In this part of the chapter, King Solomon continues conveying the father's words to his son. After depicting the modus operandi of those "righteous" men - in quotation marks - the murderers and robbers who invite the young man to join them, the father now comes and warns: do not walk on the path with them. From this point forward, Scripture explains why the path of those who covet unjust gain is a net spread for their own feet, and finally Solomon begins describing how wisdom reveals herself in the world.
בְּנִי אַל־תֵּלֵךְ בְּדֶרֶךְ אִתָּם מְנַע רַגְלְךָ מִנְּתִיבָתָם׃ - My son, do not walk on the way with them; restrain your foot from their path.
On the surface, there seems to be redundancy here: if it was already said, "Do not walk on the way with them," what does "restrain your foot from their path" add? The Malbim explains in several places that there is a distinction between derech (road), orach (way), and nativ (path). A derech is the public thoroughfare - a main highway, a freeway, Route 1, the Ayalon Highway. An orach is already a branch off the public thoroughfare, a road leading to a specific city. And a nativ is a private trail, like an access road leading to an individual's house.
According to this, the father tells his son: do not walk on their shared road, on the highway common to all of them; and not only that, but also "restrain your foot from their path" - even from the private trail walked by just one of them, stay far away. Once again we see Solomon's progressive escalation: not only must you not go along with the group, but even if you see one of them walking on his own private path, do not join him. For through him you will ultimately reach the entire gang. Let a person not say: "I have no connection to the criminal underworld, only my friend belongs there" - for in the end, they will murder you as well, as explicitly stated in the subsequent verses.
One can add to the explanation of "restrain your foot from their path" something akin to what King David, peace be upon him, said: "Fortunate is the man who did not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the session of the scornful, but his delight is in the Torah of Hashem, and in His Torah he meditates day and night." On the surface, this is puzzling: the sequence there is progressive, and if he did not even stand with them, could it possibly be imagined that he would sit with them? Rather, it is explained: "nor sit in the session of the scornful" - even in a seat where scorners previously sat. A spirit of scorn and levity lingers over that place, and when a person comes to sit there, he feels foul spirits entering him, stemming from the place itself.
A well-known story recounts that the Chazon Ish was once walking past a street corner and said to his companion: "I sense that two young Torah scholars stood here discussing words of Torah; I feel holiness here." That person went and repeated this in the kollel - and in those days there was only one kollel in Bnei Brak, the Chazon Ish's kollel. It turned out that indeed, two chavrutas had stepped out of the kollel and were reviewing the topic on the way, and when they reached the spot where they had to part ways, they stood there for another five minutes to conclude their learning discussion, and then parted. Exactly at that spot, the Chazon Ish had stood and said: "I feel holiness here; I sense that they spoke in learning here." Someone with a sensitive seismograph perceives this. We may not feel it, which only demonstrates how far our spiritual sensibilities have fallen; but one who is truly great is capable of sensing it.
Similarly, a story is told about Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman, who was sitting in a taxi with closed curtains, his head deep in the Gemara absorbed in the sugya, when suddenly he knocked on the driver's partition and said: "Where have you brought us? This is an impure place; take us out of here!" He could see nothing, everything was closed shut - yet nevertheless he said: "This is an impure place." And it turned out that the driver had sought to take a shortcut through a sordid, immoral neighborhood there in the United States, and he felt it from within. A holy person senses it.
A similar occurrence happened with the Vilna Gaon, who was meticulous throughout his life never to enter Germany, stating that Germany was the place of Amalek. And this was two hundred and fifty years ago, not after the Holocaust when we all know what Germany became, but at a time when Germany was considered the epitome of culture. Once he was sitting curled up inside a carriage with a candle lit, engaged in his studies, when suddenly the wagon driver heard banging from behind: "Where have you brought us? Get out of here!" The driver had also wished to take a shortcut, and instead of taking the roundabout route, he cut through Germany - and the Gaon sensed it from within. Thus, a truly great person is able to perceive impurity or holiness resting upon a place; his spiritual senses are refined and he feels them.
There is a story of a man sitting on a bus when a female soldier boarded and sat down next to him, and he got up and moved to another seat. This is not to say that one must always get up - it also depends on how she is dressed - but he got up and moved. A man from a kibbutz sitting behind him was very bothered by this, and said to him: "What happened? Why did you get up? Why do you care? It doesn't bother me at all. You people are always thinking about this, and that is why it bothers you." That Jew did not argue with him; he simply replied: "The sun does not blind a blind person either." With that, he finished, and the other man fell silent for the rest of the ride, because he understood what had been said to him: if it does not bother you, it is a sign that you are already blind. It is a sign that you have defiled yourself and degraded yourself to the point that nothing bothers you anymore.
A spiritual person, someone standing on a high spiritual plane, is like one who has not seen sunlight for a long time: show him even a small light and he blinks, because his senses are sharp. But someone whose senses are not sharp - it is a sign that he is defiled, that he is so deep in the mud that nothing affects him or moves him.
Rabbi Yaakov Ohayon, a precious Jew who brings people closer to their Father in Heaven, was once a women's hairdresser, a top stylist in a luxury hotel. He tells a fascinating story of how long it took him to leave that profession and what severe livelihood struggles were involved - he was earning tens of thousands of shekels a month, not a barber barely maintaining a modest shop, but an elite stylist whose every haircut was a fortune. He recounts that women would arrive there straight from the swimming pool, and back then, nothing affected him. Today, he says, it is enough for him to catch a glimpse of something immodest for it to disturb him immediately; but back then, he did not even understand what people were talking about. Was he such a great tzaddik then, that he remained unaffected? On the contrary: when something does not affect you, it is a sign that you are on a very low level.
Once, a student came to Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian and said to him: "Rebbe, I want to attend a wedding." He asked him: "Is it a wedding with separate seating?" He replied: "No, it is not separate, but I will tell the Rosh Yeshivah the truth - it does not affect me." Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian was horrified. He said to him: "It doesn't affect you?! I am an old man of eighty, completely blind in one eye and with only twenty percent vision in the other, and every time I have to go out into the street I tremble with fear - and it doesn't affect you?" He sent him away from his presence and refused to speak with him. In other words: realize where you have fallen if it does not affect you. Is there really such a thing as "it doesn't affect me"? One must be at a very low level for it not to affect him.
A person must realize that the reality is such: the more refined one is and the greater the purity he maintains, the more harmful every speck of dust becomes. There are cleanroom facilities that a person enters where he must completely suit up and cover himself - microchip plants, pharmaceutical labs, electronic component factories - where any tiny speck of dust causes destruction. In a magnified photograph of a speck of dust resting on an electronic microchip, it looks like a massive boulder. One might think: what is a mere speck of dust? But for the microchip, it is as if a boulder were thrown upon it, rendering it inoperable. Everything depends on the degree of sensitivity: the higher the sensitivity, the higher the level. That is why the Chazon Ish, from the depth of his sensitivity, could sense, "Divrei Torah were spoken here," and could likewise sense when an atmosphere of impurity lingered in the environment.
We live in a reality where people in the street are "like the beasts that perish." It has been observed that our trials today are more difficult than those of Yosef HaTzaddik, and there is proof from the Midrash cited by Rashi: Potiphar's wife tempted Yosef, and Chazal say that the garments she wore for him in the morning she did not wear for him in the evening. This proves that she was dressed - his trial was with a dressed woman. And what can we say today? A person walks out into the street today and sees people walking around virtually naked like animals, quite literally. Thus, the trials a person faces today are harder than those of Yosef. This is by no means an easy generation.
Yet precisely for this reason, one must know that a person can achieve an immense spiritual attainment through a small effort. The Arizal told Rabbi Chaim Vital: The trial is difficult, and know that with a small effort you can rectify what earlier generations could not rectify. In those generations, people were dressed, whereas in our generation they walk like animals; therefore, in our generation, closing one's eyes for a moment can rectify what another person once required an entire year to achieve. Your trial is far more difficult, and therefore every withstanded trial is a tremendous tikkun, a rectification for generations. "God has made the one corresponding to the other."
כִּי רַגְלֵיהֶם לָרַע יָרוּצוּ וִימַהֲרוּ לִשְׁפׇּךְ־דָּם׃ - For their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed blood.
The father informs his young son: Know that their entire race is toward evil. Robbery is negative and wicked. The father explains these matters to him at a level the child can understand and grasp - robbery and murder.
כִּי־חִנָּם מְזֹרָה הָרָשֶׁת בְּעֵינֵי כׇל־בַּעַל כָּנָף׃ - For in vain is the net spread in the eyes of every winged creature.
The bird, the winged creature, sees the net, and what does it see upon it? Winnowed wheat, scattered grains. It immediately thinks: How wonderful, there is a free meal here, perhaps we should invite our friends too! It seems to the bird that food is being handed out for free; but it does not realize where it is eating this food - inside a net. In just a moment it will snap shut and the bird will be trapped inside. But at first, it imagines there are free meals.
וְהֵם לְדָמָם יֶאֱרֹבוּ יִצְפְּנוּ לְנַפְשֹׁתָם׃ - And they lie in wait for their own blood; they lurk secretly for their own lives.
The hunters lie in wait for its blood: either they set the net to kill it, or "they lurk secretly for their lives" - to capture it alive, when the hunter wants this dove as a living creature, so it may survive and breed.
כֵּן אׇרְחוֹת כׇּל־בֹּצֵעַ בָּצַע אֶת־נֶפֶשׁ בְּעָלָיו יִקָּח׃ - So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes the life of its owners.
Thus he tells him: Know that this is the path walked by everyone who seeks unjust gain. These are the robbers - "betza" being an expression of robbery and theft - who spread a net to trap anyone seduced like a foolish dove, enticed by the seeds lying on the net. This is how the robber ensnares in his net the person who initially thinks: Here is easy money, I can turn a profit, look how he provides for me and showers me with gifts! My friend, do you not realize that he is spreading a net for you? It is nothing other than a trap, and you are about to walk right into it.
And what is the meaning of "it takes the life of its owner"? After all, he gave you the loot, telling you: "With just two hours of work you will make what takes a month or a year; you will strike it rich." But who is now the owner of that gain, of that stolen property you took? You are. You stole it from its previous owners and became its owner yourself - and therefore, "it takes the life of its owner": in the end, it will take your very life. You did the job, you broke in where you needed to break in, you stole what needed to be stolen, and now, the moment something displeases him, he takes your life and kills you, having no qualms whatsoever about doing so.
From this we see the immense danger of associating with such people. Therefore the father says: My son, hear the discipline of your father; "if sinners entice you, do not consent" - tell them: I refuse, I have no interest in walking that path with them. True, at first it looks tempting, with things received for free and easy profits, but know that in the end they will take your life. Anyone who gets involved with such gangs runs a high risk of ending up maimed, or with several bullets in the head in some dark alleyway, and in all kinds of horrific situations. Baruch Hashem, in recent years many underworld crime bosses have been doing the job themselves, eliminating one another, which brings a measure of quiet. Not that we wish for this - we want them to do teshuvah; and besides, how many others do they harm along the way? How many hits were carried out targeting one person, only to kill innocent bystanders, which is terrible. But the bottom line is: bear in mind that whoever gets involved in this will ultimately lose his own life.
חׇכְמוֹת בַּחוּץ תָּרֹנָּה בָּרְחֹבוֹת תִּתֵּן קוֹלָהּ׃ - Wisdom cries aloud outside; she raises her voice in the broad plazas.
After mentioning how the father teaches the principles of wisdom to his young son and warns him, "If sinners entice you, do not consent" - do not agree to walk on the path with them, but rather distance yourself from them - Scripture comes and teaches us that the way of wisdom is to reveal itself slowly, step by step, level by level.
At first, "Wisdom sings aloud outside." The "outside" refers to the area behind the houses, where the young children, the members of the courtyard, wander about. This is the first stage. Afterwards, "in the open squares she raises her voice" - the public square is the broad open space in front of the houses, where the adults already circulate. One should note the distinction between singing aloud (tarona) and raising one's voice (titen kolah): the Malbim explains that raising one's voice is greater than singing. One who sings or hums (meranen) does so to himself, whereas one who raises his voice does so because he desires others to hear him. This is the parable, and its application: wisdom, at the beginning of its revelation, reveals itself to youngsters, as it were in private, behind the houses; later it reveals itself more openly, until the speaker stands and projects his voice in the public squares.
בְּרֹאשׁ הֹמִיּוֹת תִּקְרָא בְּפִתְחֵי שְׁעָרִים בָּעִיר אֲמָרֶיהָ תֹאמֵר׃ - At the head of bustling streets she calls; at the entrances of the gates, in the city, she speaks her words.
In the third stage, she is revealed beyond the open square, in the marketplace - "at the head of bustling streets" - a place where large crowds gather, and there she already "calls out." If at first she merely sang, and then raised her voice, now she calls out. The Malbim explains that calling out (keri'ah) is more than raising one's voice: raising one's voice means projecting so people can hear, but calling out is a direct address - calling specifically to the people intended. This is the stage where the prophet or speaker stands and expounds his wisdom before vast multitudes.
And in the final stage: "At the entrances of the gates, in the city, she speaks her words." Who sat at the gate? The elders, as it says, "Elders have ceased from the gate" - the elders and judges sat at the gate. Thus, in the end, she speaks her words in the place where the elder sages sit. And what is that speech she delivers? We will see that in the very next verse.
In these verses, the father warns his son not only against the shared path of the robbers, but even against the solitary trail of any one of them, for associating with an individual ultimately draws one into the entire band and to the destruction of the soul. The spread net appears to offer a free meal, but "so are the paths of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its owners" - easy profit ultimately claims the soul of the one who takes it. From this we also learned how profound the influence of one's surroundings and environment is, and how elevated the stature of someone whose senses are refined enough to perceive sanctity or impurity, whereas one who claims "it does not affect me" testifies to his own low spiritual stature. And specifically in a generation whose trials are harsher than those of Yosef, with just a small effort one can accomplish a rectification for generations. Finally, Shlomo teaches us that the way of wisdom is to reveal itself gradually: from singing outside, to raising its voice in the public squares, to calling out at the head of bustling streets, until it speaks its words at the entrance of the city gates before the elder sages.