In chapter 20 of Mishlei, amid a series of pesukim dealing with human conduct and the wisdom of life, comes one pasuk that is an entire body of Torah on the laws of decision making: "Plans are established through counsel, and with strategies wage war." The pasuk distinguishes between two kinds of conduct: the ordinary conduct of life, in which one must think many thoughts and arrive at a single well grounded plan, versus war, in which a single plan is not enough and strategies are required. We will follow the Malbim, Rabbeinu Yonah and the Vilna Gaon, and see how much hinges on this pasuk.
מַחֲשָׁבוֹת בְּעֵצָה תִכּוֹן וּבְתַחְבֻּלוֹת עֲשֵׂה מִלְחָמָה׃ (משלי כ, יח) - Plans are established through counsel, and with strategies wage war. (Mishlei 20:18)
The first thing we learn from here: it is important to take counsel with another person. You may be the wisest and most understanding person, and still there is something he thought of that you did not. The Holy One, blessed be He, delivered the idea through that channel. As the words put it: "For sometimes the grasp of a person's intellect falls short, he errs and something is hidden from him, and in what he erred, others will help him."
There is a story of a man who was driving in winter, at night, in the rain, and got a flat tire. He removed the wheel, placed the bolts inside the hubcap, and began to change it. A car sped by and scattered all the bolts. He stood there at a loss. Near that spot was an institution for the mentally ill, and one of the residents passed by, saw him bewildered, and asked what had happened. The man explained his problem. The resident said to him: What is the problem? Take one bolt from each of the other wheels and put it on this one. A wheel with three bolts will not collapse; drive on and complete it later. The man said to him: I never thought of that. It takes someone from an asylum to tell me such a thing. And the lesson is: there is no necessity that you think of every possible angle. How often does it happen that our own child tells us something we never thought of, and we admit: true, that is an idea, let us really do it that way.
Moreover: precisely the one who thinks a great deal about a certain matter becomes locked into those very thoughts. He asks himself: What should I do - option A, B or C? And he begins to investigate among the three. An outsider comes and says to him: There is also a D! And what looked like a dead end is resolved at once. This is what is called today "thinking outside the box." It is difficult for us, because we have grown accustomed to think dogmatically and in a certain mode of thought, and we arrive at mental fixation.
NASA invested long months developing a pen that could write in a state of weightlessness, so the ink would not flow out; they developed a pen with a special spring and more. When they met the Russian cosmonauts they asked them: How did you solve the problem? Do you know how much we invested in research? They answered: We were given pencils. Get out of the box. You are trying to think what pen to create and how - and who said it has to be a pen? Take a pencil and the problem is solved.
And know that so it is in Torah as well. All those great men of Israel who were tremendous innovators, such as the approach of Rav Chaim of Brisk, this is always the style: everyone is thinking in one direction, and suddenly he comes and attacks the sugya from an entirely different angle, a distinction or an idea that no one had thought of. Not to think in a dogmatic and conformist manner, in the accepted way everyone is used to, but to know that there is a possibility to think in another way as well. And for this, "plans are established through counsel" - you have grown accustomed to a certain line, and someone else will give you a different line of thinking.
Rabbeinu Yonah adds a further reason. Sometimes a person has an inclination of the heart, and this inclination blinds him. He wants to buy a certain car; an expert comes and tells him: it is not worthwhile. But he wants it very much, because the body of the car caught his eye. The expert says to him: the body - for a few thousand shekels you have it painted; but if the engine is shot, and the chassis is finished, and the steering, and whatever else needs replacing - you could end up in the tens of thousands. Do not be swept up by the body, the body is an external thing. But the person is already locked onto it, he has already made up his mind.
I once knew a man who was about to buy an apartment in the middle of Dangoor in Pardes Katz, fourth floor without an elevator, seventy square meters, needing a total renovation, and the price was not cheap. This was a man who had just gotten married; his wife, with one child and then two, would have to climb four flights and live in a neighborhood where leaving the house meant feeling afraid. I told him: it is a waste of your money. The neighborhood is very bad, your child will not be able to go down and play in peace, and in three or four years you will not be at ease. I gave him examples, I spoke with a real estate agent who said there were far better options - and none of it helped. The man bought the apartment. I said: there are people who want to learn the hard way. But this is what we see: a person saw something, it touched his heart, and he was locked in.
That is why Rabbenu Yonah says: thoughts are a good thing, but very often, out of his strong desire for a particular action, a person blinds the eyes of his own understanding. Therefore he should consult with others, and they will tell him the truth. Go and speak with real estate agents, with people who understand: is this apartment worthwhile? Is what is being offered here worthwhile? Do you recommend it? I do not understand, but I will go and ask someone who does understand.
When it comes to war, thought and counsel are not enough; strategy is needed too. What is strategy? Consider chess as an analogy. Who is considered the most expert player? It is not about who the person is, but about his abilities: the one able to think more moves ahead. I will do this, he will respond like this, I will do this and he will do that - check, mate. But that is still narrow, for the opponent across from me is also thinking. So: I will do this, and he will think that I intend to do that, and therefore he will not move the rook there but rather the other piece, and then I move this way and deliver mate. The one who thinks through every possibility is the expert player.
This is exactly "with strategies make war." When I take an action, when I launch a missile, what will the reaction be? And when they respond like that, what response do I have? And if afterward they respond like this, I have nothing left to respond with, I have nothing to do. So is it worthwhile to enter into this whole move? It would not be wise, I will not get involved in it. This is the wisdom in war, these are the strategies: to know how to see what will come to be, what my actions might bring about from every possible angle, and through this to act wisely in war so as to also win it.
The Vilna Gaon connects this to the verse "in an abundance of counselors there is success." A thought is what a person deliberates with wise counselors, and a person's thought will succeed through an abundance of counselors, when there are many advising him. But in war, says the Gra, counsel does not help - strategy is needed. And the Gra, as is his way, takes the matter to Torah and mitzvos: in serving the Creator, in how to walk in Hashem's way, one must consult with the wise and with the righteous - those who have long been walking in Hashem's way, the experienced ones, those who have not stumbled over the stumbling block of the evil inclination.
The analogy for this is the "maze garden" that the Ramchal speaks about in Mesillas Yesharim. What is a maze garden? What we today call a maze. In their times, kings would build themselves a maze constructed entirely of trees and bushes, with paths and trails, and a person enters from one side and needs to know how to get out - like the mazes in the newspapers. To enter the palace you have to pass through the maze garden, and from the other side you reach the palace; but you stand outside and are confused: right, left, retracing your steps, and it seems to you that you have already been here twice, and you do not know what to do. And up above, on the balcony at the top of the palace, stands a man who tells you: no, do not take a right, go left instead; now straight, now right, and again right, and now left, and you will arrive. And why does he know? Because he has already arrived, he has already learned the way, and as one who has experienced it he can advise you. So too in serving Hashem: a person should not do things according to his own understanding, but rather consult with the wise and the righteous.
Someone told me about his brother-in-law, who at a certain point became observant, and became fervent in his path, and could not see anyone within a meter of him. His marriage ran aground, and a terrible grounding it was. He took him to his rav, a grandson of Rav Elyashiv. The rav heard the story and said to him: you returned to observance crookedly. Your path is not a correct path. Take off the beard, take off the yarmulke, come back and I will begin teaching you from the beginning. And he would not accept it: I am with the Master of the Universe, I do not see anyone within a meter of me. And what has become of that man today? Divorced, he abandoned religion, his wife abandoned religion, the children are in secular schools, and he is married to another woman and drops by from time to time to visit, leaves a credit card and goes shopping. May Hashem have mercy. Gentlemen, when a person does things crookedly - it is dreadful. How does one return to observance? How does one do Hashem's will? Do not think you understand on your own. Go and consult with the wise. And here, this rav seemed to you not fanatical enough, he tells you to give something up, and you say: give up what? We are talking about Torah and mitzvos, good for you, go all the way! But the rav already knew what your end would be.
How many times a person needs to know to consult with great people. Rav Glazer told of a woman who came before him: she had married as a young woman with fear of Heaven, and her husband got lost in Facebook. May Hashem have mercy. She objects with all her might, they have internet in the house, and there are terrible quarrels, and her mother calls and pressures her. He told her: if there is no choice, there is no choice - get divorced. And they divorced. Afterward he spoke with Rav Chaim Rabi, who is his rav, who told him: do not rush to divorce. Know this, the framework of marriage, as bad as it may be, is still a framework. And when one leaves the framework, the abyss is the limit, there are no limits. I experienced this firsthand.
And indeed, after three months the woman's mother calls. That same mother who had constantly pushed, "Let them divorce, why should she stay with him, doesn't she deserve a different guy?" She says: Don't ask, my daughter, how she has deteriorated, what kind of friends she has, how she changed her dress, bought an iPhone, suddenly on Facebook with her friends. Do you understand? This is what she divorced over! And it all came from pious jealousy, from serving Hashem, from a pure heart. Heaven forbid that I should say there was hypocrisy here. But marriage is still a framework.
We see from here how obligatory it is for a person to consult with a great person. Don't do things on impulse. Don't say: What does this person want, that I should live with someone like that? The Gedolei Yisrael said that whoever keeps an unfiltered internet, whoever has an iPhone, has no portion in the World to Come, so shall I live with someone who has no portion in the World to Come? It all sounds good and fine, but did you ask a great person? Did you consult? How can you do things according to your own opinion alone? Great people know reality, they know what is out there, and they know all the stories and all the filth and mire that eventually reaches them. Therefore the Gra says: In serving the Creator one must not walk in the way of Hashem without consulting the wise and the righteous. The wise man and the righteous man have already been through it, have already been there, and have already heard enough stories to know where the pits are and where not to enter.
They tell of one of the Gedolei Yisrael, and I believe it was Rabbi Itzel'e Blazer, who would deliver a talk during the Days of Awe about the way of Hashem and about serving Hashem. And he would say to his listeners: I have already grown old and gray, I am experienced, and I can tell you as one who has walked the roads and fallen and been bruised. But what is the way of Hashem, what is the correct way in which a person should walk, that is "if only I could attain it." What can I tell you? Where the pits are, where the ditches are, so that you too should be careful not to fall there. That I can tell you, that is what I am fit to teach you.
And all of this came from his great humility, for he was a supreme holy man. Whoever knows his virtues and his righteousness and his abstinence: forty days a year he would withdraw from all matters of the world, sitting in seclusion, withdrawing from his wife and from everything, only sitting and occupying himself with Torah in a fast from speech. A disciple of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, most exceptional both in his Torah and in his humility.
Once the Rav of Brisk raised a question in a gathering of scholars, and Rabbi Itzel'e remained silent throughout the entire discussion. When the Rav of Brisk returned home he said: Interesting, they say about him that he is a Torah scholar, and I see that he did not even express an opinion. This puzzled him. He went and opened Rabbi Itzel'e's book, and he saw that everything they had discussed there, he had two chapters on it in the book. He said: This man is a genius in humility. Not only a genius, but a genius in humility. For first of all, everything we discussed he had already written; and second, who is capable of knowing and writing and staying silent, and not saying: Yes, I wrote a chapter on this in the book, look there, and what you are saying I also wrote? Who is capable of staying silent? Only one who is a genius in humility. And whoever sits there and hears his silence says in his heart: He probably didn't understand what we were discussing, he probably isn't versed in the topic. We see that the Gedolim have a tremendous strength to conceal their deeds. And with all of this, what did he say about himself? I can at least tell you where people do not fall, where the pits are and from where to keep away. But in truth, he could also have told us what is the way that ascends to Beit El.
The Gra continues and says: All that we said regarding "thoughts are established through counsel," that one must consult with the wise and the righteous, this concerns how one walks in the way of Hashem. But how does one fight against the evil inclination? There counsel is not enough; there one needs "and with strategies wage war."
There are two things: "do good" and "turn from evil." The "do good" is what is the correct way in a person's conduct, and here people go and consult with the Gedolei HaDor: What is the proper order of study for me? In what should I invest more and in what less? Which practices should I take upon myself in order to strengthen myself in serving Hashem? All of this is called counsel: how to strengthen oneself in serving Hashem and how to walk in the way of Hashem.
In contrast, when the evil inclination comes and trips you up with some pleasure, desire, or corruption, consulting with a wise man is not enough; here one also needs strategies. And what are strategies? To outwit the inclination. If I know that if I go by way X I am likely to fail, I will devise a strategy and bypass that place so as not to arrive at that same failure. This is a simple and superficial example, but so it is in every matter: to think about what strategy I will devise so that the evil inclination cannot overcome me in this matter, cannot trip me up in this thing. Here counsel is not enough; here one also needs strategy: how to do things in a way that one truly will not fail.
The Malbim explains "thoughts are established through counsel and with strategies wage war" based on what he already explained earlier in chapter 15, verse 14: the thoughts, in which a person considers all the possibilities, are like a flowing stream of water. And the counsel is what you clarified out of all those thoughts. Let us define it: thoughts are the options. When I weighed the matter, seven options came into my mind, all of this is called thoughts. But when I decide that I will go by the fourth way, that is called counsel. The person clarified for himself a counsel of how to act. And this is what the Malbim defines: there is a foundation here for the thoughts. The thoughts do not wander on the wings of the wind, rather they are founded: I already have a line that I will take and along which I intend to walk. Of this it is said "thoughts are established through counsel."
And notice the precise wording: "thoughts" in the plural, "counsel" in the singular. To think many thoughts is good, and you must think many thoughts, for otherwise it is narrow mindedness, you think in only one direction and that is it. Think many thoughts, consider all the possibilities. But in the end you need one thing: a single counsel.
There are many people who find it hard to decide. He has not found a job, not found a match, not found a car, not found an apartment, and what has he found in abundance? Quarrels. Why? Because this person is incapable of deciding. And truly these are wretched people, one's heart genuinely aches for them.
Here we see how important it is for a person to appoint himself a rabbi and remove himself from doubt. Why? Because if you do not know how to decide, say to that great man: you decide for me. And then I go with simple faith along with the Master of the World. A person who does not know how to decide always remains in the middle. He remembers only after registration for the trip has closed: wait, there is no available spot? They talked about this for a whole month! I was not yet sure. After someone else has already been hired for the job: I was not sure whether I really wanted to work in this, do you have any other openings? And that woman is already married with children, and only now are you waking up. It is a terrible situation.
It is highly recommended for such a person to get help from others, to get help and cut it short. What do you say, my wife? Is that what you say? Fine, so be it. They will say to him: how did you decide that way, there are two sides to it? And the answer: true, but I can keep going with my two sides for another two years, and something has to be done. Let someone decide, let someone take responsibility.
And very often the root of the matter is a lack of confidence. We want to be sure that what we did was right, and the thought keeps running through the mind: what if I fall afterward? What will they say about me? What a blunder I will have made, what an embarrassment? A person needs to have confidence, and above all confidence in Hashem. For a person thinks: if I decide this way it will turn out like this for me, and if I do that maybe it will turn out like that, and what, is the Master of the World not in the picture? Did the Holy One, blessed be He, decide nothing for you? Do you have no protection? Does everything depend only on you, and whatever you do, you will either fall or rise? That is a lack of confidence in Hashem. One must pray: Master of the World, I pray to You to guide me to the right counsel. And set a time: by tomorrow evening I will reach a decision. He makes the decision and does not drag it out any further. And such people must work in this way, because otherwise they are wretched and make those around them wretched too. Every matter is a whole saga with them, and what everyone else decided and finished long ago, he is still weighing and still not sure about. And this is a very bad thing. Of this it is said: thoughts are good, but "through counsel it is established." In the end there must be a foundation here, something stable, one counsel to follow.
By contrast, in war one needs strategies. And what are strategies? Not a single counsel, but a multitude of counsels. Thoughts in the end require one counsel; war is not satisfied with one counsel, it requires a multitude of counsels. And why? Because the one opposing me also has a multitude of counsels. So what do you decide, from where to attack? I decide to attack from here. And what if he does such and such? I have a contingency plan, I have an additional counsel: I will send a division from the other side. And what if he already thought of that and set an ambush there? I have a third counsel, air support, and so on. In war you cannot say: that is it, I thought about it, and what next? When there is a problem we will convene the general staff, we will sit in the bunker until white smoke comes out. There is no such thing. In war there must be a multitude of counsels, and this is "strategies": to be ready for every reaction, for such a thing one prepares this, for such a thing the response is this and for such a thing that. And a multitude of counsels is required, because against your counsel he has counter counsels, how to nullify your counsel.
"Thoughts are established through counsel": think many thoughts, do not freeze into a single line of thinking, and consult with others, both because a person's grasp of intellect is limited and what is hidden from you is revealed to another, and because when one desires something too much it clouds the eyes of the intellect. But after the many thoughts, one well grounded counsel must come, and not the paralysis of indecision whose source is a lack of confidence in Hashem. "And with strategies wage war": in war, and in the war against the evil inclination in general, one counsel is not enough; one must foresee what may come from every possible angle, and outwit the evil inclination with strategies that will keep me from arriving at failure. And in the way of Hashem itself, one must not proceed without consulting the wise and the righteous, who stand on the palace balcony and see the whole maze of the garden, and who can at least tell us where the pits and the traps are.