Chapter 28 of Mishlei deals primarily with the paths of uprightness versus the paths of perversity, and with how a person chooses their way in every single matter. In this lesson, we will examine three adjacent verses: "One who walks blamelessly will be saved," "One who works his land will have plenty of bread," and "A man of faithful integrity abounds in blessings." We will see how they join together into a unified progression in the commentary of the Malbim - a theme centered on the proper measurement of character traits, and walking with wholehearted simplicity in the path charted by the Holy One, Blessed be He.
הוֹלֵךְ תָּמִים יִוָּשֵׁעַ, וְנֶעְקַשׁ דְּרָכַיִם יִפּוֹל בְּאֶחָת׃ (יח) - "One who walks blamelessly will be saved, but one who is perverse in his ways will fall into one." (18)
The Gra explains: "One who walks blamelessly" - someone who walks with wholehearted simplicity, who does not rely solely upon his own intellect, understanding, and knowledge, is the one who will be saved when trouble befalls him. In contrast, "one who is perverse in his ways" is the opposite: a person who is stubborn in his own way and does not walk with simple trust - he will fall at once. People tell him: "Do not go there, it is not good for you, it could be dangerous." But he responds: "Do not worry, trust me, I know what I am doing." Such a person walks stubbornly on his path, and will ultimately suffer a fall. But one who walks blamelessly and does not declare, "I know, trust me" - will truly experience salvation.
The Gra offers another explanation: The word "derakhayim" is a dual grammatical form, denoting pairs (like scissors or shoes). According to this, he was not crooked just once, but twice: he walks twice along that same mistaken path. "Ne'ekash" comes from the root for crookedness, a twisted path, and here it is doubled - he committed a sin and repeated it. It was not enough that he took a crooked path once; he turns around and walks it a second time - this is "ne'ekash derakhayim."
And what is the meaning of "he will fall into one"? That the transgression becomes permitted in his eyes. From now on, this sin is no longer seen as a sin to him. Such is human nature: as long as a person has not stumbled in a particular matter, he feels an aversion and a dread toward it. None of us, for example, would eat pork. But if someone were to eat it once and then a second time, it would no longer present an impassable barrier, an impenetrable wall - "All right, it is not so terrible; I know it is forbidden, but..." While this is an extreme example, in less extreme scenarios the phenomenon is far more common: as long as a person has not done it, he recoils from it, but once he has stumbled once and twice, it becomes regarded as permitted.
The Ralbag explains: "One who walks blamelessly will be saved" - whoever walks with wholeheartedness and uprightness will find salvation from wicked people and from the misfortunes that might come upon him. And why does the verse simply say "blameless" (in the singular sense), whereas in contrast it says "perverse in his ways" (derakhayim)? Because although the paths leading to evil are many, the good path is singular, and he chooses to walk upon it. That is, even when the trial is great and everyone tells him: "Look, the majority of paths lead in this direction, so why are you insisting on going that way?" - he replies: "True, those may be the majority of paths, but I desire to walk in the path of uprightness, the true and secure path." Even if the vast majority of ways are not upright, he will choose the single way that is the path of integrity.
Conversely, one who is perverse and abandons the ways of uprightness - even if he is faced with only "two paths" (derakhayim), one good and one bad, in his folly he will deliberately choose the bad one. This is not only true in a situation where most paths are evil, but even when there is simply one bad path and one good path. And this is the meaning of "he will fall into one" - into that single one which is evil; into it he will fall, abandoning the path of good.
The Malbim explains that in every matter there are two paths, a right path and a left path, and this is the reality across all areas of life. Take character traits, for example: pride is the left path, while humility is the right path; stinginess represents the left path, while generosity represents the right path; courage - "mighty as a lion" - is the right path, while faint-heartedness and cowardice are the left path.
The Malbim explains that a person must conduct himself in every path according to wisdom. That is, one may not say: the right-hand path is positive and the left-hand path is negative; humility is positive and pride is negative, and therefore pride must be rejected entirely. That is not so, for there are times when "his heart was elevated in the ways of Hashem" (Divrei HaYamim II 17:6). When a person stands before evildoers and covenant-breakers, he should not behave with faint-heartedness, subservience, or like someone trampled underfoot. On the contrary, he must stand his ground, be meticulous and exacting in the observance of the mitzvos, and strive to do what is necessary; there is no place there for humble conduct. By contrast, in other situations, under normal circumstances, the path is one of humility.
And so it is in every single case: sometimes one must use this trait, and sometimes that trait. This is precisely why character traits are called midos: a midah is a measure, the tool with which one measures. Character traits must be used in the proper doses - measure them out: here courage is needed, and here faint-heartedness is needed. For example, when you stand before a tyrannical ruler or someone very dangerous - is that the place for courage? To be as brave as a lion? On the contrary. When you see a wicked person whom fortune favors, lower your head.
"Bow down that we may cross over" (Yeshayahu 51:23) - in such a situation, when wave after wave washes over your head, lower your head; why stand against the waves? They will break you. There are situations where yielding is required, and what does one gain by declaring, "I will not give in"? Consider what happened to Navos the Yizre'elite, who fought against Achav and ended up in the grave. Would you try to stand bravely against someone who is far stronger than you? Yet under normal circumstances, the required posture is the trait of courage.
The same applies to generosity and stinginess. Suppose a person is very generous, and people come and tell him: "We heard that you donate; you gave to the synagogue, and now they are about to build a theater in the neighborhood." He replies, "Why not? I am in favor of culture." Suddenly he becomes generous toward "culture" as well. But what is that culture? "A culture of sinful men" (Bamidbar 32:14). Will they present things of holy purity there? We know what takes place in such venues. Here, then, is precisely the place to be tightfisted. So is generosity a positive or negative trait? Most of the time it is positive, but there are places where there is no room at all to be generous, and on the contrary, one should be stingy and not spend. It turns out that for every single trait, the appropriate and fitting conduct is required.
In every single matter, a person stands before two paths, right and left: generosity or stinginess, pride or humility, and so it is in every area. The Malbim explains: this is the meaning of darkayim - a dual path, right and left, always in pairs, one opposing the other. Pride versus humility, anger versus serenity and calm, and so forth.
Incidentally, even anger is sometimes necessary - although only anger of the face, not anger of the heart. When a person sees a member of his household do something very grave, he must display a stern face. However, the Ramak writes in Tomer Devorah that one should not hold onto his anger forever, and one must be very careful about this: even when a person displays anger, it should not last for two months, but only as an outward display, making it appear, as it were, that he is angry about what the child or the person did, and afterward he must know how to let it go. This is one of the attributes of the Holy One, Blessed be He: "He does not retain His anger forever" (Michah 7:18). In any event, we see that even in these matters, anger is sometimes required, whereas most of the time serenity is needed.
It turns out, then, that in every single matter we have darkayim, two paths, paired opposites. And what must one do? "He who walks uprightly will be saved" - if you walk with integrity in all things, conducting yourself with completeness as appropriate for each, you will see salvation in all your endeavors.
However, "one of perverse ways" (ne'ekash darkayim) refers to someone who is humble before the wicked and acts proudly before the righteous. He has inverted the path. He is generous toward a transgression, but when people approach him regarding a mitzvah - no, the business is struggling, times are tough, with all sorts of excuses and explanations. Yet for any sin, iniquity, or wrongdoing, he has endless treasures. For various musical bands and completely outlandish theaters, there are millions; but when it comes to holy causes, they talk to you about the deficit, monetary issues, and other such terms - in short, bottom line, there is no money.
Someone once remarked: when they made the Golden Calf, no one asked for an audit. But when they built the Mishkan - "These are the accounts of the Mishkan" (Shemos 38:21) - everyone asked Moshe: How much did it cost? Where did all the money go? Yet regarding the Golden Calf, no one asked: "We brought so much silver and so much gold, how did such a small calf come out?" Questions are not asked about calves. But for Torah: "Wait, which yeshivah did this go to, and who received the salary?" The universities refuse to disclose a crumb of information in the name of "academic freedom" and "university autonomy" - high-sounding, grandiose terms. Yet from the yeshivos they demand every last crumb, that everything be written and documented, with endless tests and endless audits. Meanwhile, at the university, every lecturer receives thirty, forty, or fifty thousand shekels a month, with no transparency, and no one knows where the money enters or where it goes. In matters of calves, money flows freely; in matters of Torah and mitzvos, everything is always far more difficult.
This is "one of perverse ways" (ne'ekash darkayim) - he reverses the paths. Toward the righteous he is stingy, and toward the wicked he is generous. Toward the righteous he is arrogant, and around the wicked he is suddenly humble and polite. Therefore, "he will fall in one" (yipol be'echas): in either of the two ways, he will stumble into a snare. If you act humbly toward the wicked, you will fall; and if you act arrogantly toward the righteous, you will fall. The same is true for all other character traits: in each of them, a fall awaits you. This is the meaning of: "One of perverse ways will fall in one."
עֹבֵד אַדְמָתוֹ יִשְׂבַּע לָחֶם, וּמְרַדֵּף רֵיקִים יִשְׂבַּע רִישׁ׃ (יט) - One who tills his land will be satisfied with bread, but he who pursues vain things will be sated with poverty. (19)
The plain meaning of the verse is: one who works his land will have plenty of bread, eating from the produce of his field. And one who pursues vain pursuits - meaning, one who pursues empty, destitute people - will be sated with poverty; all he will gain from this is poverty, as the word rish means poverty.
The Malbim explains that this verse is connected to the verse that follows. As an allegory, it mentions diligence versus laziness: "One who tills his land will be satisfied with bread" - a diligent person; "and he who pursues vain things will be sated with poverty" - a lazy person, who does not move a muscle to accomplish anything. And in each of these paths, there is what we spoke about earlier: one can be "walking in integrity" (holech tamim) and one can be "crooked in his ways" (ne'ekash derachim).
In the path of diligence: there is integrity - a person who works his land and enjoys the fruit of his labor, working to earn a livelihood and support his household. This is the positive path, the right-hand path, and this is "will be satisfied with bread." In contrast, one who pursues empty things and does nothing - "will be sated with poverty," which is the harmful path of laziness, and one who does nothing will suffer poverty.
Yet notice: one cannot definitively state that the path of laziness is always negative. Just as we have said that pride is sometimes positive, anger is sometimes positive, and stinginess can be positive - so too here. For instance, a person who "hastens to be rich" is not lazy in the slightest; on the contrary, he is full of adrenaline. But where does he channel his great diligence? To rob one person, pull a scheme on another, destroy someone, and harm another. A person who tramples everything in his path, rushing and running in a relentless rat race. One certainly cannot call him lazy - he is a turbo engine. But is this productive? No, it is harmful.
We find, then, that when it comes to diligence, one can see diligence in its positive aspect - which is "one who tills his land will be satisfied with bread" - and one can see diligence in its negative aspect, on a crooked path. In such a case, on the contrary, laziness is preferable. In the case of one who "hastens to be rich," we would prefer the lazy person - lazy in the sense that he does not embark on an endless pursuit to deceive this person, take from that one, extort from another, and grow rich at the expense of others. One who is lazy in this regard is in a far better state.
That is to say: once you have worked your land, from that point on, embrace the path of laziness. Do you have enough for your livelihood? Do not seek another job in the afternoon, another job at night, yet another paycheck, and more income. You have made your required effort (hishtadlut), and whatever is meant for you, you will receive; whatever the Holy One, Blessed be He, designated for you, you will get. A person who is caught in an endless race after money, in the category of "one who hastens to be rich" - this is certainly not the right path.
And pay attention to the wording: it does not say, "One who tills his land will be sated with steaks." The verse speaks of a person who takes from this world what he needs, exerting himself and working his land to obtain what is necessary for his sustenance - and that is praiseworthy diligence. But as for one who then continues with relentless diligence to add and amass wealth, what will it give him? "For when he dies, he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him." All that extra wealth is entirely superfluous to you, and this is a form of diligence to which laziness is preferable. It is better that during that time you be "lazy" and go to the Beit Midrash, rather than being diligent in pursuing more money and wealth.
אִישׁ אֱמוּנוֹת רַב בְּרָכוֹת, וְאָץ לְהַעֲשִׁיר לֹא יִנָּקֶה׃ (כ) - A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished. (20)
A person who is a "man of faithfulness" (ish emunot) trusts in the Holy One, blessed be He, and says: "I worked my land, I put in the necessary effort, and I believe that the Holy One, blessed be He, will send me blessing in what I have done. I do not need more fields and more income; this is enough for me - I have abundant faith that Hashem will send blessing into this." Concerning him it is said, "abounds in blessings" (rav berachot): the Holy One, blessed be He, will send you blessing in what you have done, and you will truly merit an abundance of blessing.
In contrast, "one who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished" - someone who rushes to get rich through dishonest means will not be spared punishment. This is the crookedness within the path of diligence: diligence, but on a perverse path. For diligence can be positive, in the manner of "one who walks uprightly," or diligence can take a negative path, in the manner of "one who is perverse in his ways."
The Malbim explains: there are two paths. There is a path that begins with thorns and ends in a smooth plain - and this is "one who tills his land." Its beginning is full of thorns, for he strains, toils, and sweats; but its end is smooth, for afterward he sits in his home and relies on the Master of the World to send him his livelihood through the field, an honest and upright livelihood. And then he will truly "have plenty of bread" - the Holy One, blessed be He, will give him blessing, and he will be sated from the blessing of Hashem.
And there is a path that begins smoothly and ends in thorns - this is "one who pursues vain things," the one who "hastens to be rich" through dishonest ways. He made money easily without exerting much effort. There is a long path of working, being an honest and upright person, and accumulating slowly; and there is someone who makes money quickly, builds some complex, and rakes in in a flash what you would not earn in fifty years - he cashed in and ended up locked up. Is such wealth really worth it? This is not even considering whether he will have to return the money or not; even if not. Is it worth being a prime minister only to have it recorded of you: the first prime minister to enter prison? There is practically a shadow government in Maasiyahu Prison - there is a prime minister, a president, a finance minister; if there is an issue with the government, one could just move over to Maasiyahu and run everything from there.
We can understand, therefore, that "one who hastens to be rich" takes a shortcut - making money immediately and effortlessly, but its end is thorns. It is far better to be in the category of "one who tills his land": harder work that takes time, building oneself up financially step by step - and then "he will have plenty of bread," having proper bread and blessing from Hashem. One who does so should know that blessing will rest upon the work of his hands, for "a man of faithfulness abounds in blessings." But one who chooses to be "a pursuer of vain things" will "have plenty of poverty," and "one who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished": in the end, the money will either be taken from him or he will be held to account for it. This is certainly not the path recommended by the wisest of all men, King Solomon.
A story is told about President Nixon of the United States - it is also told about others, and it does not matter, as the story itself certainly never happened, but it serves well as a parable. It is told that he was walking along the seashore one day and saw a man sitting with a fishing rod, catching fish. After fifteen minutes, the rod began to vibrate; he pulled it in - and there was a fish. He sat down again, and caught another fish. The president asked him: "Tell me, do you always work at this pace?" The fisherman replied: "What do you expect, do you have another way? I take it easy, slowly, one fish and then another, and that is enough for me."
He said to him: "What are you talking about? You could advance; you are not thinking economically at all. Instead of one rod, cast four fishing rods into the water." He asked: "And then what?" He replied: "You make four times as much. You sell the rods and buy a net, and with a net you make twenty times as much." He asked: "And then what?" He replied: "You buy a small boat, attach the net to it, and sail out; it gathers fish for you, and your profits grow. Afterward, you buy a larger boat, and your fishing possibilities expand greatly." He asked: "And then what?" He replied: "You build up a whole fleet of boats and fishing vessels, and everyone works for you." He asked: "And then what?" He replied: "And then you can sit quietly on the seashore and fish!" The fisherman replied: "My friend, that is what I am doing right now! Do I really need all the headache you just described for that?"
This illustrates "one who hastens to be rich" - what does one gain by racing to become wealthy? If a person has done his work and has enough for his livelihood, that is sufficient. A non-Jew might have nothing to do with the rest of his time, but a Jew has the beit midrash: during the remaining time, he should go, sit, and engage in Torah. And if he does not learn, it is better that he work.
We have learned that in every matter a person faces derachayim, two opposing paths: pride and humility, generosity and stinginess, courage and timidity, anger and calm, diligence and laziness. No trait is intrinsically positive or negative in an absolute sense; rather, everything is measured with wisdom and according to the time and circumstance - which is why they are called middot, from the word for measurements. "One who walks uprightly will be saved" - one who acts with the proper wholeness in every situation and does not lean solely on his own intellect merits salvation. Conversely, "one who is perverse in his ways" - who reverses the proper order, being humble toward the wicked and haughty toward the righteous, generous toward sin and stingy toward a mitzvah - will fall in each of the paths, and once a person commits a sin and repeats it, it becomes permitted to him. So too regarding livelihood: "one who tills his land will have plenty of bread" represents wholesome diligence that begins with thorns and ends in a smooth plain, whereas "one who hastens to be rich" follows a path that begins smoothly and ends in thorns. One who makes his necessary effort and trusts that the Holy One, blessed be He, will send blessing into the work of his hands is "a man of faithfulness who abounds in blessings," and with his remaining time he goes to the beit midrash to engage in Torah.