Mesillas Yesharim. הנה הנה מה שצריך לאדם she'medakdek v'shokel drachav yom b'yomo that a person on a daily basis should scrutinize and weigh his habits, his actions, kasochrim hagdolim אשר יפלסו תמיד כל עסקיהם למען לא יתקלקלו, the way big merchants with significant business dealings and interests are constantly taking inventory and looking at how the business is doing. Then he says that חכמינו זכרונם לברכה הורונו בפירוש תוך החשבון הזה. They've instructed us with regard to the need for such a cheshbon hanefesh, והוא מה שאמרו זכרונם לברכה על כן יאמרו המשלים באו חשבון. על כן יאמרו המשלים ביצרם,
those who have gained the upper hand and who rule over their yeitzer, the yeitzer doesn't rule over them but they rule over their yeitzer, so they tell us באו נחשב חשבונו של עולם. Ramchal comments on this ma'amar chazal: כי העצה האמיתית הזאת לא יוכלו לעשותה ולא לראות אמתתה אלא אותם שכבר יצאו מתחת יד יצרם ומשלו בו.
The only ones who are able to recognize this, the need for this approach, are those שכבר יצאו מתחת יד יצרם ומשלו בו, those who have escaped the heavy hand of the yeitzer, and on the contrary they rule over it. כי מי שהוא עדיין חבוש במאסר יצרו, someone who is still imprisoned in the jail of his yeitzer hara, אין עיניו רואות האמת הזאת ואינו יכול להכירה כי היצר מסמא את עיניו ממש,
because the yeitzer hara is blinding. He repeats it again later towards the end of the perek after giving his famous analogy to a maze: how within the maze a person without having that aerial view it's extremely difficult to figure out which path to follow to ever successfully emerge from the maze, but someone who's already navigated the way can show others how to successfully maneuver within the maze. כן הדבר הזה כי מי שעדיין לא משל ביצרו הוא בתוך השבילים.
A person who has yet to be moshal b'yitzro, he's still wandering around within those dead-end paths of the maze, לא יוכל להבחין ביניהם, and he's not in a position to discern between them. So there's an interesting tension or balance here within Ramchal that on the one hand Ramchal says that a person who's still b'ma'asar hayeitzer, still fettered by the bonds and the bondage of the yeitzer, is blinded and doesn't recognize the need for cheshbon hanefesh. And yet if that person will defer to the chachamim who tell him to engage in the cheshbon hanefesh, he can be successful at the cheshbon hanefesh. So the blinding of the yeitzer hara, the force that it exerts, is such that on his own the person will not recognize that need for the self-introspection and reflection. But if he'll defer to hamoshlim b'yeitzer and engage in that cheshbon hanefesh, engage in that introspection and reflection, he will be able to be makir emes. Maybe just to understand on a very simple elementary level with a mashal. It's known that Rav Soloveitchik... commented that when a shayla comes to him, so before he thinks of the relevant rayas from Gemara, from Shulchan Aruch, he intuites what the answer is, that he intuites whether it's mutar or assur. Now it's clear that that approach to the psak halacha is only can only be exercised by someone who's so immersed in Torah and whose grasp of the breadth and depth of Torah is such that it's molded his way of thinking, it's molded his intuitions, so that his intuitions, his feelings, his impulses are Torah-dikke intuitions, Torah-dikke feelings, Torah-dikke impulses. Someone who doesn't belong to that very elite group when he's confronted with a shayla, he's not going to intuit the answer, he's going to first have to try to bring to mind the relevant Gemaras, the relevant tshuvos, the relevant seifim in Shulchan Aruch, the relevant Rambams, and then through that industrious analysis, he's going to figure out whether it's mutar or assur. So what that elite sar hatorah can intuit, others will arrive at through reflection. And lichora that's a moshal for what Ramchal is telling us. A person who's bemassa hayetzer doesn't intuit successfully enough of the time what's right, what's wrong. He doesn't even recognize necessarily that inadequacy. But if, if he will engage again, if he won't rely just on an intuitive approach to life, but instead he'll engage in that cheshbon hanefesh, so then he can and will, be'ezras Hashem, recognize the truth and and know what he should do, what he shouldn't do. Kumt ois is that for Ramchal, and again obviously all the eitzas and hadrachas in Mesillas Yesharim Ramchal is talking al derech harov, there definitely can and are individuals for whom this isn't the mahalach. But kumt ois according to the hadracha that Ramchal is providing, that this cheshbon, the role of cheshbon hanefesh is not stam one tachbulah amongst other tachbulas, it's not stam a strategy, another strategy in avodas Hashem, but is something which is really, really vital and essential because basically what Ramchal is telling us is that when a person is holding on these beginning rungs of the ladder, alevai that we're there, he can't simply trust his intuition and just live intuitively. He's only going to be able to see emes through introspection, through reflection. And that's why the cheshbon hanefesh that Ramchal describes is a very deep one, יקבע עתים ושעות לזה שלא יהיה משקלו עראי אלא בקביעות גדול.
It's not some kind of very quick survey, beskira achas, that a person is able to recognize and discern because the whole need for the cheshbon hanefesh is the fact that at this stage a person can't and therefore shouldn't be relying just on. on his visceral reactions all the time, his intuition; they're not sufficiently elevated, sanctified, Torah-dik to be able to be living that way. It requires the reflection, the hisbonenus, the introspection. Similar to the Rav's comment about how he would often approach a shaila, so I think it's beshem Reb Velvel that they say, not sure, Rashi says in Parshas Tetzaveh about the ephod that he doesn't have a tradition on what the ephod looked like, but he says, libi omer li. Which basically means my intuition is that this is what the ephod looks like, and he goes on to describe it. So I think they say beshem Reb Velvel, voss heist libi omer li? לא תסורו אחרי לבבכם. So he says someone who's mkayem כתבם על לוח לבך, so such a person can then follow what libi omer li. The point lechora is the same as the Rav was expressing when he said that he intuits the answer to shailas. And that's what the Ramchal is telling us, that that intuition for right and wrong, for the Torah-dik definition of right and wrong, is something which a person only attains on a very high level, and until then, it's very, very important that we live reflectively and that we live introspectively. With that reflection, with that introspection, so a person does have the capacity for both recognizing emes as well as the self-knowledge to recognize his own negios. The Rambam emphasizes this also, but in so doing also underscores one indispensable prerequisite. The Rambam begins Perek Hey of Hilchos Teshuva as you know where he talks about bechirah chofshis and he writes, רשות כל אדם נתונה לו. The capacity is given to every person. אם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך טובה ולהיות צדיק הרשות בידו.
If he wants to incline himself, put himself on the track of tova to be righteous, he has that capacity. Conversely, אם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך רעה ולהיות רשע הרשות בידו. הוא שכתוב בתורה הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו לדעת טוב ורע.
Klomer, the Rambam follows the Targum in his understanding of this pasuk, Rashi has a different understanding, klomer, הן מין זה של אדם היה אחד בעולם. Adam Harishon is unique in the world, ואין לו מין שני דומה לו בזה הענין שיהיה הוא מעצמו בדעתו ובמחשבתו יודע הטוב והרע.
That ממנו לדעת טוב ורע, that a person has within himself the capacity to know and discern tov from ra, and accordingly, ועושה כל מה שהוא חפץ ואין לו מי שיעכב על ידו מלעשות הטוב או הרע.
So the Rambam is very clear that the koach habechirah chofshis really consists of two elements. It's not just an element of freedom of decision, freedom of action, but it's also a capacity to know tov vara, to be able to discern tov from ra. And clearly sequentially a person has to exercise that before exercising the freedom of action and decision to end up on the derech hatova. If a person just wants to wants to do good but doesn't first exercise the ממנו לדעת טוב ורע, so then his intentions may be sincere but he may not be on the derech hatova. But when you reread the Rambam it's a little confusing. So the Rambam should have when he opened the halacha, he should have said, רשות כל אדם נתונה לו. And then להטות עצמו לדרך טובה because sequentially, that's how a person has to exercise the koach habechira. And yet what the Rambam writes is this: רשות כל אדם נתונה לו אם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך טובה ולהיות צדיק הרשות בידו אם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך רעה ולהיות רשע הרשות בידו.
So the way the Rambam begins the perek, you don't, there's no indication that he's going to broaden the understanding of bechira chofshis to mean not only freedom of action but also the ability to know and recognize and distinguish tov from ra. So it's, it's strange because that is the more elementary and foundational stage. Was taig mir that I decide I'm going to do good if I don't know what good is? But it seems that what the Rambam lichora is telling us is the following: even before the ladaas tov vera, there has to be a desire to genuinely discover and distinguish emessdike tov from ra. To paraphrase that in, in terms of the Mesillas Yesharim that we're learning, a person can engage in, in the cheshbon hanefesh that Ramchal advocates, but unless it, it's preceded by a very real and genuine commitment to want to discover the truth, the cheshbon hanefesh won't succeed unless that's the tnai kodem lemaaseh. And that's why the Rambam says, first of all, a person has to want to go on the derech hatova. If a person wants to go on the derech hatova, then he'll be able to exercise that capacity of ladaas tov vera, and then he'll be able to follow through on that and implement it in terms of tov and ra. And hence the Rambam begins by emphasizing the volitional, not the cognitive and moral understanding. He begins with the volitional: אם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך טובה. When a person is going to look at tov and ra, it has to be again with a genuine desire to discover hatov ha'amiti and to distinguish it from ra. In perek daled Ramchal talks about derech kinyas hazehirus. What energizes a person, what prompts and impels a person to develop this midda of zehirus, of monitoring his actions, assessing his actions? So he says: יש בהתבוננות הזה שעל דרך הפרט מה שיביא האדם לזהירות הוא ההתבוננות על חומר העבודה שחייב בה האדם ועומק הדין עליה.
Reflecting upon the degree that a person is obligated to be oved Hashem, and then he says that that will be understood on different levels. Lishleimei hadaas, those of morally mature minds, תהיה להם ההארה במה שיתבאר להם כי רק השלמות הוא הדבר הראוי שיחומד מהם ולא זולת זה.
Shleimei hadaas, again, those of religiously mature, a person can be intellectually mature and religiously, spiritually immature. But a person who's not only intellectually mature but spiritually, religiously mature will know that רק השלמות הוא הדבר הראוי שיחומד. The only thing to really desire is shleimus and, and the flip side of that is שאין רע גדול מחסרון השלמות וההרחק ממנו. There's no greater evil than lacking shleimus and being distant from it. אחר שיתבאר זה אצלם, once they grasp and, and this truth, יתבאר להם כמו כן, then they'll also understand היות האמצעים אליו המעשים הטובים והמידות. middos ha'tovos. The means to achieve to attain shlemus is through Torah mitzvos, through ma'asim tovim, through middos tovos. וודאי הוא שלא יתרצו מעולם להמעיט באלו האמצעים או להקל בהם.
Certainly they won't want to minimize, they're not going to look for shortcuts. Ramchal here is returning to a theme that we saw earlier in Mesillas Yesharim that the perspective a person is supposed to have in Torah and mitzvos is not simply that Torah and mitzvos are obligations. They certainly are obligations, they should be viewed and experienced as such, but simultaneously they're also opportunities. The difference between something which is purely obligation and something which is also opportunity is an obligation you look to fulfill. You look to find out what's the minimum requirement to satisfy the obligation, you satisfy the obligation. An opportunity is something that a person looks to maximize, not to minimize, but to maximize, to make the most of. Vaday says Ramchal shelo yisratzu me'olam, they'll never agree, they'll never consent, lehamit b'elu ha'emtza'im to to in any way minimize these opportunities, these means to attain shlemus, o lehakel bahem because they recognize that they're not only obligations, they're obligations which are also incredible opportunities. There's something else here and and we'll stop with this point im yirtzeh Hashem. רק כשיתברר להם כי רק הדביקות בהשם הוא הדבר הראוי שיחמד מהם ולא זולת זה. על כן לא יבחרו אלא להרבות בהם ולהחמיר בכל תנאיהם.
A person will look to maximize mitzvos, not minimize. ולא ינוחו ולא ישקוטו מדאגה מדבר, they're not going to be deterred, פן יחסר מהם מה שיגיע אותם אל השלמות אשר הם חפצים.
What is Ramchal talking in terms of shlemus as opposed to dveikus ba'Hashem, yedias Hashem, ahavas Hashem? Expressed in these terms, it can be misunderstood, and sometimes it is erroneously practiced this way, as some kind of self-centered spirituality. One sees that. Sometimes people talk about what's good, what's important for my learning, my growth, and there's a little bit too much emphasis on the my and not sufficient emphasis on on on the learning. And one can even misunderstand, obviously it would be a complete misunderstanding, but one can even misunderstand Ramchal. Why is he talking about shlemus? He should be talking about במה שיתברר להם כי רק הדביקות בהשם הוא הדבר הראוי שיחמד
as he spoke about earlier in Mesillas Yesharim. Why is he talking about shlemus? So perhaps as follows, rabbosai. And let's say, rachmana litzlan, a person breaks his arm. So so his arm is immobilized in a sling. A person has a natural, powerful desire to heal, to become whole again, because he just wants to return to himself. It's not it's not a desire that that sort of has to be artificially fueled by... Oh there's so much more that I'll be able to do when my arm heals and I don't have the sling, there's just a natural desire to get back to himself. Avada avada what Ramchal means by shleimus is dveikus bashem, yediayas hashem, ahavas hashem. But what he conveys by describing it in terms of shleimus, wholesomeness, is that ultimately what should fuel and what does by shleimei hadas, what should and ultimately will fuel the desire for kirvas elokim is that it's a natural desire. If a person can strip away enough of the layers of accumulated unnecessary entanglements and distractions, נשמה שנתת בי טהורה היא, the natural sense of being whole of the neshama is when the neshama experiences kirvas elokim. And that's what Ramchal is telling us when he talks in terms of shleimus, he's telling us that ultimately there's a naturalness to that pursuit and the same way it's a natural reaction that the person wants the arm to heal, wants to get back to himself, the desire for kirvas elokim on an the ultimate spiritual religious level is a similar type of impulse and experience.