Perek Gimmel, Halakha Daled. אף על פי שתקיעת שופר בראש השנה גזירת הכתוב רמז יש בו כלומר עורו עורו ישנים משנתכם והקיצו נרדמים מתרדמתכם וחפשו במעשיכם וחזרו בתשובה וזכרו בוראכם אלו השוכחים את האמת בהבלי הזמן ושוגים כל שנתם בהבל וריק אשר לא יועיל ולא יציל הביטו לנפשותיכם והיטיבו דרכיכם ומעלליכם ויעזוב כל אחד מכם דרכו הרעה ומחשבתו אשר לא טובה.
So as we discussed last week, the last line in the Rambam is modeled, is patterned on the posuk from the haftarah as יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו. But what's very noteworthy is the Rambam, are the adjectives, darko hara'ah and מחשבתו אשר לא טובה. The Rambam's condemnation of machshavah is a milder one, it's a more mild loshon to say lo tovah than ra'ah. The Rambam could have easily said יעזוב כל אחד מכם דרכו ומחשבתו הרעה or maybe hara'os, maybe it would have been plural. But he very conspicuously it's darko hara'ah and מחשבתו אשר לא טובה. So maybe the pshat is as follows: The Gemara in Sukkah says that le'atid lavo, HaKadosh Baruch Hu will shecht the Yetzer Hara, and it will appear to resha'im as a chut hasa'arah, and it will appear to tzaddikim as a as a as a towering mountain. So we would have thought just the opposite. The tzaddikim who were nisgaber on the Yetzer Hara, so it wasn't such an overwhelming force. And resha'im who didn't succeed in being nisgaber on the Yetzer Hara, so for them it was a mountain that couldn't be scaled. And yet the Gemara says exactly the opposite, that for the resha'im it appears as a chut hasa'arah and that for tzaddikim it appears as a as a as a mighty mountain. So I don't remember who says, someone suggests that the pshat in the Gemara is as follows: That when resha'im encounter a Yetzer Hara, so they tell themselves it's not such a big deal. It's not, it's not so significant. And if I'll accommodate the Yetzer Hara on this, it's not such a big deal. Not such a big deal. And tzaddikim appreciate the implications, the repercussions, the fallout from a one-time succumbing to the Yetzer Hara. The reason tzaddikim are nisgaber on the Yetzer Hara is because they view it, they perceive it as a as a mighty mountain. And the reason resha'im succumb and they're nikshal is because they think it's only, it's only a chut hasa'arah. Perhaps what the Rambam is suggesting is this: Often the machshavah which precedes the derech is only a machshavah lo tovah. Maybe I'm going to take out my phone now. I don't really need to check my my emails now, but I'm going to do it anyway. And I'll take out my phone for five minutes. I could be doing something more constructive, more productive in these five minutes. Okay, but most of us don't live with a Vilna Gaon's sense of yakrus hazman, so what's that machshavah? It's a machshava lo tovah. I don't know if it's a machshava ra. It's a machshava lo tovah. But what happens? An hour later, I'm still this. So the machshava again, if one were to isolate it and contain it, ein hachi nami, the machshava sometimes is only lo tovah. But the Rambam purposely inverts the order and says that one's perspective on the machshava lo tovah should be in light of the derech ra-ah that ensues, that follows. And that's only obviously just one illustration. That can be, let's say a person is late and he's rushing. So maybe he's rushing to try to make the yellow light or maybe he's running to catch a bus or whatever. So he has a sense that it's not such a prudent thing to do. When you rush through an intersection, it's not such a prudent thing to do. Even when you're running with abandon to catch a bus, it's not such a prudent thing to do. Okay, but one exception. So what happens? A person gets into an accident. The resulting derech is the result is a derech ra-ah. But one has to view the machshava which precedes it, hagam that, isolated and contained, it would be correctly described as a machshava lo tovah, but that's often the dynamic. That's often the progression that it's a machshava lo tovah which triggers derech ra-ah.