In this section of Chapter 25, we address three consecutive verses - "Make your foot rare in the house of your neighbor", "A maul, a sword, and a sharp arrow", and "A broken tooth and a wavering foot". In each of them, we will examine first the plain meaning of the text, and then the depth revealed by the Vilna Gaon and the explanation of the Malbim. What unites all three is a warning against something that appears close and trustworthy - a friend, a witness, a tooth, and a foot - yet betrays you in the moment of truth.
הֹקַר רַגְלְךָ מִבֵּית רֵעֶךָ פֶּן יִשְׂבָּעֲךָ וּשְׂנֵאֶךָ׃ (יז) - Make your foot rare in the house of your neighbor, lest he become satiated with you and hate you.
The Vilna Gaon explains the plain meaning of the verse: Restrain your feet from constantly visiting your friend's house, even if he loves you, lest he become sated with your presence, grow weary of you, and come to hate you. But the Vilna Gaon always delves deeper, asking what deeper allusion lies here.
The Vilna Gaon explains: The yetzer hara (evil inclination) is very necessary for the service of Hashem - but only on condition that it is conquered beneath you. In simple terms: without the yetzer hara, what would challenge us? Without the yetzer hara, for what would we receive reward? But one must be extremely careful to remain the conqueror, for woe to a person if the yetzer hara overcomes him - this was not the intention, nor is this why the Holy One, blessed be He, created the yetzer hara.
And the yetzer hara, says the Vilna Gaon, is called "rea" (friend or companion). As it is written, "Do not believe in a friend (rea)", which Chazal interpreted: Do not believe in the yetzer hara. Why is it called this? Because it presents itself, as it were, as your friend, your buddy: "Don't you want ice cream? Let's go there, come enjoy yourself. Again that rabbi is telling you it is forbidden, again it says so in Halachah - forget it, come on." It acts as if it loves you and wants what is good for you. Therefore, it is called a "rea".
And this is what is meant by "Make your foot rare in the house of your neighbor": Even if you have broken the yetzer hara, even if it is already subjugated under your control - nevertheless, distance yourself from it. Come and see King Solomon: his inclination was subjugated in his hand, and he was confident that in his spiritual state he could multiply wives, thinking, "It will not happen to me" - and it happened to him in a major way. "I can amass gold and silver, it will not happen to me." "I can amass horses" - and the market for horses was in Egypt, under his exclusive control, and he brought the people down to Egypt to multiply horses.
And what is the meaning of "lest he become satiated with you"? That the yetzer hara will become satiated from you, meaning it will cause you to sin. When the yetzer hara causes a person to sin, that is its fuel and its vitality, for the sitra achra (the forces of impurity) feeds on the sparks of holiness that it plunders from man by causing him to stumble in sin. With every sin it causes a person to commit, it becomes more satiated. And afterwards: "and hate you" - does it really love you so much? Its entire goal is to ascend Above and prosecute, for such is the way of the yetzer hara: it descends and incites, and ascends and prosecutes. Thus, its method is first to feast upon man here in this world, and then to ascend Above and act as his enemy.
The Vilna Gaon explains further: "From the house of your Friend" - this refers to the synagogues, the house of Hashem. The meaning is that a person should not prolong prayer beyond three hours, as the early pious ones did. Anyone who intends to pray for more than three hours should know that this is problematic. If only a person would properly recite the prayers he is obligated in - morning, afternoon, and evening - for these warnings do not even apply to our level. In any case, for one who wishes to be a tzaddik and pray more than three hours, a person should not engage in excessive prayer.
And this corresponds to the sacrifices: just as with sacrifices it is said, "Make your foot rare in the house of your neighbor", so too with prayer. However, there, regarding sacrifices, it refers to an offering whose purpose is to atone for sins, and the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I do not want you to visit Me frequently with sacrifices of this sort. But here we are speaking even of prayer, which is an inherently positive thing, and nevertheless the Gemara states: The time for prayer is distinct, and the time for Torah study is distinct, and one's Torah study must be preserved. For if you pray twelve hours a day, what will become of Torah? When will you learn? How will your Torah be preserved?
The Malbim explains: "Make your foot rare in your neighbor's house" - even if you are as sweet to him as honey, be careful that he does not become sated with you. Allegorically, this refers to the matter of the sacrifices, as explained above.
מֵפִיץ וְחֶרֶב וְחֵץ שָׁנוּן אִישׁ עֹנֶה בְרֵעֵהוּ עֵד שָׁקֶר׃ (יח) - A maul, a sword, and a sharp arrow is a man who bears false witness against his fellow.
Rashi explains that meifitz is not an action but the name of a weapon, an instrument called a maul, and all three are names of weapons of war. The Vilna Gaon adds with precision: the meifitz is a sledgehammer, and why is it called a meifitz? From the phrase, "like a hammer that shatters (yefotzetz) rock" - with a sledgehammer one shatters rock, and therefore it is called a meifitz, from the root of shattering.
The Gra says: these three weapons have the power to kill a person, but in varying degrees of severity. One who kills with a maul inflicts a very agonizing death. A sword causes a less severe death. And a sharp arrow is the lightest of them - a sharp arrow straight to the heart, and in a single moment the person dies.
So too, one who bears false witness against his fellow resembles these three weapons and encompasses all three. First, the lie itself, which is a grave iniquity, corresponds to the sharp arrow, the lightest of them. Second, through your testimony you extract money from one person and give it to another: it is not merely the sin of falsehood in one's mouth, but based on this lie, you caused funds to be taken from Reuven and given to Shimon. There was a dispute between them over an apartment, you testified falsely, and the apartment was awarded to Shimon even though it belonged to Reuven - and this is already like a sword. Third, the most severe of all: it is done to "his fellow," and it is forbidden to harm one's fellow even when there is no formal transgression involved, even merely causing him distress - and all the more so when you bear false witness and extract money from him. Thus, when a person testifies falsely, he violates all three.
As an aside, the Gra notes that these three weapons also correspond to three punishments: death, kaf hakela (the hollow of the sling), and Gehinom. The maul shatters iron in fire - this is Gehinom. The sword is death, as it says, "until his terror passes by the sword." And the sharp arrow is kaf hakela, where the angels toss the soul back and forth, like an arrow flying from one end of the world to the other.
The concept of kaf hakela can be understood through the words of Rav Dessler: when the soul was here in this world enclothed in a body, it was attached to physical desires. The more a person is attached to physical desires here, the more chambers he will have to pass through above in order to be refined and shed all that defilement. In the initial stage, the soul seeks what it was accustomed to and cannot find it: it was used to worldly pleasures and seeks them, but finds none. Consequently, it is slung from place to place without rest, seeking to satisfy its desire and unable to do so. Consider this example: a person who was a smoker suddenly craves a cigarette after death - but he has no body, so with what can he smoke? The desire exists, for he never rectified it, yet he has no instruments to realize it. This is "and its soul is slung," which is the concept of kaf hakela.
Furthermore, these three elements also correspond to Torah, mitzvos, and character traits (midos). Testimony - one who bears false witness is the antithesis of truth, and the Torah is called the Torah of truth. Likewise, false testimony is the antithesis of the mitzvos, for Chazal said that one who recites the Shema without tefillin is as if he bears false witness against himself - so when a person does not observe mitzvos, he bears false witness. "These are the testimonies (eidos) and the statutes" - sahadusa, this is testimony: when one performs a mitzvah, he testifies that the Holy One, blessed be He, is King of the universe. And "against his fellow" - this corresponds to character traits, matters between man and his fellow.
The Malbim follows a similar line, explaining that these are three types of destructive weapons: the maul is the great hammer that shatters stones and bones; the sword cuts from up close; and the arrow shoots from afar. According to this, one can understand the verse: a person who bears false witness against his fellow is at times like a maul. What is a meifitz? From the root of scattering and dispersing (lehafitz). When one bears false witness, he creates dispute and strife, and instead of the world having "one language and of one speech," "and from there they were scattered" (nafotzu) - the Holy One, blessed be He, confounded their language and distanced them from one another. "Like a maul (meifitz)" means driving people apart. Thus, one who bears false witness first and foremost scatters, disperses, and sows discord among brethren.
And sometimes it is like a sword, killing from up close, and sometimes like an arrow that kills from afar. Lashon hara is like an arrow: you do not see where it comes from, and suddenly a person finds an arrow lodged, piercing his heart - who shot it? From where? He cannot see. It is like a bullet fired from a distance, where no one knows who did it or what happened. Two detriments are found here: first, that it causes harm from afar, for I spoke about you here and it caused you damage in Australia. And second, you do not know who harmed you. With a sword, at least I can see who holds it; with an arrow, I see nothing at all. When a person knows who injured him, at least he knows to be on guard; but when someone conceals his identity, the victim takes the hits without knowing from where, and can never know how to protect himself.
This also alludes, says the Malbim, to what Chazal taught: that lashon hara kills three people - the speaker, the listener, and the one about whom it was spoken. Toward himself, it is like a war club; toward the listener, like a sword, for he stands before me and I stab him, as it were, from up close; and toward the subject of the speech, like an arrow, striking him from afar.
We have explained in the past a question that is often asked: The speaker - it serves him right. The listener - why did you listen? You should have said, "I do not want to hear lashon hara," yet you listened eagerly; he too deserves it. But the one spoken about, what did he do wrong? Is it not enough that he was slandered, must he also die? The question stems from a misunderstanding. The source for lashon hara killing three is Doeg, who spoke against Nov, the city of Kohanim: Doeg was killed, Shaul was killed, and the people of Nov were killed. This is the meaning of killing three - not in the sense of a spiritual punishment for the one who was spoken about, but rather to make you realize that your actions can cause that person's actual death. As for spiritual punishment, the speaker and the listener both bring a death sentence upon themselves. For them it is a punishment, while for him it is the tragic consequence of the lashon hara.
שֵׁן רֹעָה וְרֶגֶל מוּעָדֶת מִבְטָח בּוֹגֵד בְּיוֹם צָרָה׃ (יט) - A broken tooth and a faltering foot is confidence in an unfaithful person on a day of distress. (19)
"Shen ro'ah" - Rashi explains that it is an expression of being crushed or broken (retzutzah), and "regel mu'adet" is related to the phrase "and my ankles did not slip" (ve-lo ma'adu karsulai). Shen ro'ah means a shattered tooth, from the same root as "You shall break them with an iron rod" (tero'eim be-shevet barzel).
Here we must clear up a common misunderstanding in translating the word ra. For example, regarding the month of Av it is written, "rei'a mazlei," which people translate as "it has bad luck" - but this is completely incorrect. "Rei'a mazlei" is the opposite of Adar, about which it is said, "bari mazlei": bari means strong, and rei'a means shaky or weak (ra'u'a). It is not speaking of evil, but of fragility. Similarly, what Chazal said of Noach - that his strength was "ra," in contrast to Avraham whose strength was firm. Some have even attempted to explain what "evil" existed in Noach, but this is entirely mistaken. Avraham did not need support; he was strong and could walk on his own: "Walk before Me and be wholehearted." But Noach - "Noach walked with God," because his strength was weak (rei'a kochei); he was frail and needed support. One should not search for evil in Noach. So too here: "shen ro'ah" is not from the word for "evil" (ra'ah), but means cracked, weak, and shaky.
The Vilna Gaon explains that the term "ro'ah" carries two distinct meanings. The first is related to grazing and pasturing (re'iyah), which connotes eating and sustenance, as in "Hashem is my shepherd (ro'i), I shall not lack," meaning that the Holy One, blessed is He, provides my livelihood; and similarly what is said of the Shevatim, who went "to pasture themselves" (lir'ot et atzman), meaning to seek their sustenance. The second is from the root of breaking or harm (le-harei'a) and shakiness (ra'u'a), denoting depleted strength. These two expressions together complement the understanding of the verse: both in the sense of feeding and sustaining, and in the sense of shattering and causing harm.
A tooth that seeks to "pasture itself" - seeking what to eat, pursuing only the desires and pleasures of this world. As it is written, "To pasture the flock of their father," regarding which Chazal noted that the word et is dotted to teach that they were seeking their own pleasure. Ultimately, this tooth will turn out bad for him - "He has broken my teeth with gravel" - it will break, leaving him unable to eat at all. Thus, the tooth that constantly chases after desires brings itself to a state where it is entirely unfit for use.
Similarly, "a faltering foot" (regel mu'adet), from the phrasing "and my ankles did not slip": the foot that marches off to fulfill a person's desires will stumble; he slips and falls until he can no longer walk on his feet. Whoever races after his desires should know that they will inevitably bring him harm.
And likewise, one who trusts in a traitor on a day of distress. A traitor (boged), the Gra explains, is one who betrays his fellow and does not do what is needed, and one who speaks but does not follow through is also called a traitor. One who relies on a traitor - where will he end up? In a day of distress. In simple terms: relying on a traitor is like relying on a broken tooth and a wavering foot. Imagine a steak before you - with what will you eat it? Will you rely on a decaying tooth? Or on a loose denture that comes out in your hand and cannot chew? You need to dispatch a messenger, and they tell you: "This man has trouble with his legs; he stumbles and falls" - would you rely on him as your messenger? If you rely on these two, on the broken tooth and the messenger whose foot gives way, only then could you trust a traitor on a day of distress.
And this is precisely what we see today, on a day of distress. There were those who placed their trust in the Israeli Arab population to stand with us in a time of trouble, since they receive everything from us here. After all, what would they want - to live in Syria? In Gaza? Across the West Bank? All the polls show that if they had a choice, they would choose to live here. They have every good thing here, and feel safer here than anywhere else in the world - the safest place for them is right here. People thought: we will give to them, grant them benefits, and receive loyalty in return. And what did we receive? A knife in the back. This is "trusting a traitor on a day of distress": you imagine you can rely on a traitor on a day of trouble - only to discover that it is like a broken tooth and a slipping foot.
The Gra, as is his way, reveals the deeper layer of what Shlomo Hamelech is saying here. You must know: the yetzer hara makes promises to man: "Do this and it will go well with you; do this and you will enjoy yourself" - as if it only wants what is good for you. "Listen, it is not certain they even need this, just take it. It is likely they do not need it - take it, it is not theft, they probably renounced ownership. And you know what? It is better that you take it. It is even a mitzvah, so that it passes from Jew to Jew rather than falling into the hands of a gentile." The yetzer hara acts like our best friend; it loves us dearly - so much so that out of sheer "love" it wants to see a person buried six feet under, ten tefachs deep in the earth. If you rely on the promises of the yetzer hara, know that this is a decaying tooth and a wavering foot, through which you will end up breaking your teeth and breaking your legs.
And what is the meaning of this? In a person's life there are Torah and mitzvos. The tooth symbolizes the mouth and speech - and part of the articulation of the mouth comes from the teeth; the letters zayin, samech, shin, reish, tzadi (z-s-sh-r-tz) are dental letters. And what is speech of a mitzvah? The words of Torah. This is the "decaying tooth" (shein ro'ah), for Torah is called bread: "Come, eat of my bread" - once again we see that Torah study is expressed in terms of eating. The yetzer hara breaks a person's teeth until he does not learn at all. If one does not utilize his teeth for Torah study, the yetzer hara eventually brings him to a state where he always finds distractions and always finds excuses: "Here I had to go to the bank, here I had to handle an urgent matter, and there I had to go to the municipality" - in short, you will always find yourself outside the beis midrash, for "there are many idlers standing before you," as the Tanna says in Avos.
But one who truly wants to learn - what did David say? "I considered my ways." Today there is a cabinet meeting, today a session with the finance minister, today a crisis to resolve - every day brings something else. "I considered my ways" - where am I heading? "And I turned my feet toward Your testimonies" - and suddenly I found myself in the beis midrash. What am I doing here? It is already six in the evening; I was supposed to meet with the finance minister... The finance minister is sitting alone, while David is sitting in the yeshiva! That is, when a person truly desires to learn, his time is so precious to him that even when he has other plans, he is drawn toward the Torah. But the yetzer hara manufactures distractions, and once it keeps you busy with distractions, you will never arrive at Torah study at all.
The same applies to the foot, which alludes to the performance of mitzvos, and the yetzer leads a person to neglect mitzvos as well. Until "a traitor on a day of distress": the very one who seemed so pleasant, who seemed to look out for your well-being and pretended to care about you, suddenly reveals himself as a traitor. The day of distress is the day a person ascends to the Heavenly Court, and suddenly discovers that his "best friend" - the one who constantly lured him after worldly pleasures and desires - comes to testify against him.
The Malbim explains: "A broken tooth" (shein ro'ah) refers to a tooth that shatters. A person relied on his tooth to chew food, but after a few bites the tooth gave way, and he saw it could not be relied upon. "A wavering foot" (regel mu'ades) - he counted on his feet to carry him to his destination; he began walking, and suddenly pulled a tendon and was unable to walk; his ankles faltered, his feet betrayed him. So too is "confidence in a traitor on a day of distress": you put your trust in something, yet you do not receive the expected result. You hoped to gain a benefit - and from whom? From a traitor. Just as you counted on the tooth and it broke, and on the foot and it slipped, so too with one who trusts in a traitor - know that you will receive no results from him.
Furthermore, the verse alludes to what Chazal said: "Chew well with your molars and you will find it in your steps" (duk be-chachei ve-tishkach be-nagrei). Rashi explains: "Chew well with your molars" - grind thoroughly with your teeth; "and you will find it in your steps" - you will see the results in your walking. In simple terms: one who eats poorly sustains little strength, and when he later needs to walk on the road, he will collapse. But one who eats properly - just as the angel said to Eliyahu, "Arise and eat," and afterward, "and he walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights." Here, "much" does not mean excessively, for eating too much impairs proper digestion. The word "duk" denotes crushing or grinding food, as in "it devoured and crushed" (achlah u-madekah) in the Book of Daniel.
What, then, is the verse conveying? When the tooth is failing, the foot also slips. If the tooth is strong and one eats well, the legs are also strong for walking; but if the tooth is defective and one cannot eat properly, then later, when one wishes to walk, he will feel weakness in his body and be unable to proceed, because he has no strength.
From this, the Malbim derives a great principle: when one support betrays a person, it pulls all his other supports along with it, and they all betray him. And how true and accurate this is! A person comes and demands of his fellow, "Pay me immediately." "I gave you checks; extend the due date a little, I am having difficulties." "No, bring the money right now, immediately." That creditor takes his money, and suddenly all the rest begin to arrive: "Me too, me too, immediately." When one betrays him - it causes everyone to betray him.
We can also see this in our own situation as a nation: one country turns on us and initiates criticism, and suddenly all kinds of fringe, third-world nations begin chiming in - countries to which the concept of "human rights" is known only from history books - and suddenly they preach morality to us. And a country where an entire village was mistakenly wiped out, and where investigations revealed that drones were sent to assassinate people who could have been arrested, without trial or due process - that country has remarks about why we neutralize a knife-wielding terrorist, and demands to "calm both sides." With friends like these, who needs enemies? And when one party rises against us, suddenly the entire world weighs in, and no one wants to be left behind. One traitor stirs up many traitors in his wake, and they all raise their heads.
This is a kind of herd mentality. In a classroom as well, when there is one disruptive student and it is not dealt with immediately, it escalates: that one cracked a joke in the middle, so a second one also has remarks, and a third as well - is he any less perceptive, any less clever, with nothing to say? And this is what the verse means: when the tooth is broken and you cannot eat, this also causes the foot to falter; and when there is one traitor, it brings about another traitor as well.