Transcript

ומפני שהיה ספרי זה מחכמת הקודש ומלשון הקודש נשענתי בו מן הראיה שאין הולכת על דרך חכמת הדיבור וחכמת השימוש.

Chachmas hadibur that the Lev Tov here paraphrases as Chachmas hahigayon, and it goes back to in ancient languages also the word for word and logic is the same word. Logos means reason and also means word. Chachmas hashimush, some translate that as mathematics. It deals with measurement, meaning that to say that yichud Hashem therefore tells us that we should engage in bechina in looking at Hakadosh Baruch Hu's beriah and that that's mechayev in avodas Hashem. All those things are again, they're not formal logical arguments, you know, with a capital L. They're reasonable, logical with a lowercase L arguments. And that's the again, as we discussed yesterday here in Chovos Halevavos, depending upon the discipline, that dictates what the type of argument is, what the standard of proof is. אלא בשער הראשון ממנו, the exception is in Shaar HaYichud, כי אפשר שידחקנו הצורך עליהם מפני דקות מחקרנו בו. I don't know what efshar means, I'm just wondering what he's going to write in Shaar Harishon, so I don't know. I don't know the efshar.

ושמתי רוב ראיותי מן הדברים המושכלים וקרבתם בדמיונים הקרובים אשר אין בהם ספק.

And to help people recognize, again, what's what makes sense, what's compelling, so I gave meshalim as well.

וסמכתי להם מה שמצאתי כתוב בספרי הנביאים ואחר כך סמכתי להם דברי הקבלה שקבלנו מרבותינו זכרונם לברכה ומן החסידים והחכמים שבכל אומה שהגיעו דבריהם אלינו.

I also quoted from non-Jewish philosophers and non-Jewish devout people also.

מפני שקויתי שיהיו הלבבות נוטות אליהם ומקשיבות לחכמתם כמו דברי הפילוסופים ומוסר הפרושים ומנהגיהם המשובחים. וכבר אמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה כתוב אחד אומר וכמשפטי הגוים אשר סביבותיכם עשיתם.

So they're being indicted for following the ways of the nations. וכתוב אומר לא עשיתם. They're being indicted for not following them. Pakeitzad? כמתוקנים שבהם לא עשיתם. You should have, you should have learned from the mesukanim shebahem. However, what you did was kekulkalam shebahem asitem.

ואמרו כל האומר דבר חכמה אפילו באומות העולם נקרא חכם.

So Chazal clearly recognize that there is, again, the first maamar is even more far-reaching in its implications than the second. There certainly is chochma, well, there can be chochma, depends who, who, what, and when, but, but potentially there is chochma and there has been chochma afilu b'umos ha'olam. And this was a very strong tradition amongst the Rishonim. Rav Saadia Gaon, the Rambam. There was an anti-philosophy tradition also. Again, the Chovos Halevavos is talking about more than just philosophy. He's speaking much more broadly than that. There was an anti-philosophy strand also, as represented by the famous Teshuvos HaRosh. But everyone agrees, las man de'palig, las man de'palig, and this, you know, the Gemara in Sanhedrin which serves as a source for tapping into non-Jewish sources of knowledge also highlights this, which is that there's certainly a need for a person to be able to be discerning and to recognize what is correct chochma and what isn't. But with the correct discernment, so it certainly is a potential source of chochma. v'omru ba'havaras ha'mashal לקיים ענין המוקשה בהם אגמרי בסימנים ואסברי בדדמי ליה. Right? Pedagogically, meshalim help. A mashal is like if, if you need to, to get onto the roof of the house, so it's impossible to just leap and leap from the ground to the roof. So you have a ladder and, and you get there gradually. So when you're learning something new, which is the concept is new, it's different, it's beyond what one has learned before, what one has encountered before, and maybe it's also much more, maybe the subject matter's much more abstract, so it's often, if not more difficult, but maybe even impossible again to just leapfrog from where one is holding now to that new idea which is, again, significantly beyond what one has understood or encountered until now. Again, and maybe more abstract and so the mashal gets you there gradually. The mashal is something which is closer or maybe even within one's current universe, but it helps build the idea that one can then extrapolate from there, one can distill from there to the nimshal. Relevant universe, but it helps build the idea that one can then extrapolate from there, one can distill from there to the nimshal. והחכם אמר שלמה המלך says להבין משל ומליצה דברי חכמים וחידותם. So Shlomo HaMelech already highlights the importance of the instrument of mashal.

אמר המחבר כאשר הסכמתי לחבר הספר הזה חובת הלבבות כיוונתי וחשבתי לבחור אותם שתהיינה כוללות אצלם וסובבות עליהם.

Again, it should be in terms of the categories and the general principles, it should be encompassing, it should be comprehensive. ושמתי שרשם העליון ויסודם הגדול ייחוד האל בלב שלם. Ve'achar kach, again, we mentioned, we saw how earlier Chovot HaLevavot says that within, again, he was speaking specifically about learning Chovot HaLevavot, how sequence is crucial and now he's following up on that in terms of what the sequence is to follow, that unfolds in this area.

ואחר כך עיינתי במה שאנו חייבים לחבר אל ייחודו מהחובות הנזכרות הראויות לו ממנו.

To what should be juxtaposed? What's the immediate follow-up? Once a person knows, understands Yichud Hashem, so what does that mechayev? What's the next step?

וידעתי דע ברור כי הבורא יתברך מפני שהוא אחד אמת ולא ישיגהו שם עצם ולא מקרה ואין מחשבתנו משגת דבר שאינו עצם ולא מקרה נמנע ממנו השגתו מצד עצם כבודו יתברך והוצרכנו לדעתו ולהשיג מציאותו מצד בריאותיו.

A correct understanding of Yichud Hashem says the Chovot HaLevavot reveals that when we say ה' אלקינו ה' אחד, when we say that there's one God, we mean one in the sense of echad yachid umeyuchad, absolutely and totally unique. When we use one in other contexts, we don't, there's one pencil on the desk, but the one there doesn't imply an absolute uniqueness, an absolute singularity. And when we say about Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is totally and absolutely unique. And because of that, Hakadosh Baruch Hu's essence is unknowable. We know He exists, but in terms of knowing, understanding, defining His essence, so that's something which is beyond comprehension. So what that then means is that yediyat Hashem, to the extent that it's available and accessible to us, is והוצרכנו לדעתו ולהשיג מציאותו מצד בריאותיו. It's through His actions that we know Hakadosh Baruch Hu. What we're able to say about Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we extrapolate from His actions. We describe His actions and that's the level of yediyat Hashem of which we're capable. I think the Rambam would very much agree with this paragraph. He makes the same point and when the Torah, not just when we, but when the Torah does describe Hakadosh Baruch Hu, what it really intends that to be is a description of His actions. himself there's no multiplicity so you can't identify different midos. A person is multi-faceted so a person has many different many different midos. A person is not one in an absolute sense of of the word. So a person can have many different midos. So A, Hakodesh Baruch Hu there's no multiplicity and and B, again we we can't grasp Hakodesh Baruch Hu's essence. So when the Torah says Hakodesh Baruch Hu is רחום וחנון ארך אפים, it means that Hakodesh Baruch Hu acts in a way that if the if it were a human actor we would describe that person as being rachum. Hakodesh Baruch Hu we see in his bria we see in in his hashgacha of the world that Hakodesh Baruch Hu acts, he he's responsible for actions which if again were to be a human agent so we would describe that person that individual as being chanun etcetera. Which is what the Chovos Halvavos is saying here also:

והצטרך לדעתו ולהשיג מציאותו מצד בריאותיו וזהו שער הבחינה בבורא.

So therefore this becomes the natural follow-up to Sha'ar HaYichud. Sha'ar HaYichud again which introduces us and and hopefully allows us to to understand and to grasp and to know again Hashem Echad absolutely and and totally and entirely unique. So what that then dictates is that the follow-up to that is again not to contemplate Hakodesh Baruch Hu's essence which is beyond our comprehension but to look into the world which is what the Chovos Halvavos refers to as Bechina and to know Hashem mitzad briyosav means mitzad ma'asav, right? If you look at Hakodesh Baruch Hu's handiwork you look at his creation so you're looking at at his actions. So therefore

שמתי הבחינה שורש שני לכלל מחובות הלבבות. ואחר כך נתברר לי מה שראוי לאחד האמת מן האדנות ומה שחייבים ביותר בו מעבודתו ושמתי קבלת עבודת אלהים שורש שלישי לכלל מחובות הלבבות.

So I think actually when you get to the Sha'ar of Avodas Hashem so Chovos Halvavos clarifies that a sense of an acknowledgment for what Hakodesh Baruch Hu does is mechayev is mechayev an Avodas Hashem. Let's say משל מה הדבר דומה. Let's say one person saves another person's nefesh. So the the one who is saved instinctively intuitively has the attitude that what can I ever do to repay you? What what can I ever do to acknowledge what what you've done for me? There's there's nothing that that adds up to that's the equivalent. I don't know if someone gives you fifty dollars okay so there's a price on that. But but if someone gives you life so what how do you that's just an all-encompassing sense of indebtedness.

ואחר כך נתברר לי מה שראוי לאחד האמת מהתיחדו בהנהגת הכל.

and he governs everything ושהתועלת והנזק כי אינם כי אם ממנו וברשותו לבדו and he makes all determinations. So therefore hischayvnu so we're obligated livtoach alav to have bitachon to to trust in Hakadosh Baruch Hu lehimaser eilav and to surrender ourselves to him. So therefore שמתי הביטחון שער רביעי לכלל מחובות הלבבות. The Talmidei Rabbeinu Yonah has in the beginning of of Brachos commenting on the Gemara that איזהו בן העולם הבא הסומך גאולה לתפילה של ערבית. So so it seems a rather disproportionately large schar for a rather simple, you know, just follow the you know the the order in in the siddur and and so so Rabbeinu Yonah explains that it means that what smichas geulah letfillah represents characterizes this person's life. That's what the ma'amar means. It doesn't just mean the technical performance of of turning the pages and and going from Krias Shema, Ga'al Yisrael, Hashkiveinu to Shmonei Esrei, but but the idea that's represented in that sequence of smichas geulah letfillah is the way the person lives his life. What is that idea? So he says as follows: he says imagine what would be let's say a person would would say Krias Shema and then there would no would not follow it up with the Amida. So what would it be? So when a person says Krias Shema שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד, he's m'yached Hashem. So אמת אלוקינו אפס זולתו and then he's מקבל עול מלכות שמים. And then he runs out, why? Because I have to go make a living. I have to go I have to have a business meeting and the you know and and I need to be present at that business meeting to try to land this contract, to try to try to attract this client. Says Rabbeinu Yonah, but if a person believes really believes what he just said, so then yeah, he has to go to the business meeting but first he has to ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu for the siyata d'shmaya that that he'll succeed. For the person to say Shema and then without without the Amida, without the the request for the siyata d'shmaya, so then his actions contradict his words. His words of שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד indicate that that a person again all need for human initiative notwithstanding is ultimately dependent upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But if that's the case then then a person has to ask. So that's what Rabbeinu Yonah says, I think he even uses the lashon bitachon. Rabbeinu Yonah says that that when a person follows up, 'yeah I believe שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד and I believe Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the God of history and exercises providence and that's what we refer to in the bracha of Ga'al Yisrael and focusing on on Yetzias Mitzrayim', and now kochi ve'otzem yadi I'll go take care of myself today you know and and fend for myself. No, so Rabbeinu Yonah says no, the fact that the person asks מראה שהוא בוטח בו. Because if a person really believes, so that's mechayev that that a person has to again without minimize the required level of hishtadlus and operating on the natural on the natural level, that a person places his his ultimate trust in Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It's it's basically the same idea that the Chovos HaLevavos has here as well. Okay and we will pick up here in the next recording.