In chapter 7, King Solomon arrives at one of the sharpest and most surprising warnings in the book: a warning against excessive righteousness. Not against wickedness, but against a person who seeks to be better, more stringent, more compassionate - than what the Creator of the world asked of him. We will explore verse 16, its various explanations, and what emerges from it for our own lives.
אַל תְּהִי צַדִּיק הַרְבֵּה וְאַל תִּתְחַכַּם יוֹתֵר לָמָּה תִּשּׁוֹמֵם׃ - Do not be overly righteous, and do not make yourself excessively wise; why should you desolate yourself?
Midrash Zuta explains that the verse speaks of King Saul. Scripture states: "And Saul came to the city of Amalek, and contended in the valley (vayarov banachal)." Rabbi Bena'ah said: He began contending with words concerning the decapitated heifer (eglah arufah). He said before Him: Master of the Universe, this one commits murder and this calf's neck is broken and it atones? Where is the justice? The murderer killed, and the calf pays with its life and atones for him? And the Rabbis say: He contended with words against the Holy One, blessed be He. He said: Master of the Universe, Samuel told me, 'Go and utterly destroy Amalek' - if man sinned, how did the animals sin? Why strike from infant to suckling, from ox to sheep? A heavenly voice went forth and proclaimed: Do not be overly righteous - more than your Creator.
This is the crux of the matter: if the Holy One, blessed be He, Who is the source of all mercy and compassion, commands to do so - do not be more compassionate than He is. As Reish Lakish said: Whoever becomes compassionate toward the cruel ultimately becomes cruel toward the compassionate.
We have spoken of this before: when a person's scale of values is distorted, the distortion is not localized; it extends across the entire spectrum. Take, for example, people filled with hatred, anger, and alienation toward the observant and toward those who hold fast to the Land of Israel - the corruption does not end there. Those very individuals who harbor such intense animosity toward anything bearing a Jewish flavor display great affection toward anything bearing a Palestinian flavor. And where is the logic? Right-wing members of Knesset are treated as extremists unfit to sit in parliament, while someone who voiced explicit support for murderers and terrorists, terrible statements that require no interpretation, was deemed fit to be welcomed into the fold. Who can fathom such a distortion? There are no shortcuts here: whoever is cruel to the merciful will ultimately have mercy on the cruel.
One recalls from years ago, after the Pesach bombing at the Park Hotel in Netanya - may such distress never arise again - when they began imposing closures on the territories before every festival. Large billboards appeared near the Reading power station: "You will have a tranquil Pesach, and the Palestinians will be under closure." What compassion! After all, they only want to come and blow themselves up here - why not let them? A catchy slogan is all it takes to spread the greatest absurdities. And where does such distortion come from? Notice that all these distortions are found specifically among those who consume non-kosher carcasses, creeping creatures, rodents, swine, and hares. The mind simply no longer functions straight. The person becomes completely warped, and you see him acting cruel toward the merciful and merciful toward the cruel.
During the days of the Disengagement, leftist organizations mobilized to help. But do not rush to see the noble side: they launched an "Adopt a Dog" campaign - because the settlers were leaving and could not bring their dogs to the hotels, leaving stray animals behind. And perhaps adopt a settler? No, after all, they chose to live there. But the dogs - what fault is it of theirs? This is the warped individual: where one ought to act straight, he is contrary, and all his values are inverted.
Saul, to make a thousand distinctions, was known to be a great tzaddik. Yet he had pity where he should not have had pity, and ultimately acted with cruelty where he should not have been cruel - in Nov, the city of the kohanim, where he killed eighty-five kohanim wearing linen ephods, even though they had committed no wrong. This teaches that when a person veers from the straight path, the deviation does not stop; it extends along the entire line. As Scripture writes here, "And Saul and the people had pity," and there, in Nov the city of the kohanim, "upon the merciful he showed no pity."
The Sages say: Whoever shows mercy to the cruel, the attribute of strict justice strikes him. This is as it is written, "and Saul and his armor-bearer," "So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer." The attribute of justice struck him severely for the incident of Nov, the city of Kohanim. From here we see that this was the price Saul paid for Nov, and therefore later on there was a claim against him regarding the Gibeonites and not regarding Nov - since he was already killed for Nov, and his death atoned for it. But regarding the Gibeonites, who suffered as a result of the persecutions, as explained in the lessons on the Prophets, this needed to be atoned for through the hanging of his descendants by David, in the story of Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah.
The Pesikta Zutarta explains: "Do not be overly righteous, and do not be excessively wise" - do not say, "I will distribute all my money to the poor," and do not try to be wiser than what the Holy One, Blessed be He, commanded you. "Why should you be desolate?" - why should you become desolate and isolated, rather than interacting pleasantly and living harmoniously with people?
The Holy One, Blessed be He, says to man: "I did not burden you." He does not deal tyrannically with His creatures, nor does He demand unattainable things of them. How many fasts are commanded in the Torah? Only one. Beyond that, the Torah asks for nothing. And most of the observances we practice daily are rabbinic: three prayers a day are not required by the Torah; according to Torah law, one prayer a day suffices, but the Sages saw that human need was greater and instituted more. Likewise, the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: I did not burden you to bring Me an offering from wild beasts - I did not command a deer, a lion, or a bear, which would require you to wander through forests and deserts to hunt. Have you sinned? Bring an offering from your flock: a sheep, a lamb, a goat, an ox - domesticated animals readily available in daily life.
And in charity too, He limited us: one who distributes charity should not spend more than a fifth of his wealth. Why? "Why should you be desolate" - so that you yourself do not become destitute and ultimately dependent on the community and the charity fund; rather, maintain a balanced life among people.
Another explanation: "Do not be overly righteous" - do not consider yourself excessively righteous in your own eyes. Do not think, "I am a great tzaddik, how can suffering come upon me?" "Why should you be desolate" - why should your mind be bewildered and astonished, wondering why you suffer? This was Job's complaint, as he said: I am righteous, so why am I suffering? And know what Solomon himself will mention later in the chapter:
כִּי אָדָם אֵין צַדִּיק בָּאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה טּוֹב וְלֹא יֶחֱטָא׃ - "For there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins."
If so, there is surely some sin or iniquity in you, and that is what you are answering for.
The Me'am Lo'ez writes: Here Scripture warns a person not to say, "Since envy, lust, and the pursuit of honor remove a person from the world, I will withdraw and distance myself from them" - and therefore I will not eat meat, will not drink wine, will not marry, will not live in a pleasant home, and will not wear fine clothes, but only sackcloth. In the yeshiva world, such a type is called a "tzolnik" - one who is supposedly righteous through misery: someone whose whole existence is suffering, and the more he suffers, the more righteous he feels. The Torah does not demand this of a person.
Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach told his students that after his hundred and twenty years, there would be nothing extraordinary to write about him. They asked him, "Why?" He told them, "I ate when it was time to eat, I studied when it was time to study, and I slept when it was time to sleep. I did not do things contrary to nature. About the Steipler they will say that he studied for thirty-six consecutive hours and only then went to sleep - about me they will not say such things." This teaches that true greatness can be achieved precisely in this balanced way.
Once the Chofetz Chaim sat with his students, and they asked him: "Rebbe, how does one merit to become a great person?" He told them: "It is not complicated at all. You wake up in the morning, wash your hands, say Modeh Ani and Birkot HaShachar, and pray in the synagogue. Afterward you eat breakfast, go to seder, and learn with your chavruta. Then Minchah, lunch, a short rest to have strength to study, second seder, Maariv, dinner, and third seder. At ten o'clock the seder ends." The Chofetz Chaim did not approve of those who sit and learn until twelve, one, or two in the morning, saying that this usually harms the next day. "You finish, go to your room, shower if needed, go to sleep, get up the next day, and repeat. Without miracles, without wonders, and without pyrotechnics - day after day after day. When a person is consistent, that is how one grows." Man's downfall is interruptions: he learns a little and rests, chats with someone here, today things did not go well, he woke up on the wrong side of bed, and on the third day he has a crisis. But for one who follows the approach of the Chofetz Chaim - this is the way to grow into a great person.
The Holy One, blessed be He, does not want you to suffer, but rather to rejoice in His Torah. True, there are levels of tzaddikim who atone for the sin of the generation, wear sackcloth, fast, practice mortification, and roll in the snow - but this is not for every person. On the contrary, when a person leaps into such practices when he is not suited for them, it only reveals his unworthiness, for he considers himself among the holy ones of the earth, while all he really has is rolling in the snow.
Rav Karlenstein recounted that once a man gave him a ride, and this man mentioned that snow had recently fallen, so they drove specially to Mount Hermon: a group with a Kabbalist, to roll in the snow. He described how freezing it was and how many tikkunim (spiritual rectifications) there are in doing so. The Rav asked him: "And how do you make a living?" He answered: "I am a dentist, and Baruch Hashem the income is good." He added that just recently he treated someone's wife and charged her seven or eight thousand shekels for a few fillings and extractions. The Rav said: "I was outraged. The work involved was nothing extraordinary, yet you charge such sums to people whose children need that money for bread, people of modest means, and you feel no qualms at all, even boasting to me about the handsome profits - how does that align with rolling in the snow?"
See how deeply a person can live in an illusion that he is already among the tzaddikim of the generation, when a little compassion toward a needy family would have accomplished far more for him and effected greater rectifications in Heaven than all the rolling in the snow. A person should not think that extreme actions prove anything about him - sometimes the opposite is true: they show that you hold yourself to be on levels where you do not belong at all, and it would be better not to do them so as not to deceive yourself about who you are. It is far better to do simple things, acts of kindness for a fellow Jew, according to your actual level and what is truly required of you.
Especially when one goes around boasting about it. One who publicizes his fasts is not spared from Gehennom. The Gemara tells of a woman who would speak about her fasts, and the hinge of the gates of Gehennom turned upon her ear, may Hashem protect us. What was the fast for - just to tell her friends? How far a person must distance himself from all this! All matters of distortion and excessive piety that are not in accordance with the Torah ultimately corrupt a person.
This, too, is a wrong path, and one must not walk in it. After all, regarding the nazir it is said: "And make atonement for him, for that he sinned by reason of the soul", yet the nazir separated himself only from wine - not from bread, but from a single pleasure. If such a person is called a sinner, how much more so one who deprives himself of everything! A person should refrain only from things the Torah explicitly forbade, and not bind himself with vows and oaths against permitted things, as Chazal said: "Is it not enough for you what the Torah has forbidden, that you seek to forbid additional things upon yourself?" Included in this, says the Me'am Lo'ez, are those who fast constantly; they do not follow a good path, and concerning them and their like Shlomo cried out: "Be not righteous overmuch, neither make yourself overwise; why should you desolate yourself?" Likewise, one should not withdraw from the world out of fear of stumbling into sin, saying: "Why should I marry, why should I wear nice clothes? I will go sit in the clefts of the rocks and mortify myself all my days for the Creator." About this it says, "Neither make yourself overwise; why should you desolate yourself?" - that your body will become desolate.
And not only the body. We discussed that the way of the yetzer hara (evil inclination) is to bring a person to cast off the yoke of Heaven: when he cannot succeed by dragging him down, he spurs him on - in an extreme manner, until the person feels suffocated, and then casts everything off. Rav Dessler calls this "the spring effect": you compress and compress and compress, and when it snaps back, it flies far away.
A student in a seminary once came and shared that she felt suffocated. When asked what was causing it, she explained that she was praying three times a day, completing the entire book of Tehillim every day, reciting Shir HaShirim, another portion of Tehillim divided in a group, Nishmat Kol Chai, and on and on. She was told: "It is astonishing that you survive with all the burdens you have taken upon yourself. Who asked this of you? The Torah did not ask for it, nor did Chazal. They instructed a woman in one basic obligation: wake up in the morning, recite Birkot HaShachar, say Shema Yisrael - and if you wish, the entire first paragraph - and then stand in prayer for Shemoneh Esreh. That is all. Knead dough and bake cakes; you are exempt! If you feel complete with yourself and want more, add Pesukei D'Zimrah; if you want more, add Minchah; if you are ready for more, add Maariv. But when a person overburdens herself endlessly, this is the counsel of the yetzer, designed to make her weary of all service of Hashem and cast everything away."
The Torah leaders of Israel never push people to rush and take on resolutions. They say: Start with something small and remain consistent with it; when you feel it is firmly established and has become second nature, take on something more. This is especially true for ba'alei teshuvah, who come with immense enthusiasm, passion, and a desire to elevate themselves: one sees in a book what spiritual rectifications are needed, so he takes upon himself to fast Monday, Thursday, and Monday; he commits to guarding his tongue and observes a fast of silence; he takes upon himself guarding his eyes and refuses to leave the house or even his room - until he reaches a point where he needs medication and mental health care, or he completely falls apart. After all, the yetzer is not dormant, his inner drives have not settled, and he is still a young man. Therefore Shlomo says: "Be not righteous overmuch" - let what the Torah forbade be enough for you; begin with that.
Adopting stringencies (chumrot) requires tremendous caution. Moreover, Rabbi Yisrael Salanter observed that nearly every stringency a person takes upon himself affects someone else adversely - there is always someone harmed by it. Therefore, a person must be very careful with stringencies, and even when he does take one on, he should do so gradually. One should not be an ascetic like the "bruised ascetic" (perush nikpi) mentioned in the Gemara, who walks knocking his feet and doing all sorts of bizarre things. The Torah does not want this.
Included in this, says the Me'am Lo'ez, is a person who is stringent with himself in a place where the Torah permitted. For example, a sick person who needs to eat on Yom Kippur and refuses to eat is endangering his life (mit-chayev b'nafsho). This is not a stringency but a spiritual defect: if something happens to him, he is considered to have taken his own life and will be punished for it. Regarding self-sacrifice for Kiddush Hashem, there is a dispute among the Rishonim whether one receives a reward for self-sacrifice where the Torah did not obligate it, but here it is not Kiddush Hashem at all - the Torah told you to eat, as you are ill. When you do not eat, you are not performing a mitzvah, but rather scorning the commandment, "And you shall guard your lives exceedingly."
It is told of the Rav of Brisk (the Brisker Rav) that when questions would come before him regarding sick people on Yom Kippur, he would rule leniently. They asked him: Rebbe, why did the Rav depart from his usual custom? After all, Briskers are always stringent - people joke that when a Brisker inserts a flash drive into a computer, a message pops up: "A new chumra (stringency/hardware) was found." He told them: It is not that I am lenient regarding eating on Yom Kippur; rather, I am stringent regarding the laws of pikuach nefesh (saving a life). There is a concern of pikuach nefesh here - go quickly and eat! One must know where to be stringent.
A man once came to the Chafetz Chaim, and the Chafetz Chaim told him that according to his medical condition, he was obligated to eat. The man said: "All my life I have fasted, I cannot bring myself to eat." After Yom Kippur, he returned to him triumphantly: "Rebbe, does the Rav see? I told the Rav that I could - I fasted the entire fast." The Chafetz Chaim told him: "You did not fast; you simply did not eat." A completely different definition: "not eating" is a diet; "fasting" means you fulfilled the Torah's commandment. And the Torah did not command you to fast; it commanded you to eat. It is like someone who wakes up in the morning and decides to fast - is that a halachic fast? Would he recite Aneinu? A fast that you did not accept upon yourself the previous day does not bear the halachic status of a fast; at most it is self-affliction. So too here: if the Torah did not apply an obligation to fast upon you, you did not fast - you merely refrained from eating.
Such people are serving themselves and not the Holy One, blessed be He. You are doing what you have been accustomed to doing your entire life - but did you ask the Holy One, blessed be He, what He wants right now? Is it difficult for you to approach Him directly? His representatives are here: go and ask a Torah authority what Hashem wants of you. An eved Hashem (servant of Hashem) is someone who does what the Holy One, blessed be He, wants right now.
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky related in the name of the Chazon Ish regarding his father, that one year he went to consult a doctor whether he could fast on Yom Kippur. After thorough examinations, the doctor told him: "Begin fasting, but on the condition that the moment you feel the need to eat, you must eat immediately." He accepted this. And the Chazon Ish related: My father ate ten minutes before the end of the fast. Who among us would have acted that way? We would have said: "True, the doctor said so, but there are only ten minutes left, let us wait." Why? Because we like checking off boxes - "I marked it off, I fasted." But the Chazon Ish's father was an eved Hashem: "Until ten minutes ago, the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted me to fast, and from now on He asks that I eat. I do what Hashem wants, not what I want."
Included in "Do not be overly righteous" is that a person should not be a chassid shoteh (a pious fool). He sees a woman drowning in a river and says: "It is not proper conduct (lav orach ar'a) to look at her and rescue her - for to rescue her I would have to look at her and perhaps even grasp her, which is forbidden to me," so he turns and runs away. That is a pious fool. Or he sees a baby drowning in the river just as he is leaving the synagogue wearing tefillin, and he says: "Wait, wait," and first removes his tefillin - and by the time he runs over, it is already too late. You should have jumped in with the tefillin! And what about the holy Names of God written inside? It is pikuach nefesh! You would even jump in with a Sefer Torah to save a life. In the words of Chazal: "While this one was removing his tefillin, that one lost his life." A person must know what the Torah requires of him, and not do things contrary to what is required, so that he does not fall into the category of a pious fool.
The disciples of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter once passed by a bridge on their way to the beit midrash, and they saw their master standing there speaking with a woman who was not his wife, conversing with her at length and holding her hand with both of his hands. They were astounded. They arrived at the beit midrash, and when the Rav arrived, they asked him: "Rebbe, we were taken aback - what happened there?"
He told them: "This morning I was walking as usual to the beit midrash, and on the way I saw a woman climbing onto the railing of the bridge, and I realized her plan was a one-way ticket. I called out to her: 'Madam, what are you doing?' She replied: 'I cannot go on any longer - my husband is sick, the children, and now the horse upon which our livelihood depended has died and our source of bread is broken - I cannot bear it, I am going to end my life.' I shouted to her not to do it, but she was not willing to listen. I grabbed her and pulled her down, and began calming her down, saying: 'You have nothing to worry about, I will take care of you, I will buy you a horse, I will see to everything you need, God forbid, you must not do this.' When I thought she had been persuaded and turned to leave, I heard her again: 'I can't go on!' - and she began climbing again. I rushed over, grabbed her hand and pulled her back, but this time I did not let go of her hand, lest she run back. Once I managed to calm her, I escorted her to her home and made sure she arrived safely and would not return to the bridge. Only then did I come to the beit midrash. And if you think I did not act properly - then you have not learned an explicit Gemara: 'Who is a pious fool...' and so on."
It was precisely Rav Yisrael Salanter - about whom the greatest sages of the generation testified that he was the preeminent genius of his era, and whose virtues and righteousness we have already discussed - who teaches us that true wisdom lies in knowing at any given moment what Hashem desires. "And now, Israel, what does Hashem your God ask of you" - each moment has its own "and now." A person who acts out of mere habit serves himself, not Hashem; one who truly serves Hashem examines at every moment what is being asked of him right now. It may very well be that beforehand this was not required of him, but now it is - and he must act according to what is demanded of him at this moment.