Hi, good morning Rabosei. Ot Kaf-Daled. וכן אמר שלמה המלך עליו השלום כי מי אשר יחבר אל כל החיים יש בטחון כי לכלב חי הוא טוב מן האריה המת.
So one who's connected to life, so for that individual there is Bitachon. We'll see in a minute bli neder how Rabbeinu Yonah is taitching the word Bitachon. כי לכלב חי הוא טוב מן האריה המת. The dog is better off, a live dog than the lion, the preeminent in the animal kingdom who's already dead. Peirush, שיבח חיי העולם הזה, Shlomo HaMelech is praising Olam HaZeh לעניין התשובה ופעולת המצווה והשגת מעלת הנפש. He's praising, extolling the wonder of the opportunity of Chayei Olam HaZeh in terms of the opportunity that it affords for a person to do Teshuvah, for a person to do Mitzvos, for a person to elevate his soul through attainment of Maalas HaNefesh. והוא הבטחון הנמצא לאשר יחבר אל החיים. So what does the word Bitachon mean here? It doesn't seem to translate as trust, right? It seems to translate more as hope, and that's what the English translation says also if I correctly if you take a look at the Targum in Koheles on the Pasuk that Rabbeinu Yonah is quoting. כי מי אשר יחבר אל כל החיים יש בטחון. ארום מן גברא דאתחבר לכל פתגמי אורייתא ולמקני חיי עלמא דאתי אית ליה סבר.
Samech Beis Reish. So the word Svar, I mean it means different things in different contexts, but one of its meanings is hope. It's similar to the Hebrew שברו על ה' אלהיו. That's with a Sin, this is with a Samech, but sometimes those two letters are interchangeable. So Rabbeinu Yonah seems to have understood as does the Targum that Bitachon in addition to I guess its more normal meaning of trust or security also means hope. Again it's not so hard to connect the dots between trust and hope. So VeHu HaBitachon, this is the hope, hope in the sense of opportunity, הנמצא לאשר יחבר אל החיים. ופירוש כי לכלב חי, like a live dog. כי האדם הפחות בחיים. No matter how lowly a person is, no matter where a person's holding, יכול להוסיף מעלות בנפשו. In terms of potential he has a potential which is not true of מה שלא יוכל לעשות כן החכם והצדיק המת. The greatest Chacham, the greatest Tzaddik can only now who's already been niftar can only reap the rewards of life but they can't they can't earn or position themselves for that. They can't improve themselves. Ma SheEin Kein a person regardless of where he's holding, a person always has that potential. See it's interesting here if we contrast if you go back for a minute just to Os Chaf Beis. So in Os Chaf Beis Rabbeinu Yonah writes ומן הדברים שאדם חייב להזהר בעבורם יום המות כדי שלא יתבטל ואל תרפה ידו בעבודת השם יתברך ותדד שנתו מעיניו לעמול בתורה ולהתבונן ביראת השם ולתקן מידות נפשו להשיג מעלות היראה והאהבה.
He identifies all the basic areas of avodas Hashem and as we mentioned then they're all basically open-ended. A person cannot finish, which is why a person never has extra time on his hand. A person always has time to relax as is necessary, but a person doesn't have time to stam squander. Here in Os Chaf Daled when he talks about Shlomo HaMelech praising the opportunity which life in Olam Hazeh provides, somehow he has a different list. Here he speaks of teshuvah, pe'ulas hamitzvah, and v'hasagas maylos hanefesh. So yitachen that v'hasagas maylos hanefesh includes the hisbonen b'yiras Hashem and להשיג מעלות היראה והאהבה. So yitachen that it's a מועט המחזיק את המרובה in terms of that phrase. Pe'ulas hamitzvos certainly corresponds to lehagdil lehadir mitzvos. But there's no mention here of Torah. Why doesn't he praise Chayei Olam Hazeh in terms of the opportunity to learn Torah? So yitachen that what Rabbeinu Yonah means is that the yedi'as Hashem that a person will have in Olam Haba dwarfs whatever yedi'as Hashem a person can acquire in Olam Hazeh. Right? As the Rambam in Perek Ches of Teshuvah explains, that's what the imagery of צדיקים יושבים ועטרותיהם בראשיהם ונהנים מזיו השכינה שמשגים ויודעים מה שלא היו משיגים מה שלא היו יכולים להשיג ולדעת
as long as they were living this hybrid physical spiritual existence. Now of course it's true that the yedi'ah that a person will have in Olam Haba is determined by the yedi'ah that he acquires in Olam Hazeh. But אף על פי כן, if one's extolling what can be done in Olam Hazeh that can't be done in Olam Haba, so maybe that's the pshat. Rabbeinu Yonah is not mentioning Talmud Torah because Olam Haba doesn't surpass, it's just it's in a different league, it's a different dimension of yedi'as Hashem. Ma she'ein kein in terms of mitzvos ma'asiyos, in terms of doing teshuvah, in terms of v'hasagas maylos hanefesh, so there taka there isn't anything in there isn't anything in Olam Haba. And maybe that's why in this context hagam obviously obviously that as Rabbeinu Yonah said earlier that a person has to do his best to learn as much Torah as his circumstances allow for, as the balance in life allows for, but it's not going to be part of the shvach of Chayei Olam Hazeh in contradistinction to Chayei Olam Haba. ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה, Os Chaf Hei, הסתכל בשלושה דברים ואין אתה בא לידי עבירה מאין באת מטיפה סרוחה ולאן אתה הולך למקום עפר רימה ותולעה. לפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון לפני מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא.
Be'ur hadavar. כשתחשוב מאין באת תכניע נפשך ותשנא הגאוה. Right, not only will a person avoid gaiva by reflecting upon his origins, but he'll hate gaiva. It's it's something repugnant. It's offensive. It's repulsive. וכשתזכור אנה אתה הולך tivze ha'olam hazeh. You'll have scorn for olam hazeh for as an end unto itself. ותכיר כי מאומה אין. That there's nothing enduring. There's nothing from purely olam hazeh-dikke accomplishments. There's nothing enduring, nothing left over in that sense. There's nothing residual. כי לא במותו יקח הכל לא ירד אחריו כבודו ולא תתעסק בו זולתי לעבודת הבורא יתברך.
If a person lives in a rental apartment, he only fixes up the apartment as much as it's gonna benefit him given the length of his lease. He's not gonna he's not gonna invest in the rental apartment beyond the length of his lease. It doesn't make any sense. וכשתשיב אל לבך לפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן את החשבון יהא מורא שמים עליך. ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה וירא אלקים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד זה המות.
What does that mean? Ki gam hamaves enter the world as a result of cheit? So what does it mean והנה טוב מאד זה המות? Says Rabbeinu Yonah כי גם המות טוב להכניע הנפשות ולהשכין אלקים על הלבבות ולבלתי עשות העולם הזה עיקר.
Yeah, there is a question, it's not really a question on Rabbeinu Yonah, it's really a question in the Mishnah in Avos itself. Why do we need al shlosha devarim of אין אתה בא לידי עבירה? Mi-ayin basa? So what does that engender within a person? When a person reflects mi-ayin basa, so it engenders within a person hachna'ah. And if a person will think of לפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון so doesn't that also engender hachna'ah within a person? That looming encounter, that that ultimate audience, so doesn't that also shouldn't that also engender within a person a sense of a sense of hachna'ah? So itachan, and the question again is not on Rabbeinu Yonah, the Rambam says the same in in terms also of how mi-ayin basa instills within us anavah if we reflect on it. But itachan the peshat here is that the first thing a person has to do to free himself is to break the gaiva. Kol zman that a person is entrapped by gaiva, so he doesn't really think again commensurate to the degree of gaiva, he doesn't really think outside of himself, beyond himself, beyond his present desires and urges. He's not really capable of thinking לפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון when he's too full of himself. And too preoccupied with the gashmius. So that's what Chazal say. The first thing is a person has to remove those mental constraints. Having done that, now a person is free to think. But kol zman that the person is just so caught up with, bound up with ga'avah, he's just so busy with there is no לפני מי אתה עומד ולפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון.
There's only me and what I want right now. And then Rabbeinu Yonah in that last line here that we read, commenting upon that midrash of טוב מאוד זה המות, so again he's really reinforcing this point when he writes: כי גם המות טוב להכניע הנפשות ולהיות חיתת אלקים על הלבבות.
There's a sequence there. There's a sequence. The hachna'ah paves the way and allows for the chitas Elokim, for the yiras Hashem. It allows the person to have a perspective on Olam Hazeh. Okay, so we'll stop here. Bli neder, we'll resume around 12:45 on דף ס"ו עמוד ב. Okay rabosai, everyone should have a good, productive morning. Be well. Be well, everyone. Behatzlacha.