Shammai omer, aseh toratcha keva, so make your your Torah fixed, אמור מעט ועשה הרבה, say a little do a lot, והוי מקבל כל אדם בסבר פנים יפות, and greet everybody with a cheerful countenance. Good, excellent. So, it's going to take us a a a few minutes to get to the the point that we want to bring out in this mishna, so we just need to try to plow through a few a few sources. So what what does the Rambam comment here, seiver panim yafot? What does it mean to to greet people with a pleasant countenance? What does Rambam say? First thing he says: ויהיה עמהם הבריות בנחת ודברים ערבים. So you should greet people a lot with with kindly, gently, and with nice good things they want to talk about, areivim, like sweet. So one's interaction with people should be gentle. One should speak in a way and and say things which are pleasing to people, which which are are sweet to people. Now, in Perek Gimmel, Mishna Yud-Beis, there is a similar mishna in terms of how to greet people. Right? And again, of the of Shammai's three pieces of of advice, we're going to focus on the last one, והוי מקבל כל אדם בסבר פנים יפות. So in Perek Gimmel, there's a similar mishna, but but not identical. What does it say in Perek Gimmel? Rabbi Yishmael omer: hevei kal lerosh. We're going to sort of ignore, at least for now, the first two pieces of Rabbi Yishmael. Veno'ach letishchoret, vehevei mekabel et kol ha'adam besimcha. So like greet everybody, every person with with simcha. With simcha, should greet every person with joy. Greet everyone joyously. And here, what what does the Rambam comment here? Vezeh yoseir mima she'amar Shammai beseiver panim yafot. So the Rambam says Rabbi Yishmael's upping the ante, right? Rabbi Yishmael is raising the bar. Hevei mekabel et kol ha'adam besimcha goes beyond what Shammai tells us. Shammai tells us והוי מקבל כל אדם בסבר פנים יפות, and Rabbi Yishmael, he raises the bar. Vezeh yoseir mima she'amar Shammai beseiver panim yafot. The Rambam doesn't really he doesn't drop the real, I mean he doesn't specify in what respect it it surpasses what what what Shammai says. Is it more of the same? You know, if if someone tells you you should give $3 of tzedakah every day, someone else tells you you should give $4 of tzedakah every day, so he the second one is surpassing, but he's telling you to do more of the same. Is he telling you to do something different which is more demanding? So the Rambam doesn't really give He doesn't spell out for us what he means. Clear? Yes. Does seiver panim yafot just mean like greet them like you're happy to see them, as opposed to what Rabbi Yishmael is saying, you're actually happy? Right, so that that is excellent, and and we're just going to spend a few minutes fleshing out what you said. You said mamash hit the nail on the head. Mamash, hit the nail on the head, but we're just going to try to elaborate on it a a little bit. So maybe we'll read the Rambam first in Hilchot De'ot Perek Beis. לא יהא בעל שחוק ומהתל, ולא... אלא... So he shouldn't be someone who's going around laughing, playing, and Anyone recognize the shoresh of mehatzes? Like ge'avah, haughty? In what sense, how would it be? Okay. That's, that's not a bad suggestion. I'm not sure if that's what it is. Think, think, think Sefer... You've got to see it better, you've got to see it in context. I can. Which which chumash do you want? No, I would say Oh, Sefer Shemot. Sefer Shemot, yeah. Which parasha? Ki Tisa. Wait, what's mehatzes? Truth is I don't remember whether it's Va'eira or Bo, it's in the context of the makkos. I don't remember whether it's the end of Va'eira or the beginning of Bo. I think that it's the end of Va'eira. Almost there. Rak al yoseif Paroh haseil. Is that the word? Rak al yoseif Paroh haseil. That Pharaoh should not continue posturing and and making a mockery of things. Pharaoh keeps on saying he'll send, and then he doesn't send. He keeps saying he'll send, and then he doesn't send. Moshe Rabbeinu says, rak al yoseif Paroh haseil לבלתי שלח את העם. So dos heyst a ba'al hasah, ba'al hasah, a person shouldn't be a frivolous person, a person who's, that everything he does is just a mockery. On the other hand, you always say a mourner should not be sad. What's atzvus? Atzvus is, right, a person shouldn't be sad. We're talking about someone, a person who's an onein, what what is that, aveilus d'oraisa? Aveilus before you bury the meis. Right, if a person who has just lost one of the seven immediate relatives, what what are the seven immediate relatives? Right, right, exactly. So so onein, I don't know, how should we translate that? Sad? Oh, I'd say he's sad. I'd say an onein, a me'aveil is sad, somewhere in that in that range of meaning, right? Lo samei'ach. Okay, let's continue. כדי שלא יהא נמשך אחר שחוק וקלות ראש שיהא כל חייו.
Who's on the team? Call Ian. Ian's back up, yeah, cause there's so many people. Thank you. Kalus rosh meaning light-headedness, right? No no no seriousness about life at all, right? Se'chok v'kalus rosh. So what effect do they have on the person, according to the Rambam? Gilui arayos. Gilui arayos. Everything is, you know, when when a person is, how how does that, how does that cause and effect play out? Okay, so if a person is frivolous and and and everything's a joke, how does that margil es ha'adam, how does that habituate the person that it'll lead up to gilui arayos? Right, cause then you're, you basically accustom yourself to doing like the wrong thing, hanging around like the wrong people and doing the same, yeah, the same wrong things and, I don't know, you're doing the wrong things, so you have to like... then they set standards for yourself so you don't get to that point. If you don't take anything seriously, then you don't have any boundaries. Ah, right! If you don't take, if everything is a joke in life, so then the siyagim to keep a person away from from arayos, he also makes a joke of. He makes a joke of everything, so then he ends up having no boundaries, because if you don't take anything seriously... Same way if it's true religiously, spiritually, it's also true physically. If a person doesn't take anything seriously, so he goes, he'll go joyriding and and drives at crazy speeds, and and ends up crashing, and and one doesn't know. When a person takes nothing seriously, so then there are no boundaries, that's exactly right. Let's see though, let's continue inside. Kedei shelo yehei... כדי שלא יהא פירצה. כדי שלא יהא פירצה. It's meant that a person should not be open. You could have kept going. What what does it mean? What part is it you translated as open? Well what what's a pirtzah? A breach. A breach. Right, if we have a wall, and then there's a break in the wall, so that break is referred to as a pirtzah, right? So a person shouldn't be so totally open that he's unbounded, and he is unrestricted, unconfined in his involvement with se'chok. with with laughter, with with playfulness. On the other hand, ולא יהא עצב ודואב, and you should not be sad and in grief. Excellent. Now, the our mishna, right? Now, the context, just just to bear in mind if not the context. So the context in perek alef and perek beit in the beginning of Hilchot De'ot. But, anyone remember what the context is? What what general principle does the Rambam does the Rambam introduce and then apply? Middah beinonit. Exactly, the middah beinonit, that a person is is supposed to generally avoid both extremes and be in the middle. And this is yet another application of that. So, one extreme is frivolity, lightheadedness, taking nothing seriously. The other extreme is being morose, being sad, being down. And the middle is to be some'ach, to be b'sever panim yafot. Right? Okay. Excellent, right? Two questions, you will see. Two questions in this realm. Question number one: why the repetition? It says the same thing twice. לא יהא אדם בעל שחוק, it's even לא יהא אדם פורץ בשחוק, v'lo atzeiv u've'onein, v'lo atzeiv u'mit'abeil. Why why the repetition, right? We know the Rambam economized in what what he wrote. He doesn't he doesn't repeat himself. Everyone see that question? What's the second question? Again, we're not looking to force a question, is there any question that jumps off the page? Well, it doesn't really seem that they have so much to do with each other. It's just like don't don't be involved in all this all this joking around, and then instead greet people with sever panim yafot. Beautiful. And and and what's more, I'm not sure if this if this is the same question as the first question, but the Rambam seems to equate here, some'ach and מקבל את כל האדם בסבר פנים יפות. Well, let let's ask your question a different way. The Rambam just said that the middle between being frivolous at one extreme, being morose, being down, at the other extreme, is to be some'ach. Now, there are two mishnayot in Sanhedrin, right? One mishna says: הוי מקבל את כל האדם בסבר פנים יפות. What did the other mishna say? הוי מקבל את כל האדם בשמחה. Which mishna should the Rambam have quoted? He should have quoted the simcha mishna, right? Why doesn't why why did the Rambam quote our mishna of מקבל בסבר פנים יפות, which was illustrating that the middle between being frivolous and being depressed with a lower-case d, is to be some'ach? So he should have said: הוי מקבל את כל האדם בשמחה. Those are the two questions, just just to review. Question number one: why the repetition of the Rambam? Question number two: when he's going to quote a mishna on this, it would seem to be a better quote to quote the mishna of הוי מקבל את כל האדם בשמחה rather than our mishna of b'sever panim yafot. Everyone hears the first two questions? Yes. Why is there both mishnas? Why is there one about מקבל את כל האדם בסבר פנים יפות and also b'simcha? That's also an excellent question. I think when we unravel everything, we'll get to your question, also. Did the Rambam quote the simcha piece in the very beginning when he says: לא יהא אדם בעל שחוק ומהתלות ולא עצב ואונן אלא שמח?
So he does say it, but if he's already reinforcing things, given that he said some'ach, so shouldn't he have said the mishna of הוי מקבל את כל האדם בשמחה? Right? Okay. So here here's here's the here's a source that will help us will that will that will provide a key to unlock that issue. Totally different context. Totally different context. Out out of out of left field. Okay, what does the mishna in Sanhedrin say? Have you have you learned, right, which part of Masechet, part two of Masechet Sanhedrin, right? So the mishna is talking about, it's more theoretical than it ever was really practical, but if someone if beit din was forced to convict someone for for something which is chayav misa, and then was forced to administer the misas beit din. So after that is done, so the mishna describes that the relatives have to show that they, that they they have no ill will, they bear no ill will either towards the dayonim or towards the eydim, and that they accept that that you know, what their relative did, he was mechallel Shabbos, he was oved avodah zarah, whatever, whatever it was that he was guilty of, the eydim and the hasro'ah, and they accept that what was done was the right thing. Shekvar bo'in v'sho-- and what do they do? They come and they the relatives come... v'sho'alin b'shlom, ושואלין בשלום הדינים ובשלום העדים, yes, k'dei she-- to show that they, that they have no ill feelings to the dayonim. Right, they come, they give shalom aleichem, \"How are you? It's good to see you,\" right, to show that there's zero ill will for what happened. Klomar, and what are they expressing by giving shalom aleichem? What are they expressing? Klomar... she'ein b'li-- b'libeinu alei-- בליבנו עליכם שדין אמת דנתם. That that that there's no ill will, that they believe that they didn't make a bad judgment. That means we have we don't we don't harbor anything in our heart. Ein b'libeinu aleichem, there's nothing in our heart against you, why? Cuz shedin emes danitem. We realize that you were just doing what what what what was supposed to be done. Now, the Mishnah continues, again, describing what the behavior of the person of the relatives in the aftermath of the misas beis din that was given to their relative. So, what does the Mishnah say? V'lo hayu misablin, so they shouldn't be like aveilim, aval onin, so but they should be like an onen... Yeah, they don't There's no shiva. If Rachmana litzlan, someone receives misas beis din, so then the the the relatives do not sit shiva. V'lo hayu misablin, right? So they they don't observe aveilus. However... aval onin, so but but they should be like an onen... But they are allowed to experience aninus, she'ein... שאין אנינות אלא בלב, cuz aninus is only happening in the heart. Ah! So aveilus, so let let's just flesh this out. Aveilus, which is which is outer, which is expressed outwardly, which is expressed in behavior: the avel sitting on the floor, you can see that he's not shaving, not cutting his hair, you can see that he's not wearing leather shoes, etc. So aveilus, which is expressed in one's behavior and therefore expressed outwardly, so that one is not allowed to do for harugei beis din, for someone whom the beis din gave misa. Aval aninus, the feeling of aninus, which isn't, which doesn't get translated into action, which is not outwardly discernable, so that they can, שאין אנינות אלא בלב. Good, that's what the Mishnah says. But is he an onen? Don't we know that an onen is between death and burial, and then after kevura he's an avel? Ah, so you're asking a great question. So so we use the term onen in in different contexts. The the the way you're using it currently is the d'rabbanan usage of onen, which refers to the status of the relatives between misa and kevura, between the time, Rachmana litzlan, of death and and burial. But onen, in the Torah, refers to the state that a person is in on the day of death regardless of whether it's before or after kevura. So it's not referring to that set of halachos of not doing mitzvos asei, etc. That's it. Where do you have that the the word onen in in Chumash? Sefer Devarim... Ki Savo, right? No, not, which parshah? Which parshah? Parshas Ki Savo. We've got it. It's a parshah, Parshas Ki Savo. We've got it. Right. That's, why why? Where else would you have that in the... in the Chumash? What's viduy ma'asros? You know what the mitzvah of viduy ma'asros is? What's viduy ma'asros? That's when you took out the ma'aser of the third year, and that's when you talk about ma'aser as an onen. Right. That's... So so you do it what, Pesach time? When do you do it? In the fourth and and seventh years, was it? That that you've mafrish all the terumos and ma'asros you were supposed to, and that you acted did it. So when speaking about ma'aser sheni, in the ma'asros, you say, lo achalti b'oni, and oni is spelled with an ayin, ayin-nun-yud, right? Lo achalti b'oni, right? That's the word oniyus. So the word oniyus in the Torah is just yom hamisa, regardless of before or after kevurah. Fine. So what we're taking away from this Mishna in Sanhedrin is the definition of the words misabel and onen. That misabel implies behavior, mournful behavior, and onen refers to purely an inner state which is not necessarily discernible to anyone else. Good? Okay, now with that, rabosai, let's come back to the Rambam in Hilchos De'os, Perek Beis, Halacha Zayin. And we had two questions. What were the two questions in Beis Zayin, rabosai? What were the two questions? Why does the Rambam repeat A, the repetition. B? And B is that he should If he's talking about what you should do, he should say, use the use the lishna d'simcha. Good. So now in light of the Mishna in Sanhedrin, what's pshat? In light of the Mishna in Sanhedrin, what's pshat? The first part he's talking about simcha, that's when he's using the first halacha, and then he uses that for the lashon of onen is that the the the the inner, you know, it's that sameach is that, is is is your actual feelings of of simcha. And then the second part, he's actually talking about an outward expression of Right! So there is no repetition here! The Rambam is telling us two very distinct halachos. Halacha number one is about a person's inner setting, his inner compass. What should my inner feeling, disposition, mindset be? So lo otzev v'onen, again onen is with an ayin. So onen means, onen describes, not how I'm acting, but how I'm feeling. So clearly sameach to the Rambam sometimes connotes the inner feeling, right? Sometimes sameach can connote only an inner sense of of joy. Now, the second halacha, which we thought oh on our first go-round was redundant, the second is a totally different halacha. It's not talking about what my feelings should be, what my inner state is, it's talking about my behavior! And how do you see that? That the Rambam switches from onen to misabel. מקבל את כל האדם בסבר פנים יפות is behavior, 'cause that's outward that's outwardly discernible. To greet with a smile, that's behavior. That you're genuinely happy to see him, that's something that that's something internal. Do you see how that answers both questions, rabosai? Yes? So the Rambam is telling us there's two halachos. Halacha number one, Halacha number one is that that a person should be happy in life, not frivolous, not b'kallos rosh. We're not talking about behavior. We're not talking about behavior, we're talking about his inner his inner state should be one of simcha. That's what simcha is. Halacha number two is what should radiate outward. And how do we know that which halacha that there are those two halachos? The switch from onen to misabel is where the Rambam indicates this and that's why Now, let's just finish off the pshat. When the Rambam said in in Gimmel Yud-Beis, now go back, rabosai, for a minute to the Rambam in Gimmel Yud-Beis. When the Rambam said in Gimmel Yud-Beis that what Rebbi Shmaya demands of us surpasses that of Shammai, right? But the Rambam didn't specify in what sense it surpasses. So now in light of having having deciphered Beis Zayin in De'os, what's pshat? what that part of the Rambam in Perush HaMishnayos? Yeah, like, when you're when you're sameach, like, on the inside, it's more than than what you show on the outside. If it's easier for a person to conform with behavior than it is with feelings and attitudes, right? If if someone tells us, \"Be nice to people, greet them warmly,\" okay, so that's action. Action is much easier for a person to control and to deliver what what's asked of him. But when we're told what the our inner state should be, that's more demanding. You see you see how beautifully that the that the the Rambams come together? Yes. Is there something else about the ba'al sechok versus poreis bisechok that you just rule out? I don't think that, offhand, I think it said a bit different that the difference between ba'al sechok and poreis bisechok is that Just be- before we get to that, how according to our mahalach, how do you what's the contrast, what's the difference between the term ba'al sechok and poreis bisechok? Didn't ask you that to to to spell this out. What's the difference? Again, at first glance when you read quickly and just only see things on the surface, they seem to be interchangeable, but they're not. How are they different? Ba'al sechok is like inside he's ready to explode. Ba'al sechok is describing the, one word Mindset? Okay, is describing the the person. Poreis bisechok is describing the Oh, the action. The behavior. The behavior. And and that's perfect, right? Because we said the first halacha in the Rambam, right? The first halacha in the Rambam is is what a person's again inner compass is is how that inner compass is set. What's the setting on the dial on the inside? So that's so then you're talking about the person, you're not talking about the behavior: ba'al sechok. The second halacha in the Rambam is not about the the inner setting, the where the dial is set, the second halacha is about the behavior, that's poreis bisechok. Poreis bisechok is describing the behavior. You see that also? It also comes together beautifully. Okay, what's what's your mahalach? I don't think that ba'al sechok is is like a much stronger lashon. I don't think that ba'al implies is a much stronger lashon. So I don't think that ba'al sechok is like is actually he's so much of a ba'al that it's to be oker completely. But, so, but, and that's also like how onin is stronger lashon. Onin is a stronger lashon to fight off, so it's not poreis bisechok, it's only clean and that same thing if he's avel and not not actually onin, then that person could be to be to get to the middah he only has to work on kabalas panim yafeh, he has to work on that and not struggle, work all the way. No, understand. The the middle isn't to counteract the extreme. To counteract the extreme, the Rambam taught us earlier how to readjust is you're supposed to go to the other extreme, to the to undo one extreme. So simcha is not the antidote to ba'al sechok, and kabalas panim yafeh isn't the antidote to poreis bisechok. That's how you have to fight it off. That's, no, it's not not quite an antidote. If a person's too stingy, he's supposed to give extra tzedakah. If a person gives too much tzedakah then he has to, for a while, force himself not to give at all. So it's not that either simcha or kabalas panim yafeh is pushing back, it's the it's the correct, it's the correct balance that's supposed to be, right? A charming balance. You get it? Why is mourning considered that way? Why isn't a person just supposed to be at the What can he actually do that he has to do that? Well, so we're going to talk about that soon, within another just a couple of minutes. There's one other source I want to look at first and and then we're going to take up, tackle your question. Now let's see the Rambam here in Hilchos Yom Tov. There's two sources we need. Let's see here. Let's see here. Okay, so the first response is now the seven days of Pesach and eight days of Sukkos, veshe'ar yamim tovim, and the other days of Yom Tov, כולם אסורים בהספד ותענית, they're all it's all assur they're all assur to eulogize and to fast. וחייב אדם להיות בהן same'ach, same'ach vetov lev, tov lev, and and someone is obligated to be happy and have a good heart. Hu uvanav ve'ishto, him, his sons, his wife, banav here probably means children, and not exclusively sons, right? Sometimes banav can mean sons as opposed to banos, daughters, and sometimes it can just more generic, it means children, so I think here it means children. Vechol hanilvim alav. What's hanilvim alav? What's that mean? Who are like around him. Right, around him, but what what word that we know commonly is it related to? It's similar in phonetically, but not sure in meaning for this. What's a funeral? Levaya. But why why is a funeral levaya? What does levaya mean, literally? To escort, right? Because you uh the word for funeral really is derived from escorting the meis to to kevurah. Now that's that's what the word for funeral comes from. So levaya means to escort, so hanilvim alav means who are attached to him, right? And attached to him in the sense that they may not be um part of his household, but maybe they're regular guests. Or maybe they don't have their own family and and they're regular guests. What's bnei beiso? Members of his household. I don't know, maybe he has people who work for him, members of the household, let's say, who are not uh not not other than the wife and the and and the children. Shouldn't it just say either bnei beiso or hanilvim alav? So bnei beiso means on a permanent basis, and hanilvim alav mean bnei beiso in the sense that they actually live there, and hanilvim means maybe they don't necessarily live there, but, you know, they they eat regular with them. They're regular Shabbos and and Yom Tov guests. Shene'emar, vesamachta bechagecha. You should be happy with your holiday. All right, now what's interesting here is the Torah uses one word, right? Vesamachta, right? Vesamachta, and how many words does the Rambam use to define the mitzvah? Right, two or three, right? He uses two phrases. The Torah has one phrase of vesamachta. What does the Rambam have? Same'ach vetov lev. So, clearly the the Rambam's telling us that What's the pshat? Why Why didn't the Rambam just say, the pasuk says vesamachta, so the Rambam should have written chayav adam lihyot bahen same'ach? Why does he add tov lev? Now where The Rambam didn't make up that phrase. Now if you take a look inside to pasuk 8 in Melachim, there is an extra aleph there, it's a typo. You see what it says? Again, it should say Melachim, but that's a typo, it's an aleph. Do you see that in Melachim? Melachim 1, is the second source? Yeah, Melachim. There there should be the aleph there. Bayom hashemini, this this is referring to the celebration at the consecration of the first Beis HaMikdash. So, bayom hashemini, someone read the pasuk for us? Who's ready in the pasuk? Thank you. ביום השמיני שילח את העם So, Shlomo HaMelech sends them to to go home. In other words, you know, we we've finished celebrating. The the chanukas HaMikdash is is complete. You can go home. ויברכו את המלך, they blessed the king, Shlomo HaMelech, וילכו לאהליהם, they went to their tents, שמחים וטובי לב, um same'ach and So, this is where the Rambam got the phrase from, right? So, it's not the Rambam's coinage, right? The Rambam didn't uh But even so, that that that doesn't make a dent in our question. The Torah says vesamachta bechagecha, and the Rambam presents it as same'ach vetov lev. So, how do we how how do we understand that, rabbosai? The question's clear? So, how how how do we understand that? The Torah uses one word, vesamachta, and then the Rambam elaborates it same'ach vetov lev. In the pasuk is there another few more words after that like That that's atah uvincha vechulei, but it's, it's, it's, it, it continues, but not with, not to say tov lev. Maybe samei'ach is your your surroundings, and tov lev is you? Or, maybe samei'ach is sometimes used in a narrow sense, and sometimes in a broader sense. Right? New York City, New York State. So you can say New York and you can mean New York City, you can mean New York State. I don't know if any other any other states in the United States have that, that the same that that the name of the city and the name of the state is the same. And today, you say just the city, right? Okay. And here, when you say New York, can can refer to the city, New York can refer to the state. So it can have a narrower meaning. Kansas, Kansas City. But there too, they won't say, \"I live in Kansas City.\" If you live in Kansas City, you'd say, \"I live in Kansas City,\" right? But if you live in Manhattan, you'll say, \"I live in New York.\" If you live in Albany, \"I live in New York.\" In one case you're saying the city, one case you're saying the state. At any rate, so samei'ach apparently can be used in either of two ways. It can have a more narrow meaning, it can have a broader meaning. So the Rambam is telling you that the Torah is using it in which of those two? The broader one, and that's why the Rambam adds adds a second phrase. Now, according to what we have seen, so samei'ach, what do we know from Hilchos Dei'os? What does samei'ach mean in a narrow sense? Right. So apparently tov lev, it is ironic that the phrase tov lev is is something which is broadcast, which is discernible in behavior, but but samei'ach vetov lev is the Rambam's way of saying, don't misunderstand the the Torah's usage of samei'ach. Samei'ach the Torah is using in a broader sense. To make that clear, the Rambam uses it in a more narrow sense and adds tov lev. Did did we hear what I just said? Make sense? Okay, great. Fine. So let let's just summarize where we are until now, and then and then we have a a fundamentally important question to try to tackle. The Rambam in Hilchos Dei'os has two halachos. It's not a repetition, he has two halachos. One halacha governs, I'm I'm mentioning them in the opposite order that they appear in the Rambam. One halacha governs behavior, that's why that halacha speaks of being koretz veshorek. Koretz is is a description of behavior. And it talks about not being mit'abel as the other extreme, cuz that also refers to behavior, nihugei aveilus. And so, aveilus is something, and there are eleven practical expressions of, come, what's the, of aveilus. The Rambam has a second halacha in in Hilchos Dei'os, which isn't commenting on behavior, but commenting on a person's inner state. So that means that not only should a person act in a friendly, congenial way, but the person should genuinely be feeling and experiencing simcha, in that sense. Good. Those are the two halachos we saw. Here's the question today, here's the question we want to see. That the Rambam earlier in Hilchos Dei'os gives us lots of examples of applying the middle path, the middah beinonit. So for instance, the Rambam says when it comes to earning money, a person shouldn't be so disinterested in money that he's not looking to earn enough money to have proper living accommodations and be able to pay all his expenses and and live a dignified existence. On the other hand, he shouldn't be looking to amass wealth. He should be looking to earn a dignified livelihood to be able to cover his expenses. Fine, that's one example. The Rambam says when a person eats, a person shouldn't be an ascetic and deprive himself of proper nutrition. He shouldn't be a hedonist He should eat a nutritious, healthy diet so that he can function at maximum capacity. So we understand how we can be told to do that. Right? So so let me let let me look at the nutrition panel on on the box of cereals, in the event that I eat any of the box of cereals, who does that, but we'll look at the nutrition panel on on the various choices and I'll choose. I I won't I'm not going to skip breakfast. I'm not going to opt for something which isn't nutritious. I'll try to eat a good, nutritious, balanced diet. Again, how you do it, again how I would do it, I should eat. I shouldn't go into a field which is more demanding and will give me less time for learning and family and tzorkei tzibbur just because there's a big paycheck, if I don't need such a big paycheck. Again, how do you do it? I even get how we can be told to greet people with a smile, warmly. But when you're told, \"Be happy\", you have to be happy about something. Right? Happiness has content. You can smile, you know, you know, the song You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile, and and okay, so you can smile, you don't have to think, so there doesn't have to be any content to it. You can tell me what kind of diet I should eat, you can tell me how much money I should be aiming for, but if you tell me to be happy, you can't tell someone, \"Just be happy\", they have to be happy about something. So how how can we have this expectation to be happy? What does the Torah expect us to be happy about? Any other question? It's such a fundamental, such a profoundly important question. And and in this sense, and and and wait, okay, let's take a minute, think about it and then we'll we'll try to tackle this. Isn't being happy, can you be appreciative of like the fact that God created this universe? Like, I think that's pretty big thing to be happy about. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Closeness with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Closeness with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Okay, also, excellent. Can I ask the opposite question? How can the Torah, how can the Torah say that you shouldn't, that you're going to be bitter toward someone that did wrong, and like when someone hurts you and you have to warn him? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgot to do that source with you. Well, maybe we'll come back to that if we have time. I forgot to do that source with you. Thank you. I think like learning Torah and, like, loving God, can lead to happiness. Fine. So so let let's let's elaborate on these two answers. Take a look here on side two. You see that from the Rambam in Moreh Nevukhim? You see that heading Moreh Nevukhim on side two? So Moshe Rabbeinu, Parashat Ki Tisa, he actually makes two requests of Hashem. One is, \"Hareini na es\"—who's got Chumash Parashat Ki Tisa? No? Very good, Avi. Yeah, Avi also, okay, you have הראני נא את כבודך, and the other one is הודיעני נא את דרכך. And you see both of those phrases are bold here. הראני נא את כבודך, the Rambam says, is Moshe Rabbeinu wants to understand Hashem Himself. Hashem says that even what a person potentially can understand, he can only understand in olam haba, so I'm sorry, it's just impossible. I can't help you with that. הודיעני נא את דרכך is, \"I want to understand what You do in this world, Hashem.\" So Hashem tells him, again the next phrase is bold, אני אעביר כל טובי על פניך. How do How do those words translate literally? אני אעביר כל טובי על פניך, how do those words translate literally? Goodness? Good. That's Not \"I will\". A'avir is what root come from? Which Which of the binyanim, you know binyanim? Hif'il. It's hif'il, which means? To cause to pass. Not, not the tense. That the the tense is future, but which binyan? Right, and there's, it's kal, is nif'al, pi'el, pu'al, no? Hif'il. Right, so hif'il. English doesn't really do this. English is a English isn't a very sophisticated language. Sloppy language. But, but in in Lashon HaKodesh, Lashon HaKodesh is not the the halakha, thought only language that is. You take the same shoresh, and sometimes the shoresh can be used in, and it has a sense of active, sometimes it has a sense of passive, sometimes it has a sense of causative. So, what does what does it mean if I say, ani ochel? I'm eating. If you say something is ne'echal? Right, it's it's being consumed, right? It it it has been been eaten. Same shoresh, depending upon how you, how you construct it, has it either active or passive. And what does it mean leha'achil? To feed someone, right? If you're feeding a baby, you're not, hopefully you're not ochel et hatinok, and that would be bad, but you're being ma'achil et hatinok. Right, you're not eating the baby, you're you're feeding, you're you're feeding the baby. So ani a'avir is the hif'il, right? The the sign of the hif'il in the in the present and the future is the yud that gets inserted between the second and third letters of the shoresh. אני אעביר כל טובי על פניך. I will make, causative, I will make all my goodness pass, literally, before you. Right, al panecha, literally, on your face, but it means before you. But what in the world does that mean? Ani a'avir, Hashem says Moshe Rabbeinu says, hodi'eini na derachecha. Let me understand your ways in the world, Hashem. I'm not asking in this request to understand you. I want to understand your ways in the world. I want to understand what you, what what you do in in this world, in the in that you created. Hodi'eini na derachecha. So Hashem says, okay, אני אעביר כל טובי על פניך. What does that mean and how does it answer the question? So take a look here at the second paragraph under the heading, Rambam. So Rambam, kol tuvi, you see? Kol tuvi right here? Kol tuvi, right? You see the word tuvi? Go ahead. Kol tuvi, romez b'achar B'achor, good. באחור שייציג לפניו את כל הנמצאים She'aleihem ne'emar וירא אלקים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד. So this is an unbelievable Rambam al HaChumash. The Rambam on Chumash is unbelievable, nifla me'od. Rambam says, what does it mean אני אעביר כל טובי על פניך? What does kol tuvi mean? The entire beri'ah. I will let you understand the entire beri'ah, Moshe Rabbeinu. I'll let you understand everything, how everything interconnects, interrelates in the entire beri'ah. How does kol tuvi mean the beri'ah? Tov means goodness. How does the Rambam get from there that yatzig lefanav, I will present before you kol hanimtza'im, everything that exists? So the Rambam says When Hashem created the world, he said, vehinei tov me'od. Right, Hashem described the world as tov. And, and this is exactly what what the first answer was given is. Life per se is good. To be alive is is an ultimate blessing. In terms of, how can there be an expectation that a person leave a simcha because of life? Well, life, what a blessing. But there's to be more to that. Everything else is blessing on top of blessing. It's blessing, al gab ברכה על גבי ברכה. But again, we said, how can there be a halakha that assumes that a person will be same'ach? Doesn't simcha have to have content? So the first answer to that portion is, vehinei tov me'od. HaKadosh Baruch Hu said, life, existence, the world is good, exceedingly good, tov me'od. It starts with, cuz you're alive, not a specific thing that happened, you have a mitzvah to be same'ach So there is a mitzvah to be same'ach every day, that's what the Rambam holds, that's correct. So the, the, what's unique to shalosh regalim is, let's say let's say we have a, I don't know, a couple who are very happily married, right? So they're happy all the time. They're happy every day that that they that they that they work so well together, they compliment each other each other so well, and they appreciate each other, they respect each other, they love each other. So they're happy all the time, and they celebrate on their anniversary. Hilchot De'ot is all year round simcha, and shalosh regalim is celebratory simcha. Right? So okay, good. Okay, now, so that's answer number one to our question of, how can there be an expectation that we need a simcha? Simcha has to have content. You have to be happy about something. If you went to Harvard, you could be happy that I went to Harvard. Simcha always that there's content, there's tochen to simcha. So answer number one is, what's the tochen? What's the content of being same'ach? Not being, let's say, va'onein, not being ba'al sechok umehatel, but what's the content? The content is hinei tov me'od. Existence is is an ultimate, ultimate tov. Okay, let's look at a second answer. Who's reading the last source here, the Rambam in Hilchot Lulav? השמחה שישמח אדם בעשיית המצוה ובאהבת האל שצוה בהן The simcha that that a person should experience, right? In in in English, we don't use a noun and a verb from the same from from the same shoresh. But in lashon hakodesh you do, right? In lashon hakodesh you could say he ate achilah, הוא אכל אכילה מועטת. We can say הוא אכל אכילה גסה. In English, you don't say he ate a big eating or he ate a little eating, it's not it's not English. So in English also you would say the the simcha that a person experiences, but lashon hakodesh you say hasimcha sheyismach. In English grammar that's called an internal accusative, and that's on the way. Okay. Okay, back to So השמחה שישמח אדם בעשיית המצוה, the the the simcha that a person should experience when he does a mitzvah, mitzvot, ובאהבת האל שצוה בהן היא עבודה גדולה is a very great avodah. vechol וכל המונע עצמו משמחה זו ראוי ליפרע ממנו who holds himself back, right? Who restrains himself, right? Anyone who restrains himself from from this simcha, he is he's deserving of what? To get payback? Yeah, in the sense of punishment, right? Payback can sometimes mean punishment, right? He's getting his payback, right? So here it's exactly that sense here, punishment. He's he's he's deserving if if he if he consciously, intentionally restrains himself that he shouldn't experience or or express that simcha, so he's deserving of punishment, says the Rambam. How do I know that? Shene'emar, תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלהיך Oh, wait, so we should have gone here and not the pasuk on the bottom, sorry about that. בשמחה ובטוב לבב מרב כל Ha, so you see that that the Torah says not just that it's not that you didn't עבדת את ה' אלהיך, maybe you did, but you did so begrudgingly, you did so unhappily, you did so resentfully. No, you have to do it be-simcha uve-tuv levav. Okay, so now let's apply, that's that's let's reflect, let's associate this Rambam, again, with our question. The Rambam has two halachot. One is a halacha of behavior: greet people happily, greet people warmly. Then there's another halacha: greet people with an inner sense of simcha. Be be-simcha. Now same'ach, be the simcha. We said simcha has to have tochen, has to have content. You can't just tell someone be happy. You can tell him dance, and he picks up his legs and then he dances. But to tell someone be happy, you have to provide content for the simcha. What is it that we're supposed to reflect upon that gives us simcha? So the first answer was we're alive. We're alive, hinei tov me'od, what an ultimate beracha. What's the second answer? We're not only alive, we... we're Jews. Right? So not only are we alive, which is an ultimate beracha, but then, it's not only that, we're Jews, we have the Torah, a שמחה שישמח אדם בעשייתן ובאהבת האל שצוה בהן. Those are the two perspectives that a person is supposed to reflect on on those two things: the gift of life and the gift of Torah, of being of being a part of of the of Hashem's am hanivchar, Hashem's chosen people, and that, that generates simcha. And that's how there can be a halacha that that that tells us to to be b'simcha. Okay, we'll stop here for today.