Transcript

קצת אשר הגיעה אליו ידנו ממידת הסברא ופניתי עליהם מן הפסוקים אצלנו והמקובל בידינו ומצאתים בהם במקומות זמנן.

Reflecting what he explained earlier that there are three sources of truth. What we know from שכל הניצל מכל פגע, what's basically explicit in Tanakh and what we know from ma'amrei Hazal.

ואני אבאר כל דבר מהם בשער המיוחד לו בעזרת יתברך וקבעתי לספרי זה שם מענין כוונתו בו.

I entitled my sefer in a way that reflects the content, והוא ספר תורת חובות הלבבות. I think Rav Kapach in his translation, he takeh gives it the title Toras Chovos HaLevavos, not just Chovos HaLevavos. וכוננתי וכוונתי בו להתחכם. I wrote this sefer for myself also, says Rabbeinu Bachya. Kivanti bo l'hit-hakkem. Additionally,

להעיר הפתאים והמקצרים מאנשי תורתנו ונוחלי חוקי דתנו במה שיספק להם מן הראיות אשר יאיר השכל בבירורן ואמיתתן.

So there are two segments within the audience, says the Chovos HaLevavos. One is maybe those who know less, the peta'im, and need to be enlightened. But the other is apparently those who, it's not because of any, I don't know, limitation, but those who have just been mitrashel in thinking through, in awakening themselves in terms of arousing themselves. Hamikatzerim me-anshei Torasenu. Not due to any, I don't know, intellectual limitation, but more of a failure on their part to recognize their obligations and to live up to them. Those are the two parts of his audience. The proofs that I bring לא יכחיש בהם כי אם אנשי החונף והשקר. Chonef lashon chanufah. Chanufah, definition of chanufah is when a person is אחד בפה ואחד בלב, when a person postures, when he's not sincere about what he says. Why, why would the anshei ha-chonef v'ha-sheker deny the truth of the proofs that I'm going to bring? מפני שהאמת כבד עליהם ושהם מבקשים להקל על עצמם. So I think we spoke about this a little bit earlier in the hakdamah, when we saw that the Chovos HaLevavos again, following in the footsteps of Rav Saadia, following in the footsteps of Hazal, speak of how sekhel is a source of truth. But it's שכל הניצל מכל פגע. But it means if the sekhel, אלוקים עשה את האדם ישר, when the sekhel is correctly exercised, one of the factors that can distort sekhel. is if a person is not ready to accept the truth and the implications of truth. The Rambam later talks about this idea as well in commenting on the Mishna in Perek Gimmel of Avos that כל שיראת חטאו קודמת לחכמתו חכמתו מתקיימת. So the Rambam writes hiney davar zeh in this numbering of the Mishnayos it's Mishna Tes there in Perek Gimmel.

הנה דבר זה מוסכם עליו מהפלוסופים גם כן שהרגל המעלות כשייקדם לחכמה עד שיהיה קניין חזק ואחר כך ילמד החכמה אשר תזרזהו על הטובות ההם יוסיף שמחה ואהבה בחכמה ובחריצות להוסיף ממנה אחר שתעוררהו למה שהורגל.

If a person pursues chochma from a position of middos tovos, then he'll welcome the chochma and the chochma will resonate with him which in turn will reinforce his commitment to chochma. It will impel him forward in his pursuit of chochma. But if a person doesn't have the middos tovos, then what will happen is that החכמה תהיה מונעת אותו ממה שיתאווה בהרגל and as a result tichbad alav hachochma like the same phraseology as the Chovos HaLevavos, מפני שהאמת כבד עליהם veyani'achena. So whether it's entirely conscious or whether it's subconscious, either way we're certainly have a tendency to try to push back against truths that are unwelcome. And that's what the Chovos HaLevavos is depicting, מפני שהאמת כבד עליהם. Obviously all of Torah life is predicated upon discipline. That's what mitzvos demand, that's philosophically what chochma teaches is the correct modus vivendi. And if a person doesn't welcome that because the middos that he's developed have him accustomed to a very different type of living, then he's going to try to rationalize his own lifestyle and that's what the Chovos HaLevavos is describing,

ולא יכחש בהן כי אם אנשי החונף והשקר מפני שהאמת כבד עליהם.

How does the Rambam's pshat in the Mishna fit the words of the Mishna? The Mishna speaks of יראת חטאו קודמת לחכמתו and the Rambam talks about middos tovos. Just how does the again the svara the Rambam is certainly compelling, how does it fit in the words? So if you take a look in the Meiri on Avos, the Meiri actually doesn't quote the Rambam.

רבי חנינא בן דוסא אומר כל שיראת חטאו שמעלת המדות שמניעת החטאים נמשכת מהם שלמות ראשון והוא שמיישיר לשלמות הנפש.

So he addresses this question by saying שמניעת החטאים נמשכת מהם. The basis for yiras cheit, the basis for that religious orientation, that mindset are the middos tovos. And in this sense again it sort of emerges from a different line of reasoning but it's very much converges with what we've mentioned on occasion from Rav Chaim Vital in the Shaarei Kedusha how middos tovos are prerequisites. Again Rav Chaim Vital expresses it as prerequisites for Torah, the Rambam is expressing it as prerequisite for chochmah, that it's definitely a parallel dynamic and construct. You know when we have a yetzer hara that points us in certain directions and the yetzer hatov protests, so there are different ways of resolving that dispute. Obviously the way we're supposed to resolve it is to have the yetzer hatov prevail and harness and channel the yetzer hara in the correct directions. But there is another way of resolving that dispute which is to rationalize what we're doing and in that way to try to superficially as it were satisfy the yetzer hatov also. And there is a susceptibility that we have to doing to doing what we want but then wanting to so we can sleep well at night, you know depict that as the right thing, so we rationalize it. And that's what the Chovos HaLevavos is describing as that when emes is כבד עליהם ושהם מבקשים להקל על עצמם, so then they'll perversely deny the truth of what really objectively are compelling arguments and compelling demonstrations. Says the Chovos HaLevavos but they're not my audience

ולא אטרח להשיב עליהם מפני שלא היתה כונתי בזה הספר להשיב על החולקים על עיקר תורתנו.

I didn't this is not a polemical work. I'm not looking to engage with those who deny Torah אך כונתי לגלות מה שתקוע בשכל הצח משורש עדותנו. No, I'm addressing those who are committed to Torah and to reveal to them what we really know within our seichel

ומה שטמון בנפשותינו מכתבי תורתנו וכאשר נעור מחשבותינו לחשוב בהן

and if we'll just he's dealing with people who are approaching things honestly. And as...

וכאשר נעורר מחשבותינו לחשוב בהם תתברר אמתתם במצפונינו ויאורו מאוריהם על אברינו.

So we'll recognize the Chovos HaLevavos and they'll also be reflected in how we act. What I'm trying to do וזה דומה לאחד מחכמי החוזים שנכנס בחצר אחד מאוהביו. This, I don't know, astrologer, והרגיש שיש בו מטמון. So he had some kind of sense that there was a hidden treasure somewhere. חקר עליו וימצאהו כסף שחור. And he found silver but the silver was overlaid with rust, so you couldn't see the silver, it was blackened.

נשתנית צורתו מן החלודה שעלה עליו. לקח ממנו מעט ומרקו במלח ובחומץ.

Okay, if you wanted to know how to remove rust, so there's your recipe.

וישטפהו ויפהו עד ששב הכסף אל צורתו הנאה ואל הדרו וזיוו.

And he restored the silver to its splendor. Ve'achar kach, then having demonstrated how it can be done, ואחר כך ציווה בעל הבית לעשות בשאר המטמון כן. So then the ba'al habayis instructed all his domestic help that they should similarly restore the rest of the treasure.

ואני כיוונתי לעשות כן במטמוני הלבבות לגלות אותם ולהראות פני זוהר מעלתם.

So I'm providing people with a manual of how to live a life where they recognize, understand, and implement and fulfill Chovos HaLevavos כדי שיעשה כן מי שרוצה להתקרב אלוקים ולהידבק בו. But it's a manual, right, meaning that we need to do the work. He outlines what the exercises are, right? The physical therapist gives the exercises, then you either do them or you don't do them, he doesn't do them for you. וכאשר תקרא אחי את ספרי זה ותעמוד על עניינו. Notice the Chovos HaLevavos doesn't see himself as being on a higher madreigah than those for whom he's writing, right, achi. Not even beni or something, so a father is on a different level than a son. No, וכאשר תקרא אחי את ספרי זה ותעמוד על עניינו kachehu elecha lezikaron ודון על נפשך דין אמת. Use the Sefer Chovos HaLevavos as a basis for self-assessment. Are you fulfilling each of what is presented in each of these shearim? Vehafoch bo veyoldehu. Not sure what veyoldehu is. Veyoldehu in the sense of tolados, what the corollaries are? Not sure what that's supposed to mean. I know the Leiv Tov somehow gets out of that ואל תרמה את עצמך. I don't know how that emerges. והדבקהו אל לבך ומצפונך. It's a very similar, maybe even identical charge to what one's learning a sefer that Ramchal gives in Mesillas Yesharim, that there needs to be a constant preoccupation, sort of not a one-time limmud but a constant. ואם תראו שטעות תקנהו o chissaron hashlemeihu וכוון בו כוונת המעשה במה שיורה עליו וינהיג עליו and have in mind to implement whatever the sefer dictates. Again the same charge that in Iggeres haRamban that the Ramban writes, whenever you get up from learning, so ask yourself what did I learn that can now be applied and how does what I learned, how does it translate now, what am I supposed to be doing based on that?

ואל תכוין לקנות השם ולהתפאר בחכמתו ודונני לכף זכות במה שתשקיף עליו מטעות ומשגיאה

if you'll see a mistake ובמה שיבואר מקוצר ידי בעניינו ובמילויו or you'll see not a mistake but maybe an inadequate presentation מפני שמהרתי לחבר ולא המהמתי this is extraordinary כי יראתי שימהרני המות וימנעני ממה שקיויתי בו I couldn't hold out for perfection because I didn't know how much time I would have. When the Chovos haLevavos says that we should be dan lekaf zechus, so he was concerned with his reputation, he was concerned with what his reputation would be throughout the doros? So maybe, and that wouldn't be incorrect because if it comes from a place of vehiyisem nekiyim, so a person is supposed to, a person is not supposed to be concerned with his reputation in a ga'avahdik sense, but it's a din, והייתם נקיים מה' ומישראל. A person is not supposed to act in a way that's misleading and that arouses a chashad. A person shouldn't cast false suspicion on someone else, but by the same token he's not supposed to have more bittul for himself than for anyone else, he's not supposed to arouse false suspicion on himself. So if that's what it means, that's totally understandable. But itachen that in addition Chovos haLevavos has in mind something else. Lidvarav that someone might find what they consider a ta'os or an inadequate, incomplete presentation, so then maybe one would be inclined to think, oh, the mechaber is not really equal to the task. He was a hedyot hakofetz berosh and you know, find out from the seforim store if you can get your money back, I wrote in the margins, can I return my Chovos haLevavos? No, to be dan lekaf zechus is also necessary for him to achieve the to'eles of our learning the sefer and itachen that that's also part of his kavanah here.

ותדע כי הכח הבצור קצר מהשיג והטבע האנושי חסר מהשלם

and you should know that perfection is beyond whether it's perfect understanding or maybe even perfect presentation, that's beyond the human grasp. But contextually, that seems to be intended as providing another perspective on. So that being the case, so then there's a very fascinating idea that the Chovos Halvovos is presenting here that כוח הבשרי קצר מהשיג, in the Lev Tov's paraphrase and amplification,

כי כוחו של בשר ודם הוא מדי חלש מלהשיג דבר על בוריו ואין ביכולת הטבע האנושי להגיע לעומק המושג.

But lichora that being the case, we shouldn't see that. We have the same impairment that he has. It's not that anyone learning the sefer is less human and therefore less limited than he is. So how does that sort of provide perspective on shortcomings that he says that the someone learning the sefer may see? You hear the question, Havaysa? The previous sentence, duneni l'zechus, בי דן לכף זכות במה שתשקיף עליו מטעות ומשגיאה. Whatever error or fault you'll detect, you should be dan l'kaf zchus. And then he seems to present two arguments, two perspectives for dan l'kaf zchus. going to be superior to anyone's individual effort by having that benefit of that masa umatan.

כמו שאמר הכתוב ואחר בני אדם כזב בני איש במאזנים לעלות המה מהבל יחד וכבר הקדמתי להתוודות על קוצר כוחי במה שיש בו כופל וטעות ושגיאה שתהיינה בו ובראש שתדע כי כל חובות הלבבות ומוסרי הנפשות נכנסים תחת אלה עשרה שרשים שחיברתי בספר הזה.

And I think he's already said this. He's reiterating, which is okay. If you look for instance in the Rav's aser mikatvinan mesham, so there's at least one line, maybe more than one line, I don't remember now how many times it appears, where he explicitly says, I'm repeating because what what what I just wrote is so important, so הנני חוזר על דברי. I'm reinforcing it, I'm repeating it. So itachen, ein hachi nami, maybe that it is repetition.

ובראש שתדע כי כל חובות הלבבות ומוסרי הנפשות נכנסים תחת אלה עשרה שרשים שחיברתי בספר הזה.

That these are ten categories. They're not sort of just ten discrete avodas, but they're ten categories of avoda. Tzivuieihem v'lavieihem kehachnasas, similar to what we know that harbe min hamitzvos תחת ואהבת לרעך כמוך. The Rambam hilchos aveil, so many different what we identify as discrete mitzvot, hachnasas kallah, and nichum avelim, and bikur cholim, all these discrete mitzvos are contained, are subsumed within the super-category mitzvah v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. Or another example

ותחת דברי הכתוב לא עשה לרעהו רעה ותחת מה שנאמר סור מרע ועשה טוב. הדבק בהם מחשבתך והשיבם רעיונך תמיד.

Again, that need for constant preoccupation with the chovos halevavos.

ויבאו לך תולדותיהם בעזרת השם כשיבאו מלבך שאתה חופץ בהם ונוטה עליהם. כמו שכתוב מי זה איש ירא השם יורנו בדרך יבחר נפשו בטוב תלין וזרעו יירש ארץ סוד השם ליראיו ובריתו להודיעם.

Here the chovos halevavos is describing that הבא ליטהר מסייעין אותו. Right? If it's כשיבאו מלבך שאתה חופץ בהם ונוטה עליהם, if if you'll desire to learn, to understand, to implement chovos halevavos, so then b'ezras Hashem you'll have the siyata d'shmaya to understand again what all the corollaries are of what I'm presenting. And that's the proof text. מי זה איש ירא השם, so then yorenu baderech yivchar, so then Hakadosh Baruch Hu guides him, and sod Hashem l'yereiav.

וראיתי לחתום פתיחת הספר הזה במשל נאה יזרז אותך ללמוד על עניינו ויאירך לדעת מעלת המין הזה מן המצוות משיעורן ומעלת שאר החכמות הטבעיות והמוסריות והדבריות מחכמת התורה והבינהו בקראך אותו והשיבהו ברעיונך תמצא מה שאתה חופץ בעזרת השם.

So when he says מעלת שאר החכמות מחכמת התורה, he's not contrasting, he doesn't mean something which isn't a part of Torah. He's talking about a hierarchy within Torah. That within Torah there are, well okay, let's see the mashal and then we'll try to understand a little bit b'ezras Hashem v'hu. Here's the mashal: שאחד מן המלכים חילק אל עבדיו. He distributed amongst his servants luzei hameshi לבחון בהם את דעתם. He gives them silk and and wants to to to. test their wisdom, their judiciousness. הזריז מהם והנלבב שבהם בורר מחלקו הטוב שהיה בו, so he separates out within this unprocessed silk that what's potentially the highest grade, the highest quality. ומן השאר גם כן בורר הטוב שבו, so then he, from what remains, he identifies Grade B, grade number two. ועשה מחלקו שלושה מינים, so that he has from what he was given three grades of the silk: tov, beinoini, u'poches. And then

ועשה מכל מין לבדו הטוב ומה שראוי לעשות ממנו ועשה ממנו אצל האומנים הבקיאים בגדי חופש מגוונים שונים זה מזה וצבעונים שאינם דומים זה לזה וילבשם לפני המלך בכל זמן ובכל מקום כראוי למהם.

So from the best of the silk, so he makes, he acquires for himself a wardrobe that he's able to present himself before the king attired very appropriately. But if he wouldn't have separated it out, so then in every robe he would have made, in every suit he would have made, so it would have been inconsistent. So maybe part of the suit would have been from a high-quality material, but then other parts of it would be from inferior material and he wouldn't have any uniformly nice clothing.

והכסיל מעבדי המלך עשה מכל חלקו מן המשי מה שעשה הזריז מן המין הפחות שבו ומכר המשי הנזדמן לו מן הדמים.

So A, he doesn't produce anything of high quality, and then B, what does he do? He doesn't retain it to how he'll present himself before the king, but he sells whatever clothing he was able to manufacture. He doesn't get too much of a price.

במשי הנזדמן לו מן הדמים וימהר ליהנות בו במאכל טוב ובמשתה טוב וכדומה לו.

He goes to and spends it on food and drink.

וכשהגיע הדבר למלך רצה את מעשה הזריז הנלבב והקריבו אליו והעלהו אל מעלת אנשי סגולתו.

He takes him into his inner circle.

וירע בעיניו מעשה הכסיל ויגרשהו וירחיקו אל שממה וארץ ציה.

He sends him to Siberia.

וישכינו עם אנשי קצפו. וכן האלקים יתברך נתן ספר תורתו האמת לעבדיו לבחון אותם. והמשכיל הפיקח כשהוא קורא אותו ויבינהו הבנה ברורה יחלקהו לשלושה חלקים. האחד מהם לדעת העניינים הדקים הרוחניים אשר הם חכמת המצפון כחובות הלבבות ומוסר הנפשות ויחייב את נפשו לעשותם תדיר. ואחרי כן יברור ממנו חלק שני והיא חכמת חובות האיברים בזמנם ובמקומם.

So basically what the Chovos HaLevavos here is arguing in a very, it says it in very stark, even radical way. But למאי משל לדבר דומה, what the Chovos HaLevavos is saying is along the following lines. So the Mishnah Berurah writes in his hakdamah to cheilek shelishi of Mishnah Berurah, Hilchos Shabbos, he says that within learning, so within learning Torah, there should be a din kadimah for those parts of Torah which are halacha lema'aseh. Right? So many parts of Torah at the moment are not halacha lema'aseh. Kodshim, Taharos, there's not much there that that's halacha lema'aseh. Hilchos Shabbos obviously, or as Rav Yisrael Salanter famously illustrated, Choshen Mishpat is very much halacha lema'aseh. So there's a din kadimah So within mitzvas Talmud Torah, again, the goal to which we aspire is שיהיו דברי תורה מחודדים בפיך, that a person should be baki in everything. But within that pursuit, there is a din kadima the Mishnah Berurah says for that which is halacha l'maise because for obvious reasons. So the Chovos HaLevavos says, he has another din kadima, which is that within learning, he says that there should be a special emphasis and one should prioritize Chovos HaLevavos and the chovos ha'evarim come second. And again, for the because of the relationship between the Chovos HaLevavos and chovos ha'evarim, which he has developed throughout the hakdama. And when a person sort of neglects Chovos HaLevavos and is focused on chovos ha'evarim, he won't achieve through his learning, again, as illustrated in the mashal, what's supposed to be achieved and what can be achieved. In a very similar vein, this actually follows up on the example we had earlier from the Rambam and then the Meiri on כל שיראת חטאו קודמת לחכמתו. I think Rav Schechter was once asked, let's say parents are looking where to send their child to yeshiva. And the two options they have, in one, the kids have very good midos. They don't learn as much for whatever reason. In that yeshiva they don't learn as much. In the other, they learn much more. If you count the number of pesukim, the number of mishnayos, or at a higher grade level, the number of blatt Gemara, so that certainly is a much higher number, but the kids don't have good midos. So he said, so you send to where they have the good midos. Which is again, the same yesod that when you build a building, so it's wonderful to have a lookout deck on the 50th floor, but if the foundation isn't there, then pust un pas the lookout deck on the 50th floor. And that's what the Chovos HaLevavos is saying. The foundation are the Chovos HaLevavos. Again, the midos, which are also part of that, that belongs to the foundation. Inyanei emunah belongs to the foundation.

ואחר כך ישמש בחלק השלישי בעניני דברי הימים לדעת כתות בני אדם ותולדותם על סדר הדורות שעברו ומה שאירע מן הדברים והחידות בימים קדמונים וישמש בכל ענין ממנו בזמנו ובמקומו וכפי הצורך אליו ויעזר על השתמשו בכל אחד מהם בחכמת השימוש ובחכמת המופת ובחכמת הדיבור שמהם תהיינה ההקדמות לחכמה האלהית. כי מי שאינו בקי בהם אינו מכיר סימני חכמת הבורא ויופיה בלא ידע ענייני הגוף כל שכן זולתו כאשר זימן האדון הזה כלי בעלי המלאכות להשלים מה שכיוון לעשותם מן המשי של המלך.

So maybe we'll try to finish bli neder on Sunday in this yeshiva. So maybe Monday before the lunch we'll try. So let's say bli neder 11, 11:15 something like that on Monday b'ezrat Hashem.