הכל צפוי והרשות נתונה ובטוב העולם נידון והכל לפי רוב המעשה. הפסקה הזאת כוללת עניינים גדולים מאוד ולא היו מעין הדברים הללו אלא לרבי עקיבא. וזה פירושו בקיצור ובתנאי
the first part we saw last time, so we'll just read through it to get to where we had left off. וזה פירושו בקיצור ובתנאי שתבין מה שקדם בפרקים שהוא תמול אמר כל מה שבעולם ידוע לפניו יתעלה והוא צופה אותו מראש והוא אמר הכל צפוי.
Again, as we mentioned, Hakol tzafui as a scout, meaning he sees what's at a distance. So Hakol tzafui doesn't mean that Hakadosh Baruch Hu sees the present, no, Hakol tzafui, Hakadosh Baruch Hu sees what's at a distance, meaning the future. אחר כך אמר ואל תחשוב שכיוון שהוא יתעלה יודע המעשים ההכרח מחויב ושיהיה האדם אנוס על כל מעשה מן המעשים.
The fact that Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows the future, don't think that that dictates that things are predetermined, אלא כל אדם בחירה במה שהוא עושה. A person has the free will והוא אמר והרשות נתונה. He has the wherewithal, he has the capacity. Again, reshut not in the sense of permission, but reshut more in the sense of as in Perek Beis about Hevu zehirin barashus. Reshus means in that context it means the secular authorities, it means those who have the power. So in this context, it means the wherewithal, the capacity והרשות נתונה כלומר רשות כל אדם נתונה לו כפי שביארנו בפרק השמיני.
Here in the Peirush Hamishnayos, it's not relevant, so the Rambam doesn't present it, but in Hilchos Teshuva where he happens to use that same phrase, but in Hilchos Teshuva in פרק ה' הלכה א', if you take a look rabosai, רשות כל אדם נתונה לו אם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך טובה ולהיות צדיק הרשות בידו ואם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך רעה ולהיות רשע הרשות בידו.
The same again from our Mishna, the Rambam uses that lashon reshus. הוא שכתוב בתורה הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו לדעת טוב ורע כלומר הן מין זה של אדם היה אחד בעולם ואין לו מין שני דומה לו בזה העניין שיהיה הוא מעצמו בדעתו ובמחשבתו יודע הטוב והרע ועושה כל מה שהוא חפץ ואין לו מי שיעכב על ידו מלעשות הטוב או הרע.
So the Rambam here teitsches the pasuk in Shmona Perakim, which he actually, I think the reason the Rambam isn't maarich here is because he refers us back to Shmona Perakim where he was maarich. In Shmona Perakim, the Rambam tells us that the makor of what he's saying is the Targum Onkelos. The way the Rambam is teitsching the pasuk of הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו. So Rashi, the way Rashi interprets this pasuk of הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו is that echad means like Avimelech says כמעט שכב אחד העם. Echad sometimes means the unique one, and mimenu means from amongst us. So kavyachol, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is talking to the malachim and says that adam lemata is k'echad mimenu, is like the unique one amongst us, meaning yachid ba'elyonim lemala. And if he'll live forever, so then people will think there are shtei reshuyos, and so it's necessary to forestall that, to prevent that possibility. That's how Rashi teitsches k'echad mimenu, right the way the trop goes also that echad goes with mimenu. The Rambam teitsches הן האדם היה כאחד. Onkelos says it's understood, Onkelos puts in Yechidi be'alma. Onkelos puts in the word be'alma. Adam is unique. In what sense is Adam unique? He's unique in that ממנו לדעת טוב ורע. That from within, internally, mimenu, bedaytoh umachshavtoh, mimenu, internally he has the capacity lada'as tov v'ra. That that's how the Onkelos, that's how Onkelos taytshes, הן האדם היה כאחד, he's k'achad be'alma. be'alma Onkelos puts in, it's understood in the in the posuk. And then mimenu goes with the lada'as tov v'ra. mimenu, that's in Yiddish you say fun zich, that mimenu means bedaytoh umachshavtoh, from from within he has the capacity he has the the capacity לדעת לדעת טוב ורע. So this is very, very important in the following sense. I think generally if if we're asked to, I don't know, give what does it mean that we have bechira chafshis? So we generally say, you know, we have the we have free will to decide what to do. To decide what to do. That we make our own our own choices in life. And the Rambam says it means much more than that. That's only really the second half of what what what the yesod is. The second half is that we have the freedom to decide. The first half is that we have the capacity to recognize what's right and wrong and then we have the free will to decide accordingly. But the first half is that ממנו לדעת טוב ורע, that a person Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us the the ability to understand, to discern, to differentiate between tov and between tov and ra. And and as is the trademark of of any any true insight, you know, once once we hear it, so the reaction is, well, of course, because vos taytsh mir of what what what does it do? What does it accomplish that a person has free will if he doesn't have the knowledge to be able to to decide how to exercise that that that that free will? So what what do I what do I gain by having bechira chafshis if I don't have the capacity to differentiate tov and ra and so I have free will, so I can decide, you know, heads I'll do this and and and tails I'll I'll I'll do that. That's what bechira chafshis is. אמר ומשפטי השם עם בני אדם אינם אלא לחסד, meaning despite the fact that we have bechira, that that's the hemshech in the Mishnah, despite the fact that we have bechira and therefore there is accountability and one might have expected that that therefore we should be subjected and and held accountable only and purely by the strictest middas hadin. That's not true. ובטובו עולם נידון ומשפטי השם עם בני אדם אינם אלא לחסד. לא בשורת הדין המוטל עליהם. כמו שפירש יתברך מתארו ואמר ארך אפים ורב חסד. ואמרו חז"ל שארך אפים לצדיקים ולרשעים. ואמר הנביא ותהיה טוב השם לכל.
Achar kach amar and the Rambam continues שהמעלות אינן מושגות על פי גודל המעשה אלא על פי ריבוי מנין המעשה.
The way a person internalizes a middah is only through constant reinforcement. So it's not necessarily the magnitude of a one-time action, but it's rather the the frequency of the of the repeated actions which will determine whether a person is able to to cultivate a... A particular a particular midda. כי המעלות אינן מושגות אלא בחזור וכפל את המעשים הטובים פעמים רבות ובזה תקנה הרגילות.
And and that's how a person makes it habitual. That's how a person, again, cultivates and and internalizes the trait. לא שיעשה האדם פעולה אחת גדולה מפעולות הטוב. One big splash, כי זה לבדו אין נקנית בו רגילות. hamashal baze, an example, אדם שנתן למי שזכאי לכך אלף דינרים בבת אחת. There's an oni who has accumulated a lot of debt rachmana litzlan, and this person who who has the resources to do so, so he cuts him a big check. uleadam acher, so he writes a big check, he gives him $10,000. So one check for $10,000. אין נקנית לו מעלת הנדיבות במעשה הבודד הזה הגדול. The effect that that has on the person, on the donor, is not comparable כפי שנקנית למי שנתנדב אלף פעמים באלף דינרים ונתן כל דינר מהם דרך נדיבות.
Now each time he's walking down the street and and a bona fide oni, a bona fide nitzrach comes and asks, or he tells him it's lemezonos, so so he doesn't have to be bodek, and and he responds time after time to need, כי זה נכפל על ידו. So even though they both have the same the same tax deduction in terms of how much money they gave to tzedaka, כי זה נכפל על ידו פעולת הנדיבות אלף פעמים ונקנה לו הרגל חזק וזה פעם אחת בלבד התעורר נפשו התעוררות גדולה למעשה טוב ואחר כך פירש מזה.
See, maybe a mashal for the Rambam's mashal is like this. Let's say a person is is looking to, I don't know, maybe because his muscles atrophied, or just stam a person is looking to to build muscle mass. So lichora, it's it's certainly the case, the fact that he'll on a one-time basis, he'll he'll lift something that weighs ich veis, I don't know, 500 pounds, and and efsher, he'll, I don't know, the adrenaline will be will be flowing and and he'll be able to do that. Or he'll go to the, no, go to the gym day in and day out and and lift a smaller a smaller weight. So clearly, it's how many times you exercise the muscle. It's not, the muscle has to be exercised, you can't lift a pencil and and expect to to make too much progress. But it's how many times, right? It's how many times the person exercises the muscle rather than how how much weight was was lifted. So the same thing is true when when we're talking about a spiritual muscle as it were, when we're talking about developing a midda, it's how many times the person again exercises that that muscle for generosity. That's what's going to get that muscle into into into shape. Now clearly, right? It's clear that, let's say a person comes and and the person right away, you know, the the bank is going to foreclose on on on his home, and and he needs he needs a loan right now of $5,000 to to make a payment to prevent a foreclosure. So what are you going to do? And and let's say the person can afford to to make that loan, to extend that loan. So he's going to say, no, he's going to say it's a befeirush Rambam in Peirush Hamishnayos, אבל לא על פי המעשה. No, I'll give you, come today I'll give you a dollar, you'll come tomorrow I'll give you another dollar, and gradually over the course of the next 15 years or so, I'll give you the the Rambam is talking about if if a person can do that without Obviously a person can't can't apply this mishna at the expense of the oni of the nitzrach. The same yesod that the way we acquire a midah, the way we internalize a midah, is through the constant repetition and reinforcement. So the Rambam has here in Hilchos Deios as well פרק א הלכה ז וכיצד ירגיל אדם עצמו בדעות אלו עד שיקבעו בו.
How does a person again embed these character traits within himself? How does he internalize them? ya'aseh v'yishneh v'yeshaleish, פרק א הלכה ז ya'aseh v'yishneh v'yeshaleish במעשים שעושה על פי הדעות הממוצעות ויחזור בהם תמיד. It requires constant reinforcement. The reinforcement is necessary not only to develop the midah in the first place, but it's also indispensable to retain the midah. It's not just, well, I need to constantly ya'aseh v'yishneh v'yeshaleish to initially become the midah of nedivus, but once it was acquired, so then, no. Let's say over the course of the year an oni or someone, they have on a monthly basis they're going to need help. So you can write them a check for a thousand dollars at the beginning of the year, which they'll then use, ich veis, eighty dollars or so a month, or you can write them a monthly check. So the Rambam says, again assuming that they don't feel badly about the fact that they're getting repeated checks, assuming that it's not a machshiv, write the twelve checks. So the Rambam says that remains even if a person has already been koneh that midah of nedivus, that remains. The tamid here is that the Rambam tells us here in our mishna is just al pi ma'aseh. How do you know that even after the person was koneh the midah that it also requires this constant reinforcement? So that the Rambam discusses earlier back in Perek Beis. If you take a look in פרק ב משנה ד, in again, the numbering of the mishnayos differs, but in this edition it's Mishna Daled here. הלל אומר אל תפרוש מן הציבור. הלל אומר אל תפרוש מן הציבור ואל תאמין בעצמך עד יום מותך.
So if you take a look in the Rambam, the Rambam writes אמר כי האדם אף על פי שהוסכלה תכונה מעולה בנפשו ונתחזקה.
Exactly what we're talking about here in the end of Perek Gimmel in Avos in the Rambam in Perek Aleph, that the person's already been koneh the midah. It's not a question that the person doesn't have the midah. No, he's a tremendous philanthropist, again and again and again he's acted with nedivus. אמר כי האדם אף על פי שהוסכלה תכונה מעולה בנפשו ונתחזקה לא ישיב ידו מלחזור ולעשות הטובות כדי להוסיף בה חיזוק.
v'lo yiftach v'yomar, a person shouldn't complacently feel that מעלה זו כבר הוסכלה ולא ייתכן שתסור כי אפשר שתסור.
It's never locked in. It needs the constant reinforcement and that's what we just read in the Rambam in Hilchos Deios of v'yachzor bahem tamid. וכן בטובה אין שכר מי שפדה שבוי במאה דינרים, back to the Rambam. and in the end of perek gimmel in the Perush Hamishnayot וכן בתורה אין שכר מי שפדה שבוי במאה דינרים או עשה צדקה עם עני במאה דינרים שהן די מחסורו כמי שפדה עשרה שבויים או השלים מחסור עשרה עניים ואפילו בעשרה דינרים ועל פי זה תדון וזהו עניין לפי רוב המעשה
right the number of instances as opposed to לא על פי המעשה as opposed to whatever the cumulative effect on others of the one of the maisem is. You know this on the one hand it's kind of it's certainly sobering and one can one should one can even sort of process it in a way that's discouraging. What the Rambam what we just read that the Rambam in commenting on Hillel's אל תאמין בעצמך עד יום מותך ולא יבטח ויאמר מעלה זו כבר הוחזקה ולא ייתכן שתסור כי אפשר שתסור
which basically means that a person can never let his guard down. So it is and should be sobering. It can be but shouldn't be discouraging in that you know we would sort of like things to be משל למה הדבר דומה let's say someone hands you a lot of cash so you feel very vulnerable because if you lose the envelope or chas v'shalom someone comes and steals so then it's not like a check that you can call the bank and stop payment to something. You're gonna be totally out. So you feel a sense of relief when you get to the bank and you hand it to the teller and then it's now in a federally insured account so you feel a sense of relief. So we would like to we'd like to do that with you know okay so you know I'd like to deposit you know the midas hanadivus you know baruch Hashem you know it was a long hard journey but you know and says the Rambam don't think to yourself לא ייתכן שתסור כי אפשר שתסור but the emes is that אל תאמין בעצמך עד יום מותך is just the other side of the coin of עד יום מותו תחכה לו that even if a person is kol yamav b'aveirah he can do teshuvah b'acharonah. And we can't have one without the other. So to know that no matter how many times I've acted on a midah ra'ah I still have the potential to correct that. I still have the potential to change that. So for that reality to exist so then the אל תאמין בעצמך עד יום מותך has to exist also. And for that reason it's not discouraging. It's sobering but it shouldn't be discouraging because it's part of something which means that there's always potential that there's always hope that there's always room for a person to improve for a person to redeem for a person to grow no matter how old and no matter how impacted the problems are. הוא היה אומר הכל נתון. Who says this? This is still Rabbi Akiva. הוא היה אומר הכל נתון בערבון והמצודה פרוסה על כל החיים והחנות פתוחה והחנוני מקיף והפנקס פתוח והיד כותבת וכל הרוצה ללוות יבוא וילווה והגבאים מחזירים תמיד בכל יום ונפרעים מן האדם לדעתו ושלא לדעתו ויש להם על מה שיסמוכו והדין דין אמת והכל מתוקן לסעודה.
What does the Rambam say? Makif, ממתין לחוב ואינו תובע לאלתר. He extends credit. והמשל הזה ברור ועניינו ידוע. Right, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu erech apayim. And that the din v'cheshbon isn't, isn't instantaneous. ומה שאמר וכל הרוצה ללוות יבוא וילווה, מחזק את העניין הקודם.
Again, so loveh in this, again, loveh means that a person incurs debt. So again, that's a mashal that a person can incur moral, spiritual liability rachmana litzlan. מחזק את העניין הקודם שאין שם מכריח ולא אונס. It's כל הרוצה ללוות יבוא וילווה. The halva'ah is not, is not imposed. אלא על פי בחירת האדם הוא עושה מה שירצה ממעשיו.
u'mah she'amar hagaba'in הוא משל על המיתה ועל ייסורי הייסורים הבאים על האדם.
So if one sort of wants to describe what with this very powerful evocative imagery that Rabbi Akiva is using, what Rabbi Akiva is communicating is that we should live with a sense of accountability. והכל מתוקן לסעודה שכל זה התכלית הוא חיי עולם הבא.
And a person should recognize that even though at times we certainly fall prey to this illusion that Olam Hazeh is a bridge, Olam Hazeh is something which is, which is transient. רבי אלעזר בן עזריה אומר: אם אין תורה אין דרך ארץ אם אין דרך ארץ אין תורה אם אין חכמה אין יראה אם אין יראה אין חכמה אם אין דעת אין בינה אם אין בינה אין דעת אם אין קמח אין תורה אם אין תורה אין קמח.
What does that mean? Says the Rambam: כוונתו בזה שכל אחד מהם מועיל למציאות השני ומשלימו. There's a reciprocity between the two. Each one complements the other. So let's say for instance, אם אין תורה אין דרך ארץ אם אין דרך ארץ אין תורה.
Translating derech eretz in this context as the Rambam sometimes does to mean a person's middos. So on the one hand, the mitzvos haTorah are designed to guide the person in cultivating the proper middos, to mold his middos. So אם אין תורה אין דרך ארץ. Me'idach gisa, and again, not in a circular sense, אם אין דרך ארץ אין תורה, the more, the more corrupt a person's middos are, so then the less receptive. He is the Torah. So the two complement each other. The two complement each other. אמנם דברו בבינה ובדעת but let's say the last example, אם אין קמח אין תורה ואם אין תורה אין קמח.
What does it mean אם אין קמח אין תורה? If a person is, is going to be afflicted rachmana litzlan with dikdukei aniyus, so it's going to cause some bitul Torah in terms of he's going to be worried and preoccupied yomam va-layla with trying to pay off debts and with trying to find where the next, how he's going to pay the next month's electric bill rachmana litzlan. On the other, what does it mean אם אין תורה אין קמח? For the kemach to be meaningful, for the time spent on on earning a parnassah, on on having what one needs physically, materially, for that to be meaningful, for that to be redeemed and elevated, so that's only if there's Torah. So there's a a reciprocal relationship between each of these pairs. They they complement each other. אמנם דברו בבינה ובדעת הוא עניין פילוסופי דק מאוד. It's very subtle. ואני אזכירו ובהסתמך על הבנת מי שעיין כבר בעניין הזה והוא כי הדעה הזאת המושגת לנו והנקנית על ידינו אינה אלא השגתנו את המושכלות שאנו משיגים ואין שאנו מנתחים את הצורה ונשכל בה או שנשיג את הצורות הנפרדות במציאותן מבלי שנקבע הם אנחנו דעה אלא הם במציאותם דעה וההשגה הזאת היא הנקראת בינה והיא הדעת ובדעת גם נשכל ותהיה לנו יכולת להשיג מה שנשיג וכאילו הוא אומר אם לא נשיג מושכל אין לנו דעת ואם אין לנו דעת לא נשיג מושכל כי בדעת נשיגהו ולהבין זאת קשה ואפילו מן הספרים שנתחברו בזה כל שכן מכאן אלא הנחינו לזה הנחייה בלבד.
So there's actually sort of two two layers here. But just for today, maybe I'm not sure this is the first layer or maybe this is preliminary to what the Rambam is talking about. Well when the Rambam Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah talks about the tzelem Elokim, so it's clear from the Rambam's presentation that tzelem Elokim one can speak of it on either of two levels or on either of two dimensions. There's tzelem Elokim with which a person is born. A person is created be-tzelem Elokim. A person is born be-tzelem Elokim. But that's only a potential tzelem Elokim. Then if the person can can realize that and can actualize the tzelem Elokim. So on the one hand, the person needs that tzelem Elokim. He needs that capacity for da'as in order to attain the da'as Hashem which will translate into yiras Hashem ve-chulu, dikduk be-mitzvos. So a person needs the da'as in order to be able to attain the da'as. Mi-idach gisa, until and unless he attains it, what he has is not really da'as. And and that's one sort of one level on which the reciprocity between the da'as and binah exists. That on the one hand, the capacity needs to be there, but mi-idach gisa, the capacity in and of itself is is meaningless if if it's not in unless it's it's realized. And and that's one level on which the reciprocity exists. The only thing is what we said now was not so deep. is not so profound. The רמב"ם is talking about something here which he says is tremendously deep and tremendously profound, so obviously there's more to it than this, but we'll leave it, we'll leave it there for today. Okay. I thank everyone very much for their forbearance.