Chapter 12 of Kohelet is the conclusion of the book, and its final section serves as a testament: after clarifying all the vanities of this world, King Solomon points to that which truly endures - the words of the Torah and the words of the Sages. In this lesson, we will examine the verse "The words of the wise are like goads," the authority of the Sages' decrees, the fences and safeguards they instituted, the honor due to Torah scholars, and the question of how disputes can exist within a single Torah.
דִּבְרֵי חֲכָמִים כַּדָּרְבֹנוֹת וּכְמַשְׂמְרוֹת נְטוּעִים בַּעֲלֵי אֲסֻפּוֹת נִתְּנוּ מֵרֹעֶה אֶחָד׃ - "The words of the wise are like goads, and like well-driven nails are the masters of assemblies, given from one Shepherd."
The Pesikta Zutreta states: just as the goad guides the cow to plow straight in its furrow, so the words of the Sages guide Israel along the path of their Creator. The goad was a pole with a pointed nail at its tip; whenever the cow veered to the right or to the left, it received a light prick that brought it back to the furrow to walk in a straight line.
And what does this refer to? Rashi explains that it refers to the enactments of Chazal. The Sages established safeguards around the Torah to keep man far from transgression. According to the Torah, sacrificial meat may be eaten until dawn, yet the Sages restricted it to midnight; the same applies to the evening Shema; and in many other areas they instituted fences and safeguards. This is precisely like the goad directing the cow to its furrow: it keeps man on the straight path, ensuring that if he begins to stray, he immediately encounters a Rabbinic prohibition, thereby guaranteeing that he will not violate a Torah law.
For example, the Sages prohibited eating cold sausage with cheese, even though the Torah itself did not forbid this. The Torah prohibited only cooking meat and milk together - "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk" - and eating meat cooked with milk. If a person were permitted to eat cold sausage with cheese, tomorrow he might carelessly place a hot sausage next to cheese, resulting in an actual Torah violation. What did the Sages do? They built a fence. The fence is designed to keep a person from approaching the edge of the abyss, halting the fall before it begins. Thus, the words of the Sages are like goads - stopping a person before he deteriorates into an outright transgression.
The Midrash continues: Lest one say, just as a goad is easily handled and tossed aside - being merely a stick with a nail, an object of little value - might the words of the Sages likewise be treated lightly and discarded? Heaven forbid that we treat the words of the Sages as insignificant. To counter this, Solomon adds, "and like well-driven nails": just as nails driven into wooden planks cannot be dislodged, so the words of Torah are firm and enduring. There is no room to dismiss them, saying, "It is not serious, it is only a Rabbinic prohibition" - on the contrary, Rabbinic decrees are even more beloved than the primary wine of the Torah.
Lest you say: just as nails do not bear fruit, do words of Torah lack fruitfulness? Scripture states, "planted" - like the planting of a tree that bears fruit and multiplies. This is the wondrous nature of the holy Torah: the words of Torah bear fruit and secondary fruit. One opens a page of the Gemara and observes how much springs forth from those lines: Rashi explains, requiring meticulous attention to every word; Tosafot raise difficulties and resolve them, yielding fine legal distinctions; and following them come the Rashba, the Ritva, the Ran, the Rif, and the Rosh - a vast ocean of commentators and elucidators, who represent the Torah's fruitfulness and growth.
For when one identifies a contradiction between two passages, one is forced to draw a distinction: there it speaks of one set of circumstances, and here of another. Then one opens the Shulchan Aruch and finds that these two categories, the very distinction born of a contradiction in the Gemara, are codified as halachah. This is literal fruit. Let no one ask, "What more is written in the Gemara?" What is written in the Gemara, when analyzed deeply through rigorous study, gives birth to distinctions and rationales that are all codified as binding halachah.
It is well known that Avraham Avinu possessed four hundred chapters of Tractate Avodah Zarah, whereas we have only five. What does this mean? Did he have a Torah that we do not? The answer is that much of what appears in our books as debates among the Rishonim, the Acharonim, and the later authorities was, in the time of Avraham Avinu, the text of the Gemara itself. That is what he studied. Imagine if we were to compile an explicit Gemara from all of these commentaries; the Shas could not be transported in a cardboard box, but would require entire trucks and trains. The text of the Gemara is concise, yet it bears infinite fruit.
"Baalei asufot" - Rashi explains, citing Dunash ben Labrat, one of the grammarians, that these are nails with wide heads, a gathered, thick top. There are headless nails and nails with a head, and the advantage of a nail with a head is that it fastens far more securely. If you join two boards with a headless nail, they are liable to come apart; but with a nail that has a head, it is very difficult to separate them, for the head grips and holds them fast. This is the meaning of "like nails" - a bond guaranteed never to come apart.
"Given by one shepherd" - one faithful servant spoke them, from the mouth of the One God. "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel": one faithful leader is Moshe, and the Faithful One is the Holy One, blessed be He, for Hashem is El Melech Ne'eman, a faithful King.
Our Sages also expound: when a person hears words of Torah from his teacher, he must take his words into his heart like a goad, and "like well-fastened nails" - so that the words of Torah become planted in his heart. That is, when you have heard and received a teaching - review it, drill it, remember it. And why? The verse continues to explain: "Baalei asufot" - the masters of wisdom are gathered to their eternal home.
How deeply a person regrets it when he once had a great sage to consult, and suddenly has no moneychanger with whom to exchange his coins! He used to present every question before him, bringing every dilemma to his door - and now, when the masters of the assemblies have been gathered in, he has no one to whom he can bring his queries. True, he still receives answers, but they do not carry the same weight as a response from the Ben Ish Chai or the Chafetz Chaim. Now he must ask those who came after them, and one says this, another says that, and a third offers a third opinion; had we the clear rulings of earlier generations, matters would be far more definitively settled. Therefore, scripture tells you: take heed, whatever you hear from a sage - drive it into your heart like a goad and fix it like an immovable nail, for the sages are gathered to their eternal rest, and from whom will you learn Torah then? And once he has heard them - let these words not depart from his eyes, but let him keep his gaze upon them constantly.
Rashi cites an additional interpretation: do not read "kamasmerot" (like nails), but "kemishmarot" (like watches or divisions) - corresponding to the twenty-four priestly shifts, and corresponding to the twenty-four books of Scripture. In other words: fix your eyes upon the twenty-four books that comprise the entire Tanach, do not let your gaze stray from them, and then they will be for you like firmly planted watches.
The holy Alshich explains that this is a continuation of what was said earlier: a person should not invent ideas from his own heart or follow the doctrines of philosophers, but should cleave solely to what the holy Torah says. For what was transmitted to us in the Torah - the words of the wise are like goads, ethical guidance (mussar) that directs a person straight toward the service of Hashem; "like well-fastened nails" refers to the laws of the Torah in the Mishnayot and Baraitot, from which nothing may be altered. "Well-fastened" (literally, planted) - do not uproot what is planted; leave it established without alterations. "Baalei asufot" - these are the teachings gathered from here and there, and all were given by one Shepherd, transmitted from the mouth of the Almighty.
If so, why seek out the theories, opinions, and sayings of philosophers, where each fabricates notions from his own imagination? You have teachings transmitted from the mouth of the Almighty, firmly planted nails, ethical guidance and laws directly from Hashem, may He be blessed. Why should a person construct moral codes and doctrines from his own intellect, when they lack any root in the Torah? About the inventions of your own mind you cannot say "they were given by one Shepherd," nor can you claim they possess holiness. In contrast, everything we receive within the Torah is holiness itself - words of Torah transmitted directly from Hashem.
And the difference is practically evident. Our early authorities wrote works of mussar based entirely on biblical verses and the words of Chazal: anyone who reads Mesillat Yesharim, Shaarei Teshuvah, or Orchot Tzaddikim will find on every single page ten to twenty pesukim, for all their words are built upon Gemaras and verses, upon rock-solid foundations. On the other hand, Aristotle also wrote ethics books - but how many people know them? Who studies them? Yet is there anyone who has not studied Mesillat Yesharim? Is there any yeshivah where Shaarei Teshuvah is not learned? People joke about a baal teshuvah who went on a shidduch date; when the young woman asked him if he had read Mesillat Yesharim, he replied, "I haven't read the book, but I saw the movie..." In any event, these sacred works are firmly planted nails. They are not notions that someone concocted only to remain languishing somewhere in a library as a dead letter; words of Torah are living and enduring, nails firmly planted to this very day.
Rabbi Idan, director of Arachim in Bnei Brak, related a story: A certain lawyer had a case before Rav Nissim Karelitz, and the ruling was not to his liking. He spoke out very harshly against the Rav, and not satisfied with that, he even subpoenaed him to civil court, demanding that the Rav appear and testify. Heaven forbid, "and our enemies are judges" - that the Gadol HaDor should stand trial before desecrators of Shabbat and wicked men. The judge heard his arguments, completely vindicated Rav Nissim Karelitz, rejected the lawyer's foolish claims, and threw him out of court.
Not two years passed, and that same lawyer, riding a motorcycle, was involved in an accident with a truck. The details were horrific: they had to scrape him off the road; he was torn to pieces. And who came to offer comfort? Rav Nissim Karelitz himself. That lawyer was still unmarried, and the Rav came to comfort his parents. The father told the Rav: "When my son did what he did, I told him - know that you are playing with fire; go and ask his forgiveness; the honor of Torah scholars is something the Holy One, blessed be He, does not forgive." But he refused to listen. And then the father said something chilling: "I am not surprised at what he received - I am only amazed at how the Holy One, blessed be He, waited two years for him."
How terrifying. A person takes the words of the Sages and rebels against them, speaking against the Gedolim - how can he not fear? Where is the fear of Hashem? This is the meaning of "well-fastened nails": even if you pull out the nail, the hole remains. Do not imagine this is the sort of thing from which one heals - there is no remedy for his strike.
The Midrash continues: These declare tamei and these declare tahor, these forbid and these permit, these disqualify and these validate. Lest a person say: How can I study Torah now? What shall I do - is it permitted or forbidden, kosher or invalid, tahor or tamei? The verse teaches: "They were all given from one Shepherd" - one God gave them, one leader spoke them, from the mouth of the Master of all deeds, blessed be He, as it is stated, "And God spoke all these words."
What does this mean? When the Holy One, blessed be He, taught Moses the Torah on high, do not think He taught him only one single ruling. There is an explicit Midrash that the Holy One, blessed be He, taught Moses forty-nine facets of tahor and forty-nine facets of tamei for every single law - in every law there are forty-nine aspects favoring purification and forty-nine favoring defilement. And when one hears one Sage declaring a matter tahor and another declaring it tamei, it means that one is presenting an aspect that rules it tamei, and the other is presenting an aspect that rules it tahor.
And if you ask: What is the truth? There is no such question here - it is all truth; this is true and that is true. The question of "How shall I act?" is an entirely different matter: that is a question of halachic ruling. Since it is impossible to act in accordance with both opinions simultaneously, and one cannot leave the Torah up to every individual so that each person does whatever he "connects to" - we have a Torah, and therefore there is a practical decision and there are rules of halachic ruling: Rabbi Akiva over his colleague but not over his colleagues, Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish the Halachah follows Rabbi Yochanan, Rav and Shmuel in matters of prohibitions - rules designed so that we know how to conduct ourselves.
In truth, the disputes are few. Although there are disputes regarding many matters, they pertain primarily to details and not to the core principles. Is there any dispute as to whether tefillin are square or round, black or green, four passages or five? No. The dispute is only regarding the order of the passages: Kadesh, VeHaya Ki Yevi'acha, Shema, VeHaya Im Shamoa - or Kadesh, VeHaya Ki Yevi'acha, VeHaya Im Shamoa, Shema; Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam.
The same applies to Shabbat: Is there any dispute whether there are thirty-nine primary labors, or forty-two, or eighty-six? There is no such dispute. And even regarding the labors themselves, there is almost no dispute; there are only isolated cases, such as one who removes the weaver's reed or inserts the rod, and even there the debate is whether it is forbidden by Torah law or not. In the fundamentals, there is no dispute. Therefore, when asking, "What is the Halachah, like this authority or like that one?" - a decision can be reached. But when asking, "What is the truth?" - the question is irrelevant, for it is all truth, both being different facets of the Torah.
This is comparable to people looking at a book and being asked what they see. One says: "I see something hard." The second says: "Nonsense, I see something soft." The third says: "I see brown." The fourth says: "Are you blind? I see white." Who is right? They are all right. The one who said hard and brown was looking at the cover, and the one who said soft and white was looking at the pages. Everything is correct - they are different facets of the very same object. So it is with the disputes of the Sages: different facets of the same law, forty-nine aspects of tahor and forty-nine aspects of tamei. Only the practical ruling must be one. To come and claim "this one is right and that one is wrong" is a misunderstanding, for it is all truth.
This is especially true regarding the Aggadot of Chazal, where everything is certainly true. Even if Chazal state that a certain figure is actually someone else, while another source identifies him differently - from different perspectives, both are true. It may refer to a gilgul (reincarnation), where he is a reincarnation of both this person and that one. Or it may mean that this figure possessed the nature and character traits of the other, and the same spiritual manifestation present in the latter was found in him as well - such as Bil'am, Lavan, or Cushan-Rish'atayim, where the very same wickedness found expression in each of them. Therefore, when you encounter multiple opinions in Chazal, the Maharal and others explain that all of it is truth, and one must resolve them to understand in what respect each statement is correct. There is no truth and falsehood here; rather, whatever was transmitted from Hashem is truth, and you must accept it all. And if you should ask, "How then can I study Torah?" - all of them were given by one Shepherd; one G-d gave them, one leader spoke them, from the mouth of the Master of all works, blessed be He.
However, we must take care not to fall into distortion. Some rely on the principle of "seventy faces to the Torah" and declare: "If so, I too can innovate an interpretation of my own!" A story is told of a certain Tanach teacher who said this, to which she was answered: "There is another 'face' mentioned by Chazal - 'the face of the generation is like the face of a dog' - and your words resemble that face far more than the seventy faces of the Torah." In other words, this does not apply to nonsense. "Seventy faces to the Torah" applies when authoritative Sages speak; then we say that this is another facet and another perspective, and all of it is truth transmitted to Moshe at Sinai.
"The words of the wise are like goads" - the safeguards instituted by the Sages direct a person along the path of his Creator and stop him before he falls; "and like firmly embedded nails" - they are permanent and steadfast, and they even bear fruit like a planted sapling, yielding the detailed distinctions and applications ruled in halachah; "masters of collections" - like a nail with a head that fastens firmly and does not let go, which also serves as an admonition to absorb the words of the Sages during their lifetimes, before they are gathered to their eternal home. From this also arises the great gravity of honoring Torah scholars, for whoever harms them plays with fire and has no remedy for his affliction. And finally - "they were given by one Shepherd": even the disputes are all truth, forty-nine facets of purity and forty-nine facets of impurity transmitted to Moshe from the Almighty, and only the practical halachic ruling is singular, determined according to the rules of psak handed down to us by the Sages.