Good morning Proverbs Gimel, Perek Gimel, Pasuk Gimel. חסד ואמת אל יעזבוך קשרם על גרגרותיך כתבם על לוח לבך.
Chesed and emes. Chesed is defined as something a person is not obligated to give his friend. וזהו הנתינה בתורת חסד. A benefaction that there's no context, there's no indebtedness on any level. A person is just, it's purely an act of generosity. וזהו הנתינה בתורת חסד. By contrast, ואמת הוא המשלם גמול לחבירו מפני שעשה לו כן. Emes is when a person repays a kindness. Al ya'azvucha. What does it mean that they shouldn't leave you? תראה שתמיד יהיו עמך. See to it that you constantly practice both of these, chesed and emes. ומה שכתוב מתחילה חסד ואחר כך אמת. What does that mean? It would seem to be a kal vachomer, right? If you're practicing chesed, you've certainly got to practice emes. If you give benefactions, you're certainly going to reciprocate. כיון שעושה חסד עם הבריות שאינו מחויב להם איך אפשר שלא ישלם גמול למי שעשה לו טוב? וכן בהקדוש ברוך הוא
written in the י"ג מידות הרחמים, verav chesed ve'emes. Vehaynu, so what's the answer? The Gaon says as follows. חסד הוא גדול באיכות. It's true that qualitatively chesed is greater than emes. Again, in the sense that chesed is a pure act of generosity. Aval lo bekamus. But quantitatively, the emes surpasses the chesed. How so? כי הנותן בתורת חסד לא יתן הרבה אבל הגמול הוא לפי החיוב.
So a person who's giving a pure act of generosity, he'll give, but the amounts are going to be limited. Mashe'ein kein emes will rise to the level of whatever I feel my indebtedness is. וזה שנאמר חסד ואמת אל יעזבוך שתתן אפילו למי שלא עשה לך טוב עדיין בתורת חסד וגם המתנה מרובה.
Even more than that, you should give even in greater amounts וגם המתנה מרובה שהוא באמת. ולכן כתיב בהקדוש ברוך הוא ורב חסד. כלומר מה שהוא נותן בתורת חסד הוא גם כן רב.
That's the pshat in י"ג מידות הרחמים that it emphasizes rav chesed, meaning that chesed min hastam, the assumption is limited, is a davar mu'at. משל למה הדבר דומה. There's a halacha in hilchos tzedaka that if you have an עני המחזיר על הפתחים, an oni who's collecting from many people, so then the chiyuv is only to give him a matana mu'etet. There is no chiyuv to empty out one's wallet. Chiyuv just to give a matana mu'etet. By Hakadosh Baruch Hu, even the chesed that He bestows is rav chesed. כלומר הרבה ואחר כך משלם גמול ידי האדם והיינו עוד יותר.
Kavyachol, then Hakadosh Baruch Hu acts as though when we do mitzvos, as though that creates an indebtedness for Him and that's the bechina of emes. כי אם חסד כן, if chesed is rav, על כרחו באמת יותר. So then emes will exceed even that. ולכן בתחילה אמר רב חסד ואחר כך ואמת. וזהו בין אדם לחבירו,
meaning so far, the Gaon has explained to us what it means חסד ואמת אל יעזבוך in context of our bein adam lachavero interactions. But there is also a notion of chesed and emes וכן בין אדם למקום. Bein adam lamakom, there's also a notion, also these two aspects of chesed and emes. חסד הוא ללמד לאחרים ואמת ללמוד בעצמו. Kemo she'amru Chazal, we actually had occasion to mention this Gemara not too long ago. Vesoras chesed. וכי יש תורה של חסד ויש תורה שאינה של חסד?
There's only one Torah. Ella lelamda, if a person learns Torah to teach, זו היא תורה של חסד. Shelo lelamda, זו היא תורה שאינה של חסד. If the question is how to understand these next couple of lines in the Gaon. The Gaon writes like this: כי מה שהאדם לומד בעצמו הוא מחויב. That's not Toras chesed. When a person learns, keeps his Torah, that's not Toras chesed. כי לכך בא לעולם, כמו שאמרו אם למדת תורה הרבה אל תחזיק טובה לעצמך כי לכך נוצרת.
If a person is, especially if a person was given an advance on his pay, and then he puts in an honest day's work, that's not chesed, that's emes. The Ribbono Shel Olam created us, that's an advance. We had no entitlement to be created, so the very fact that we're alive, that we exist is already an advance. Hakadosh Baruch Hu has as it were advanced our pay. Ki lach nozarta, a person was created that he should learn Torah. So that's a bechina of emes. Aval lelamed is chesed. So the question is what does the Gaon mean when the Gaon says, כי מה שהאדם לומד בעצמו הוא מחויב? Does the Gaon mean that there's no chiyuv to teach Torah? There's only a chiyuv to teach one's sons, there's no chiyuv of ושיננתם לבניך אלו התלמידים? So I don't know, itachen that the way we should understand the Gaon here is that let's say when we talk about doing a chesed. Ich veis, a person helps an ani, whatever, however the chesed expresses itself lav davka an ani. So on the one hand we would characterize that as a chesed, but me'idach gisa a person's mechuyav to do chesed. Right? So the fact that it's a chesed doesn't mean that there's not a chiyuv. So itachen when the Gaon says כי מה שהאדם לומד בעצמו הוא מחויב, meaning he's mechuyav not betoras chesed. He's just mechuyav betoras Ki lach nozarta. Mah she'ein kein teaching Torah to acherim, that he's taki mechuyav in it. It's part of the mitzvah of Veshinantam levaneca. It's part of the mitzvah of Veshinantam levaneca, that's certainly the way the Rambam presents it at the beginning of Hilchos Talmud Torah. Ela mai, it's a chiyuv betoras chesed. It's a chiyuv that a person has to be noheg within mitzvas Talmud Torah, he has to be noheg chesed. Continuing here: ואלו שני הדברים דהיינו חסד ואמת. Again, these two aspects, they exist bein adam lachaveiro, bein adam lamakom as just now presented. Al ya'azvucha. What does it mean Al ya'azvucha? כלומר שיהיו תמיד בידך שתעשה. Vezehu bema'aseh. So you should actively be constantly involved both in chesed and in emes. Again, chesed and emes in terms of how they translate bein adam lachaveiro, chesed and emes in terms of how they translate bein adam lamakom. Koshrem al gargerosecha, so the gargeres is the windpipe and by extension it's used to mean the throat. So Koshrem al gargerosecha literally would mean to wear what do they call a tight-fitting necklace, a choker, right? That's I think literally the imagery here. Koshrem al gargerosecha הוא בדיבור שיהיו בפיך תמיד. כתבם על לוח לבך במחשבה.
Right? The Rambam tells us the lev, its meaning, its primary meaning perhaps is heart, but very very often lev also connotes machshava or da'as or moach. And that's how the Gaon says here as well: כתבם על לוח לבך במחשבה והיינו שיהיו בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו.
Bemachshava uvidibbur uvema'aseh. So on the one hand the Gaon says that chesed and emes Al ya'azvucha is that we're talking about chesed and emes in two different realms, in the realm of bein adam lachaveiro and also in the realm of bein adam lamakom and in the realm of bein adam lamakom it means... It means talmud Torah. The question is when he says, when he interprets the the the last two phrases in the pasuk קשרם על גרגרותיך כתבם על לוח לבך as referring to dibbur and ma'aseh, so nicha certainly that's applicable to the chesed ve'emes of Torah. Meaning Torah is something that that a person that that a person can be preoccupied with bemachshavah, can be speaking about all the time. Is does does it also does do the second and third phrases in the pasuk also qualify and relate to the chiyuv of chesed ve'emes in bein adam l'chaveiro? Is it also does it also mean that be'ofen tamid a person is always supposed to be talking, thinking about that? I don't know, the pasuk that the Gaon alludes to here, bephicha uvilvavcha la'asoso, according to many Rishonim, the context of that pasuk is talmud Torah. כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד, right, lo bashamayim hi, לא מעבר לים היא, but rather כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד bephicha uvilvavcha la'asoso. So according to some Rishonim, famously according to the Ramban, it's referring to teshuvah, but according to other Rishonim, it's referring to talmud Torah. So it's it's itachen the constant preoccupation bemachshavah, bedibbur, that that the stress is more on on Torah. Okay, we'll we'll stop here for now, bli neder b'ezrat Hashem, we'll we'll meet in the tent at around 12:30. Okay, rabosai, have a very good morning, productive morning, be well, be safe.