Chapter 9 in Mishlei is structured as one grand contrast: on the one hand, "Wisdom has built her house" - the woman of wisdom who builds a house upon seven pillars, slaughters her meat, mingles her wine, and sends out her maidens to call people to her table; and on the other hand, the "foolish, clamorous woman" - who sits at the doorway of her house and likewise calls to passersby, yet their end is "in the depths of Sheol." In this section, we will examine the conclusion of wisdom's words - the beginning of wisdom, the reward of wisdom, and the gain found within it - and from there we will turn to the depiction of the foolish woman and her methods of seduction.
תְּחִלַּת חׇכְמָה יִרְאַת יְהֹוָה וְדַעַת קְדֹשִׁים בִּינָה׃ - The beginning of wisdom is the fear of Hashem, and knowledge of the holy ones is understanding.
The word "beginning" also extends to the second half of the verse: the beginning of wisdom is the fear of Hashem, and the beginning of the knowledge of the holy ones is understanding. That is, how does a person reach the level of "knowledge of the holy ones," having a crystal-clear knowledge of matters of wisdom like the holy ones on earth? The holy ones have delved so deeply into wisdom that it is no longer an unattainable or unproven matter to them; rather, they can explain how every detail is logically and rationally fitting to be so. For this, binah (understanding) is required: to contemplate things, delve deeply into them, and perceive the inner essence, content, and depth within everything. This is the meaning of "to know wisdom and discipline" at the beginning of the book: what was previously in the realm of wisdom that could not be known and proven, becomes - through deep contemplation - an attained level of "knowing wisdom," which is clear and definite knowledge.
Consider an example that brings this concept closer to the mind. The Torah presents the law of an amah Ivriyah (a Hebrew maidservant): a father sells his minor daughter as a maidservant. A person hears this and asks - what kind of thing is this? How can the Torah permit such an arrangement? At first glance, if someone asks whether one accepts it, the answer is: Yes, because Hashem said so. Ask if one understands it - no, one does not. If someone attempts to argue that this is moral, it is difficult to accept that this sounds moral. Yet out of fear of Heaven, one acknowledges: Hashem said so, and we accept it.
However, when a person learns, delves deeply, and contemplates, he suddenly realizes how much wisdom lies in this halachah. After all, what kind of person is capable of selling his own daughter as a maidservant? Nobody. And if such an individual is found, how would he be defined? A corrupt, wicked man. You engage in commerce with your own child? You rob her of her childhood? Even an animal loves its offspring, and are you lower than a beast? If it is obvious that such a father is utterly corrupt, would anyone leave a child in his care? Absolutely not. The Torah says: If such a man comes to sell his daughter, seize the opportunity, get her out of there, purchase her. In those days, there was no social worker.
And not only that, but in the words of the Sefer HaChinuch, make her a noble lady. There is a mitzvah that the master or his son designate her - meaning, marry her - "and he shall deal with her according to the manner of daughters." This girl, who grew up in a ruined home where her father was capable of selling her, must be rescued from there, and do not think she was acquired cheaply. She receives her food, her clothing, and her conjugal rights, everything given to a regular wife. You purchased her as a maidservant; now marry her, give her everything due to a wife, and turn her into a lady of standing. Suddenly, the mitzvah takes on an entirely different light. This is what we noted: at first, one accepts the laws of wisdom simply because Hashem commanded them, for no human being is more moral than the Creator of the universe; but after delving deeper, one also understands where the morality lies. And there are many more examples like this.
The Malbim explains that there is a distinction between reshit and techilat (both often translated as "beginning"). Reshit captures something of the very essence of the thing, as in "the first of your grain" (reshit degancha) or "the first of your dough" (reshit arisoteichem) - the choicest of the item, and also an intrinsic part of it. Fear of Hashem is itself one of the laws of wisdom: fearing Hashem for Who He is, because He is omnipotent, because He created us, and because everything in existence comes from Him. This is "the beginning of wisdom is the fear of Hashem" (reshit chochmah yirat Hashem), and it represents yirat haromemut (awe of His exalted majesty).
What is yirat haromemut? When a person enters the presence of a great Torah luminary, he immediately feels awe. Not because the luminary might punish or curse him, but because standing in his presence inspires veneration. By contrast, when encountering a police officer, one does not feel awe of majesty, but fear of punishment: one already envisions five hundred or a thousand shekels flying away. Fear of punishment is a lower level of fear, and in the words of the Rambam, a fear suitable for women and children. And would that we were like the women and children of the Rambam's generation; would that we had even fear of punishment! Consider this: when a person is about to speak lashon hara, does the thought of Gehinnom even cross his mind? How far we are from even fear of punishment! How, then, can someone imagine he has attained awe of exalted majesty, refraining from sin purely out of deference to His glorious majesty? And how foolish are those who believe they have achieved love of Hashem, which is a level far higher than both forms of fear. To sing before the Holy One, Blessed be He, "We love You" - even as a song it is doubtful whether this is fitting. To one's spouse one can tell stories, but to the Creator of the universe? "We love You" - but where were you yesterday during Shacharit? I was waiting for you in the beit midrash. Has a person ever refrained from an average transgression out of a blazing love of Hashem in his heart? These are lofty levels we can only talk about. Would that we possessed fear of punishment, where one about to sin recoils out of dread of Gehinnom; and if we should achieve awe of His majesty, it would be an extraordinary accomplishment.
Fear of punishment is not part of the laws of wisdom, because it is unworthy to fear Hashem out of fear of punishment. This is an inferior level: you have turned Hashem, blessed be He, into a threatening figure, as though I have no choice, and if I do not comply I will get slapped, so I am forced to act. It is certainly not a respectful manner before Him, blessed be He, to portray Him as terrifying, where His commandments are fulfilled out of fear. Similarly, one who serves in order to receive a reward - although higher than fear of punishment - is also on an inferior level, for it implies: as long as I am compensated, I will perform; Master of the Universe, stop paying, and I will stop doing. This portrays the Holy One, blessed be He, as someone engaging in trade with you, a transaction of give-and-take based solely on self-interest, rather than because this is the word of Hashem and the right thing to do, where I humble myself before His majestic grandeur and nullify my own will before His divine will.
Therefore, the righteous used to say that they would fulfill His commandments even if the Holy One, blessed be He, had declared that for every time one puts on tefillin he would receive Gehinnom - and nonetheless, I would still put on tefillin. This is a lofty virtue, showing that I do not act for the sake of reward. And this is like the famous story of the Vilna Gaon: in a year of scarcity, someone was found who agreed to sell him the precious fruit for the Four Species on condition that the Gaon relinquish to him the spiritual reward for the mitzvah. They came and told the Vilna Gaon with great trepidation, but far from being upset, he rejoiced and said: Finally, I will have an opportunity to fulfill a mitzvah without the knowledge that I am being rewarded for it, but purely because Hashem commanded, "And you shall take for yourselves." For in some corner of the heart, one always knows that for every such act billions are paid Above, and that feeling inevitably creeps in; but here, the reward was sold to another, and now this is a mitzvah purely to bring contentment to our Maker and fulfill the will of our Creator, rather than building for ourselves Gan Eden and great reward Above.
Nonetheless, explains the Malbim, fear of punishment is not the "reshit chachmah" (the choice essence of wisdom) - but it is indeed the "techillat chachmah" (the chronological start of wisdom). "Reshit" refers to the choicest part, an inherent part of the thing itself; "techillat" merely marks the beginning, and what follows may well be different, but as an opening it suffices. As the Rambam writes, how does one win over young children to learn? By giving them roasted grains and nuts. But when the child grows up, he must leave behind the roasted grains, nuts, and marbles, and serve Hashem for the sake of the One Who spoke and brought the world into being, to give pleasure to our Maker. The same is true of the start of human service: there is punishment, there is Gehinnom, woe to me if I act against Hashem's will. As a "techillah," a beginning, this is good; as the starter of the journey, it is fine. But do you continue using the starter while driving down the road? It disengages. Fear of punishment is good at the outset, but it must not remain part of the ongoing journey.
Yet fear of Hashem's majesty is meant to accompany a person continuously. For even though the ultimate goal is love, this does not mean that one who has attained love casts fear aside - explicitly not. One who reaches love must still retain awe, for one who feels awe does not rebel. When there is great love between two people, it can sometimes become an obstacle, as one permits himself liberties he would never take with someone he keeps at a distance. Therefore, awe is also necessary, so that love will not overstep its bounds and produce a sense of over-familiarity with the One Who spoke and brought the world into being, which could lead to inappropriate behavior.
כִּי־בִי יִרְבּוּ יָמֶיךָ וְיוֹסִיפוּ לְּךָ שְׁנוֹת חַיִּים׃ - "For through me your days will multiply, and years of life will be added to you."
Here Shlomo HaMelech persuades from the standpoint of the love of reward: it is worth your while, it pays off. "For through me your days will multiply" - through wisdom, the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvot, a person's good days will multiply, and years of life will be added to him. This refers to two things: both that things will be good for you here in this world, and also length of days. And both remain true to this day. Although it may seem that someone far from mitzvot is having a wonderful time and bears no yoke, when you ultimately examine who is happy here, you find specifically the shomer mitzvot, who has a family and builds it in holiness, rather than the one who imagines he is enjoying himself while lacking the stability of a lasting marriage. Without any doubt, someone who lives according to the laws of the Torah and raises his children by them enjoys a more peaceful and joyful life. Even if the other person experiences ten years of fleeting pleasure and indulgence - on the whole, whose life is truly more complete?
And the second thing: "and years of life will be added to you" - and this, too, is readily visible today. The highest life expectancy in Israel was found in Bnei Brak - even though people do not engage in sports there, and perhaps swaying beside the shtender is the only exercise; nor is the food strictly health food, as cholent is hardly a health delicacy, and the same goes for kugel and herring. Far be it from me to suggest there is no need to eat healthily, but the fact remains that this is the reality. And what is the simple reason? The Torah promises "that your days may be prolonged": for those who rise early and stay late in the study halls, for one who wears tefillin, for one who honors father and mother. And although the primary reward belongs to the world that is entirely long, this certainly does not mean it is absent from this world as well.
אִם־חָכַמְתָּ חָכַמְתָּ לָּךְ וְלַצְתָּ לְבַדְּךָ תִשָּׂא׃ - "If you have grown wise, you have grown wise for yourself; and if you scoff, you alone will bear it."
When you study the laws of wisdom and grow wise through them - who gains? You do. And this is a very crucial point in *avodas Hashem*: a person must never go through life feeling that he is doing someone a favor, that the Master of the Universe needs to thank him for all the mitzvos he performed "for Him." What have you done for Him? Does He need your mitzvos? "What do you give Him, and what does He receive from your hand?" The Holy One, blessed be He, lacks nothing. You do not diminish Him through your sins, nor do you add to Him through your mitzvos. Who, then, has gained? "If you have grown wise, you have grown wise for yourself" - you will be the recipient of the good that comes through wisdom.
"And if you mock, you alone will bear it" - and if you scoff at the words of wisdom, you alone will pay the price, no one else. You are not punishing anyone else by doing so. There are people who think: Hashem did such and such to me, so I took off my kippah. Fool, what have you done? That is like saying: That friend mistreated me, I was so angry at him, so I took a rifle and shot myself in the foot! He angered you, and you shoot yourself? The same applies to someone who thinks that through his sin he is angering the Creator of the universe and harming Him. What have you done to the Creator of the universe? The only "anger" the Creator has is compassion toward you: Fool, why did you destroy your own life? Why did you ruin things for yourself? You could have benefited yourself, so why did you harm yourself? No one else will pay for your mistakes - you will bear them alone. Is it really worth it, then?
אֵשֶׁת כְּסִילוּת הֹמִיָּה פְּתַיּוּת וּבַל־יָדְעָה מָּה׃ - The woman of foolishness is clamorous; she is simplicity itself, knowing nothing.
Until now, Shlomo HaMelech dealt with the woman of wisdom and the sweetness of her teaching; from here onward, he depicts the opposing force that draws one toward foolishness. The Malbim explains: What is the difference between *kesilus* (foolishness) and *pesayus* (simplicity)? The *pesi* (simpleton) lacks discernment; he has neither cunning nor wisdom, and is easily seduced by anything. The *kesil* (fool), by contrast, turns away from the rules of wisdom out of a desire to follow his heart's lusts. The *kesil* knows the laws of wisdom, and sometimes he is even a great scholar, a "donkey carrying books" - erudite, knowledgeable that this is forbidden in chapter such-and-such and that is permitted - he knows it all, yet he simply does not walk along that path.
Therefore: "The woman of foolishness is clamorous" - the fool is seduced by clamor (*hemyah*), the tumult of desire and the *yetzer hara* raging within him, and that is what drags him into foolish acts that defy the paths of wisdom. Whereas "simple, and knows nothing" - the naive simpleton is enticed by what he does not know, through misinformation and deception, for a simpleton believes anything. They tell him: "Come, this is worthwhile" - and he assumed it was good, he assumed it was a success. Whatever they sold him, he believes.
וְיָשְׁבָה לְפֶתַח בֵּיתָהּ עַל־כִּסֵּא מְרֹמֵי קָרֶת׃ - And she sits at the entrance of her house, on a seat at the high places of the city.
We saw above that "Wisdom has built her house, she has carved out her seven pillars" - she has a house established upon pillars. In contrast, foolishness and gullibility build no house; their house is a castle in the air, completely unfounded. On the contrary, they tear the world down. For it is through wisdom that the world is sustained: Who upholds the world? The one who engages in Torah, as it is written, "If not for My covenant day and night, I would not have established the ordinances of heaven and earth." The pillars carved by wisdom are the pillars that sustain the world, while the woman of foolishness and the woman of naivety ruin it.
Note the differences: She does not slaughter her meat, nor does she mix her wine; she offers no promise of spiritual joy or material fulfillment. Nor does she send out her maidens - meaning scholars who would teach from her - but instead she sits at the entrance of her own house. What is this intended to allegorize? That desires, delusions, evil inclinations, and harmful aspirations require no outside emissary to persuade us - they are built directly into us. Not from the original creation of man, but from the sin of Adam HaRishon, the sin of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. *Da'as* (knowledge) implies bonding, as in "And Adam knew (*ve-yada*) Chavah his wife." It was not merely the Tree of Knowledge, but the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil - a tree that bound together good with evil. Through the sin, the *yetzer hara*, which had been external to man in the form of the serpent, became internal to him and an integral part of him.
And how chilling this is: the union is not between equal forces; rather, evil feels stronger than good. The proof is that when a person wishes to commit a sin, he says, "I feel like it" - I feel like having this dish, I just want it. But when he regrets it and acknowledges that what he did was wrong, he says, "I have pangs of conscience" - the conscience is what afflicts me. Where is the "I"? The "I" is seemingly identified with the evil! We have identified so deeply with the evil inclination within us that when it speaks, I feel that this is "me" and this is my own thought; but when rebuked, it feels as though someone external - my "conscience" - has come to torment me.
לִקְרֹא לְעֹבְרֵי־דָרֶךְ הַמְיַשְּׁרִים אֹרְחוֹתָם׃ - To call out to passersby on the way, who are making their paths straight.
She sits "on a seat on the heights of the city", in an elevated place - meaning within man himself, and people are drawn after her. And to whom does she call? Not to the residents of the city, but to those passing along the way: those who have not yet reached the city, who have not yet refined their character traits and settled their minds, who in the pathways of the soul are still novices, midway on the journey. And they "make their paths straight", wanting to straighten their path and act in an upright and proper way - for the inner aspiration of every human being is to walk the straight path. You will not find anyone who says, "I strive to do evil; I strive to walk a crooked path." "God made man upright" - these are the Manufacturer's instructions; this is how we were created, and the human soul is upright by nature. And specifically upon one who desires to straighten his path, all the temptations and trials come, from deep within himself.
מִי־פֶתִי יָסֻר הֵנָּה וַחֲסַר־לֵב וְאָמְרָה לּוֹ׃ - "Whoever is naive, let him turn in here"; and to him who lacks understanding, she says:
The woman of naivety calls to the naive person, who is easily seduced and with whom there is an opening to speak; while the woman of foolishness calls to the one who lacks understanding, knowing that he lacks the strength to master his passions. We have explained what it means to lack understanding: a person who lacks a heart of authority and self-control - what we would call today lacking a strong character. Desires pull at him, and he is drawn right after them.
מַיִם־גְּנוּבִים יִמְתָּקוּ וְלֶחֶם סְתָרִים יִנְעָם׃ - "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant."
Notice: the woman of wisdom offered meat and wine - "she has slaughtered her meat, she has mixed her wine"; but what does this woman offer? Bread and water. Seemingly, if Lady Wisdom prepares a feast of meat and wine, why would anyone go to the feast of the foolish, naive woman, where the main course is merely bread and water?
And why the parallelism: "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant"? The Ben Ish Chai explains: "Stolen waters are sweet" refers to an eshet ish (a married woman). Because the sin there is extraordinarily severe, it is called "sweet" - and because he steals a woman from under her husband's authority, these are "stolen waters", and the illicit thrill of the transgression is intensely potent. "And bread eaten in secret is pleasant" refers to relations with an unmarried woman: here the severity does not reach that of a married woman, yet he still must hide his actions. The term "bread" is a euphemism for intimacy, as Yosef said regarding the wife of Potiphar, "except for the bread that he eats," and as Yitro said, "Call him, that he may eat bread" - meaning that he should come and marry one of them, and as it says, "She eats, wipes her mouth, and says, 'I have done no wrong.'" Therefore, regarding an unmarried woman, it does not say "is sweet" but rather "is pleasant" - it feels enjoyable, for here too, there is the pursuit of something forbidden.
From here, Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz notes, one learns how deeply man yearns to breach boundaries: the higher the fence, the greater the relish in breaking through it. The more strictly something is forbidden to a person, the greater the urge to defy the prohibition and crave specifically that which was denied. Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz delivers an entire ethical discourse on this regarding Shimi ben Gera: King Shlomo warned him never to leave Jerusalem, yet he left for a trivial reason - runaway slaves - thereby incurring the death penalty. What was the logic? From the moment he was told, "You may not leave Jerusalem," he felt suffocated at every turn, and Jerusalem became a prison in his eyes from which he felt compelled to escape. So it is with "stolen waters are sweet": the moment you are told something is forbidden, it instantly tastes delicious, and you desire it precisely because you were told "no." This is human nature, and it is also the essence of earning reward: the primary reward is given for what a person is told "no," because that very prohibition awakens a renewed evil inclination that he must overcome.
וְלֹא־יָדַע כִּי־רְפָאִים שָׁם בְּעִמְקֵי שְׁאוֹל קְרֻאֶיהָ׃ - But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
He does not know that what he is doing right now is deadly poison, murder to the human soul. And where is she calling him with that secret bread and those stolen waters? To the depths of Sheol. For sin creates spiritual excision (karet) and destruction within the soul. Indeed, the wicked person appears to walk among us like any ordinary person, but if we could open our eyes, we would see that he is considered dead. The holy books compare this to a lizard's severed tail that continues to twitch: what you see of the wicked person in this world is merely twitching, but in truth he is cut off from his Supernal Root and has no connection whatsoever. In this world, it is not visible; when he dies it will become apparent - not to us, but to those in the spiritual realm, who will be able to see how completely disconnected he is from holiness.
Therefore, the wicked, even during their lifetime, are called dead, while the righteous, even in death, are called alive - because the righteous person is perpetually connected to the Source of Life, to Hashem, Blessed be He; whereas one who severs himself from the Source of Life is essentially connected to death. The holy Zohar calls this *sitra demota* (the side of death), *sitra de'alma deperuda* (the realm of division) - severed from holiness, possessing no true life whatsoever. This is the meaning of "He does not know that the dead are there": he imagines it is delicious and pleasant bread eaten in secret, unaware that it leads him to ruin and to Sheol.
The conclusion of the chapter presents the choice before us in sharp contrast. On one side stands Wisdom: the fear of Hashem as the beginning of the path - fear of punishment merely as a starter, and fear of His exalted majesty as the primary foundation and essence - and from there, through deep understanding and contemplation, advancing to "the knowledge of the holy ones," where the mitzvot of the Torah become lucid and upright in a person's intellect, such as the law of a Hebrew bondwoman. And its reward accompanies it: "For by me your days shall be multiplied" in this world and in the World to Come, and above all - "If you are wise, you are wise for yourself," for the entire benefit is your own. And on the other side sits the foolish woman at the doorway, who is the evil inclination within us, enticing the fool through the clamor of his desires and deceiving the simpleton, specifically seeking to pull in the passersby who keep straight on their paths with the forbidden sweetness of "stolen waters" - and ultimately leading them into the depths of Sheol. May Hashem grant us the merit to heed the voice of the Woman of Wisdom, Amen and Amen.