Transcript

As discussed last week

ביום עשות ה' אלוקים ארץ ושמים שאין העולם מתקיים במידת הדין

and Hakadosh Baruch Hu was m'shatef midas harachamim with midas hadin. That the very existence of the world owes to midas harachamim and the pasuk olam chesed yibaneh that the world is is built on a foundation of chesed. We suggested that with this in mind just how incredibly m'duyakim divrei Chazal in the Gemara in Avodah Zarah of כל מי שכל האומר שאין לו אלא תורה clearly in context from the Gemara that it means to the exclusion of chesed is דומה כמי שאין לו אלוה. Hakadosh Baruch Hu's world is a world of chesed. If a person lives in a world where there's no chesed in that world there's no Ribbono Shel Olam. Ribbono Shel Olam's world is a world of chesed. If I construct for myself a world without chesed the Ribbono Shel Olam there's no place for the Ribbono Shel Olam in that world. The emes is that the Chofetz Chaim says this svara not not in relation to that maimar Chazal but he quotes here in Ahavas Chesed, chelek beis, perek shevii, Chofetz Chaim quotes a Midrash from Koheles Rabbah כל הכופר בגמילות חסדים כאילו כופר בעיקר, Chazal say כל הכופר בגמילות חסדים כאילו כופר בעיקר. Says the Chofetz Chaim what's the pshat?

לפי שהשם יתברך הוא מקור הטוב והחסד וכל הבריאה שברא הוא כדי שיזכו הברואים ויוכלו לבסוף להיטיב ולהתחסד עמהם ועל זה היה כל נתינת התורה וציוויה וכמו דכתיב ויצונו ה' לעשות את כל החוקים האלה לטוב לנו כל הימים על כן זה שכופר בכל עניינו של מידת החסד ואומר מה לי ולחסד חשבוהו כאילו כופר בעיקר חס ושלום.

The fundamentally same idea that that we were developing last week. We also spoke last week about another another insight of the Chofetz Chaim here from Ahavas Chesed at the end of the psichah where he quotes three of the psukim where the mitzvah of v'halachta bidrachav is mentioned: once prior to yira, once after yira before ahava, once after ahava before dveikus. That at each stage as a person attempts to to grow to attain yira, to attain ahava, to attain dveikus the Torah emphasizes how it's only possible with v'halachta bidrachav and as we'll discuss shortly im yirtzeh Hashem the primary manifestation of v'halachta bidrachav is in the area of chesed. So last week we said that על פי דברי החפץ חיים but perhaps a little bit different the pshat is that as a person wants to progress from midas hayira to midas haahava, halevai we should be holding by by that, from midas haahava to midas hadveikus it's not not only the pshat that he has to have a continued ongoing involvement with v'halachta bidrachav but that involvement with v'halachta bidrachav and again kosuv v'halachta bidrachav קרי כאן בעיקר מידת החסד as as we'll review shortly im yirtzeh Hashem but that a person has to has to upgrade the v'halachta bidrachav. A person has to has to upgrade the v'halachta bidrachav. A person has to... A person has to be mehadair, a person has to be ma'amik in the middas hachesed, in the v'halachta bidrachav in order to achieve this progress, in order to make these breakthroughs. The emes is that at least half of this the Chofetz Chaim himself says here. Because the Chofetz Chaim has another diyuk here that besides the placement of v'halachta bidrachav in the different psukim: ושמרת את מצות ה' אלקיך ללכת בדרכיו וליראה אתו, pasuk number one;

ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלקיך שאל מעמך כי אם ליראה את ה' אלקיך ללכת בכל דרכיו ולאהבה אתו,

pasuk number two;

כי אם שמור תשמרון את כל המצוה הזאת וגומר לאהבה את ה' אלקיך ללכת בכל דרכיו ולדבקה בו.

So the Chofetz Chaim is medayek that in the second and third psukim the Torah speaks of v'halachta bechol drachav, laleches bechol drachav. In the first pasuk the Torah talks about laleches bidrachav without the kol. And that's exactly what we were talking about last week, that again that it's not only the need for an ongoing, continuous involvement in the v'halachta bidrachav, but a deeper and more complete involvement in the v'halachta bidrachav. The initial involvement is laleches bidrachav and then subsequently laleches bechol drachav. Now we mentioned that v'halachta bidrachav translates primarily in the area of chesed. You see that in Chazal, the Gemara in Sotah:

אמר רבי חמא מאי דכתיב אחרי ה' אלקיכם תלכו וכי אפשר לו לאדם להלך אחר שכינה והלא כבר נאמר כי ה' אלקיך אש אוכלה הוא אל קנא אלא הלך אחר מדותיו מה הוא מלביש ערומים דכתיב ויעש ה' אלקים כתנות עור וילבישם אף אתה הלבש ערומים הקדוש ברוך הוא מבקר חולים דכתיב וירא אליו ה' אף אתה בקר חולים הקדוש ברוך הוא קובר מתים דכתיב ויקבר אתו בגי אף אתה קבור מתים הקדוש ברוך הוא מנחם אבלים דכתיב ויהי אחרי מות אברהם ויברך אלקים את יצחק בנו אף אתה מנחם אבלים.

So all the illustrations, all illustrations from v'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha, all illustrations from middas hachesed. The Gemara in Shabbos on zeh Keli v'anveihu, ani v'Hu, there too the two illustrations the Gemara gives is מה הוא רחום וחנון אף אתה היה רחום וחנון. So the primary application or implementation of the v'halachta bidrachav is through middas hachesed. Maharal here in Nesiv Gemilus Chasadim clearly he cites the Gemara in Sotah, clearly responding to it, says the following:

ועוד יש לך לדעת אף על פי שהאדם עושה משפט אמת ויושר אין המשפט הוא מדת האדם כי אי אפשר שלא יהיה אדם משקר במשפט בשגגה ולפיכך אין מדת המשפט מדת האדם ולכך אין לומר במדת המשפט שהאדם הולך אחר הקדוש ברוך הוא רק כאשר הוא בעל חסד ועושה חסד שלא במשפט והאדם מדה זאת אפשר לו לעשות והיא שייכת לו ולפיכך במדה זאת שהיא מיוחדת לאדם יאמר בזה שהולך אחר הקדוש ברוך הוא והמדה זאת מתיחסת אל השם יתברך עצמו גם כן.

Maharal says something amazing. He says without obviously without diminishing an iota even for a moment the importance of cultivating middas. middas ha'emes, חותמו של הקדוש ברוך הוא אמת, but at the end of the day, at the end of the day, a person cannot, does not have the yecholes, the Maharal says, to appropriate middas ha'emes to the same degree that he can appropriate middas hachesed. After all, how come Chazal don't mention that מהו אמת אף אתה היה אמת, the same מידות הקדוש ברוך הוא? So says the Maharal, because at the end of the day, again, without again diminishing for an iota the chiyuv to be as emesdig as we can, but at the end of the day through middas hachesed we have the capacity lehidamos to Elov to a degree that doesn't exist through middas ha'emes. Why is that? So there are lichora different explanations. The Maharal is mashma that basically middas ha'emes, middas hamishpat, basically requires omniscience, never to make a mistake. A mistake is already a pegam in middas ha'emes. How is it possible never to make a mistake? Yitachen, he doesn't say it here, but yitachen, you know there is a famous Midrash that the Rav quotes his father talking about the Midrash, that when Hakadosh Baruch Hu came to create Odom, so He convened a conference of malochim, a conference of malochim, a conference of different middos to solicit opinions to create Odom Rishon, not to create Odom Rishon. So Emes said אל יברא שכולו דובב שקרים, and Chesed omer יברא שכולו גומל חסדים. It's a Midrash which lichora should be juxtaposed to this he'ora of the Maharal in the Gemara in Sotah, again by extension in the Gemara in Shabbos. The shleimus which is afforded, which is attained through hidamus l'Hashem, again, without for a moment neglecting the avoda on middas ha'emes, but the shleimus, again, which is attained through hidamus l'Hashem is through that teva ha'odom of kulo gomel chasadim. Yitachen, there's yet a third reason. Whether it's sort of the omniscience which is almost a prerequisite for perfecting middas ha'emes, whether it's the teva of Odom of kulo gomel chasadim but simultaneously kulo doveiv shekorim. Yitachen also another angle on it. The Rambam in the beginning of the Yad quoting the posuk, where is it from, Sefer Yirmiyahu, is it? From which we get the juxtaposition that we create at the end of Krias Shema of Hashem Elokeichem, Hashem Elokim, Hashem Elokim Emes. So according to the Rambam, the posuk should be punctuated, the Nefesh Hachayim says the posuk should be punctuated and understood as Hashem Elokim Emes, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the only real ba'al koach, elokim representing ba'al hakochos, so only Hakadosh Baruch Hu is ba'al koach, everything else again feeds off of Hakadosh Baruch Hu and all His capital H kochos. So Hashem, according to the Nefesh Hachayim, Elokim Emes. The Rambam says the punctuation should be Hashem Elokim Emes. Midas ha'emes again on an ultimate level is also beyond, beyond us. השם אלוקים הוא לבדו אמת. What's true is if I say it's nighttime now, that's true because it is, it is night. What's true is Ein od milvado. So Hashem Elokim Emes. So for whichever of these reasons or more reasons, lemaiseh, v'halachta bidrachav manifests itself, plays out in the realm of chessed. And it's the v'halachta bidrachav which is the t'nai kodem l'maiseh, the sine qua non says the Chofetz Chaim for yiras Hashem, for ahavas Hashem, ultimately for dveikus b'Hashem. Gemara in Bava Basra in the sugyas of tzedakah has the following incident: רבי פתח אוצרות בשני בצורות. There was a famine and Rebbe, I don't know if it was his own resources, Rebbe was wealthy. So he opened up the reserves, the storehouses. Amar and he with the following stipulation:

יכנסו בעלי מקרא בעלי משנה בעלי גמרא בעלי הלכה בעלי הגדה אבל עמי הארץ אל יכנסו. רבי יונתן בן עמרם

who clearly qualified but incognito v'nichnas. Amar lo: Rebbe, parneseini. So Rebbe says to him, amar lo, bni karisa? Amar lo: lav. Shanisa? Amar lei: lav. And although I would've expected the questions in the opposite order, but anyway not our inyan now. So Rebbe says to him, אם כן במה אפרנסך? So amar lei: parneseini k'kelev u'ch'orev. And Rebbe takka responds to that. So what was the masa umattan here between Rebbe Yonasan and Rebbe? The meforshim all say that Rebbe l'chatchila really holds from this as well but b'shnei batzores where there simply wasn't enough to go around, so then Rebbe was prioritizing, there was triage. And in the triage he set down these rules. But it's not that Rebbe... because then the Gemara says Rebbe had charata afterwards until he found out that this was just Rebbe Yonasan who was coming incognito because he didn't want to be ne'neh mi'kvod Torah. So l'chora the p'shat, the idea is true even if it will come up with kashas as p'shat in this Gemara is that there are two distinct mechaivim when we talk about chessed here, chessed in the form of tzedakah, but when we talk about chessed there are two distinct mechaivim. One is the worthiness of the recipient, the worthiness of the beneficiary. Nothing is machshiv a person, nothing validates a person as doing a chessed for that person. When you do a chessed for someone, there's an implicit statement, there's an implicit statement. ment that that person is worthy of your thought, of your thoughtfulness, of your time. If it's גמילות חסדים שבממונו as well, of your largesse. A chesed is machshav a person. Again, obviously it has to be done the right way, but done the right way, and a chesed is machshav a person in a way that can't necessarily be accomplished otherwise. The antithesis of chesed, the antithesis of the Ribbono shel Olam's world of Olam Chesed Yibaneh is to use people, to feel entitled. Sometimes, sometimes we go to, go to a simcha, a wedding. So there are waiters. So the waiters come, they bring every, every course, and they, and they refill the water, and they refill the soda on the table. And sometimes we just take it for granted. Well, they after all, they are getting paid four dollars an hour for the zechus of bringing me my, my chicken and my soup and, so in addition to that, to the money and the zechus they have, I don't have to be matriach myself necessarily to say thank you. So, so there's a sense, a sense of entitlement. Olam nivra bishvili doesn't mean that, that people were, were created for me. Olam nivra bishvili means, the, the, the apple tree and the orange tree and the, and the tvuah and, and the kitniyos and, and the Klein's ice cream and, and everything else. But, but it doesn't mean, it doesn't mean all the people were nivra, l'maicha taisi, they were nivra l'shamshayni, and I was nivra l'shamesh that. I don't know, maybe if a person is such a yerei elokim that the Gemara in Berachos talks about, that כל העולם כולו נברא בשבילי, so then yesh l'adon. With such a person, such a gevaldig onav that presumably he's not, he's not going to go like that. Someone, someone does something for us, a person has to acknowledge it. Otherwise, otherwise it just means taking, you take a person for granted, so then he's just an instrument, he's just a means. Chesed is to be machshav a person. The act of chesed is to be machshav a person. Sometimes, sometimes, sometimes people want an eitzah, want to, want to talk something through. Different, different people. Sometimes they go to their rebbe. Talmidim kruyim banim, it's, it's certainly, certainly appropriate. And, as should be the case, one spends time doing one's best to give an eitzah hogenis. Depending upon what stage of life, sometimes it can have to do with shidduchim. Yes, no, maybe. Then, then, then you meet a month later, two months later, you meet him on the street and, oh Rebbe, you want a piece of cake? Mai hai? Oh yeah, it's from my from my vort last night. Yeah, so would you like, I have an extra piece of cake. And vehalachta bidrachav, which is a basis for yirah, basis for ahavah, basis for for dveikus, doesn't allow for someone being there when I need them and otherwise not really existing, not really being on the radar screen. It's the it's the antithesis of of middas hachessed. I know someone, a very big talmid chacham. If he happens to bump into a talmid before Yom Nora and the talmid decides then to chapper arein and wish a gut yom, so he tells him no, you want to wish a gut yom, so you have to come. It can't be that that we happen to bump into in the hallway, oh, oh, I know that guy, I was in his shiur for six years, you know, maybe I should maybe I should sholom aleichem and wish a gut yom. Now there has to be bein adam l'chaveiro. The essence of bein adam l'chaveiro is is to be machshiv another person, to be machshiv another person. These types of behaviors are the antithesis, antithesis of middas hachessed. So that's one mechayev lichora. And that's what Rebbe was saying. Let let the baalei mikra, the baalei mishna, the baalei halacha, the baalei aggadah, whom we takeh have to be machshiv. We have to be machshiv because to varying degrees they realize and actualize the tzelem elokim, banim atem l'makom. Right? Chazal say in the extreme case a person is shofech domim is מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו ממעט הדמות. Mema'et hadmus, there's one less person, there's less dmus elokim in the world. So that's the ultimate pgiah in the dmus, but any any lack of being machshiv is also a pgiah and any act of being machshiv is is recognizing and according the chashivos which is deserving. So Yonason ben Amram, again, who שלא רצה ליהנות מכבוד תורה, so he says parneseini k'chelev v'k'oreiv. The second mechayev in terms of chessed is bein adam l'atzmo, one's own midos. Not just the the worthiness of the beneficiary, but one's own midos is also a mechayev in in chessed. The emes is, emes is, it's shnayim she'heim echad. Because not only is the second mechayev of of cultivating the midah of of being rachum v'chanun, not only is that rooted in vehalachta bidrachav, but to be machshiv a person, to be machshiv a fellow Jew, is also vehalachta bidrachav. Shnayim she'heim echad. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is is machshiv us. It's also vehalachta bidrachav. Kol hanikra bishmi ein hachi nami לכבודי בראתיו יצרתיו אף עשיתיו, says the navi. Well, lichora the pshat in that is that there is a chashivos to whom he creates. who the audience of seeing kvod shomayim is. The tachlis of the world is kvod shomayim, but who is it who's supposed to appreciate kvod shomayim? So וכל הנקרא בשמי לכבודי בראתיו is not to the exclusion of the chashivos of a person or of a Jew. So lechora these two mechayvim of chesed, mechayev again, to validate someone, to be machshiv someone, the mechayev of one's own middos, of developing and perfecting one's own middos, that emes is shnayim shehem echad. The same way the developing and perfecting one's own middos is a v'halachta bidrachov, so too is being machshiv also a v'halachta bidrachov. Reiterating what we said last week and bli neder we'll try to talk practically, concretely about this, probably next week. We need to spend time to think, to know how to implement this. So what does it mean l'maise? What does it mean l'maise to improve in middas hachesed, to be mehader and maamik in middas hachesed? It requires hisbonenus and the hisbonenus which is difficult to exaggerate the importance and bli neder we'll pick up from here.