The chapter before us deals for the most part with mussar and the paths of wisdom, and here we focus on three verses that are among the great foundations of man's divine service: accepting counsel and discipline, the supreme Divine Providence that transcends all human planning, and the essence of man's inner character as revealed through his lovingkindness.
שְׁמַע עֵצָה וְקַבֵּל מוּסָר לְמַעַן תֶּחְכַּם בְּאַחֲרִיתֶךָ׃ (כ) - "Listen to counsel and accept discipline, so that you may become wise in your latter end." (20)
Rabbeinu Yonah explains the verse in the context of the chapter's flow: previously, we saw that the wise teacher warned the father to discipline his son ("Chasten your son, for there is hope"), and now he addresses the son himself, urging him to accept his father's discipline - to heed his father's voice. "So that you may become wise in your latter end" - meaning, gain wisdom while you are still young, so that this discipline will change you for the better. From your youth, think of your ultimate future. In his words: "And let him not say, 'I will wait until I grow up, and then I will prepare my heart to serve my God,' for man does not know his time" - in the manner of the verse, "Would you wait for them until they are grown?" Do not say: I will wait until I am older.
Someone was once asked: "Well, are you coming to shul?" He answered: "I'm Iraqi." When asked, "And what of it?" he replied: "Iraqis only start going to shul at age sixty." He was told: "I have not seen that halachah written anywhere, not even in the Ben Ish Chai. Where did these inventions come from? Come right now! Does a person know whether he will even reach sixty? How do you know what will become of you?" This is why Rabbeinu Yonah continues and cites the next verse: "There are many thoughts in a man's heart" - you have plans for thirty years from now, yet you do not know what will happen three minutes from now.
And this is what Chazal said: "Repent one day before your death." But can a person know the day of his death? Rather, he should repent today, lest he die tomorrow, and conduct himself this way day by day; thus, all his days will be spent in repentance, as it is written, "Let your garments always be white." Therefore, "Listen to counsel and accept discipline, so that you may become wise in your latter end" - this does not mean sixty years from now, but rather accept discipline now, for you do not know what a day may bring.
The Vilna Gaon explains: a person's soul loathes and recoils from two things. The first is something contrary to his own intellect and perspective. The second is something difficult for his physical body. To explain: if someone demands of a person, or even forces him, to do something when his mind tells him otherwise, it is extremely difficult for him - particularly if he is convinced that a certain course of action is required and he is instructed to do the exact opposite. For example: someone wronged him severely, and emotionally he feels an urge to take revenge, to retaliate, to "show him," yet he is instructed to do the opposite of what his instincts dictate - he is told to overcome his impulses, restrain himself, and not strike back. It is very hard for a person to do something that runs counter to his desires. And the second thing - it is very hard for a person to endure what is arduous for his body: crushing labor, an illness that afflicts the body, or anything demanding great physical strain.
And regarding these two, the verse speaks. "Listen to counsel" - this refers to things that run counter to your own advice and thinking; nevertheless, if it is sound counsel, listen to it. "And accept discipline" - this is the second matter, which runs counter to the body, for mussar shares the root of yisurim (afflictions): even if these afflictions naturally run counter to one's desires and the body cannot bear them, accept discipline nonetheless. This does not mean that a person should actively go and afflict himself, but rather that if tribulations come upon you, accept them. Do not be among the complainers who challenge the Creator of the world; instead, accept the discipline. And why? Because whatever suffering you endure is on account of your foolishness - you acted improperly, strayed from the straight path, and did things that warranted affliction. Therefore, accept it with joy and a good heart.
"So that you may become wise in your latter end" - for if someone was given good counsel, even though it was emotionally difficult to accept and he would have preferred otherwise, let us consider: what is truly better, to take revenge or to refrain from revenge? Surely not to take revenge - both in terms of interpersonal relations, and in terms of what awaits after a hundred and twenty years, when one receives a tremendous reward for the very act of restraint. So too with "accept discipline": regarding these tribulations, what will a person say after a hundred and twenty? Will he be grateful that he had suffering, or say "what a pity"? He will give thanks, and not only give thanks, but ask: why didn't I have even more of this kind? For without tribulations, says the Vilna Gaon, we would not find our footing in the World of Truth. It is only by virtue of suffering that a person has any standing whatsoever in the Heavenly realm; otherwise, woe to us and woe to our souls for all our sins. Suffering is a purification, as the Gemara states: repentance suspends, and suffering purges. Thus, suffering brings atonement, and it turns out that "you may become wise in your latter end" - this is ultimately for your good, and in your latter end you will yet thank Hashem for it, draw mussar from it, and become wise through it.
Furthermore, one can explain that through suffering, "you may become wise in your latter end" even in this world. A person walked on an improper path, and suffering came upon him; he began taking a blow here and a blow there, and then stopped and said to himself: "Reflect on what is happening to you - why are all these blows landing, a financial loss here and damage there?" He then resolves to make a change. He had various shortcomings, and he decides to correct them: he did not set fixed times for Torah study, so he resolves to establish set times; he was not meticulous about praying with a minyan, so he resolves to be diligent; he had impure devices in his home, so he resolves to remove them. Thus, accepting discipline leads a person to become wise in his ultimate end, and according to this, we are not speaking exclusively of the World to Come, but right here in this world: he used these tribulations as a catalyst for serving Hashem - which is wonderful - and through this, he acquired wisdom.
The Malbim explains: If you wish to acquire wisdom, you must listen to counsel, for one who heeds counsel is wise. And how true this is. Who is a wise person? Someone who, when offered advice, lends an ear: "Do you have something to tell me? I am ready to listen, I want to hear, perhaps this will improve me." But there are those who, when you come to speak to them, stop you short: "No, no, it's fine, I know, I know, I already studied this, you don't need to tell me, I know what you want, I know everything - we are all wise, we all..." Such a person will remain a fool his entire life. Why? Because he never seeks to learn, never seeks to hear from others; he is certain he always knows everything.
Yet it could very well be that a person who is beneath you in grasp, in IQ, in comprehension, happened to have a good piece of advice for you - advice that saved you. How often do we encounter this: something he thought of and you did not, something the Holy One, Blessed be He, channeled through him. If you listen to counsel from anyone, you take away something of value; but if you do not listen because you are certain you already understand, you will often do things and make mistakes in them, simply out of an unwillingness to accept advice from others.
The Malbim further explains the distinction between "listen to counsel" and "accept discipline": counsel operates according to the pathways of wisdom, whereas discipline (mussar) stems from fear of Hashem and fear of punishment. When someone gives you advice to do such and such, it means: this is what wisdom dictates, this is what common sense dictates, this is what the Torah dictates - that is counsel. In contrast, "accept discipline" means: I am telling you that you should act this way, even if you do not understand it, even if it is difficult for you to accept; know that whoever does not do so will suffer afflictions, whoever does not do so will be punished by the Holy One, Blessed be He. That is, one acts out of fear of punishment, not out of an intellectual understanding that the matter is wise and correct. And through this, "you will become wise in your end" - and we have already explained several times that wherever the word acharit ("end") appears, it refers to the ultimate purpose and the bliss that comes at the end, and the ultimate end of ends, which is the World to Come. In your end, in the World to Come, you will yet give thanks for the counsel and the discipline given to you, for they are what guided you onto the upright path.
רַבּוֹת מַחֲשָׁבוֹת בְּלֶב אִישׁ וַעֲצַת יְהֹוָה הִיא תָקוּם׃ (כא) - Many thoughts are in a man's heart, but the counsel of Hashem - that shall stand. (21)
"Shall stand" (takum) - in the sense of being fulfilled and enduring. And "the counsel of Hashem" here does not mean advice in our everyday sense, that Hashem gives advice, but rather in the sense of a decree, as in: "Hashem of Hosts has counseled, and who can annul it?" - Hashem of Hosts has decreed, and who can annul it? Thus, "Many thoughts are in a man's heart," but Hashem's decree is what will ultimately come to pass.
The Vilna Gaon explains: When a person wants to do something, to take action, what does a wise person do? He calculates all the angles: "Wait, if I do it this way - no, then I might encounter this problem; let me try the other way; and if I do it now, an obstacle might be placed before me, so let me try doing it later." In short, many thoughts pass through a thinking person's mind before he takes action, because he analyzes and plans the action in fine detail. Concerning this, Shlomo says: Know that all the thoughts and all the planning amount to nothing - "the counsel of Hashem - that shall stand." Whatever counsel the Holy One, Blessed be He, placed in your heart, that is ultimately what will succeed. And we do not even have to say "succeed" - that is ultimately what one will do. For it is possible that one failed, and why? Because he had flawed counsel. And who placed that counsel in his heart? The Holy One, Blessed be He, because in His calculations He willed that he should not succeed. And the main thing is always to remember that it is from Him, blessed be He.
And what is the practical difference? If I succeed, what do I usually say? "You know why I succeeded? I calculated, I reasoned that if I do this and if I also do that, therefore I chose this path" - meaning, I want to take the credit for myself, to say that my plan, my advice, and my thinking brought me to success. By the way, with failure there is no such concern, because with failure I will always find someone to blame: that person tripped me up, there was a recession just then, the dollar happened to drop, and the accountant miscalculated and misled me. Failure, as is well known, is an orphan, but success has many fathers.
And so it is in the service of Hashem: when a person succeeds, he feels it came from him, and when he fails, he feels someone else brought him down. And this is an insight into the saying, "Whoever is greater than his fellow, his inclination is greater than his" (Kol hagadol mechavero yitzro gadol mimenu): If you succeeded in something, consider that it was because that person helped you, and your rebbe gave you proper counsel, and that teacher taught you well, and therefore you succeeded. On the other hand, when you fall, you must always say: I am to blame for my fall, and do not look for partners to explain why you failed. And that is "whoever is greater than his fellow" (gadol mechavero) - if you became great, do not attribute it to yourself; it is mechavero, because of one's fellow, because this one helped me and that one lent a hand. "His inclination is greater than his" (gadol mimenu) - if you failed and committed transgressions, it is mimenu, from oneself, from your own powerful evil inclination, not because someone else caused me to stumble. Blame yourself: it is from you. But if you are great, look for who helped you achieve such greatness. Yet people do the exact opposite: they claim successes for themselves and blame their falls on others.
Returning to the Vilna Gaon: Know that even if you ultimately succeeded, "the counsel of Hashem - that shall stand." You might say, "But I was the one who thought of it!" To this, the Targum comments on the verse, "For it is He Who gives you strength to achieve wealth" - "counsel to acquire possessions." Even the counsel to acquire wealth is from Him, blessed be He. Who placed the counsel in my heart to think of this? The Holy One, Blessed be He. "Thank You, Master of the Universe, for giving me such an idea." Everything is from Him, blessed be He.
And the same is true in reverse: a person opened a business and failed, and begins blaming everyone and everything. My friend, without blaming anyone - why did I fail? Because it was Hashem's will that I fail. Why? Heavenly calculations, I do not know, but the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted me not to succeed in this; I did not merit this livelihood; it comes in place of other suffering that I deserved - I do not know, but it was Hashem's will that I fail. And this does not mean that one should not draw conclusions for the future - we have already discussed that one must draw conclusions for the future, and next time he opens a business he will say: Last time there was this and that flaw, I draw the conclusion and will try to correct it, since one must act within natural means. But to turn around and lay blame, claiming that I failed back then because of these reasons - there are people who had every reason to fail and yet succeeded. Why? Because Hashem willed it. And that is all. Therefore, there is no reason to beat one's chest over having failed: Hashem wanted you to fail, and you failed. For the future, make every effort to ensure that everything is sound practically and statistically, and try again - but the conclusion remains: "The counsel of Hashem, it shall stand."
The Vilna Gaon adds and asks: Why did the verse alter its terminology? It should have said, "Many are the thoughts in a man's heart, but the thought of Hashem, it shall stand," or "Many are the counsels in a man's heart, but the counsel of Hashem, it shall stand." Why does it begin with "thoughts" and conclude with "counsel"? He answers: "Counsel" refers to what someone advises me; it always comes from the outside - and what Hashem arranges in my heart is called counsel. By contrast, "thought" is what a person thinks on his own. This is the meaning of "Many are the thoughts in a man's heart" - all the thoughts running through my mind are my own, but "the counsel of Hashem," what Hashem places in my heart, is ultimately what will stand.
The Malbim explains: "Thoughts" are what a person considers from every angle before arriving at the ultimate purpose - the concrete plan of action. And they are many in a man's heart, since a man has free choice whether to do this or that, and consequently many thoughts pass through his mind regarding what to do. But know that in this manner you will not necessarily arrive at the right counsel, nor will you necessarily reach the proper method that hits the target of your desire. And how can one know if he will truly reach the right decision? "And the counsel of Hashem, it shall stand" - the final outcome and the completion of the deed are under Divine Providence. When you make plans and think thoughts, if Hashem's counsel opposes your thoughts, nothing you think and none of your plans will succeed in bringing them to fruition: suddenly you will have a setback here, things will not work out there, and somewhere else it will fall through. Why? Because while the thoughts were given to you, what will happen in the end is from Hashem, and the counsel of Hashem will stand and override free choice.
In simple terms: at times the Holy One, blessed be He, intervenes in man's free choice. One should not mistakenly think that free choice is infinite. We have discussed this in the past, that in the view of many thinkers of Jewish thought, a person cannot, for instance, plot to murder someone unless it has been decreed upon the victim from Heaven. We noted that this is subject to dispute, and the view of the Or HaChaim is not so, but we follow the Vilna Gaon and others, and such is our tradition - that a person cannot harm someone unless it was decreed upon him from Heaven. Therefore, even if one thinks many thoughts, the counsel of Hashem will ultimately stand, and it will frustrate his plans.
Furthermore, it is cited in the name of Rav Simcha Bunim of Peshischa: Many mistakenly think the verse means that despite all the thoughts in your heart, what will stand is Hashem's counsel and not what you planned. He said: That is not the simple meaning, and the true meaning is far deeper. "Many are the thoughts in a man's heart" - a person has many plans to go his own way, and this way contradicts Hashem's will and Hashem's intention; yet despite all this, it is not that Hashem's counsel merely frustrates his thought, but rather the opposite: his very thought is what ultimately brings Hashem's counsel to fruition. That is, with all the plans I devised to achieve "X," while the Creator of the World wants "Y" - the Holy One, blessed be He, does not merely do the reverse of what I want; rather, all the paths meant to lead to "X" actually lead to "Y." Thank you very much for acting as you did, you helped Me! For I am truly planning something else, and what you did not only fails to contradict Hashem's will, but it is precisely what will ultimately bring about the plan of the Creator of the World.
The prime example of this is Pharaoh's decree. Hashem wanted the redeemer of Israel to be born, and Pharaoh declared: I will not allow such a thing, "Every boy that is born you shall cast into the river" - throw everyone into the Nile, and let us see where the redeemer of the Jewish people will come from now. And what did this bring about? His daughter went out to stroll by the Nile, and behold, she saw a crying child in a basket on the riverbank - and why was he in a basket? Because of her father's decree! She took pity on him, took him, and where did she place him? In Pharaoh's palace. Who raised him, who fed him? Pharaoh. Who taught him royal deportment? Pharaoh. And from where did Moshe Rabbeinu draw the boldness and fortitude to stand against Pharaoh? The seventy elders who came with him slipped away one by one, yet Moshe stood firm before Pharaoh. Consider this: a mighty king who can have you beheaded in an instant, and you are from a nation of slaves, telling him, "Let My people go"; and if not - my friend, what plagues you are about to endure; are you sending everyone out right now? Ah, that doesn't suit you? Prepare for the Plague of Blood. What courage it took to speak to a king like that! There were lions and leopards at the entrance, and he walked right past them. In whose merit? Thank you, Pharaoh, it was thanks to you - you raised him here in your palace, so he does not fear the palace and is not intimidated by it, knowing its ins and outs, and he is not terrified to stand before you. Thus it emerges that Pharaoh, through his decree, not only failed to thwart Hashem's will, but was the very one who brought it about that the counsel of Hashem would stand.
And precisely the same occurred with Haman. When he wanted to issue decrees against the Jewish people, part of his strategy was to advise Achashverosh to depose Vashti. What did he hope to gain from this? That once Vashti was no longer queen, his own daughter would enter the palace, giving him close proximity to the throne so he could propose his "final solution," the scheme of Agag seeking to destroy the Jewish people. And what do we say to him? Thank you very much, Haman! For Memuchan is Haman, and he is the one who advised having Vashti executed, and through your counsel you brought Esther in. And by bringing Esther in - she is the very one who ultimately takes off your head; she is the one who puts you to death. Thus it turns out that the thought you conceived not only failed to obstruct the Divine plan, but on the contrary, advanced the Divine process. "Many are the thoughts in a man's heart" - and those very thoughts are what cause "the counsel of Hashem, it shall stand."
Rav Dessler explains that this same principle exists not only on the micro level but also on the macro level, in the overarching governance of the world. The Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, and what is the purpose of creation? "Everyone who is called by My name, I have created him for My glory; I have formed him, yea, I have made him" - all creations were brought into being so that His Name would be magnified and sanctified in the world. The trouble is that we do not fully understand this, and to our sorrow, we stray from the path; we do not become a light unto the nations, nor the chosen people whom everyone beholds and exclaims, "Praiseworthy is the people for whom this is so, praiseworthy is the people whose God is Hashem," praiseworthy is the people who studied Torah, praiseworthy is the people who received the Torah at Sinai - on the contrary, we have become the lowliest of nations. If so, it would seem that Hashem's counsel has not stood, for we chose a path that contradicts Hashem's counsel.
Rav Dessler says: Nothing will help you; the counsel of Hashem will stand no matter what - either through your hands or upon your back. Why? Because there are two ways through which the world will come to recognize that there is a Creator of the universe. One way is when everyone sees the people of Hashem succeeding beyond measure, as in the era of Shlomo, the golden age of the Jewish people (not the Spanish Golden Age and the Spanish exile - the era of Shlomo, that was the true peak), when people came from all over the world to learn how a kingdom and a nation are run according to the Torah - a tremendous kiddush Hashem. Conversely, when the people of Israel decline from their spiritual level and are driven out and exiled, battered and suffering, and the latter generation stands and asks, "Why has Hashem done so to this land? What is the heat of this great anger?" - the non-Jew who stands by will be appalled and hiss in astonishment, standing dumbfounded, and what will he say? "Because they abandoned Hashem, their God." And what conclusion does he reach? That there is a Creator of the universe, and that if you defy His word, you are punished. And how did he reach this conclusion? Through us. They tell you: nothing will help; the Name of Hashem will become known in the world - either through your hands, when you do good deeds and receive good, or upon your back, when you receive extraordinary afflictions that no other nation in the world has ever received, and you are persecuted in a manner no nation has been persecuted, and scattered across exiles like no other nation, and such awful and terrible things happen specifically to the Jewish people, until everyone concludes, "Because they abandoned Hashem, their God." Thus, ultimately, in any case, the counsel of Hashem will stand - whatever is the will of Hashem is what will come to pass, no matter how clever you try to be.
תַּאֲוַת אָדָם חַסְדּוֹ וְטוֹב רָשׁ מֵאִישׁ כָּזָב׃ (כב) - "A person's longing is his kindness, and a poor man is better than a deceitful man." (22)
Regarding the conclusion of the verse, "and a poor man is better than a deceitful man," it can be explained that the "poor man" here refers to one who is poor in knowledge, and he is better off than a person whose opinions and views are false and corrupt. For do you know what it takes to uproot distorted views? Someone whose beliefs are false must perform difficult work in two stages: first, to uproot the false views - and there is immense difficulty in extricating someone from these notions - and only then, in the second stage, can he go and begin to learn the true Torah outlook, true wisdom, and thereby merit His kindness. If so, what is preferable? It is better to be poor in knowledge than to hold false beliefs, for one who is merely lacking in knowledge will merit the kindness of Hashem far more quickly than a deceitful person.
The Malbim explains "a person's desire is his kindness" in a third way - note carefully: this does not refer to desire in the sense of craving (lehit'avot), as the Vilna Gaon explains, nor does it stem from beauty and grace (naveh), as in "How lovely are your cheeks" (mah na'avu lechayayich), as Rabbeinu Yonah explains. Rather, it derives from the concept of form (to'ar), as in "You shall demarcate for yourselves Mount Hor" (vehit'avitem lachem Hor Hahar), meaning to trace an outline (letavot tav). "A person's form is his kindness" - the kindness a person performs is what beautifies his character and form. A person's true form is his kindness, and one's inner essence is made recognizable through chesed; through acts of kindness, his character traits and attributes become evident. If you wish to know a person's true profile, what his very essence is, look at his kindness.
"And a poor man is better than a deceitful man" - a poor man is better than someone who makes promises and disappoints, who fails to follow through. Why? Because the poor man at least made no promises, and his soul may indeed be inclined toward kindness, yet he simply lacks the means. By contrast, the deceitful man makes promises and possesses the means, yet by deceiving others he merely demonstrates his flawed character traits. In the poor man, no negative trait is revealed, for he refrained from doing kindness solely because he has nothing to give; but in the wealthy man who disappoints others, his negative character is fully revealed, and his ugly spiritual form is made evident by the fact that he promises but does not deliver. And as stated, "ta'avat" here is akin to "vehit'avitem lachem" and "the boundaries (ta'avat) of the everlasting hills," where the meaning relates to an outline (tav) and form (to'ar).
We have learned three fundamental principles: "Hear counsel and accept discipline" - do not postpone your service of Hashem to old age, for no one knows what a day may bring; and be willing to accept both that which the intellect resists (counsel) and that which the physical body resists (discipline and affliction), for afflictions cleanse and refine, and even awaken a person to self-improvement already in this world, and in your latter end you will yet thank Hashem for them. "Many are the thoughts in a man's heart" - all of man's plans and calculations are nothing, and not only does the counsel of Hashem nullify his thoughts, but at times his very thoughts are the instrument through which the counsel of Hashem is fulfilled, such as Pharaoh's decree which raised Moshe in his palace, or Haman's advice which brought Esther into the royal court; and in the world at large - the Name of Hashem will become known either through our hands or upon our backs. From this emerges a way of life: attribute success to Heavenly assistance and to others, while attributing failure to ourselves. And finally, "a person's form is his kindness" - a person's inner form and his entire essence are measured by the kindness he performs; therefore, a poor man who lacks the means is better than a deceitful man who has the means but does not give.