In chapter 20 of Mishlei, Shlomo HaMelech continues to clarify the boundaries of perfection in the service of Hashem: the difference between a person who performs acts of kindness and a person who is faithful to the one to whom he owes, the difference between a tzaddik and one who is wholehearted, and who is that "king" fit to sit upon the throne of judgment and scatter away evil. In the passage before us we will go through pesukim 6-9 in light of Rabbeinu Yonah, the Malbim, the Gra and the Ralbag.
רׇב־אָדָם יִקְרָא אִישׁ חַסְדּוֹ וְאִישׁ אֱמוּנִים מִי יִמְצָא׃ - Most people proclaim each his own kindness, but a man of faithfulness, who can find?
Rabbeinu Yonah asks: why is the person who conceals his deeds called "a man of faithfulness"? Because he is like a faithful servant to Hashem, doing all that He commands him, without exchanging or altering anything, as it is said "a faithful messenger to those who send him" - that is, for the sake of those who sent him. Who is a faithful messenger? One who performs the task solely for the sake of the one who sent him. If they sent me to deposit money in the bank, and along the way I also arranged some shopping for my home, I am not a faithful messenger to those who sent me. A faithful messenger goes, does exactly what he was told, and returns just as he came with the documents in hand: I fulfilled what you said. But if I went about my own private matters, I am somewhat faithful to you and somewhat to myself, and I am not working only for you.
So too is the perfection of the mitzvah: the messenger faithful in doing Hashem's will is one who does it solely for the sake of Heaven - not so that people will praise him, not in order to elevate himself and find favor in the eyes of others. From here, says Rabbeinu Yonah, the entire pasuk falls into place: "Most people proclaim each his own kindness" - among most people, everyone goes about telling of his acts of kindness; but "a man of faithfulness," who keeps faith only to the Master of the world - who can find? Everyone says: true, I did a mitzvah, but I also received a compliment for it, they also praised me for being a man of kindness, and that is no great matter. A man of faithfulness who acts truly and faithfully only for the honor of Hashem - who can find such a one.
So too did Chazal say about the study of Torah: "do not make them a crown to aggrandize yourself with." It is not perfection when a person engages in Torah while also pursuing fame and honor. Yet on the other hand, would that we reach this level, and one must not misunderstand these matters. For the Rambam writes a wondrous thing: when a person teaches his son, he should not say to him "study Torah for its own sake" - does a small child know what "for its own sake" means? Rather he should say to him: study and you will receive a candy, you will receive nuts. When he grows a little - study and they will buy you toys. When he grows more - study and you will receive fine clothes, brand names. And when he reaches the age at which he already appreciates money, let him study Torah for money, so that he will be well set up. And afterward - let him study Torah so that people will call him "Rabbi," so that he will become a dayan and a sage. And after all these stages he will come to act for the sake of Hashem. We learn from this that reaching "for its own sake" is not simple at all.
Few there were like Chacham Ben Tzion Abba Shaul, may his merit protect us, who testified about himself that from the age of thirteen he studied Torah for its own sake. How many can testify such a thing about themselves? And he always fled from honor and fame, did not want his name mentioned, wore a short jacket until old age, and had no interest in matters of honor and authority. These are few. In any case, the verse teaches us what perfection is: not to glory in one's work, not to make it a crown to aggrandize oneself with, and this is the aspiration one must always have, in every situation.
The Malbim defines: kindness is what a person does not out of obligation and not out of a promise, but from the generosity of his heart. Faithfulness, by contrast, is a matter of truth - I owe you by right of truth, because I so promised: work a month and you will receive a salary, and you placed trust in my words. Faithfulness means fulfilling the thing by its truth, and this is also the source of the word "amen" - to affirm the thing as true. It emerges that there is a person to whom something is owed by law, by truth, and there is a person to whom something is owed only by way of an act of kindness.
Accordingly, the Malbim offers a wonderful line of reasoning: it would be fitting that one who is a man of kindness should all the more be a man of faithfulness. If I give what I am not obligated to give, how much more so what I am obligated to give? Yet in the nature of people we see the opposite: men of faithfulness are few, they do not do what is incumbent upon them, they readily cheat and deceive and exert themselves over others' money - but when it comes before them to do an act of kindness, many are found to do it. He has no problem robbing and cheating, he has no truth and no faithfulness; but tell him there is a mitzvah here and he must help, and many times they actually extract money from him. Master of the world, to the one to whom it is owed you do not pay for months, you withhold salaries and do not settle debts - first pay your debts, and afterward perform acts of kindness.
And why is this so? The same truth holds at home. A neighbor asks you for a favor: drill me a hole in the wall. You go and do it. A neighbor asks for a kindness, and you go and do it. But your wife has a picture that has been lying around for two months and you have not hung it up. What is the difference? We do not like to do things for which we receive no compliments. The neighbor will come four times to say thank you for a nail I hammered into his wall, and for that I have time, because through kindness I acquire a reputation, they praise and laud me. And so too: if his mother asks him, he runs, because she praises him; but if his wife asks, he is in no hurry, because there he will actually receive a rebuke, why did you not do it until now. Nobody likes to pay debts, because no one appreciates it; kindness, that they will appreciate.
According to this the verse is explained: "רָב אָדָם יִקְרָא אִישׁ חַסְדּוֹ" - you will find that most people are willing to do kindness, and why? Because through it they will be called a "man of kindness." Most people want to be called men of kindness, and therefore they do much kindness. But "אִישׁ אֱמוּנִים" - one who keeps his word, pays wages on time, repays his debts on time - who can find? For who will appreciate me for this, and what honor and glory will I have from it?
מִתְהַלֵּךְ בְּתֻמּוֹ צַדִּיק אַשְׁרֵי בָנָיו אַחֲרָיו׃ - The righteous man walks in his integrity; happy are his children after him.
Rabbeinu Yonah connects this verse to the previous one. What is "walking in his integrity"? Seeking completeness, for "tom" means wholeness. Not for the sake of the Master of the World and also a little for yourself, not for the honor of Hashem and also a little for my own honor, but in his integrity alone, and this is what is called righteous. And "a man of integrity" is rendered in Aramaic "a complete man." Thus one who walks in wholeness and integrity and performs the mitzvot solely for the sake of Hashem, without seeking distinction and without boasting, he is the "man of faithfulness" we spoke of earlier, and of him it is said that he is righteous, a person whose deeds are just and complete, all his deeds done in righteousness.
And one who conducts himself this way, "happy are his children after him," merits it for his descendants after him. But one who performs the mitzvot in order to seek distinction and to boast, even though he himself may perhaps receive his reward, the righteous have a promise for themselves and their descendants: "I have not seen a righteous man forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread," "In the fear of Hashem there is strong security, and for his children there will be refuge" - the one who possesses fear merits it also for his children. "He does kindness to thousands, to those who love Me" - those who act out of love, to thousands; and even those who act out of fear, "to a thousand generations." In any case they pass it on to future generations as well. But one who acts in order to boast, perhaps he himself will have merit, but he has left nothing for his children, and they themselves will receive nothing by their father's merit.
Rabbeinu Yonah adds further: a righteous man is one who is careful of sin and holds fast to skill in action - on the one hand he does not transgress, and on the other hand he fulfills all the mitzvot. And when a person does so always, and also removes from within himself the bad traits, jealousy, desire and love of honor, until he reaches the level of complete fear and trust in Hashem, then he is called complete: not merely righteous, but a righteous man who has attained wholeness. Therefore it is said of Noach "a righteous man, wholehearted in his generations" - righteous and wholehearted are two things: Noach was righteous, and from the level of the righteous he rose to the wholehearted, who corrected also his soul with refined traits. Righteous is skill in action: he puts on tefillin, keeps Shabbat, is careful about lashon hara and guarding his eyes, what he does in practice. But if someone did something to you and angered you, and inside you are boiling and eating yourself up, you may be righteous but you are not wholehearted, for wholehearted means complete, one who has corrected his traits within.
And here Scripture informs us that the righteous man who has not yet reached the level of wholeness "walks in his deeds in his integrity" - you have not yet reached wholeness, but you are on the way. The attainment of righteousness itself is a great attainment on the path to wholeness, and his actions are already on the pathway of wholeness.
The Gaon of Vilna explains that a righteous man who walks in integrity of heart provides strengthening for his children after him. And he explains that there are three levels, as we find with Noach: "a righteous man, wholehearted, Noach walked with God" - the level of righteousness, the level of wholeness, and the level of "walking with God." And this is what the verse says: "walks" - corresponding to "walked with God"; "in his integrity" - corresponding to wholehearted; "righteous" - corresponding to righteous. One who has all three, "happy are his children after him": first, happy are the children who receive such traits from him, and further, that through this he strengthens his children after him to walk in his traits and ways.
We spoke previously that they asked Rav Chaim Kanievsky: a father who is praying and his young son is wandering about and not praying, should he correct him and pay attention to him during the prayer, or should he do his own and not constantly correct him? He answered: your own life comes first. For what did you come to the synagogue - to supervise your son? No, but to pray. Know first of all your own prayer, pray like a proper person, and then your son will learn as a matter of course. When the son sees his father's conduct, he comes to adopt it. But if the son sees that throughout the prayer you are not concentrating, because you are busy only with how to correct him and watch over him, he too will learn from you and not concentrate, and he will occupy himself with other things.
According to this we explain: "He who walks in his integrity is righteous - happy are his children after him." One who does not constantly chase after the child's perfection and his correction, remarking to him: don't do that, don't lift your head, don't move, don't get up, don't leave - but rather walks in his integrity, such a person is righteous, and then the son sees his father as a righteous man, and happy are his children after him, for the children adopt that same path.
In practice, of course, this must not be taken to an extreme. The child is not permitted to run wild in the synagogue and do as he pleases with the claim, "I am walking in my integrity." Certainly every half hour the father should see what the child is doing and hint to him, but that will not be his focus, and he will not sit the entire prayer in the synagogue chasing after his son. And if the child cannot sit for a long time, as we have discussed in the past, let him take him out, let him play outside, and bring him back in for twenty minutes, according to what he is capable of. And when he grows older, let him take care to send him to a suitable education where he will pray regularly. But to think that by chasing him he will pray - one thing is certain: the parents who chased their children, those are the children who most quickly threw off the yoke, fled the synagogue and study. Because for them it was always about being chased, they always came to them with demands and complaints, and this not only failed to encourage them but drove them away. Walk in your integrity, and then you will merit "happy are his children after him."
The Ralbag explains the verse in the context of educating children: who is this one who walks in his integrity and is righteous? The one of whom "happy are his children after him" - one who sets his children straight after him onto the path of Torah and mitzvot. "Ashrei" is from the expression "ayasher chaili," yasher koach, a term of strength and setting straight. And this is the great virtue of Avraham Avinu: "For I have known him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of Hashem" - this is the greatness to which the Holy One, blessed be He, testifies.
But if a person ascends on high and is asked: where are your children? At the club. Why? I sent them to a technological school to learn a trade. And what about Torah and fear of Heaven? I thought I could manage that through the home. Are you stronger than society? Stronger than his desires? For this there will be a complaint against him. Therefore it is ruled in halacha that one who sends his son to schools that are not Torah schools may not be brought up as a chazzan - not on weekdays and not on the Days of Awe. And if you want to know whether a person is satisfied with his business, see whether he brings his children into it as well. One who is not satisfied with his business says to his child: run away, don't touch this business. If you are satisfied with your business of serving Hashem - bring your children after you. And if you say: true, this is how I was raised, but you should know other things - it is a sign that you think the business is failing. A person who thinks that the business of the Master of the world is failing, and that he need not bequeath it to his children after him, shall we bring him up as a chazzan? This is among the gravest of matters, and there is a very severe attitude toward one who does not send his children to learn Torah but rather to places that distance them from Torah and mitzvot.
The Malbim explains that a righteous person is one who does what he is obligated to do, and he is still not in the category of tamim (wholehearted); and the tamim is one who is "for Hashem alone," who acts only for the honor of Hashem. This connects to what we said earlier: "a man of faithfulness who can find" - who can find such a person? To this the verse comes and says "he who walks in his integrity is righteous": even the righteous person has not yet reached the category of tamim, but rather he walks in his integrity to do all his deeds for the sake of Heaven. And therefore it says "mithalech," which is a term of constancy - he walks all the time toward wholeheartedness, as we explained in the name of Rabbeinu Yonah, even though he has not yet arrived. And one who merits to be in the category of tamim, all of whose deeds are for the sake of Heaven - happy are his children after him, for the children too will benefit from the reward of his deeds for generations to come.
מֶלֶךְ יוֹשֵׁב עַל־כִּסֵּא־דִין מְזָרֶה בְעֵינָיו כׇּל־רָע׃ - A king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters all evil with his eyes.
מִי־יֹאמַר זִכִּיתִי לִבִּי טָהַרְתִּי מֵחַטָּאתִי׃ - Who can say, "I have purified my heart, I am cleansed of my sin"?
Some read these two verses together. Rashi says that "a king who sits on the throne of judgment" can be interpreted as referring to the Holy One, blessed be He, and it can also be interpreted as referring to human judges of flesh and blood.
Rabbeinu Yonah explains: when the king sits on the throne of judgment, he scatters every wicked and evil person with the gaze of his eyes and with his glance. When he looks - immediately people tremble and are filled with fear, and through this he disperses every wicked and evil one. For the wicked and the evil fear the king, lest he recognize their deceit and their wicked deeds, and through this they refrain from negative acts. It emerges that when the king sits on the throne of judgment, by the very act of his sitting he disperses and distances all evil.
The Gaon of Vilna explains the verse as referring to Heaven above: the King of kings of kings, the Holy One blessed be He, sits upon a throne of judgment, and all who enter the world pass before Him like sheep of the flock, and He is "mezareh" - from the language of winnowing in the wind. All the wicked who did evil in the world stand before Him, and He sees all their corrupt deeds. And why is this called "scattering"? Because with the righteous the Holy One blessed be He joins thought to deed - even if the deed was not carried out, the thought is joined, for the intention of the righteous is to do good. But with the wicked, the Holy One blessed be He does not join thought to deed.
The explanation: when a person performs good deeds, he becomes a wholeness of good - one more good deed and another good deed, and a single wholeness is built here. But the wicked person is corruption, deficiency and sin: one more flaw and one more illness and one more decay and one more lack. One cannot speak of wholeness regarding this. When I polish and fashion a complete thing, I can say I have removed every impurity and I have wholeness; but with evil deeds there is no wholeness, and each deed is a flaw in itself. Therefore the wicked are called "the world of separation" - both because they create separation between us and the Master of the world, and because they create separation in the unifications of the supernal attributes, for a unification of a supernal attribute cannot take place when evil deeds divide, and also because evil is not wholeness. Even if one committed many transgressions, this is not wholeness, for one transgression does not join to another. But with mitzvot, one mitzvah joins to another. And as the holy Arizal says: when does a person repair his soul? When he has completed fulfilling the 613 mitzvot - 248 positive and 365 negative - and then he is made complete. Thus with mitzvot each mitzvah adds, and the total sum is wholeness; but of the wicked one cannot say this. Therefore "scattering with His eyes all evil" - evil is in the aspect of being scattered, dispersed, in the aspect of separation, each one on its own.
And what is "with His eyes"? As it says "the eyes of Hashem range throughout the earth," which refers to individual providence; and likewise "and I did that which is evil in Your eyes" - before Your eyes, under Your providence, I did a negative thing, a thing that is strange and an abomination in His eyes.
The Ralbag explains, in his way, that the verse speaks of the body, of a person's physical being, and the king over a person's body is the intellect. When I want to do something, who decides whether the deed is good or not? The judgment of the intellect - in the case where the intellect is the one that determines. There are many people for whom the desires do the speaking, whose wants and cravings are always speaking. But in the wise and complete person, the king - and who is a king? One who rules over all the desires of his heart and his wants - the intellect is the judge and the one that determines whether it is fitting to do this deed or to refrain, whether this response is proper or improper. And through the rest of the faculties, all the faculties of body and soul, the intellect arrives at the correct conclusion and brings all the faculties into action in the fitting way.
A person has a faculty of desire, a faculty of love, a faculty of hatred, arrogance, humility, anger and the other traits. Who navigates how much to activate of each trait? A "trait" (middah) is language of something measured, in measure and by weight, and the one who determines the fitting measure in each and every trait - is the intellect. And it is "scattering with His eyes all evil." How? Our decisions are not always black and white, and most of the time they are found in the gray area. And then it is possible that the evil inclination misleads me into thinking that a certain thing is good and so it is worthwhile to do it, and the intellect will render a mistaken decision out of good intention, for it wants to decide correctly, only that the inclination misled it into thinking this was the correct action, while in truth it was not fitting to act this way. But when the intellect sits upon a throne of judgment and rules over all the desires of the heart, it will no longer be persuaded by the desire that gives it justifications to do a deed that is not good.
An example for illustration: a person did something improper and needs to be rebuked, and this is a mitzvah. On the other hand, it may well be that the words are not fitting to be said now, for if I say them I will only hurt and cause damage, and perhaps it is better to refrain. This is a doubt in the gray area: the mitzvah of rebuke on one side, and "do not bear sin because of him" on the other, and here much discernment is needed. A person who does not rule over his desires and wants is liable to arrive easily at the conclusion that it is worthwhile to speak, and even to rebuke sharply - let us say, for the sake of argument, that the correct conclusion in this case was to be silent. And why did he lean this way? Because part of what misleads him is that he had with that person a residue from the past, an old argument, a word that was said; and now, when the person did something improper, the creditor found a place to collect his debt.
And note: the evil inclination does not tell him "he once did such and such to you, go at him and show him" - for it knows that you are a person of stature and will not listen to it. Rather it tells you: how can he do such a thing, this is a grave transgression, one may not be silent, there is an obligation to protest, and if you do not protest people will learn from him. But if you were a king, ruling over the faculties of desire and over the desires of your heart, you would investigate on your own and ask: perhaps there is a misleading factor here, and it is my desire and my want to take revenge on him - and then you would refrain and be silent. It emerges that in order to reach "scattering with His eyes all evil," to disperse the fog that the desires and wants that try to mislead you cast, you must be in the aspect of a king sitting upon a throne of judgment, ruling over the desires and over the wants. And then it is impossible to mislead you and tell you "it is a mitzvah" - for the evil inclination has many mitzvot: for this one it is a mitzvah to bury him, for that one it is a mitzvah to disgrace him, for the other one it is a mitzvah to speak lashon hara. Thank God, there is no shortage. But the person who is a king already knows not to listen to the evil inclination in these matters.
And is this easy? It is very far from simple, for the deception of the inclination is very great. And it emerges that few are those who can be elevated above every desire and say that all their decisions are the view of Torah, and truly these are only the great ones of Israel. Once Rav Moshe Feinstein answered regarding a certain question that the view of Torah is thus, and they asked him: on what basis does the Rav determine that his view is the view of Torah? A somewhat brazen question, but so they asked. He answered them: because I have never opened a book or read an article of something that is not Torah. And who can say such a thing? I have not looked into opinion pieces, I have not heard strange views, I have not read books of those who are not of our covenant or whose view is somewhat corrupted - all that I learned is only Torah. Such a person, his view is the view of Torah.
And this is the continuation, says the Ralbag, in the following verse: "מִי יֹאמַר זִכִּיתִי לִבִּי טָהַרְתִּי מֵחַטָּאתִי" - who is this, and which one is the king able to say that his heart is pure and cleansed of sin, that there is in him no desire that misleads him into accepting the counsel of the inclination that a certain transgression is a mitzvah? These are few. But one who is in the aspect of a king - "scattering with His eyes all evil": all the evil he immediately disperses, and immediately recognizes the schemes of the inclination, what is good and what is evil, and does only the good and correct deed.
We learned that most people chase after acts of kindness, for which one receives praise and thanks, while a "man of faithfulness" - one who fulfills his obligations out of a commitment to truth, without being appreciated for it - who can find him? From here emerges the definition of complete service of Hashem: a faithful emissary to those who sent him, doing everything for the sake of Heaven alone. The righteous person "walks in his integrity," continually moving toward wholeness, and through his personal example and through guiding his children onto the path of Torah - "fortunate are his children after him" - his reward passes on to them for generations. Finally, "a king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters all evil with his eyes": whether regarding a king of flesh and blood, or regarding the King of kings, or regarding the intellect that rules over a person's desires - only one who governs himself succeeds in scattering evil and recognizing the schemes of the evil inclination, and of him alone can it be said, "I have purified my heart, I have cleansed myself of my sin."