Chapter 31, which concludes the Book of Mishlei, is primarily centered on the song of "Eshes Chayil" (A Woman of Valor). The commentators follow two paths in understanding it: the plain meaning (peshat) - praise for the righteous woman who carries upon her shoulders the burden of the household and business, enabling her husband to be diligent in Torah study; and the allegorical and homiletic path (derash) - that the woman represents the soul, or the Torah itself, and her "household" is the body. We continue from here through the sequence of pesukim, from the kindness of her hands to the "linen garment" and "sash" near the song's conclusion.
כַּפָּהּ פָּרְשָׂה לֶעָנִי וְיָדֶיהָ שִׁלְּחָה לָאֶבְיוֹן׃ (כ) - "She spreads out her palm to the poor man, and extends her hands to the destitute." (20)
Rashi interprets these verses as referring to the Torah. To whom does the Torah spread its palm and bestow its abundance? To one who is poor - one who makes himself like a pauper. The Torah does not cling to someone who is arrogant, who feels that he already knows everything. Such a person will never learn: "I know everything; what can anyone teach me? We are all wise, we are all discerning, we all know the Torah" - and therefore he never goes to hear anyone speak, being certain that "I could teach him." With whom, then, does the Torah abide? The Torah is compared to water, and water flows to the lowest place. Who merited the Torah at its highest level? Moshe Rabbeinu - and why? Because he was more humble than any person on the face of the earth. The two depend on one another: the more a person views himself as nothing and conducts himself with humility, like a pauper, the more the Torah pours its bounty upon him.
Metzudas David explains according to the plain sense: "She spreads out her palm to the poor man" - she does not close her hand tight, but gives him charity. "And extends [shillechah] her hands to the destitute" - she sends to him, because that destitute person is embarrassed to take by himself, and therefore the gift must be delivered through others or in a more roundabout way. Here we should recall a rule explained several times: when a word appears in the intensive conjugation (binyan kaved), it signifies that the action is performed with greater investment, strength, and intensity. "Shalchah" is a simple verb (kal), but "shillechah" - notice how much effort is required to articulate the word; it is an intensive form that places greater weight on the tongue's articulation. Therefore, since that destitute man is embarrassed to accept, she "shillechah" - she engaged in special efforts to ensure the gift reached him. Note that this differs from the Malbim's explanation earlier, where he explained the reverse: the ani (poor man) still retains shame, while the evyon (destitute man) has lost all sense of shame, craving everything and feeling no embarrassment. Thus, Metzudas David does not follow the approach of the Malbim here.
It is told of the author of the Beis HaLevi, the Rav of Brisk, that in his youth he was once walking through the cemetery in Brisk and noticed two adjacent graves: on one was inscribed "She spreads out her palm to the poor man," and on the other, "and extends her hands to the destitute." He was greatly astonished and made inquiries with the Chevra Kadisha. In Ashkenazic lands, everything was remarkably well organized - the community register (pinkas ha-kehillah), a committee, and officials whose task was to record everything that took place, which is why detailed records dating back centuries survive wherever those registers were preserved. Among Sephardic and Yemenite communities, writing was costly, paper was expensive, and documenting community occurrences was far less common. They searched the community register to uncover the meaning of these epitaphs.
It turned out that the two men buried side by side were partners, prominent philanthropists who donated generously to every holy cause. At one point, their businesses collapsed, which caused great wonder: how could it be that people who gave away so much of their wealth suffered ruin? A Beis Din was convened to look into the matter, and they concluded that it was because they had violated Chazal's directive, "One who spends should not spend more than a fifth," as they had given away far more than a fifth. The reason for this limit, as Chazal explain, is that a person might end up losing his wealth and becoming a burden on the community, requiring public support. The Beis Din instructed them that from that point forward they must be scrupulous not to give more than a fifth, and they complied.
Yet poor people kept coming, and for men in whom kindness was so deeply ingrained, it was agonizing to turn them away empty-handed; they simply could not bring themselves to say to a beggar, "Go, I have nothing to give you." When they reached a point where they had no money left to distribute, they began giving away household utensils, reasoning: perhaps the Beis Din did not forbid this; they forbade giving money, not utensils. Once, two destitute men arrived who had nothing to eat, pleading for their lives. The partners sent their attendant, saying: "Go search inside for some vessel we can give; we have already given our fifth and were forbidden to give more, but perhaps utensils were not forbidden by the Beis Din." The attendant returned with a single spoon, a golden spoon remaining from the days of their great wealth. They said: "There are two poor men here; what can we do?" They broke the spoon in half: to one they gave the handle, and to the other the bowl of the spoon. This deed made an immense impression in Heaven, and in its merit they regained their wealth, flourishing even more than before. For this reason, the deed was commemorated on their tombstones: "Kappah" - the spoon (kaf), "she divided" - as they cut it, "for the poor man"; "and her hands" (yadeha) - the handle (yad), "she sent to the destitute," the second poor man.
לֹא תִירָא לְבֵיתָהּ מִשָּׁלֶג כִּי כׇל בֵּיתָהּ לָבֻשׁ שָׁנִים׃ (כא) - "She does not fear snow for her household, for her entire household is dressed in crimson." (21)
Rashi explains: One who engages in Torah will have no fear for himself of the snow. And what is snow? It is an allusion to Gehennom, as it is said, "It snowed on Tzalmon." Now, one might have thought Gehennom is of burning heat, so why snow? Rather, it is written that there are two forms of Gehennom: for a person who felt warmth toward sin, Heaven spare us, there is a Gehennom of fire; and for a person who felt coldness toward everything holy, there is a Gehennom of snow. Two kinds of Gehennom corresponding to two kinds of sin. "She does not fear for her household" - for her body; one who engaged in Torah does not fear Gehennom.
"For all her household is clothed in scarlet (shanim)" - Rashi explains that this refers to brit milah: he has the mitzvah of circumcision. It is called "shanim" because it is red, referring to blood, as in "Though your sins be like scarlet (ka-shanim), they shall be white as snow." Rashi also brings another explanation: "clothed in double" - "shanim" from the word shenayim (two), related to shoneh, repeating and doubling itself (and likewise a year, shanah, is called shanah because it repeats and recurs again and again). That is to say, all her mitzvot are doubled, referring to the chesed performed by this woman of valor, since chesed in the Torah always appears in double phrasing: "naton titein" (you shall surely give), "pato'ach tiftach" (you shall surely open), "ha'aneik ta'anik" (you shall surely furnish). All of these save from Gehennom, as cited in Midrash Tanchuma. Therefore, "she does not fear the snow," because she performs boundless chesed, doubled chesed, clothed in two.
The Malbim explains according to the plain sense: It speaks of the woman of valor who exerts herself greatly and helps the needy as well, giving them from the garments she has woven - "She stretches her hands to the distaff, and her palms hold the spindle," and the product of the spindle and distaff she extends to the poor and needy. Now, you might ask: If so, in the freezing cold, what will her household do? To this it says, "She does not fear for her household from snow" - she has no fear for her household about what will happen during the snow, "for all her household is clothed in scarlet," as she took care of fine and dignified garments for all of them, and therefore she does not worry.
And allegorically, this speaks of the soul. What is the snow? When a person dies, his body grows cold; in life he has bodily warmth and the circulation of his blood, but with death come snow, chill, ice, and the freezing of the blood. Even though bodily life ceases here, the soul does not fear the time when the snow arrives, the time of cold, which is the moment of death. And why does she not fear? "For all her household is clothed in scarlet" - "her household" is the body, for the body is the home of the soul; and "shanim" (scarlet) is from the term tola'at shani, a red dye symbolizing eternity. She does not fear for her body regarding what will happen to it at death, because she knows that this body is destined to rise at Techiyat HaMeitim, the resurrection of the dead.
Moreover, after passing, she does not fear that the soul's faculties will remain without a garment, "for all her household is clothed in scarlet" - that she will be clothed in garments. And what garments? The mitzvot a person performs are the supernal garments. The holy Zohar writes that the spiritual influence Above is known as the "chaluka de-rabbanan" (the robe of the sages). And where does this robe come from? From what was stitched here below; what was prepared in this world is what arrives Above. As explained in Mishnat HaChalomot, in the treatise there concerning a deceased person appearing in a dream, the holy books note that if someone sees a relative or someone else in a dream wearing torn or soiled clothes, or lacking clothes altogether, it signifies that he is lacking mitzvot, and that this person is asking you to perform actions for the elevation of his soul because he lacks a garment. We thus find that the chaluka de-rabbanan Above consists of the mitzvot a person performs. And this is what the verse means: The God-fearing soul, bound to the Master of the Universe, does not fear "for her household" at the time of passing, when the body remains behind in the snow, buried in the ground - "for all her household is clothed in scarlet"; she possesses the magnificent garment fashioned from mitzvot, the spiritual garment Above, a splendid robe of crimson wool, which is among the most luxurious apparel. She acquired this for herself here in this world through Torah and mitzvot.
מַרְבַדִּים עָשְׂתָה לָּהּ שֵׁשׁ וְאַרְגָּמָן לְבוּשָׁהּ׃ (כב) - "She makes tapestries for herself; fine linen and purple are her clothing." (22)
The Malbim explains according to the plain sense: "She makes tapestries (marvadim) for herself" - she herself made tapestries for herself, which are precious ornaments; "fine linen and purple are her clothing" - the Holy One, blessed be He, gives her and showers her with wealth and riches, sending blessing into the work of her hands, and through this she has tapestries. Rashi explains that marvadim are beautiful bed coverings, related to the word "leraped" (to spread or pad) - just as the term is used in this sense today, with the labial letters (beit, vav, mem, peh) being interchangeable between raped and ravad. It follows that marvadim are bedspreads, that which covers the bed. She has these as well, along with fine linen and purple clothing. All this is according to the plain meaning: she succeeds in all the trade and business she conducts.
And allegorically, this refers to the soul, which fashions adornments for herself - and what are they? Those spiritual insights, that Torah study, those mitzvot she acquired through understanding in her lifetime; all these are her adornments. And the spiritual garment is "fine linen and purple," the aspect of the chaluka de-rabbanan we mentioned, garments of majesty and splendor for the beauty of the soul. She prepared everything here: "she makes tapestries for herself" in this world, and consequently, through this, Above "fine linen and purple are her clothing."
נוֹדָע בַּשְּׁעָרִים בַּעְלָהּ בְּשִׁבְתּוֹ עִם זִקְנֵי אָרֶץ׃ (כג) - "Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land." (23)
Because of the splendid garments that the woman of valor makes for her husband, he is known and distinguished among his peers when he sits with them in the gates. People see a man dressed with dignity - through what? Through the tapestries, through the fine linen and purple that she prepared for him. And why do we attribute the credit to her? For if not, how did praise of the husband suddenly enter a song of praise to the woman of valor? Therefore, both Rashi and Metzudat David explain that "her husband is known in the gates" on account of her. Similarly, the Ibn Ezra explains that this too is praise for the woman: the elders of the land seat her husband among them for her sake - they honor her, and therefore they seat her husband among the elders of the land. It turns out that her husband is secondary to her given her great stature as a woman of valor; people say, "This is the husband of so-and-so," as she has already become renowned - "this is the husband of Devorah, the wife of Lapidot" - and consequently, he is honored because of her.
The Malbim explains according to the plain meaning (peshat) that this is the great virtue of this woman of valor: she supports her husband so that he can engage in Torah until he sits in the gates - and in the gates sat the elders, the Sanhedrin, and the sages. By virtue of whom is her husband known in the gates? By virtue of this woman of valor who goes, toils, and exerts herself in all material affairs, so that her husband can diligently devote himself to Torah study in tranquility and security. Thus, even according to the Malbim, the praise is due to her, for she is the one who handles the material needs, allowing him to be free for spiritual pursuits.
It is told of Rav Eliyahu Lopian - cited by Rav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi in his book Birkat Mordechai - that on Friday nights he would sit at the Shabbat table in his home in Kfar Chasidim with the Rebbetzin. One Friday night, while singing "Eshet Chayil," when he reached the verse, "Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land," they saw him pause, reflect for a moment, a tear glistening in his eye, and then continue. To everyone present it remained an enigma, but they were afraid to ask him.
And how great this man was! It is enough to mention that he was privileged to experience the revelation of Eliyahu HaNavi (Gilui Eliyahu). Once, he came to request a blessing from the Gerrer Rebbe, an episode that was not widely publicized. The Rebbe looked at him and said: "A person who has merited Gilui Eliyahu comes to ask for a blessing from me?" Rav Eliyahu Lopian was shaken that the Rebbe knew this, and replied: "A person who has merited Gilui Eliyahu comes to ask for a blessing from someone who is able to see it on him - you are able to see it on me, and therefore it is from you that I want a blessing."
Incidentally, he once traveled on a train with the Rogatchover Gaon. The Rogatchover was an immense genius, and also formidable: if someone said something off-mark, he had no qualms about telling him he was speaking nonsense. Rav Eliyahu approached him and asked, "Rabbi, may I share a dvar Torah with the Rav?" He asked him, "Who is your honor?" He answered, "I am just a simple baal habayit (layman)" - out of modesty and humility. The Rogatchover said, "Nu, go ahead." Rav Eliyahu presented his entire Torah thought, the entire structure and pilpul he had innovated, and then asked, "Nu, what does the Rav say? Does the Rav have no questions? Does the Rav agree with the approach?" The Rogatchover replied, "Nu, nu, nice insights for a baal habayit" - since he had presented himself as a simple layman. Years later, when Rav Eliyahu recounted this, he said: "And you should know that I presented before him the very piece of Torah that I intended to say in the World of Truth after one hundred and twenty years, when they ask me to deliver a dvar Torah! That was the Torah thought I shared with the Rogatchover, and that is what he told me: 'Nice insights for a baal habayit.'"
To return to our story: Rav Eliyahu Lopian was the Mashgiach of the Kfar Chasidim Yeshivah, and people hesitated to ask him why he had stopped and what the tear was for. But it was well known that he concealed nothing from his Rebbetzin, and if she asked him something, he would fulfill her wish. They asked her to inquire, and she pressed him once and twice, until he relented and told her: "Look, I am Eliyahu Lopian. When I enter the yeshivah, everyone stands up before me and honors me. As I approach my seat, the bachurim immediately rush to arrange my shtender and prepare a siddur or Gemara for me, as needed. And why do they honor me? Who are you, Eliyahu Lopian, that they should honor you? Afterwards, prayer begins, and during the Shema they wait for me - until I say 'Hashem Elokeichem Emet,' the chazzan does not proceed. Who are you, Eliyahu Lopian, that they must wait for you? Gradually, there is a great fear that a sense of haughtiness might enter me, that I will begin to think of myself as something: 'Look how they honor me, look how they wait for me.' Perhaps I might even come to think that this is indeed proper, that I truly am something and that is why they honor me so. Then I think to myself: But you know that these are all empty feelings, and you know that you truly have nothing to boast about."
"And now," he said, "when I reached Eshet Chayil and recited, 'Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land,' I began to contemplate the plain meaning of the text: What is the significance of 'when he sits among the elders of the land'? And I understood that here Shlomo HaMelech is telling us: Know that to recognize a person's true stature here in this world is completely impossible. People may honor him and stand before him, yet he may be as far removed from that mantle of prestige as east is from west. When will it truly be possible to know who the person is? 'Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land' - after one hundred and twenty years, up Above. When I arrive there and perhaps they seat me among those elders of the land, will I have anything to discuss with them? Will I have any connection to them? Will they even look at me? Am I worthy of their level? There the true evaluation will be determined; there it will become known who the person really is. And I thought to myself: There my disgrace will be exposed, and it will become clear that this cloak was tailored several sizes too large for me, and that I received signs of honor and prestigious treatment of which I was unworthy. And over that, a tear fell from my eye."
This is the contemplation of a great person, of a tzaddik. An ordinary person is always certain that he deserves honor, confident that he is important, and even assesses himself far above what he truly is. But the righteous always assess themselves modestly, saying: "Who am I and what am I, and who knows how they will look at me there?" We are all confident that they will welcome us there warmly, whereas the tzaddik views himself with far less self-importance than he truly possesses.
סָדִין עָשְׂתָה וַתִּמְכֹּר וַחֲגוֹר נָתְנָה לַכְּנַעֲנִי׃ (כד) - "She makes a garment and sells it, and delivers a belt to the merchant." (24)
עֹז וְהָדָר לְבוּשָׁהּ וַתִּשְׂחַק לְיוֹם אַחֲרוֹן׃ (כה) - "Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the final day." (25)
The Malbim explains according to the plain meaning: The fine linen garment is what she made to sell for commerce, while the belt she wove she gave to the merchant so that he would distribute the proceeds to the poor. There is a difficulty in the verse that prompts this interpretation: if she made the garment and sold it, why does she give the belt to the merchant for free? It should have said, "and sold a belt to the merchant." Therefore, he explains that she gave it to the merchant so that he would distribute the funds to the poor, in which case it is indeed an act of giving. First, "She makes a garment and sells it" - for business purposes, and then, "and delivers a belt to the merchant" - this is the element of chesed with which this woman of valor is gifted.
And the linen garment she made - "Strength and majesty are her clothing, and she laughs at the final day": this linen garment is her attire for the final day, and with it she will rejoice, for the mitzvah becomes a spiritual garment that the soul dons when it sheds its physical clothes, which are the body. That very linen garment and belt she gave to the merchant - in them she will be attired in the World to Come, and this will be her glory, through those mitzvos that serve as the soul's garments.
Regarding that same question - why does she sell the linen garment but give away the belt? - the sefer Rabot Banot offers an explanation according to the literal meaning: As is the way of the world, one who manufactures goods and linen garments sells both retail, as individual items, and wholesale, in large packages and bundles to merchants, often on a consignment basis - sell whatever you can sell, and whatever remains unsold, return to me and I will credit you. The author comes to praise this woman, for she invests across all channels: "She made a linen garment and sold it" - she crafts the linen garments to sell them individually at full price, yielding a larger profit; and when quantities remain that she cannot sell to individuals, she gathers the entire pile and binds it, which is the belt, and this merchandise "she delivered to the merchant" - she hands it over to the trader, saying: take and sell it, and when profits come in, pay me. At that moment she receives no money, as it is on consignment, giving it to him so that he can sell it and give her her share of the profits. It does not mean that she gave it away entirely for free, but rather that she provided the merchant with goods bundled and bound with a belt so that he could sell them. The Maharsha explains similarly in Chiddushei Aggadot on Pesachim 50b.
There is another well-known explanation, and because it is so famous, there are many figures about whom it is told: it is recounted about the Netziv of Volozhin, about the author of the Beis HaLevi, and also about the Malbim. The story goes as follows: Once, one of the maskilim came to ask a question. The maskilim, as is known, were people who abandoned the Torah yet maintained an interest in the grammar of the Holy Tongue. Since the true masters of all matters of grammar were the Torah sages of Israel, they relished coming and challenging them with difficult questions to which they themselves did not know the answers. That maskil came and posed a grammatical question, and the Rav answered him on the spot, resolving the issue effortlessly and with complete simplicity. The man came away in great astonishment and said: How can this be? The Rav spends most of his day immersed in the disputes of Abbaye and Rava, all day in the sea of the Talmud, while our sole occupation is grammar - how is it possible that you grasped this distinction and I failed to notice it?
The Rav said to him: A parable will explain the matter, and he interpreted for him the verse "She made a linen garment and sold it, and delivered a belt to the merchant." A person walks into a fabric shop and watches the merchant sell rolls of cloth to a customer. After selling a bundle of rolls, the merchant told his assistant: "Package this for him." The assistant laid the rolls on the counter, tied them securely at both ends with sturdy ropes so they would not unravel on the way, and presented the bill. The onlooker asked the shopkeeper: "Did you not charge him for the ropes?" He answered: "No, the ropes are free of charge; there is no fee for them." The man said: "Ah, very good." When the shopkeeper finished with the customer and asked the onlooker what he needed, the man said: "Could you give me ten meters of rope?" The merchant measured, cut it, and said: "Here you go, forty shekels." He said: "What, forty shekels? You just said the ropes are free!" The merchant replied: "May you be well! That man bought thousands of shekels worth of fabric, and whoever buys thousands of shekels worth of fabric receives the ropes for free. But you came only to take rope - and for rope one must pay, for it cost me money."
And that is what is written here: "She made a linen garment and sold it" - and because she sells the linen garments, the belt that binds them together "she delivered to the merchant" free of charge; she does not charge for the packaging. And how does this apply? He told him: Understand, you come only to purchase the rope, and therefore it costs you dearly. But we engage in Torah, and whoever engages in Torah for its own sake merits many things - and included in those "many things" are the wisdom of grammar, music, agronomy, natural sciences, astronomy, geometry, and engineering. He merits it all, because whoever engages in Torah for its own sake merits many things.
In these verses, the portrait of the woman of valor unfolds through two perspectives. On the level of peshat: a woman who stretches out her palm to the poor and extends her hand to the destitute, prepares garments for her household so that she has no fear of the snow, makes tapestries and wears fine linen and purple, and through the merit of all her physical toil, her husband is renowned in the gates among the elders of the land and is able to delve into Torah. And on the level of allegory and derash: the Torah rests only upon one who makes himself like a pauper; twofold acts of chesed rescue from Gehennom; and the soul does not fear the "snow" of death, for the body is destined to rise at the Resurrection of the Dead, while for the soul itself there awaits clothing of scarlet, fine linen, and purple - the chaluka deRabbanan sewn here in this world from a person's mitzvos. And not for naught did Rav Elyah Lopian weep over the words "When he sits among the elders of the land": a person's true stature is not determined by the honor accorded to him here, but by his standing Up Above. And whoever engages in Torah for its own sake - merits many things.