Hi good morning everyone Rabosai. In Os Yud Tes, v'chol anshei leivav. V'chol anshei leivav—what does—how do we translate anshei leivav? I don't know, thoughtful people, sensitive thoughtful people. יחשבו עולם הזה כמו דירת עראי. They view, their perspective on olam hazeh is that it's a temporary domicile, that one is only here temporarily. ולא ישתמשו בו רק לעבודת הבורא יתברך. And therefore, they don't allow themselves to become enamored with or distracted by olam hazeh per se, but rather they retain their sense of direction. ויכינו בו צידה לנפשם. And they prepare literally food for their soul, for their soul's journey. Now Rabbeinu Yonah is going to explain why this perspective is appropriate, is warranted. כי אם שנים רבות יחיה האדם. ואילו חיה אלף שנים פעמיים.
Imagine that a person doubled the lifespan of Meshuchelach. אחרי שיש מספר לשנים. But no matter how much arichas yamim a person is zocheh to in olam hazeh, it's limited, it's going to be finite. Yichleh hamispar. At a certain point, a person reaches that number, whatever that number of allotted years is, at a certain point a person reaches that. וסוף כלא היו יהיו. And at that point, there's no ongoing, enduring reality to his olam hazeh existence, obviously beyond the Torah, mitzvos, ma'asim tovim, chasadim of olam hazeh. ועולם הגמול אין לו תכלית. Olam haba, which is where Hakadosh Baruch Hu apportions s'char, is has no end, is eternal. כי עניין שנאמר כי שנות מספר יאתיו. When the years of number come, meaning the allotted numbers of years in olam hazeh come in the sense that they're exhausted. ואורח לא אשוב אהלך. So then I will embark on a path from which I will not return. So basically, I think this is true mathematically also, right? It's not really a meaningful statement if you have infinity in the denominator. I don't know if you can really say that one over infinity or a hundred over infinity or twenty over infinity, that they're different values. Either way, they're just so—the finite number is so incommensurate with the infinity. So of course it's a diras arai. If a person would know that he's going to live to the age of Meshuchelach, so what's nine hundred and sixty-nine over infinity? Whatever the value of the numerator is in that equation, it's a diras arai. And says Rabbeinu Yonah, and obviously, you know, if we'll consult with an actuary, the chances of living to the age of Meshuchelach are not overwhelmingly in our favor. אף כי ימי האדם כצל עובר. כעניין שנאמר ימי שנותינו בהם שבעים שנה.
How much more so that realistically, according to the actuarial tables, so a person is not going to live anything approaching that lifespan. ונאמר ימיו כצל עובר. That a person's days pass like a shadow. ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה לא כצלו של אילן ולא כצלו של כותל
which cast a long shadow, which give considerable shade, אלא כצל עוף הפורח ועובר. That's how fleeting it is. ורצונם לומר כי חייב אדם להמשיל העולם הזה בלבבו כצל עוף הפורח.
A person should think of life with this metaphor, that the fleeting nature of life is comparable to the shadow, the shade provided in one particular spot by a bird which is flying overhead, which means that ובכל רגע קטון עובר. Yet a third perspective, yet a third consideration which yields this perspective of Diras Arai, גם כי אינו אדם יודע מה היום כאן ולמחר בקבר.
Rabbeinu Yonah begins by saying if a person would know, if he'd have a crystal ball which would tell him that he's going to outlive Methuselah, it's still a Diras Arai. And then he says how much more so that that's not what our lifespan is, that's not what life expectancy is, and then how much more so because no person even has a guarantee of the ימי שנותינו בהם שבעים שנה. גם כי אינו אדם יודע אם היום כאן ולמחר בקבר.
A person, life is tenuous. It's not only fleeting, but within that it's tenuous. ונמצא בהשתדלו וטרחו על יום מחר כי הוא מצטער על עולם שאינו שלו.
If a person knew that he was going to be move out of an apartment or that there was a reasonable chance that he's going to move out of an apartment tomorrow, I don't know he wouldn't spend his time painting the apartment today. ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה אל תצר צרת מחר, don't be distressed about tomorrow's problems, כי לא תדע מה ילד יום. Here again as Chazal say דברי תורה עניים במקום אחד ועשירים במקום אחר. Torah is that composite of many many halachos, many many perspectives, many many imperatives, many many values. By definition Rabbeinu Yonah can only be teaching one halacha, one perspective, one value at a time, but it's our job or what he intended for us in learning Shaarei Teshuva is that it needs to be integrated into the broader system. A person can't hit on one meimar Chazal, on one line in Rabbeinu Yonah and construct a hashkafas olam only based on that one meimar Chazal, on one line in Rabbeinu Yonah. One line in Rabbeinu Yonah needs to be integrated with other lines in Rabbeinu Yonah which needs to be integrated with other lines in the Rambam which needs to be integrated with Chazal, with vekhulu vekhulu. So what what does Rabbeinu Yonah mean when he says אל תצר צרת מחר? Again, it certainly doesn't mean that the Torah doesn't encourage us to ever plan or lay foundations for the future. לימוד תורה דרך ארץ. Chazal tell us לימוד תורה דרך ארץ from Parshas Shoftim we derive that לעולם ילמד אדם תורה ואחר כך ילמד אומנות ואחר כך ישא אשה.
So clearly that means to build one's life in a systematic way and it certainly involves planning for the future. Yilmad omanus means you become an apprentice, you become an apprentice to Paul Revere and you learn how to become a silversmith. Nowadays people have other ideas of how to earn a parnassa and that's also okay but it's the same. It's the same, it's the same yesod. So clearly the Torah says hamvazbeiz, the halacha is that המבזבז אל יבזבז יותר מחומש, that there's a cap on how much tzedaka a person should give. Why? Because down the road shema yitztareich labriyos. Because down the road if a person gives too much tzedaka, if he's of limited means, I don't know, if he's got the hundred billion dollars in the bank and he gives more than a chomesh, I think he'll be okay. I think he'll still be able to buy a new suit for Pesach. But if a person has more limited means, so then the din is that המבזבז אל יבזבז יותר מחומש when it comes to mitzvas asei, when it comes to tzedaka. Why? Because down the road shema yitztareich labriyos. So clearly, clearly we see that that to be responsible does mean to have an eye to the future and to make plans. What's Rabbeinu Yonah talking about? Rabbeinu Yonah is talking about there's such a thing as overplanning. There's such a thing as as trying to plan and such a thing as worrying about things which are lo beyadeinu. They're lo beyadeinu in the sense that it's not our obligation to be planning for this, nor is it are we in any position to. What's gonna be with this, what's gonna be with that? That's what Chazal are saying: אל תצר צרת מחר. A person is supposed to, again, wherever we have a responsibility, so then לעולם ילמד אדם תורה ואחר כך ילמד אומנות ואחר כך ישא אשה.
But there are many things again where there are many things that are lo beyadeinu. Again, lo beyadeinu either in the sense of our responsibility or lo beyadeinu in the sense that there's that there's much to do about, that there's anything for us to do about. So then that's what Rabbeinu Yonah says, what what is a person worrying about for? I don't know, I'm not even gonna, if it's not my responsibility, I don't mean that in a in a selfish sense but in a religious sense. So then who knows whether whether it's even gonna materialize? Who knows what it's even gonna materialize, who knows if we're gonna be here, who knows if it's gonna happen? ועיקר ספר קהלת חיבר שלמה המלך עליו השלום לייסר מאוד אדם על לבו כי העולם הבל הבלים לא להשתמש בו זולתי לעבודת הבורא יתברך.
This is the, the theme of Kohelles, that a person should recognize that getting lost in olam hazzeh, thinking of olam hazzeh as the ultimate rather than olam hazzeh as the means, that's the, the mistake that Shlomo HaMelech is warning us against. להודיע כוונתו בפתיחתו וחתימתו, and Shlomo HaMelech framed and contextualized for us everything he's gonna say with his opening words and with his concluding words. כי פתח ואמר הבל הבלים אמר קהלת הבל הבלים הכל הבל. ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה, אילו אדם אחר היה אומר כן,
if someone other than Shlomo HaMelech would have said it, אילו אדם אחר היה אומר כן, we would have said sour grapes. We would have said, yeah, of course, of course a person who who can't afford the nice things in life, so of course he's gonna disparage them. על כן נחשב העולם הבל בעיניו. אכן שלמה שנאמר עליו ויתן המלך את הכסף בירושלים כאבנים,
Shlomo's wealth was so great as to be just about inestimable. לא נאה אלא ממנו כי העולם הבל הבלים. Clearly for Shlomo HaMelech there's no sour grapes. וחתם ספרו ואמר סוף דבר הכל נשמע את האלקים ירא ואת מצותיו שמור כי זה כל האדם.
Rabbeinu Yonah here lich'ora in his depiction of Seifer Kohelles, Seifer Kohelles being defined by the psicha and the chasima is lich'ora reflecting the Gemara in Shabbos. The Gemara in Shabbos says that בקשו לגנוז ספר קהלת. At one point it was not clear to Chazal whether Seifer Kohelles had been authored beruach hakodesh by Shlomo HaMelech or not. And given that lack of clarity, what's more, what's more, that superficially נמצאו דברים סותרים דברי תורה. There are pesukim in Kohelles which seem to, which seem to contradict divrei Torah. Then ultimately Chazal... So memila they then proceeded to recognize that it wasn't that it was authored with Ruach HaKodesh and of course it belongs to Kitvei HaKodesh. So my father zichrono l'vracha used like to say, I don't remember whether he was quoting someone when he said this or whether it was his own: What do you mean תחילתו דברי תורה וסופו דברי תורה? He says משל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say I'll come and I'll give a lecture for an hour and a half. He says the first two minutes will be substantive, and the last two minutes will be substantive, and the intervening hour and 26 minutes will be nonsense. So how does how does the how does the first two minutes and the last two minutes doesn't really justify doesn't really justify preoccupying people's time for an hour and a half and giving them such a tiny return on their time. So you have a nice pasuk at the beginning of Koheles, have a nice pasuk also, Koheles is a long Megillah, you know? You need patience on שבת חול המועד סוכות when when we read Koheles. So ela mai, the p'shat clearly is, and and this is what Rabbeinu Yonah in this paragraph is teaching also, is that is that הוכיח סופו על תחילתו ואמצעיתו הוכיח תחילתו על אמצעיתו וסופו.
That what Chazal are saying is not that the תחילתו דברי תורה וסופו דברי תורה compensate for or offset whatever you find in the middle. No, but it provides a context and a perspective and it frames it, it tells us if תחילתו דברי תורה וסופו דברי תורה, it must be that clearly, clearly, it must be that that if we'll study it and interpret it properly, that we'll recognize that that the entire thing mi-techilato v'ad sofo is divrei Torah. And that's what Rabbeinu Yonah is very much prompted by that Gemara in Shabbos is telling us as well. Okay, maybe we'll we'll stop here for now. Bli neder, im yirtzeh Hashem, we'll we'll reconvene at 11:30, approximately 11:30, bli neder, im yirtzeh Hashem for Avos. Okay rabosai, have a good, productive morning, everyone should be well, be safe, be'ezrat Hashem.