Chapter 27 of Mishlei opens with two great foundations in a person's spiritual service: one's attitude toward time and one's attitude toward oneself. The first verse teaches us not to procrastinate and not to boast about what lies in tomorrow, and the second verse teaches that a person should not praise himself, but rather perform deeds worthy of being praised by others. Let us follow the order of the verses, with the explanations of the Vilna Gaon (the Gra) and the Malbim.
אַל־תִּתְהַלֵּל בְּיוֹם מָחָר כִּי לֹא־תֵדַע מַה־יֵּלֶד יוֹם׃ - Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day will bring forth.
The straightforward meaning: do not boast right now about something that belongs to tomorrow. The Gra explains - do not boast about doing something tomorrow: "Don't worry, tomorrow I will take care of it; tomorrow I will do such and such; tomorrow I will sort it out." Yet a person does not know what a day will bring forth; you do not know what the future holds, so how can you boast, saying "I will arrange it, I will do it, I will finish the whole business," when you do not even know what tomorrow will bring?
The Gra adds: and so it is with Torah - "Do not say, 'When I have leisure I will study,' lest you never have leisure" (Avot 2:4). In the realm of Torah study as well, a person should not say, "Tomorrow I will learn." Do you know what tomorrow will bring? Do you know whether you will have time? Someone might say, "When I retire, you will see me planted in the House of Hashem, never leaving the Beit Midrash." And then he retires - and you never see him. He is not there, he does not come. There is no tomorrow; there is only today: "Today, if you will listen to His voice" (Tehillim 95:7). "And now, Israel, what does Hashem your God ask of you" (Devarim 10:12) - "and now," do not look for tomorrow.
In contrast: "And Moshe said to Yehoshua... go out and fight with Amalek tomorrow" (Shemot 17:9). Amalek represents tomorrow - "Amalek is accustomed to being struck on the morrow." Amalek always whispers: Spiritual growth? Tomorrow. Separating ma'aser? From the next paycheck. Starting a masechet? In the next cycle of Daf Yomi, with Hashem's help I'll be there. In short - "after the holidays," the familiar refrain we all know.
And another wonderful point: Regarding Moshe Rabbeinu, it is taught that he said to the Jewish people: If you accept the Torah, well and good; but if not - "there shall be your burial" (Shabbat 88a). It does not say "here shall be your burial," but rather "there." The Masters of Mussar explain: Do you know what buries a person? The word "there." "There I will make a change, there I will deal with the matter, in the future I am going to improve." There is no "there"; there is only "here." Do you want to grow? Do it here. Children say, "When I move up to school," "When I reach yeshivah ketanah - a clean slate," "Just wait until I start yeshivah gedolah, you won't recognize me," "Once I get married, you will see me straighten out." No. "There shall be your burial." A person must realize: here, today. Change now, act now. Do not say, "When I have leisure I will study," lest you never have leisure; rather, seize whatever you can right now.
One must notice that there is a spiritual dimension here, and in matters of Torah a person certainly must not procrastinate. Yet this applies to all facets of human life. There is the chronic procrastinator type: he will never put off until tomorrow what he can put off until the day after tomorrow. He has unpaid tickets stuck to his refrigerator from when they were a quarter of the current fine, and he says, "I really must, at the end of the week I'll take care of the whole thing." He has fines, payments, and matters to organize - and everything is delayed. "So-and-so called you" - "Right, I really need to call him back, remind me." And he simply never handles things properly. This is a chronic affliction, and such a person is unfortunate: part of it is laziness, part is disorganization, and part is a lack of resolve to follow through to the end.
One can already observe this in children. There is a child who brings crafts home from kindergarten and it is never fully finished; in contrast, there is a perfectionist child who always brings home a completed craft: if he did not finish it at kindergarten, he comes home and completes it thoroughly, even when there is no need. It is a matter of character. Someone who recognizes that his nature is to do things by halves - he opens a drawer to organize, takes things out, sorts them, and a third of the drawer is left strewn outside; he begins projects and never finishes them - must realize that this is a difficult trait, and those around him suffer greatly from it. If it is a husband, his wife suffers from the disarray where nothing is put away; and if it is a wife, the entire home suffers, because she begins cleaning a closet, many items are left out, and then everything is shoved back inside with the thought, "When I have time I will sort it out," and the whole house looks accordingly.
The rule is: do not take on too much at once. Once you start something - finish it. A person must learn to be thorough in everything. Look at the pages of Gemaras: in most Gemaras, the first three, four, or five pages are worn and thumbed through, and from there onward the pages are as crisp as if they just left the printing press. How many were enthusiastic and began, and how many actually finished? Very few people are truly thorough. Usually there is momentary excitement, and then the air leaves the balloon and everything grinds to a halt. Are you doing something? Do it thoroughly. In plain terms, "tomorrow" means "never" - when a person wants to say "I will not do it," he says "tomorrow." Did you start? Today. Do you want to finish? Finish today, and then we will know that you have done it properly.
Naomi says to Ruth: "For the man will not rest until he has settled the matter today." In other words: know this, I know him, Boaz is a tzaddik, and I know that today he will finish the matter. And so it was. Imagine if he had not settled it that very day, but instead said: next week there is a session of the Beit Din anyway, so I will raise Ruth's case then; we will see what can be done about the estate, how the name of the deceased will be preserved, and after all there is a redeemer closer than I, and we also need to clarify the ruling of "an Ammonite man, but not an Ammonite woman; a Moabite man, but not a Moabite woman" whether I am truly permitted to marry her - and next week I will convene. But that is not what he did: he went and gathered the Sanhedrin that very day, and married her that very day. Had he not done so, we would not have the lineage of the House of David, for that very night, after he married her and she conceived, he passed away. Understand what can result from procrastination! If you have something to do - do it. Do not delay, do not push it off, do not put it aside; do it today.
The Malbim explains the verse in an even sharper way: "For you do not know what a day will bring forth" - you do not even know what today will bring forth. It does not merely say that you do not know what tomorrow will bring, but that you do not even know this very day, as if it were written "what the day will bring forth." If so, how can you make plans for tomorrow?
There is a story told about an elderly woman who went to the bank. The tellers, as part of their protocol, offer customers savings plans. The teller said to her: Hello, grandmother, I have a savings plan here, short-term and foreign-currency deposits and a locked-in plan, what do you think? She asked: For how long? He said: It is not long, just three years. She said to him: What are you talking about? I don't even buy green bananas! You're talking to me about a three-year plan? That is the point: a person plans for tomorrow, while not even knowing if he will finish today. You have plans for tomorrow? Tomorrow does not belong to you.
יְהַלֶּלְךָ זָר וְלֹא־פִיךָ נָכְרִי וְאַל־שְׂפָתֶיךָ׃ - Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.
The Malbim explains: when a person praises himself, it is not genuine praise at all. Better that you perform upright and good deeds, and then a stranger will praise you. That is, perfect yourself so that you are worthy of praise from another. Why be the kind of person who goes around saying how good and upright he is? Our Sages express this as, "A baker cannot testify about his own dough." Whatever you tell people about yourself is merely public relations and marketing, and no one truly buys it. But when others speak of how upright, honest, and good you are - how did that come about? "A good name is better than precious oil," attained through years of effort, integrity, and honesty, both between man and his fellow and between man and the Omnipresent, until one earns a good name. Yet there are those who look for the easy way, saying: you do not need all that, just hire a PR firm and they will tell everyone how good, successful, and upright you are. To this, Shlomo HaMelech says: "Let another praise you, and not your own mouth." Do not praise yourself, for no one buys that; it is praise from others that truly impresses people.
Seemingly, there is a repetition of the same idea in different words here, but in the Malbim's view there is no such thing. If it says "Let another [zar] praise you, and not your own mouth," then "a foreigner [nochri], and not your own lips" is not a mere repetition, but the expression of an additional concept. The Malbim explains: there is a difference between a zar and a nochri - a nochri is someone from a different land. First, the zar will praise you, someone who is an outsider to you but still your countryman; and later you will reach a level where even the nochri, a person from a distant land, will praise you. And how will he know? He will hear it from the zar. The zar carries your reputation far and wide, and so the report of your praise reaches even those far away from you, and they publicize your renown.
Here the Malbim offers an innovative and wonderful explanation: what is meant by "and not [ve'al] your lips"? The very fact of "not your lips" is what will praise you! That is, the very fact that "not" - that your lips do not praise your own good deeds - is itself your praise. "How pathetic is the dough when its baker must testify about it": when a person praises himself, everyone looks at him as lacking sense, boasting, "I did this, and I, and I." Let others speak of you; why boast of your deeds? When people know a person does good deeds and see that he does not boast, seeing that he conducts himself modestly, how impressed they are, what an impact it makes! Therefore, your greatest praise is the "not your lips": because you do not praise yourself, others will recognize your noble character traits, your humility, and your modesty of spirit, and that itself will bring you praise.
The Malbim notes a precision here: at the beginning of the verse it says "your mouth" (picha), and at its end "your lips" (sefatecha). The lip is external, whereas the mouth always represents something deeper and more internal. In other words, the very fact that people do not hear you praising yourself even with your lips - on the outside - will cause others to praise you and say, "See how humble and upright this person is."
And not only that. Even when another comes to praise you, you say to him "al" (do not): "No, leave it, do not exaggerate, there is no need." Not only does he not praise himself, but when he hears someone wishing to praise him, he tells him "do not" - with his lips he says "al." And this is "ve'al sefatecha" (and do not your lips): when you tell him, "I do not want you to publicize this; I do not want you to praise me in public" - this very "al" on your lips becomes your praise.
Our Sages taught: in three matters the Sages would deviate from the truth, one of which is "in a tractate" (be-masechta) - someone asks him, "Did you learn such-and-such tractate?" and he says, "I did not learn it." One is permitted to deviate so as not to act out of pride. Even so, it is preferable not to tell an outright lie, but rather to use ambiguous wording so the listener understands "I have not learned it." For example: "If only I would merit to learn it!" - you did not say you have not learned it; you learned it four times, and indeed, would that you merit to learn it once more! The listener understands that you have not learned it, yet you have not lied.
Whenever a person is permitted to lie, it is preferable to deviate - to use an expression that is not an outright falsehood, but rather one where the listener understands one thing while the speaker intends another. For example, someone asks: "I think so-and-so was speaking with you earlier; what did he say about me?" And indeed, that person had spoken ill of him. If I repeat those words to him, what am I? A talebearer (holech rachil). Saying "So-and-so is a thief" is lashon hara; saying "So-and-so said this about you" is rechilus; and fabricating claims about someone is motzi shem ra (the differences between them are addressed in the recorded lessons on lashon hara, which are available to anyone interested). The Chafetz Chaim writes that you are even permitted to lie and say, "He did not say anything about you," so as not to be a talebearer. Even so, it is preferable to deviate: to tell him, "Why do you think all he has to talk about is you? You live in constant fear that people are talking about you; drop it! People have plenty of other things to discuss besides you." I did not state that they did not talk about him, but I led him to understand that they did not. That is preferable to telling an outright lie.
From this you see: the very fact that a scholar deviates and acts with humility - when asked, he responds, "I do not know" - this itself brings praise and spreads his reputation, for through this his modesty is recognized, and this too becomes his glory. This is the meaning of "ve'al sefatecha" - that which is "al" (negation) upon your lips, when you say, "No, I do not know," becomes praise in its own right.
Incidentally, someone was once asked, "Did you learn such-and-such tractate?" He replied, "Half a tractate." The questioner asked, "May I ask you a question?" He said, "Please do." He asked, "Which half of the tractate did you learn?" The scholar replied, "Whichever half you choose." He had said "only half," but he had learned the first half and then the second half - he had learned it in halves! This brings us back to the main point: a person's greatest renown comes when he conducts himself with humility and does not publicize his knowledge or himself; and when people discover this, it becomes his greatest glory.
It is told regarding the Rav of Brisk that several of the generation's Torah luminaries were once sitting together, and a question arose concerning an ordinance and public enactment. Each of the Torah giants offered his own reasoning, and ultimately two answers were proposed: one by the Rav of Brisk and one by another scholar present. Rav Itzele Blazer, who was renowned as an exceptional Torah scholar, sat there and did not express an opinion at all, as if the matter were entirely unfamiliar to him and he had never studied it, which astonished the Rav of Brisk.
When he returned home, he wished to look into Rav Itzele's sefer, which was on his shelf, to see from his novellae whether he was indeed truly great. It so happened that he opened it to the exact place where Rav Itzele posed the very question that had been raised at the meeting, and presented both answers - the resolution offered by the Rav of Brisk and the one offered by the other scholar - both conceived on his own. The Rav of Brisk remarked: "Rav Itzele Blazer is a genius in modesty!" Consider: he sat there as if he had no idea what was being discussed and had never studied the issue, and an onlooker might even have thought him unlearned - while in truth, he had already asked the question and had already committed both resolutions to writing! Naturally, a person would immediately speak up: "Indeed, what you asked I have already asked, and what you answered I have already written!" But with a truly great individual, his modesty and humility make it seem as though the matter does not concern him in the least, and he does not promote himself.
From this one sees how truly great the Torah leaders were in their mastery of concealing themselves. For this reason, whenever the Chafetz Chaim related stories, he would often tell them about "a certain person who approached a rabbi, and the rabbi advised him such-and-such," and then go on to describe a miracle that occurred or the like - yet people knew that in most cases, the story was about himself. The Chafetz Chaim, however, would never tell such a story about himself so that it would not carry any hint of pride. Out of modesty, he did not want to say, "He came to me, and I advised him, but he did not listen and ended up suffering harm"; he therefore framed it as though it had happened to someone else - while everyone knew the incident had occurred with him.
We have learned two foundational principles here. The first: "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring" - and according to the Malbim, you do not even know what today will bring, so how can you boast about tomorrow? "Do not say, 'When I have free time I will study,' lest you never have free time"; not "there" but "here," not "tomorrow" but "today, if you will listen to His voice." This also applies to the daily conduct of life: to be thorough, to start and finish, and not to live in procrastination. As we saw with Boaz, that "the man will not rest until he has settled the matter today," and in that merit the dynasty of the House of David was built. And the second: "Let a stranger praise you, and not your own mouth; a foreigner, and not your own lips" - perfect your deeds until you are worthy of being praised by a stranger, and from the stranger your reputation will reach even the distant foreigner; yet the greatest praise of all is "and not your own lips" - the very fact that you do not praise yourself, and even restrain others from praising you. This is the greatness of the truly great, who were "geniuses in humility," and from this may we learn and draw strength.