Transcript

רבן גמליאל בנו של רבי יהודה הנשיא omer

יפה תלמוד תורה עם דרך ארץ שיגיעת שניהם משכחת עוון וכל תורה שאין עמה מלאכה סופה בטלה וגוררת עוון.

So the two statements of the mishna of

יפה תלמוד תורה עם דרך ארץ שיגיעת שניהם משכחת עוון

on the one hand, on the other hand וכל תורה שאין עמה מלאכה סופה בטלה וגוררת עוון gives rise to the understanding that the mefarshim have, the rishonim have, that derech eretz in this mishna refers to parnassa, refers to that a person has a craft, an umnus, a source of livelihood. ורצונו לומר דרך ארץ says Rabbeinu Yona, melacha. But then Rabbeinu Yona goes on to say that the phrase derech eretz isn't used exclusively in this sense, that's what it clearly means here, but elsewhere the phrase derech eretz Rabbeinu Yona continues and says

כי לשון דרך ארץ פעמים שהוא כמשמעו ופעמים שהוא עמל למלאכה הכל לפי העניין.

What's the other meaning of derech eretz? So Rabbeinu Yona himself later in perek gimmel

רבי אלעזר בן עזריה אומר אם אין תורה אין דרך ארץ אם אין דרך ארץ אין תורה.

So אם אין דרך ארץ אין תורה Rabbeinu Yona writes ורצונו לומר שצריך תחילה לתקן את עצמו במידות. Right, the more I guess common colloquial meaning of derech eretz, when we say that the person has to act with derech eretz, the person has to speak with derech eretz, it means proper midos. So sometimes derech eretz means melacha, a source of livelihood as in יפה תלמוד תורה עם דרך ארץ as in the Gemara in Brachos of

ארבעה דברים צריכים חיזוק ואלו הן תורה תפילה מעשים טובים ודרך ארץ,

so derech eretz there Rashi also comments in Brachos means every worker in his profession, every craftsman in practicing his craft. And elsewhere derech eretz means again the proper behavior, proper midos. Okay. So is there any sort of just sometimes whenever you have multiple meanings associated with a word, so sometimes the word just has different unrelated meanings and sometimes there's a nexus, sometimes there's a connection that really the two meanings emerge from one common semantics, from one common root. I don't know the way Rabbeinu Yona says it here, so it's I don't know, he doesn't necessarily imply that there is one root. I don't know, it's at best ambiguous,

כי לשון דרך ארץ פעמים שהוא כמשמעו ופעמים שהוא עמל למלאכה.

Agav the Rambam also clearly has both of these meanings of derech eretz, the Rambam agrees here on our mishna that יפה תלמוד תורה עם דרך ארץ, so the Rambam writes כוונתו בדרך ארץ כאן ההתעסקות בפרנסה. And again the reason he says כאן is because the Rambam like Rabbeinu Yona after him also recognized. is that derech eretz has multiple meanings in Chazal, and thus for instance you find the Rambam himself later in פרק ה משנה ו when he's defining what an am ha'aretz is. So the Rambam says, ועם הארץ הוא אדם שיש לו מעלות מדותיות. He has a moral and ethical virtues. On on that level, a good person. אבל אין לו מעלות הגיוניות. But not not intellectual virtues. כלומר שיש בו דרך ארץ ואין בו תורה. So derech eretz is is the result, is is the the term that that expresses the fact that the person has has good middot. Okay, also that same those same two meanings as we see in Rabbeinu Yonah. The phrase in Tanakh, we don't find exactly this. But in the beginning of Sefer Melachim,

ויקרבו ימי דוד למות ויצו את שלמה בנו לאמר. אנכי הלך בדרך כל הארץ וחזקת והיית לאיש.

So it's not the same phrase. Here it's bederech kol ha'aretz as opposed to just derech eretz. But what does it mean here? So here we would translate it, the the literal translation does really capture the meaning here. That David ha-Melech says to Shlomo that he's about to, he's about to die. I'm going in the way of the world. That ever since the cheit of Adam ha-Rishon, כי ביום אכלך ממנו מות תמות. And David ha-Melech senses as as Yaakov Avinu, as the Torah describes Yaakov Avinu as well, as ויקרבו ימי דוד למות, so David ha-Melech was able to sense that. He had that, he had that self-awareness. And he tells, and and this is how he introduces his tzava'ah. He begins his tzava'ah to Shlomo, אנכי הלך בדרך כל הארץ. So derech eretz is the way of the world. And the way of the world in a natural sense. Meaning, I'm I'm what's happening, what's impending, David tells Shlomo is something natural. Again, talking about what's natural post-cheit of Adam ha-Rishon. The world and the reality as as we know it, as we experience it, as has existed since the cheit of Adam ha-Rishon. So what's about, what's impending David ha-Melech is telling Shlomo is is something natural. It's the way of the world. It's it's the way of the world. Interesting, that same Rambam we were looking at before in פרק ה משנה ו where he's defining the term am ha'aretz and and he says that he's a person who has, he has proper middot but but doesn't really but but is but is ignorant.

שיש בו דרך ארץ ואין בו תורה. וזה נקרא עם הארץ.

So why is he described as an am ha'aretz? So the Rambam explains,

כלומר שהוא ראוי לישוב הארץ ולחיי חברה בערים לפי שיש בו מדות שתטב בהם חברתו עם זולתו.

The am ha'aretz has the necessary character and character traits to live in society. To be able to be collegial and congenial and to interact successfully and easily. smoothly with people. A person who doesn't have proper middos, a person whose middos are abrasive, the person is contentious, the person is quarrelsome, so that person doesn't really function well in society. לא טוב היות האדם לבדו is true on the, again, as the immediate context is there in Bereishis in terms of being part of a marital union, husband and wife marrying. But it's also true, it's quite clear that the Torah assumes that people live in society, that the natural state is for a person to be a member of society. When the Rambam describes—excuse me one second—when the Rambam describes the chacham in the end of perek hey Yesodei HaTorah who makes a Kiddush Hashem by inspiring love for Torah through his through his impeccable integrity and and his and his beautiful behavior, so he talks about דיבור בנחת עם הבריות and דעתו מעורבת עמהן ומקבלן בסבר פנים יפות. Then the Rambam says and

ולא יראה תמיד אלא עוסק בתורה עטוף בציצית מוכתר בתפילין.

Whenever you see him he's learning, he's wearing tallis and tefillin and עושה בכל מעשיו לפנים משורת הדין, he's always holding himself to a higher more exacting standard. Then the Rambam says והוא שלא יתרחק הרבה ולא ישתומם, but not in a way that sets him apart and from society, that that makes him a—divorced from society, והוא שלא יתרחק הרבה ולא ישתומם. So the natural modus vivendi is a person lives, we live as part of a community. So yitachen that the sense of derech eretz and the sense—again its more colloquial sense of midos tovos of אם אין דרך ארץ אין תורה also as as the phrase in Melachim means a a naturalness. The derech eretz means that that the person has the midos to be able to live the normal natural life of being integrated and being able to function in a group setting, in a social setting, in society. So the what seems to be emerging is that the phrase derech eretz means that there's again a naturalness to to his life, to his behavior, to what's happening. Dovid HaMelech is telling Shlomo, I'm I'm an old man, it's the end of my life, what's happening is is something natural. That a person has the proper midos to be able to live in society and function in society allows him to live again and natural in this sense is what's supposed to be, is is what's right. yitachen that that that's the tzad hashaveh when derech eretz also connotes melacha. It also means that the person, that the יפה תלמוד תורה עם דרך ארץ is that the person has that correct natural balance. Natural balance in what sense? So first of all and most obviously in the sense that he has this source of support and livelihood that a person needs, and and that's the, again, that's the natural— State of affairs, the natural state of affairs is that again since the cheit of adam harishon is בזעת אפיך תאכל לחם. Is that one doesn't have the luxury of just finding everything ready made to be plucked off the tree. But yitachen that derech eretz in the sense of melacha is natural for another reason as well. Not only because of the need that it fills but for another reason as well. Itzele from Volozhin in his perush in Pirkei Avot quotes, הנה חלקו המקובלים את נפש האדם לג' חלקים. They say that there are three parts or three levels to the soul, קראוה נפש רוח נשמה. Vehineh hanefesh, in this when juxtaposed to ruach haneshama, so then what nefesh means is הוא החלק השפל באדם הנקראת בפי הפילוסופים nefesh hachiyunit or habehemit. That which basically is responsible for man's physicality, man's physical nature, that dimension of a person. Kochoseha, koach hazan, v'hama'akel, the digestive system, v'hamolid for procreation, ומעוררים באדם את התאוה לדברים האלו. And the nefesh is the source of the desire and the urge that the person has in these areas. Then he goes on and he talks about ruach and neshama. And then listen to what Itzele writes. He says,

והנה באמת צריך האדם לעשות חלקו לכל מדרגא ומדרגא כראוי לו.

Because the nefesh, again in its broader sense, New York State, the nefesh in its broader sense is comprised of three chalakim, a person needs to accommodate and needs to be attuned to the needs of each of those three chelkei hanefesh. So even that lowest level of soul, the nefesh hachiyunit, the nefesh habehemit, gam lanefesh hachiyunit he has to provide appropriately, not excessively, not inappropriately, but appropriately.

כי לא תהו בראה לשבת יצרה וצריך גם כן לאכול ולשתות.

A person's not a malach, a person needs to eat and drink וליקח אשה להוליד בנים to be mekayem the mitzvah pru urevu. כי לא צונו השם יתברך לסגף גופנו. Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't command us to be ascetics and to afflict ourselves. Adeiraba, tzivanu leechol velishtot to eat in a balanced moderate way.

אדרבה ונזיר שסיגף עצמו מן היין נקרא חוטא וכן מצוה על פרו ורבו וכהאי גוונא אך בתנאי כפול שיהיו כולם לעבודת השם יתברך.

A person has a physical element, a physical side, a physical dimension and that physical side can't be neglected, can't be ignored. It should be framed and contextualized and acting in the service of the spiritual dimension, but it's not a question of ignoring it, neglecting it. Okay, fine. Then Rav Itzele has in our Mishna Ve'im tomar, commenting in our Mishna of

יפה תלמוד תורה עם דרך ארץ שיגיעת שניהם משכחת עון, ואם תאמר אם כן

that the greatest thing, the holiest thing is unquestionably and unequivocally Torah, אעסוק בתורה הקדושה לבד. So doesn't it follow, isn't it sort of a logical train of thought and a logical conclusion that if Torah is the summit of kedusha, so that should be one's sole preoccupation? And so says Rav Itzele, laze amur כל תורה שאינה עם מלאכה סופה בטלה וגוררת עון uchemo shekasavnu le'el שצריך ליתן גם להגוף חלקו. So I don't know if what we're about to say is what Rav Itzele means or we're going one big step further, I don't know. So maybe the שצריך ליתן גם להגוף חלקו simply means that a person, if a person won't have parnassa, so then he won't be able to provide for his basic physical needs. And that's what it means, שצריך ליתן גם להגוף חלקו, that a person, that the mahalach in life is not to deny one's physicality, one's physical needs, not to, a person is supposed to recognize the balance that has to be there. So it could be that's what he means. Could also mean שצריך ליתן גם להגוף חלקו that the physical dimension in ruba deruba of people, there are bnei aliya who are exceptions, but for the overwhelming majority of us, the litein lahaguf chelko is the etzem hisaskos bimelacha. It's not only the paycheck that one receives on the first and the fifteenth of the month, but the litein lahaguf chelko is the hisaskos bimelacha. And the pashtus is that it's not only a heicha timtza that a person Rachmana litzlan shouldn't be so poor that he resorts to listus and to cheating on on taxes or or government programs or other things, because the seifa of the Mishna, וכל תורה שאינה עם מלאכה סופה בטלה וגוררת עון, so itachen that that already highlights the dangers of the nisyonos of self-imposed poverty. The reisha seems to make a positive statement that it's the combination of תלמוד תורה עם דרך ארץ שיגיעת שניהם משכחת עון. And itachen that what Rav Itzele means when he says שצריך ליתן גם להגוף חלקו is that part of that balance that a person... recognizing the naran within him, recognizing those different parts or levels of soul ranging from basic physicality to sublime spirituality is that the hissaskus b'melacha itself is part of the צריך ליתן להגוף חלקו. The way a person achieves the maximum in ruchniyus is when in his life the Torah's balance, the recommended, the mandated balance is maintained, then a person can achieve the maximum in ruchniyus. But imbalance always throws the entire system off. And the

ואם תאמר אם כן אעסוק בתורה הקדושה לבד, לזה אמר כל תורה שאינה עם מלאכה סופה בטלה וגוררת עוון.

The paradox is that that attempt in an imbalanced way to maximize Torah so it doesn't just result in physical deprivation, it results in spiritual kilkul. סופה בטלה וגוררת עוון. It's not a relevant question, maybe one can discuss if it's bechalal a legitimate question, but even assuming that it's a legitimate question, it's not a relevant question why the Ribbono Shel Olam created us that way. But He clearly did. He clearly did. We're not angelic. We're human. And וצריך ליתן גם להגוף חלקו in a not in an excessive way, not in an ultimate way, not that that's a goal, not that that's an end unto itself, but instrumentally in pursuit of the Torah hakedosha, in pursuit of the Torah hakedosha a person has to give the guf chelko also. And derech eretz means the natural balance that a person is supposed to have. A person is supposed to be able to live in society. He has to have the middos to be able to live in society, to be congenial, to be collegial with people. And a person is also supposed to have this balance between the tzorkei hanefesh with the tzorkei ruach u'neshamah. It's admirable but ill-advised when we create an imbalance mistakenly thinking that that's going to create a ribuy of Torah, that that's going to allow us to maximize in terms of Torah, in terms of avodas Hashem. Now it is true, it is true of course. The last Mishna in Kiddushin, Rabbi Meir omer לעולם ילמד אדם את בנו אומנות קלה ונקייה, umnus nekiya vekala. But later in the Mishna, Rabbi Nehorai omer

מניח אני כל אומנות שבעולם ואיני מלמד את בני אלא תורה.

So it’s true, there’s a Mishna of יפה תלמוד תורה עם דרך ארץ, there’s also a Mishna of Rabbi Nehorai. But the pashas is that why does Rabbi Nehorai express his shitas sort of autobiographically: this is what I’m doing, מניח אני כל אומנות שבעולם. I don’t know, when Rabbi Elazar says סוף זמן קריאת שמע עד סוף אשמורה ראשונה. He doesn’t say

אני מקפיד לסיים קריאת שמע של ערבית עד סוף אשמורה ראשונה.

He says סוף זמן קריאת שמע עד סוף אשמורה ראשונה. But it says Maniach ani, איני מלמד בני אלא תורה? So the pashas is that Rabbi Nehorai is not disagreeing with Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Nehorai is saying that there are yichidei segulah for whom there’s a different derech, who can, for them, they can achieve a balance in a way that רובא דרובא דרובא דרובא דרובא the rest of us cannot. And that’s why he says it be'oso lashon. That’s why he says it maniach ani, this is what I’m doing. I see in my son that this will work for him. Similar to the Gemara in Keitzad Mevarchin,

הרבה עשו כרבי ישמעאל ועלתה בידם וכסדר רבי שמעון בר יוחאי ולא עלתה בידם.

And l'mayseh we see it, we see it. You know, in terms of extremes on the spectrum, so usually one can describe, let’s say on the spectrum of pleasure or enjoyment from olam hazeh. So at one end of the spectrum is hedonism. At the other end of the spectrum is asceticism. So it’s fair to say, it’s accurate to say, that the hedonism is the, sort of the magushamdike end of the spectrum, the physical materialistic end of the spectrum, and the asceticism is the spiritual end of the spectrum. That’s a fair description. And yet the Rambam tells us in פרק א' הלכות דעות that both extremes are equally wrong. Both extremes are equally wrong. There’s one extreme that a person אוהב כסף לא ישבע כסף. A person, he’s got billions, he wants more billions. There’s another extreme, a person’s not interested in having enough money to pay his grocery bill, to pay his electric bill, to pay his rent. There’s what we would describe as a physical extreme, there’s a spiritual extreme. And the Rambam tells us both extremes are equally wrong. Hakadosh Baruch Hu created us with a balance, kach gazra hochmaso. Within the Torah there’s a balance that corresponds... And and and and guides our balance self and the way to be matzliach in avodas Hashem in ruchnius is to be mindful of that balance and and to maintain it. Good night Mevasser, good night Reb Shabbos.