Ah, I’m… Avraham Avinu. Actually remembered.” That was one Avraham Avinu. If you’re the one Avraham Avinu, by the way Avraham Avinu also kept Shabbat, because then Shabbat was in order to remember oneself, in order to speak about ma’aseh bereishit, it’s not a problem, it’s a new reason for us anyway. But also is Shabbat, it says indeed that he didn’t need to work from the Ribbono Shel Olam, he also kept Shabbat k’pshuto perhaps. Not even a contradiction.

Conclusion: The Simple Meaning of Matan Torah

People always say the questions because they imagine that the truth is bad. The truth is not bad, the truth is that one must be good. It’s actually to be a good person who does most mitzvot anyway. We want to know about one mitzvah which is essentially a fence that one doesn’t need to do, we’ll speak, we’ll arrive at that bridge and we’ll speak about it. Anymore you don’t do it, anymore you don’t do it, anymore you don’t do it either… problem. Already, this is the simple meaning of matan Torah and already.

—

Talmid: Nu…

Maggid Shiur: Finish up… Monty man man…

Talmid: Shkoyach.

Maggid Shiur: Shkoyach. You’re welcome.