Introduction: How Do We Judge an Action?
We are focusing on a single verse in chapter 20 from which we will learn a great principle about understanding a person: how we can know what truly stands behind an action we have witnessed, and what is really hidden in the heart. The verse deals with a youth, and the commentators differ in various directions in understanding it. Each one opens for us a different angle, and together they build a complete picture of the work of character refinement and the duty of judging correctly.
גַּם בְּמַעֲלָלָיו יִתְנַכֶּר נָעַר, אִם זַךְ וְאִם יָשָׁר פָּעֳלוֹ. - Even a youth is known by his deeds, whether his conduct is pure and whether it is upright.
Rabbenu Yonah: One Does Not Grow Great in a Single Day
"Yitnaker" means he is recognized. Rabbenu Yonah says: a person whose conduct is upright and whose heart is pure, a person of whom one can say "I have purified my heart," is generally an older person. Intellectual awareness has already entered him, he is already wise, he already knows his duty in his world, and the desires are already behind him. You look at him and see a great man walking in the way of Hashem. The verse tells you: know that one does not grow great in a single day. If you see such a great person, it is a sign that already in his deeds he set himself apart when he was a youth.
"Lehitnaker" means to conduct oneself as a stranger, and "maalalim" refers to all matters of pleasures and desires. In other words: he did not engage in these deeds in his childhood, but rather he was a stranger to them. To pleasures, to desires, to all of these he behaved as a foreigner. Already in his youth his main occupation was in intellectual matters, in spiritual concerns, in the service of Hashem and the study of Torah. For it is impossible to live for years amid deeds, pleasures, and desires, and then in a single day rise up and become a person of wisdom. Rather, already from a young age, from there he began to make himself a stranger to the pleasures of this world and its desires.
And indeed Rabbenu Yonah says: a little intellect can draw the power of desire after it, but sometimes a little desire draws much intellect after it. As we have already said: when a person has a desire, the intellect hangs up a "being dragged along" sign, because now the desire is speaking - "at the moment of the evil inclination, there is none who calls to mind the good inclination," a person does not even remember that a good inclination exists. And this youth, even though in his youth he had many deeds and an evil inclination, made himself a stranger to them, because the little intellect within him drew the desires toward the occupation of Torah and the attainment of intellectual matters. But one who is not so - even when he grows up, his small desire draws his great intellect after it and brings him to vanities and follies, even though he ought already to have possessed great intellect.
The Gra: And the One Who Created the Ear and the Eye
The Gra says: let a person not say "who knows what is in my heart, who knows what my plans are, who knows what scheme I am plotting." For you yourself know what the youth's plans are. You know what schemes your child has, the one trying to sell you stories about why they came home early today and why he did such a thing, and you already smell that something is going on here. "Even a youth is known by his deeds" - his words are recognizable. And if so, do you think that the Holy One, blessed be He, who knows even thoughts, does not recognize your deeds? To this comes the next verse:
אֹזֶן שֹׁמַעַת וְעַיִן רֹאָה, יְהֹוָה עָשָׂה גַם שְׁנֵיהֶם. - The ear that hears and the eye that sees, Hashem made both of them.
The One who made the ear and the eye has a direct quotation of everything you speak, say, and see. And the Gra makes a precise observation: three things are mentioned here - "his deeds," "an ear that hears," and "an eye that sees" - and they correspond to action, speech, and thought. His deeds correspond to actions, the ear that hears corresponds to speech, and the eye that sees corresponds to thought, for the Holy One, blessed be He, sees even a person's thoughts. And this is what they said: an eye sees and an ear hears, and all your deeds are written in a book.
The Ralbag: The Youth - One Whom the Desires Rule
The Ralbag explains: although among a person's actions there are good ones and bad ones, and usually one can tell when an action is good and when it is negative, it is still very possible for a person to do things in secret - actions that outwardly appear good, while their true aim is for ill. Concerning such a person, whose actions are good when revealed but negative when hidden, the verse says "na'ar" (youth). And what is a na'ar? A servant, as in "Yehoshua the na'ar," while a king, by contrast, is a ruler. This na'ar - his desires rule over him. He is not a ruler but the ruled. Who rules over him? The power of desire, the bad character traits, vengeance and grudge-bearing, all those negative traits that operate within him underground and are not visible outwardly. Outwardly he presents himself as upright and as caring for you.
As the Gemara relates: he says to you, "Why do you need a donkey like this? Sell it, buy yourself a horse, it is much better" - and he himself circles around and buys the donkey. Outwardly he is advising you with good counsel, but his intent is negative, and he is not advising for your benefit. This is "do not place a stumbling block before the blind" - advice that is not fair.
A Story About the Rav of Brisk
Once people came to the Rav of Brisk and said they wanted to remove a shochet from his position, because his children were not walking so much in the way of Hashem. They asked: what does the Rav think? He told them: you are right, remove him. They asked: but how shall we tell him? He said to them: not like that. You must arrange another place for him, and then tell him to move there, but there is no sufficient reason here to dismiss him. They went and searched and found an alternative place of work, and came and told the shochet that there was such a place looking for workers. He said: an excellent idea, I will go ask the Rav of Brisk. He went and asked. The Rav heard what was being offered to him here and what was being offered to him there, and said to him: it is not worthwhile for you, remain a shochet. The shochet came back and told them: the Rav told me it is not worthwhile for me. They came to the Rav with a complaint: honored Rav, we acted according to your words, and the Rav put sticks in our wheels! The Rav said to them: and what did you want? That I should be wicked? What is a wicked person? One who advises his fellow with counsel that is not fair to him. You want me to advise him with counsel that is fair to you? I must advise him with counsel that is fair to him. Find him a more profitable and attractive place of work, he will come and ask me and I will tell him it is worthwhile for him to move there. But that I should tell him it is worthwhile for him when it is not worthwhile for him? See what thinking a great man has. In any case we have learned: it is possible for a person to advise you with supposedly good counsel, while in truth within him he sets his ambush.
Such a person is a na'ar and not a king. A king is one who is able to overcome his desires and his lusts, whereas this one has no ruling power over his desires and lusts, and therefore he "disguises himself": outwardly he presents himself as having good intent, while within him the intent is negative.
Metzudat David: Schemes Even Among the Youth
The Metzudat David explains: even the one young in years, when he does deeds, does them from his own understanding and not merely from habitual routine, and in any case he is liable to cause people to be uncertain whether his conduct is pure and upright - whether his intent in his deeds is genuine. In other words: do not think that schemes and tricks exist only among adults; even in his doings a youth will disguise himself.
And in our times we almost have to say the opposite: today schemes are not only among the youth, there are also some among adults - because unfortunately the champions of schemes are the youth. The youth knows how to make an impression on you, knows how to tell you stories, does his deeds in secret. You see a child and ask: how did you get this? And he explains to you that he brought this, and traded that, and inserted this card and received such a device, and you wonder where all these tricks come from already at such a young age. And especially outsmarting the teachers - that is the peak of cleverness for them.
Someone once sent me a picture: a student sitting in an exam, two hands supposedly resting on the table, but in truth he had pulled one hand out of the sleeve, filled the sleeve with something so that it would look as if the hand was on the table, and with that hand he was scrolling through his phone under his coat and receiving answers. He thinks no one will catch him - and in the end he got caught in the net. The youth are experts in all the tricks and in passing information among themselves. Therefore know this: even at a young age they have all this cleverness, and therefore investigate and check whether the deed is genuine, pure and upright, or whether there is deceit in it.
The Malbim: Deeds (Ma'alalim) Versus Acts (Pe'alim)
The Malbim distinguishes between a "po'al" (act) and a "ma'alal" (deed). Pe'alim are things a person does physically, whereas ma'alalim are actions that stem from traits of the soul - actions that grow out of pride or humility, cruelty or mercy. "I drank coffee" is an action that stems neither from a good trait nor from a bad trait, and therefore it is a "po'al." But when a person delivers a slap, it is possible that the matter stems from a bad trait, and therefore it is fitting to say of him "evil of deeds (ma'alalim)."
And from here comes his explanation: if you are dealing with a youth and you do not know how to discern his essence, you can recognize him through his traits and character. You saw him do a certain action, which could be characterized as an act of cruelty or as an act of righteousness, and you do not know into which category to place it - "in his deeds a youth disguises himself." Look at what his traits are. If his traits are consistently good, then this action too, which you cannot decide about, stemmed from a good trait; and if his traits are consistently negative, know that the action stemmed from a negative trait.
Moshe Rabbeinu: And he struck the Egyptian
Consider an example: I see a man killing another man, digging a grave for him and burying him in the ground. Good or not good? "And he struck the Egyptian and hid him in the sand." I did not see what came before and I did not see what came after. Perhaps he is simply a murderer, and perhaps he performed a wonderful act, an act of rescue. I see Moshe saying to the wicked man, "Why do you strike your fellow?" - why does he say this? Perhaps because he feels himself to be the one in charge here, correcting everyone; and perhaps because it pains him deeply to see someone beaten, and it pains him deeply to see a lack of justice and integrity. I do not know.
They tell me: come and examine his other deeds. "And Moshe grew up and went out to his brethren and saw their burdens." Here you see his doings, the traits of his soul and his character. This man could have stayed in the king's court as an aristocrat and said: what have I to do with a nation of slaves over there in their quarters? Let them not even know that I am from their family. But he, in his royal garments, goes out to his brethren; his soul goes out to his brethren, and he sees their burdens. Here is a man who possesses compassion and good character. If so, when he goes and kills the Egyptian, it is not because there is a murderous nature within him, but because he saw an Egyptian abusing a Jew, and the good character, the justice and the integrity within him gave him no rest. Now I understand from which inclination of the soul the matter stems: not from cruelty, but from righteousness, from compassion and from caring for others.
Yosef HaTzaddik: "And he was a youth with the sons of Bilhah"
Yosef brings an evil report of them to their father. What is going on here? On the surface, an arrogant man who considers himself the beloved son who is always under his father's wing, who looks down on his brothers and comes and tells his father what this one did and what that one did. Is this truly the man? Come and see what his doings are: "And he was a youth with the sons of Bilhah" - a youth, says the Malbim, means he served them. And does a haughty person conduct himself this way, serving the sons of the handmaidens and waiting on them? If so, when Yosef brings their report, there is an intention here to help them and good character, not, Heaven forbid, a negative trait. "By his doings a youth makes himself known" - look at his other doings, and from them you will understand the deed in its proper context. Do not take a single deed and judge it when it is isolated from the rest of the person's personality; look at what his personality is, and according to that judge the deed.
Pinchas: son of Puti or son of Aharon?
And this is what was said regarding Pinchas: "Have you seen this son of Puti, whose mother's father fattened calves for idolatry, who rose up and killed a prince of Israel?" What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He traced his lineage: "Pinchas son of Elazar son of Aharon the Kohen." And the masters of mussar ask: what does that accomplish? If a person has a grandfather who is a criminal, does the fact that on his mother's side he has a righteous grandfather mean the first one is no longer his grandfather? Have you erased him from the lineage? He no longer appears at the Ministry of the Interior?
Rather, the tribes said that Pinchas performed a covered act - an act about which there is no ruling as to whether it is good or evil. One could say: this man is a murderer, a lover of blood, who saw an opportunity to bring his natures out into the open, took a sword and dispatched two in a single blow. And one could say: this man has the fear of Hashem nesting in his heart, he could not bear an act of transgression, he loves people, and his entire deed stemmed from a desire to remove a plague from Israel and to sanctify the name of Heaven in public, to remove the desecration of Hashem that constitutes an accusation against the people of Israel. How shall we judge? The people came and said: Have you seen this son of Puti? Look at his roots - his grandfather is an idolater, and what would you expect from idolaters? "Only there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me" - and out comes a murderous grandson. The Holy One, blessed be He, came and said: you are mistaken. True, he is this one's grandson, but I tell you from where the deed stemmed: his character traits - from whom did he inherit them, from Yitro or from Aharon? He inherited them from Aharon, who loves peace and pursues peace, who loves people and brings them close to the Torah.
This is in essence the word of the Malbim: "By his doings a youth makes himself known" - when you do not know how to understand deeds that seem foreign and unfamiliar to you, look at his doings. From his doings you will recognize the traits of his soul, for doings are actions that stem from the traits of the soul, and by the strength of his doings you will know how to judge the rest of his covered deeds.
"Whether his conduct is pure and whether it is upright"
And what is the difference between "pure" (zach) and "upright" (yashar)? The Malbim says: "pure" means clean of dross - his deeds are clean, without bad physical traits in them. "Upright" is the opposite of one who is unjust and crooked, which means an outlook that is not straight. "Pure" refers to actions that grow from the power of the character traits, and the root of character traits is in wisdom, as we have learned several times: who is wise - a person who conducts himself with upright character traits, and regarding character traits we have no clear instruction from plain reason, and therefore they fall under the category of wisdom that must be received from another source. Whereas "upright" is uprightness in thought and outlook, that he has a straight and uncrooked thought and outlook, and the root of this is in understanding (binah), in contemplation and in drawing conclusions to understand one thing from another.
In summary:
"גם במעלליו יתנכר נער" teaches us several paths rooted in the same principle: a great person is not made in a single day, but already in his youth he distanced himself from base desires and immersed himself in matters of the intellect; one who is ruled by his desires remains a "youth" and not a "king," and outwardly he presents fairness while inwardly harboring a different intent; and let a person not say "who knows what is in my heart," for the One who created the ear and the eye knows deed, speech, and thought. Above all we have learned the Malbim's rule of judgment: do not judge a single act in isolation from the person, but look at his conduct, at the traits of his soul and his fixed character, and from this you will know whether the act stemmed from a good trait or a bad one, as we saw with Moshe, with Yosef, and with Pinchas, and only in this way will you know whether his deeds are pure and upright.