I think we left off over here in Avos in the Mishna of מסורת סייג לתורה נדרים סייג לפרישות סייג לחכמה שתיקה. I think that's where we left off. So the Rambam comments אמר אם נדר האדם נדרים על איזה דברים וקיימם ירכוש לעצמו את הרגל ההימנעות ממה שירצה להימנע ממנו ויקבל עליו ויתרגל עליו פרישות כלומר להישמר מן הטומאות.
So nedarim, are nedarim a good thing or nedarim a bad thing? So as is the case with many things in life, it depends. If what the person, what motivates the person, I think we spoke about this part already, what motivates the person in taking a neder is that he's setting a standard for himself, he's defining ruchanius, optimal avodas Hashem in a way that differs from that of the Torah, so then nedarim are a bad thing. That's the maimar chazal of Rabbi Elazar HaKappar that the Rambam quotes in Perek Gimmel, Hilchos Deos, Halacha Aleph שמא יאמר אדם הואיל והתאווה והכבוד וכיוצא בהן דרך רעה הן ומוציאין את האדם מן העולם אפרוש מהן ביותר ואתרחק לצד האחרון עד שלא יאכל בשר ולא ישתה יין ולא ישא אשה ולא ישב בדירה נאה ולא ילבש מלבוש נאה אלא השק והצמר הקשה וכיוצא בהן כגון כומרי אדום גם זו דרך רעה היא ואסור לילך בה המהלך בדרך זו נקרא חוטא הרי הוא אומר בנזיר וכפר עליו מאשר חטא על הנפש. אמרו חכמים ומה נזיר שלא פירש אלא מן היין צריך כפרה המונע עצמו מכל דבר ודבר על אחת כמה וכמה. לפיכך ציוו חכמים שלא ימנע אדם עצמו אלא מדברים שמנעה התורה בלבד ולא יהא אוסר עצמו בנדרים ובשבועות על דברים המותרים כך אמרו חכמים לא דייך מה שאסרה תורה אלא שאתה אוסר עליך דברים אחרים. ובכלל הזה אלו שמתענין תמיד אינן בדרך טובה ואסרו חכמים שיהא אדם מסגף עצמו בתענית ועל כל הדברים האלו וכיוצא בהן ציווה שלמה ואמר אל תהי צדיק הרבה ואל תתחכם יותר למה תשומם.
So the whole thrust of the halacha is that the person is redefining what the balance should be between the ruchanius and the gashmius and in quotation marks improving close quotations upon the Torah's definition. So that's what Shlomo HaMelech says, אל תהי צדיק הרבה. So to use nedarim as a vehicle for a more ascetic ideal than the Torah establishes, to establish a different ideal, so that's chotei. To use nedarim as an instrument to help a person cultivate the self-discipline which is necessary to achieve the Torah's ideal, so that's a good thing. And that's the halacha that the Rambam has at the end of Hilchos Nedarim, Halacha Chaf Gimmel, פרק יג הלכה כג, מי שנדר נדרים כדי לכונן דעותיו ולתקן מעשיו.
So he's not looking to establish a different ideal, but it's לכונן דעותיו ולתקן מעשיו. He's looking to rectify something, he's looking to ground, to better ground within himself. His character traits, let's say in specifically that of self-discipline, and mimaila that would allow lesaken maasav הרי זה נאה ומשובח. כיצד כגון מי שהיה זולל ואסר הבשר עליו שנה או שתיים ומי שהיה שוגה ביין ואסר היין על עצמו זמן מרובה או שאסר השכר לעולם.
Right, so the Rambam is very careful to say that he's being, he's oser basar temporarily. He's oser yayin also, גם עד זמן מרובה, takes longer to rectify that, but even so, it's not le'olam. וכן מי שהיה רודף שלמונים ונבהל להון ואסר על עצמו המתנות או הניית אנשי מדינה זו וכן מי שהיה מתגאה ביופיו ונדר בנזיר וכיוצא בנדרים אלו כולן דרך עבודה לשם ובנדרים אלו,
right, the diyuk is on the word eilu, these types of nedarim וכיוצא בהן אמרו חכמים סייג לפרישות נדרים. Okay, and I think we pointed out that it's the same, yeah, okay. Now the Rambam says, the Rambam actually here though on the Perush Hamishnayos is saying something more. Amar, let's, let me read here for a minute rabosai. אמר כשהיה נודר האדם נדרים על איזה דברים וקיומם ירכוש לעצמו הרגל הימנעות ממה שיצטרך להימנע ממנו ויקבע לו ויתאמת עליו הפרישות כלומר להישמר מן הטומאות.
So the Rambam here in Perush Hamishnayos is saying something more than the examples that we just read at the end of Hilchos Nedarim. The examples we just read in Hilchos Nedarim are a person finds that he's zolel v'sovei, he's eating meat gluttonously, and he's and he's abusing alcohol. So because of that, he's osar habasar alav or ואסר היין על עצמו. But the Rambam here is saying something more, and maybe to highlight it, let's see how the Rambam in Hilchos Deios quotes the mishna syag l'chochma shtika. So if you take a look at the end of perek beis here in Hilchos Deios, well not the end of perek beis, perek beis halacha daled v'hei. Perek beis halacha daled v'hei rabosai. לעולם ירבה אדם בשתיקה. It's a gevaldige gevaldige phrase. You don't really have a parallel phrase in English. I'm not sure that you can really literally translate this into English to be marbe b'shtika. Because leharbos means to has has the ultimate positive connotation, right? You're increasing. And for us, shtika sort of involves an absence. So we can't really put them together in in English, but in Lashon Hakodesh you can put them together. Adaraba, shtika's a shtika's a virtue. לעולם ירבה אדם בשתיקה ולא ידבר אלא או בדברי חכמה או בדברים שצריך להם לחיי גופו. אמרו על רב תלמיד רבנו הקדוש שלא שח שיחה בטלה כל ימיו. וזו היא שיחת רוב כל אדם. ואפילו בצרכי הגוף לא ירבה אדם דברים. ועל זה ציוו חכמים ואמרו כל המרבה דברים מביא חטא. ואמרו לא מצאתי לגוף טוב אלא שתיקה. וכן בדברי תורה ובדברי חכמה יהיו דברי החכם מעטים וענייניהם מרובים. והוא שציוו חכמים ואמרו לעולם ישנה אדם לתלמידו דרך קצרה. אבל אם היו הדברים מרובים והעניין מועט הרי זו סכלות. ועל זה נאמר כי בא החלום ברוב עניין וקול כסיל ברוב דברים.
syag l'chochma shtika. לפיכך לא ימהר להשיב ולא ירבה לדבר וילמד לתלמידים בשובה ונחת בלא צעקה.
So what are these two halachos? Hasn't the Rambam throughout halacha daled been talking about syag lachochma shtika? כל המרבה דברים מביא חטא. So it's a syag. It's a syag to be mima'et bidevarim. Since if a person's marbeh devarim, if a person talks too much, eventually he's gonna say, ich veis, he's gonna say, if not lashon hara, rachmana litzlan, or rechilus, it'll be avak lashon hara. If the person is describing something, the more he embellishes the description, the more likely he is to say something which isn't entirely accurate, which isn't entirely true. So he'll be nichshal in midas hasheker. So all of halacha daled the Rambam has been talking about syag lachochma shtika. So it's not that what he says in halacha hey is the application. He's already given the application before he articulated the klal. So my father zichrono livracha says a very, very beautiful pshat here and ממש ניכרים דברי אמת. The Rambam says that there's, the Rambam has two halachos, two distinct halachos because shtika is warranted for two different reasons. Number one, shtika is warranted as a harchaka, as a protective measure. That's what halacha daled is devoted to. The more I talk, that's what we just mentioned, so the more likely it is, rachmana litzlan, that I'll say something that should not be said. כל המרבה דברים מביא חטא. The Rambam seems to understand לא מצאתי לגוף טוב אלא שתיקה, meaning the guf with its propensity, with its yetzer hara, with its propensity for aveira, is לא מצאתי לגוף טוב אלא שתיקה. So halacha daled is talking about shtika as a preventive, protective measure. Halacha hey is different. Halacha hey the Rambam is talking about how shtika enhances what a person does say. Shtika not as a preventive, protective measure but shtika as something which facilitates and positively contributes. Not just that it helps avert negative, but it yields positive. Raya lekach that that's what the Rambam is discussing in halacha hey is that how is וילמד לתלמידים בשובה ונחת בלא צעקה? How is that part of syag lachochma shtika? Whether a person in teaching is speaking loudly or is speaking softly, it's the same number of words regardless of what the decibel level is. So how is that relevant and how does that come under the heading of syag lachochma shtika? But if in halacha hey syag lachochma shtika the Rambam is talking about shtika as a way, if a person is shosek and as a result speaks more sparingly, so then his words are targeted, his words are pinpointed, and because of that they accomplish more, they communicate more. So... It’s about shtika, but again since it’s about shtika not as a preventive protective measure, but it’s about shtika as a positive measure, so then halacha hey is also about maximizing koach hadibbur. So that’s what the Rambam says, maximizing koach hadibbur is takeh beloei avichos lashon, but equally other components of that is בשובה ונחת בלא צעקה. And that’s what Shlomo Hamelech says, דברי חכמים בנחת נשמעים. דברי חכמים בנחת נשמעים lachora means, again, nishma'im can, depending upon context, can just mean are heard, in which case דברי חכמים בנחת נשמעים means that since the chachamim speak softly, so that’s how they’re heard. If the person speaking to us is speaking softly, so what we on our end, we’re going to be hearing things that were said softly. But nishma also means to be accepted, right? Devarim nishma'im, so the idiom means that what the person said is accepted. And clearly that’s what the pshat in this pasuk in Koheles is, is דברי חכמים בנחת נשמעים. They’re nishma'im, they’re accepted, not just heard in terms of describing an auditory process, but they’re accepted. Devarim nishma'im, they’re accepted. Why? Because they’re said benachas. So what emerges, again all this is what my father zichrono livracha explained here in these two halachos, is that siyag here in the context of siyag lachochma shtika means, again, not a preventive protective measure, but something that’s designed to maximize the positive. And in the context of speech, the fact that a person is choseik, A, allows him to collect his thoughts, B, it allows him to say things sharply, crisply, which maximizes the effect that his words have. Now if you come back to our Rambam in Perush Hamishnayos, so lachora you’ll see that the Rambam has this havana, presented this havana already in the Perush Hamishnayos. אמר שאם נדר האדם נדרים על איזה דברים וקיימם לרכוש לעצמו את הרגל ההימנעות ממה שיצא להימנע ממנו.
A person can take a neder, I don’t know, a person has some hobby, so I’m not going to engage in my hobby until I finish such and such a task that I have every day. If a person will do that, so then that will give him the self-discipline not just because maybe I’m spending too much time on my hobby, it will give him the self-discipline in any other area as well, right? יקבע לו בתוך לבו הפרישות כלומר להישמר מן הטומאות. So the neder he’s taking has nothing to do with tumah. The neder can be in a totally different area. אף על פי כן, it will pave the way for perishus, which the Rambam says in this context means specifically lishamer min hatumos. So klar that what that means is that the nedarim asiyag laperishus, it’s not just that, see, lulei the Rambam we would have said that the person is being a zolel vesoveh. So I need a siyag. harchaka, and you have a preventive protective measure to prevent myself of being a zolel ve'sovei, so I take a neder al basar ve'yayin. But the Rambam very, very conspicuously doesn't say pshat like that. He says the neder is in whatever area, whatever, give any example you want, says the Rambam, and whatever that example may be, it will positively help develop the person, so that now tokel alav perishus, but davka in the area of of tuma. So clearly here the syag again is something which is is creating, again, it it retains the sense of syag in terms of withdrawal, but not not a withdrawal which is a preventive measure and a protective measure, but a withdrawal which is allowing for positive action. The syag of nedarim allows, is is a positive measure in terms of perishus. כמו שאמרנו בחגיגה בגדי עמי הארץ מדרס לפרושים. So there you see perushim used be'davka in the context of of tuma ve'tahara. Okay, maybe we'll come back to this Mishna, there's something else here as well, but maybe we'll come back to it בלי נדר אם ירצה השם. Hu hayah omer. What's the next Mishna? חביב אדם שנברא בצלם, חבה יתירה נודעת לו שנברא בצלם, שנאמר כי בצלם אלקים עשה את האדם. חביבין ישראל שנקראו בנים למקום, חבה יתירה נודעת להם שנקראו בנים למקום, שנאמר בנים אתם לה' אלקיכם. חביבין ישראל שניתן להם כלי חמדה שבו נברא העולם, חבה יתירה נודעת להם שניתן להם כלי חמדה שבו נברא העולם, שנאמר כי לקח טוב נתתי לכם תורתי אל תעזובו.
Amar, says the Rambam, כדי להודיע לאושר שהטיב לו את ערך הטובה היא הטבה נוספת, כי פעמים מיטיב עם אדם דרך רחמנות ואין מודיעים לו את ערך מה שעשו עמו, כי אין משתבחים בו.
Why is it a hatava nosefet to to be made aware of of what a person was gifted? Right? The Rambam says it's one tova to gift a person something, and then it's a hatava nosefet to make him aware of the value of that gift. So there's more than one aspect to it. In this context it would seem that for a person to make the most, for a person to make the most of a gift that he receives, he has to appreciate the fact that he's received the gift and the value of the gift. If a person would only know and and live with the awareness that he's b'tzelem Elokim, so he couldn't and therefore wouldn't behave in in ways. If a Jew always lived with the awareness of בנים אתם לה' אלהיכם, again there too he couldn't and therefore wouldn't act in ways that rachmana litzlan sometimes we do. He couldn't and wouldn't have the types of questions that we sometimes do rachmana litzlan. When a person behaves in a way that is unbecoming, often it's due to the fact that he doesn't have the self-awareness of who he is or what he is. If a person, if a Jew, lives with the constant awareness of banim lamakom, he couldn't and wouldn't squander life on דברים של מה בכך. Banim lamakom means a son has an open door, there's always an open door to the father's home. No such thing as a son who is unwelcome. I couldn't and wouldn't squander life, waste life, if I lived with that awareness of banim atem. But to live with that awareness of banim atem, I have to be made aware of it. So it's a chiba that we are banim lamakom, but it's a chiba yesaira that we're told of the fact that we're banim lamakom. So we understand the next point we're discussing, the Rambam doesn't comment on כי בצלם אלהים עשה את האדם, so the Mishna specifically quotes the pasuk from Parshas Noach rather than the pasuk in Maaseh Bereishis. Because the pasuk in Parshas Noach is addressed to Noach: שופך דם האדם באדם דמו ישפך כי בצלם אלהים עשה את האדם.
That pasuk is addressed to Noach, so we see that Noach is being apprised of the fact that בצלם אלהים עשה את האדם. And similarly the pasuk in Parshas Re'eh of בנים אתם לה' אלהיכם is a pasuk that's addressed to us. Where do you see in the pasuk of כי לקח טוב נתתי לכם תורתי אל תעזבו? Okay, so that pasuk is addressed to us, but where do you see that the Torah is the כלי שבו נברא עולם in that pasuk? So it's possible as follows. In Parshas Ki Sisa, when Moshe Rabbeinu asks הראני נא את כבדך, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells him כי לא יראני האדם וחי. However, אני אעביר כל טובי על פניך וקראתי בשם ה' לפניך וכולי.
So אני אעביר כל טובי על פניך. So how do the words translate literally? I will make all my goodness pass before you. So what does that mean? So the Rambam explains that kol tuvi on my goodness means the entire briah. And what Hakadosh Baruch Hu is promising Moshe Rabbeinu is you'll understand the hanhogas haborei and the chochmas haborei throughout the entire briah. How does kol tuvi mean the entire briah? Because if you go back to maise bereshis וירא אלהים כי טוב. ויאמר אלהים יהי אור וירא אלהים את האור כי טוב.
And at the end at the culmination is וירא אלהים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד. So the briah is referred to as tov. So mimeila that's what it means when Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu אני אעביר כל טובי על פניך. So maybe what it means is ki lekach tov, the torah of tov, the torah of the briah, meaning how is the torah the torah of the briah? Because it's the כלי שבו נברא עולם. Okay, let's see the next mishna. הכל צפוי והרשות נתונה ובטוב עולם נדון והכל לפי רוב המעשה אבל לא על פי המעשה. הפיסקא הזאת כוללת עניינים גדולים מאד ולא יהיו מעין הדברים הללו אלא לרבי עקיבא וזה פירושו בקיצור ובתנאי שתבין מה שקדם בפרקים שהוקדמו אמר כל מה שבעולם ידוע לפניו יתעלה והוא צופה אותם מראש והוא אמר הכל צפוי אחר כך אמר ואל תחשוב שכיוון שהוא יתעלה יודע המעשים מההכרח מחוייב שיהיה אדם אנוס על כל מעשה מן המעשים אין הדבר כן אלא כל אדם בחירה במה שהוא עושה והוא אמר והרשות נתונה כלומר רשות כל אדם נתונה לו כפי שביארנו בפרק השמיני.
So Hakol Tzafuy means that everything is seen in advance. Right? The Rambam clearly understands Hakol Tzafuy means not that Hakadosh Baruch Hu sees what is happening now but sees it in advance. I.E. knows the future because a tzafey is a scout. A scout, what's the role of a scout? A scout is supposed to see the enemy movement from afar, right? So he sees the enemy approaching before they arrive. So he sees what's unfolding. And hence Hakol Tzafuy means that Hakadosh Baruch Hu sees in quotation marks the future. Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows the future. That notwithstanding, that ידיעה העתידות מצידו של הקדוש ברוך הוא notwithstanding, harashus nesuna. A person has complete unfettered free will. The question is the Rambam says that only Rebbe Akiva could have said this mishna. I don't know. If Rebbe Akiva would have explained to us how that combination is possible, so then we would say past for Rebbe Akiva. But just to say that there's this combination, albeit we don't really understand that combination, but there is that combination, why is that ראוי דווקא לרבי עקיבא? You have to be Rebbe Akiva to have said that? I don't know, we can say it also. The kuntz is to understand it, right? The kuntz is to understand how those two are compatible. Just to state that we know that they're compatible, that we've been taught, we've been told they're compatible, that doesn't need Rebbe Akiva. So the... it's clear from the Rambam, again the question is how he sees it in the Mishnah, that Rabbi Akiva is not simply restating yesodos, but he's doing so based on ein hachinami, it's based on the havana of why those two phrases are not contradictory. And and you see that in the... again I'm not explaining how that is, I'm just sort of saying what it is without explaining it, but you see that from the following. Rambam says ובתנאי וזה פירושו בקיצור ובתנאי שתבין מה שקדם בפרקים שהוקדמו.
Rambam says you'll only fully understand the next few lines based on what I've discussed in Shemonah Perakim. I don't know, so we just read those few lines without bringing to mind anything in Shemonah Perakim and they seemed to go pretty smooth. We didn't get stuck in anything. So clearly when Rabbi Akiva says Hakol Tzafuy, Rabbi Akiva is saying Hakol Tzafuy, not that there's a contradiction between that and Harishus Nesunah and somehow or other both a and not a are true. No, Rabbi Akiva is saying Hakol Tzafuy and if you understand how Hakol Tzafuy, so then you'll realize that that still allows for Harishus Nesunah. Meaning that Rabbi Akiva's statement taka is reflecting an understanding of the compatibility as opposed to just stating as an article of faith that they're compatible. So that already you need to know what the Rambam tells us earlier in Shemonah Perakim that the possibility for הכל צפוי והרשות נתונה is that when we think the two are contradictory we're making the serious error of transposing, extrapolating from our experience and transposing that onto Hakadosh Baruch Hu. How do we know, let's say how do we know that it's daylight now? How do we know that that it's a clear day? How do we know that it's a warm day? So we only know it because it is, right? I look out the window and I see it, so I know that it is. Or maybe I have a satellite and I'm looking at the satellite and I know that what the satellite is beaming a picture of. So a person knows what is. A person... again the connection between him and what is is either its sensory perception or maybe it's logical deduction but a person knows what is. So when you extrapolate, for a person to know the future, the future would have to be set already and the only way a person is capable of knowing the future is if the future is set. So we therefore don't understand how yedias ha'asidos is compatible with bechirah chofshis because we're assuming Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows, with a k, the way we know. And the Rambam says that's a fallacy because Hakadosh Baruch Hu... we don't... we can't understand about how Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows, but one thing we can know and can understand is that yediah of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not what yediah is for us. It's not the same process but we know a little and Hakadosh Baruch Hu is omniscient He knows everything. And we know superficially and Hakadosh Baruch Hu is infinite so He knows to to all depth. No, yediah by Hakadosh Baruch Hu describes Something different than yediyah by us. Something that we can't understand because we can't understand Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Ha shehadavar kayn, there's only a question that yedias ha'osidos impinges upon bechirah when you assume you know how yediyah functions. So if that's being intimated, if when Rabbi Akiva's saying is hakol tzafui, but the hakol tzafui, the way it's tzafui allows for ha'reshus nesunah, so then technically we need to know what the Rambam has explained to us earlier in Shmonah Perakim, and we also, it's also, you need Rabbi Akiva to come in and explain such devarim amukim. Okay, maybe we'll stop here for now. Okay rabosai, everyone should have a good productive day, a gutte Shabbos, be well, be safe rabosai.