The third chapter of Mishlei continues to teach the paths of wisdom, and here we arrive at its final section: from the verse "My son, let them not depart from your eyes" until the end of the chapter. King Solomon opens with guidance on how to hold fast to wisdom in both contemplation and practice, continues with a description of the divine protection and Providence that accompanies one who walks in its ways, and then - and this is the Malbim's great novel insight in this chapter - moves to a series of verses that appear to be instructions for interpersonal conduct (bein adam l'chaveiro), yet in truth they were spoken as an allegory, where the deeper meaning refers to the relationship between the body and the soul.
בְּנִי אַל־יָלֻזוּ מֵעֵינֶיךָ נְצֹר תֻּשִׁיָּה וּמְזִמָּה׃ - My son, let them not depart from your eyes; guard sound wisdom and discretion.
"Let them not depart from your eyes" - that the ways of wisdom should not turn away from your eyes. Here, "your eyes" refers not to physical eyes of flesh, but to inner eyes, the eyes of the heart. And there are two things one must guard: "mezimah" (discretion and depth of thought) - these are the profound contemplations in wisdom, related to deep planning and intellectual probing; and "tushiyah" (sound wisdom) - the deeds one performs in accordance with wisdom. The word *tushiyah* is related to *yesh* (substance or real existence), and we have already explained that wisdom, the holy Torah, is true reality, and therefore deeds performed in accordance with it fall under the definition of *tushiyah*.
He tells him: Be careful and ensure that both your deeds and your analytical contemplation follow the ways of wisdom. Even if you guard *tushiyah*, meaning actual practice, do not be content with that alone - guard *mezimah* as well, which is the depth of contemplation in wisdom. Why? Because it is not enough for a person to say, "I fulfill the mitzvot; whatever is written in the Torah, I do." You must delve deeply into wisdom, for study leads to action, and Chazal taught, "An ignoramus cannot be pious, nor can a boor be sin-fearing." You cannot remain unlearned and crude while saying, "The main thing is that I possess the practical deeds." Therefore: guard *tushiyah* - and *mezimah* as well, engaging in thought, immersion, and depth in Torah, and through this, your practical deeds will truly endure. For proper study is study in order to observe, perform, and fulfill, and this is Torah study for its own sake (Torah lishmah).
וְיִהְיוּ חַיִּים לְנַפְשֶׁךָ וְחֵן לְגַרְגְּרֹתֶיךָ׃ - And they will be life for your soul, and grace for your throat.
Through this, you will possess true vitality of the soul, for the soul is only called "living" when it acts with all its faculties to understand in accordance with the ways of wisdom. From here we understand why the wicked are called "dead" even during their lifetimes. In what way are they dead? After all, such a person speaks, makes noise, and seems very much alive! Yet what you see is the animal within him, not the soul. The animal is still functioning, but the soul inside has long since died. But for one who acts according to wisdom - "and they will be life for your soul" - your soul receives true vitality.
And "grace for your throat (*gargrotecha*)": The Malbim explains the difference between the neck (*tzavar*) and the throat (*gargeret*). The *tzavar* is at the back, at the nape of the neck (as in "the gold chain upon his neck"), whereas the *gargeret* is at the front, where the voice box is. This serves as an allusion to speech: when you speak with your throat and teach the ways of wisdom to others, you will find favor - by teaching others and disseminating the ways of wisdom, you will find grace in their eyes.
אָז תֵּלֵךְ לָבֶטַח דַּרְכֶּךָ וְרַגְלְךָ לֹא תִגּוֹף׃ - Then you will walk your way securely, and your foot will not stumble.
Through this, Divine Providence will accompany you and safeguard you from all harm. Here, Scripture enumerates three states in which Providence rescues a person. The first is while walking on the road, which is inherently dangerous, particularly in ancient times when Chazal taught that all roads are presumed dangerous; wisdom will protect you on the road, saving you from bandits, ambushers, and murderers. The second is while staying at home; although the danger is not as great as on the road, a person still requires protection there, and this encompasses two situations: when one is asleep, for a sleeping person is in greater danger than an awake one - a person is asleep and there could be a gas leak without him sensing a thing, and it was once quipped about someone who dreamed he died, woke up in the morning, and saw it was true. And the second situation at home is when awake, when the time itself is a time of danger: a time of war, a time of distress, or an overarching catastrophe affecting the entire area.
This order corresponds to the order of the verse, "And you shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down": "When you sit in your house" refers to waking hours, "and when you walk on the way" is the more dangerous state, and "when you lie down" is bedtime. Shlomo arranges the verses here in the same manner: "Then you will walk securely on your way" - when you walk on the way, which is the time of greater danger; "and your foot will not stumble" - so that your foot will not trip over anything in a time of danger. And even when a person sits in his house and is not sleeping, Hashem protects him.
In each of these situations, he states two things. The first is trust in one's heart. When a person has trust in the Holy One, Blessed is He, he is calm. But when he lacks trust in his heart, even if there are no major external dangers, his heart is always fluttering; he lives in fear. He hears a loud "boom" and immediately runs and calls everyone - what happened? Are the children okay? That is a person who lacks trust in Hashem. The second element is that the Holy One, Blessed is He, actually accompanies him and rescues him from every mishap. "Then you will walk securely on your way" - this is the internal security, being calm and tranquil, not living in fear; "and your foot will not stumble" - this is external protection, an aura of safeguarding: "For He will give His angels charge over you, to guard you in all your ways," so that trouble and calamity do not reach you.
אִם־תִּשְׁכַּב לֹא־תִפְחָד וְשָׁכַבְתָּ וְעָרְבָה שְׁנָתֶךָ׃ - If you lie down, you will not be afraid; you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.
Here he moves to bedtime, which is likewise divided into two. "If you lie down, you will not be afraid" - this is internal trust: you lie down peacefully, without anxious thoughts or worries in your heart about what might happen. "You will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet" - this is external protection: bad dreams will not terrify you, and the other mishaps and dangers that can occur while asleep will not harm you.
אַל־תִּירָא מִפַּחַד פִּתְאֹם וּמִשֹּׁאַת רְשָׁעִים כִּי תָבֹא׃ - Do not fear sudden terror, nor the destruction of the wicked when it comes.
Now he turns to waking hours, which are also divided into two. "Do not fear sudden terror" - during your waking hours, you have trust in your heart; you are calm and at peace, not fearing some surprise fright. "Nor the destruction of the wicked when it comes" - this is actual protection from Heaven: even if ruin brought on by the wicked should come, or ruin sent to destroy the wicked, you will be saved. You will not fear the terror and destruction poised to befall the wicked, and no misfortune will happen to you.
כִּי־יְהֹוָה יִהְיֶה בְכִסְלֶךָ וְשָׁמַר רַגְלְךָ מִלָּכֶד׃ - For Hashem will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught.
The Malbim explains the difference between kesel (confidence) and tikvah (hope): tikvah implies anticipation, that a person hopes something good will happen to him; whereas kesel is assurance against evil, that no harm will befall him. Therefore, if one wishes to express both, he says: Hashem is my kesel and He is my hope - my kesel that no evil will happen to me, and my hope that only good will come to me. This is why it says, "For Hashem will be your confidence": Hashem will save you from evil, and even if you do nothing yourself, He is the shield and savior. Therefore, a person's heart is steadfast and he does not fear. For in a time of trouble, even someone who trusts in Hashem and does not expect harm to befall him - danger still exists, and an innocent person could be caught in the fowler's snare along with everyone else. To this it says: Hashem will be your confidence, your trust resting in Hashem's providence, "and will keep your foot from being caught" - so that you are not ensnared and suffer no trouble. Both internal security and external protection from Hashem, Blessed is He.
אַל־תִּמְנַע־טוֹב מִבְּעָלָיו בִּהְיוֹת לְאֵל יָדְךָ לַעֲשׂוֹת׃ - Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.
The plain meaning of the verse is: when there is someone who deserves a kindness, who is like the "owner" of this good, fitting to have it done for him - do not withhold that good from him, for it is rightfully his. "When it is in your power to do it" - when you have the ability to do good, by all means, do it for him. However, the subsequent verses, while entirely true and valid regarding interpersonal relationships and full of upright guidance and conduct, were spoken here by Shlomo as an allegory, and the application is to the body and the soul.
"Do not withhold good from its owner" - as for the spiritual soul, what is its good? To walk in the ways of Hashem. Therefore, do not withhold its good from it. "When it is in your power to do it" - as long as you are able to do good for your soul, do good for it; do not chase after worldly desires, and do not deprive the soul of its spiritual vitality.
אַל־תֹּאמַר לְרֵעֲךָ לֵךְ וָשׁוּב וּמָחָר אֶתֵּן וְיֵשׁ אִתָּךְ׃ - Do not say to your fellow, "Go and return, and tomorrow I will give," when you have it with you.
This too is familiar to us in the realm of interpersonal relations: a person should not say to his fellow "Go and return" when he has the means with him. For example, a tzedakah collector comes to solicit a donation from you, and you tell him "Come back tomorrow" - forcing the person to go to the trouble of coming again, whereas in a single moment you could have taken the amount you intended to give out of your pocket and handed it to him. Why trouble him and put him off with "Go and return"? And so it is in every matter: what you can give him today - give him today, and do not put him off until tomorrow.
And that is the mashal; as for the nimshal: any good you can do for your soul today - do not put off until tomorrow. As the Sages taught, "Do not say, 'When I have leisure I will study,' lest you never have leisure." Do not say to your soul "Go and return" - not today, my soul; tomorrow I will learn, tomorrow I will fulfill mitzvos, tomorrow I will do the will of Hashem - when "you have it with you": you have time today, so why put it off until tomorrow? Just as you understand that one must not withhold good due to another person, but rather bestow it upon him, and just as you understand that if I can bestow it immediately I should not delay to a later time, so too in spiritual matters: act and bring life to your soul with whatever you can while you are young. Do not say "When I retire" - how do you know you will have the strength then? And how do you know you will even live to retire? How many never reached retirement? May Hashem prolong our days in goodness and our years in pleasantness, but who knows what a day may bring. Therefore Chazal said, "Repent one day before your death" - when? Today. Do you know what tomorrow will bring? Repent today.
אַל־תַּחֲרֹשׁ עַל־רֵעֲךָ רָעָה וְהוּא־יוֹשֵׁב לָבֶטַח אִתָּךְ׃ - Do not devise evil against your fellow, while he dwells securely with you.
It is unfitting for a person to devise evil against his fellow while his fellow dwells securely with him. For example, a business partner of yours who sits calm, serene, and unsuspecting, while you are already hatching plans to abandon him, dispossess him, dissolve the partnership, and withhold what is rightfully his. So too in marriage: a man's wife lives with him and feels that everything is fine, while he is in the meantime spinning plans to divorce her, transferring funds in the bank so they are not registered in his name - this is devising evil against her while she dwells securely with him.
And the nimshal: it is unfitting for the physical faculties of the body to devise evil against the faculties of the soul, while the soul dwells securely with it. After all, whom did the Holy One, blessed be He, send to animate the body? The soul. And it is unfitting for the body to weave all kinds of schemes for pleasures and the pursuit of physical indulgence and desires, while the soul dwells securely with it and it has no intention of giving the soul its due share. And we have already discussed in previous lessons that the soul derives no pleasure from physical matters, but only from spiritual matters, and that is what it yearns for.
Why are there more Israelis in Goa than anyone else? And in all those places in the Far East, in India and its surroundings, where people go "to find themselves," why are the vast majority Israelis? Because a Jew has a soul, a soul from the upper realms, and inside it is constantly churning and clamoring; it is hungry. And because it is hungry, a person feels a compelling need to satisfy and quench it. But because he does not reach the pure and holy spring, he hews out broken cisterns that can hold no water, arriving at a muddy spring and a corrupted source - just so that the soul has something. But this is not the spirituality it truly needs; it is pseudo-spirituality, something adjacent to spirituality, and he imagines that through this he will quench his thirst, when in truth there is no satisfaction in it. And where does this longing come from? Because Israel possesses a soul from the upper realms, and since a person's soul is from the upper realms, it yearns for spirituality, and whatever spirituality you bring it - it is drawn to it.
Rav Kahaneman once said: The Midrash states that there are ten types of famine, and the greatest of them is the famine that will occur at the End of Days - "Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but to hear the words of Hashem." At first glance, this famine does not resemble any of the other famines mentioned there: the famine in the days of Avraham, the famine in the days of Pharaoh, and the like - all of those were famines of distress and suffering, whereas this is a positive hunger. Said Rav Kahaneman: It is not entirely positive. For what does hunger cause? When a person is truly hungry and is offered a slice of bread, if he responds, "Why are you bringing me bread from two days ago? Bring me a fresh roll" - he is not really hungry. A starving person will eat even half-moldy bread, and a thirsty person will drink even water that is far from pure mineral water. A generation will come in which there will be such great hunger and thirst for spirituality that people will consume whatever is presented to them - and that will be the problem: they will not scrutinize whether it is worthy or unworthy. A person will want to study Kabbalah, so he will go to a "Kabbalah Centre" in Tel Aviv, seeking out places that peddle nonsense and folly. Why? Because he is thirsty. And from whom are you learning? It does not matter to him - a thirsty person drinks anything, a starving person eats anything. And one must be cautious of this: even when there is hunger and thirst for spirituality, examine what you are drinking and what you are eating, so that you do not consume things that will harm you.
And this is what the verse comes to teach: know that a person's yearning for spirituality stems from the soul. "Do not devise evil against your fellow" - do not starve your soul and seek only physical desires for it, in which it will find no fulfillment. After all, it dwells securely with you, it gives you life, and it provides you with spiritual strength - so why devise evil against it and fail to provide it with what it deserves, the portion that truly sustains it, which is spirituality?
אַל־תָּרִיב עִם־אָדָם חִנָּם אִם־לֹא גְמָלְךָ רָעָה׃ - Do not contend with a person without cause, if he has not repaid you evil.
It is unfitting to quarrel with a person for no reason, that is, without cause, unless he has repaid you evil. And what is the precise definition of "repaid you evil"? The Malbim explains that the concept of recompense (gemul) is always connected to enmity or to love: I bestow good upon you in return for the good you did for me out of love, or I repay you with evil for the evil you did to me out of hatred - an act of retaliation, exacting retribution from you. Accordingly, if someone caused me harm, it may not have been an act of "recompense": he caused me harm inadvertently, or hurt me through an action done without malice and not out of hatred. That is not considered having "repaid me evil," but merely having "caused me harm," and even in such a case it is improper to quarrel with him. But if he repaid me evil out of enmity - that is an understandable grievance, not without cause, and I have a justifiable reason.
Just as you understand this in interpersonal relationships, so too the physical faculties should not wage war and feud against the soul's faculties. Even if a person imagines that strengthening the soul will deny him worldly pleasures and physical desires, preventing him from pursuing every whim of his heart - indeed, according to his current feeling, this seems like harm, and one cannot argue with what he feels. But is this "repaying evil," or is it an apparent harm that is actually for his benefit? It is for his benefit. For the soul that tells you to refrain from base desires seeks your welfare, since pursuing desires sickens both body and soul. The soul is not repaying you with evil out of animosity - on the contrary, it wants what is best for you. Like a father who tells his son, "Do not play with matches," and the son complains, "This father forbids everything!" - is it for his benefit or his detriment? For his benefit. So too, when the soul restrains us from pleasures and desires, it is for your good, and it is not repaying you with evil. If so, it is unfitting to quarrel with your soul for no reason.
אַל־תְּקַנֵּא בְּאִישׁ חָמָס וְאַל־תִּבְחַר בְּכׇל־דְּרָכָיו׃ - Do not envy a man of violence, and do not choose any of his ways.
An "ish chamas" (a man of violence and wrong) is someone who robs his own soul and turns aside from the good path. Why is he called "chamas"? Because he robs his soul and deprives it of what it is due, denying it the spiritual sustenance it needs. Regarding this, the verse says: do not envy a man of violence - do not crave his lifestyle, do not envy his success, and do not imagine that his success is real. Furthermore: "and do not choose any of his ways" - for a person might follow him not out of envy, but because he perceives his paths as sound and proper. About this, Shlomo warns: do not choose them, for his paths are corrupt. Now he enumerates four ways in which a person can become an "ish chamas," warning against all of them.
כִּי תוֹעֲבַת יְהֹוָה נָלוֹז וְאֶת־יְשָׁרִים סוֹדוֹ׃ - For the perverse person is an abomination to Hashem, but His intimate counsel is with the upright.
The first type is one who deviates from uprightness, who does not follow proper discernment (binah). "Naloz" (perverse) comes from the same root as "lest your paths turn crooked," describing someone whose ways are distorted and deviate from the straight path. The one who turns away from uprightness is an abomination to Hashem; he follows his own skewed reasoning down a crooked path, and such a person will ultimately succumb to heresy and apostasy. And who is beloved before Hashem? "But His intimate counsel is with the upright" - the upright person is the exact opposite of the naloz. And to whom does Hashem reveal His secret? "The secret of Hashem is for those who fear Him." The Holy One, blessed be He, reveals His secrets to the upright who walk straight along the path of binah. They are the lovers of Hashem, and to them He reveals the secrets of Creation and the Divine Chariot, what is above and what is below. Therefore, flee from the perverse person whose ways are crooked and devious.
מְאֵרַת יְהֹוָה בְּבֵית רָשָׁע וּנְוֵה צַדִּיקִים יְבָרֵךְ׃ - The curse of Hashem is in the house of the wicked, but He blesses the dwelling of the righteous.
The second type is the wicked person (rasha). Even if you see that the wicked man possesses a permanent home, living in a penthouse and prospering materially, do not be impressed by it. Hashem's curse is in the house of the wicked; there is a curse and blight there, for Hashem seeks to bring him to ruin. By contrast, "the dwelling of the righteous" - the Malbim explains that a naveh is like a sheepfold; it is neither a mansion nor a penthouse, but a makeshift tin shack, perhaps even a tent, something far more modest. Nevertheless, because it belongs to the righteous, "He blesses it" - blessing rests upon it. Naturally, when we see a grand manor, we assume, "Here there is blessing," while when someone has only a shack, we think, "There is a curse." Scripture tells you: absolutely not. If the house belongs to a wicked person, a curse dwells there; and if a person has only a simple hut, but it is the dwelling of the righteous, Hashem will bless that place.
אִם־לַלֵּצִים הוּא־יָלִיץ וְלַעֲנָוִים יִתֶּן־חֵן׃ - If toward the scorners He will scoff, but to the humble He gives grace.
The third type is the scoffer (leitz), a person who mocks the words of Torah and wisdom, turning everything into a joke and mockery. Why does he do this? Because he does not understand their underlying rationale. As explained earlier, divine wisdom cannot be arrived at through human intellect alone; it must be received from the mouth of a prophet, from the word of Hashem. Since he lacks the proper premises and did not receive it from Hashem or a prophet, he scoffs and ridicules, saying, "Who says this is true?" He thinks to himself: if there is something I do not understand, it cannot be true; for something to be valid, it must make sense to my mind. The scales of his own intellect are his ultimate standard, and he refuses to accept something merely because a prophet declared it or because it originated from Hashem.
"If toward the scorners He will scoff" - the Malbim explains that Hashem will cause this scoffer himself to become an object of ridicule and gossip on everyone's lips. Anyone who remembers that well-known entertainer - who will remain nameless - who became a laughingstock and the talk of the town until he committed suicide in prison, witnessed an exact illustration of this verse. That is what happens when someone constantly mocks others, degrades them, turns them into objects of scorn, and speaks of people with arrogance and contempt, deriding different ethnic communities and the like. Ultimately, "He will scoff" - the Holy One, blessed be He, will make a mockery out of you, and you will become an object of scorn, ridicule, and common gossip. What is written here is veritable prophecy.
"But to the humble He gives grace" - the humble person does not seek to contest the laws of wisdom, for in order to receive wisdom, one must possess humility. The arrogant person says, "Who says this is true? I will examine it with my own mind," and if it does not fit his intellect, he rejects the rules of wisdom, immediately presuming himself to know and understand better. The humble person, however, accepts: if Hashem said it, I accept it; if the master of wisdom said it, I accept it. This is the virtue of the humble person, that he accepts what he is taught. Therefore, "to the humble He gives grace" - the Holy One, blessed be He, grants him grace in the eyes of his fellow man.
In truth, many people hate the scorner, for one time he mocks this person and another time that person, accumulating entire crowds of enemies. Why, then, is he considered popular? Because people enjoy his mockery only "until it reaches me": make fun of my neighbors, make fun of this one and that one, but do not touch me. And as soon as it affects you, you too develop hatred toward him. Therefore, the scorner finds no favor in the eyes of people.
Notice, for anyone who wishes to examine it, that this is systematic and precise: who are the most beloved people in society, beloved with genuine love? Humble people. Examine and see what their central quality is, what their primary trait is - the trait of humility. Any person you see who is widely accepted among people, whether observant or non-observant, whom people love and want to be close to, and whom everyone regards as a friend - you will see that he possesses humility, and that everyone feels good around such an individual. In contrast, the one who mocks everything is driven by arrogance: "I am above everyone." For had I not felt superior to you, how could I have permitted myself to mock you and turn you into an object of ridicule and scorn?
כָּבוֹד חֲכָמִים יִנְחָלוּ וּכְסִילִים מֵרִים קָלוֹן׃ - The wise shall inherit honor, but fools carry away disgrace.
And now to the fourth type of the man of violence, who robs his own soul of all goodness - the fool. We have already explained the difference between a scorner and a fool: the scorner mocks wisdom because he sees no reason in it and it lacks logic in his eyes, and in his view, whatever he does not understand is vanity. The fool, on the other hand - he may understand and he may know; why then does he not observe it? Because he follows the desires of his heart. He can even recite to you what is permitted and what is forbidden, and yet he does the exact opposite, because "I feel like it" - the lusts of his heart pull him along.
A story is told of a person who was far from Torah observance and returned in teshuvah. When asked what prompted his return, he said: "Once I was walking in Tel Aviv and saw a chareidi youth of about sixteen or seventeen. An immodest sight was there, and that young man lowered his eyes, kept walking, and did not look." He said: "I was profoundly impressed by this; who is capable of such restraint, and a boy of seventeen or eighteen at that? I asked myself: where is this Torah that succeeds in training a person to have such mastery over the drive of desire within him?" Following that experience, he drew closer and returned in teshuvah. The spiritual explanation is that when a person performs a mitzvah, he radiates holiness around him, and the bystander standing nearby caught that holiness. He was tremendously impressed: how was the youth able to restrain himself and hold back, what fortitude he possessed, fortitude of the soul - and from this he sought to learn and see where such fortitude is acquired. It emerges that when a person succeeds in giving his soul dominion, this brings immense honor to his soul, and the light of the soul shines within it when one possesses the power of mastery over his desires and cravings.
On the other hand, when a person is a fool - knowing wisdom yet following the desires of his heart - "fools carry away disgrace": through this, disgrace is brought upon the soul, shame, degradation, and humiliation, as the soul follows its lower will and cravings, the physical appetites of the animal soul; consequently, his end is disgrace and reproach. From this one can understand that a person must not envy the man of violence. And who is the man of violence? All of these examples - the devious, the wicked, the scorner, and the fool, these four enumerated in the preceding verses. "And choose none of his ways" - do not desire or seek to follow his ways, for from all the paths of these four corrupt types one must stay far away, and never envy them.
This section of the chapter teaches two paths. First - holding onto wisdom in its perfection: "safeguard sound wisdom and deliberation," both practical deed and deep contemplation, which bring life to the soul and grace to the neck, and by whose virtue Divine Providence accompanies a person on the road, at home, lying down, and rising up, granting him both inner confidence and external protection - "For Hashem will be your confidence, and will guard your foot from being caught." Following that - a series of directives that are true in interpersonal relations and also serve as an allegory for the relationship between the body and the soul: do not withhold good from your soul, do not defer it with "go and return" tomorrow, do not devise evil against it by pursuing desires, and do not quarrel with it without cause, for all its restrictions are for your benefit. Finally, the warning against the four types of the "man of violence" - the devious, the wicked, the scorner, and the fool - whose success is not real success and whose end is a curse and disgrace, while the upright, the righteous, and the humble inherit the intimate counsel of Hashem, blessing, grace, and honor.