מִשְׁלֵי שְׁלֹמֹה בֵּן חָכָם יְשַׂמַּח אָב וּבֵן כְּסִיל תּוּגַת אִמּוֹ׃ - The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son gladdens a father, but a foolish son is the grief of his mother.
At first glance, one might wonder: were the preceding chapters not the proverbs of Solomon? Why does he open anew here, saying "The proverbs of Solomon"? The Metzudas David explains: until now, he spoke in praise of the Torah, as though the Torah itself were uttering its own words. We saw wisdom contrasted with folly, wisdom standing on the city heights calling out to the simple and the foolish to come and learn from her - the Torah, as it were, was speaking. From this point forward, Solomon returns to speak his own words, "as a father chastens his son": it is not the Torah speaking, but a father offering mussar to his son. Therefore, it states once again "The proverbs of Solomon," as if it were a new book: the preceding section dealt with the Torah offering rebuke, whereas from here on, Solomon himself is the one offering rebuke.
Rashi and the Metzudas David explain straightforwardly: "A wise son gladdens a father" - when the father sees his son sitting among the sages. And why specifically "the grief of his mother"? Because the fool continually stays at home with his mother, and at all times she sees his folly and her sorrow is great. When the son is wise, the father takes him everywhere, to the assembly of the wise, to places where he can take pride in him. But when the son is a fool, it is better to leave him at home to avoid embarrassment. Thus, the father takes pride in the wise son, while the mother suffers with the fool.
The Malbim explains differently. A "wise son" is one who has internalized the principles of wisdom and conducts himself according to them; he has not merely studied wisdom, but puts it into practice. And why does he "gladden a father"? Because it is a sign that the father educated him properly, taught him well, and showed him the path of wisdom and mussar. And who is a "kesil" (fool) according to the Malbim? Not the naive person lacking knowledge. The kesil knows wisdom and is very intelligent, possessing excellent knowledge - yet he follows the desires of his heart. His problem is not a lack of knowledge, but that his lusts and desires pull him in other directions.
Therefore, "a foolish son is the grief of his mother": when a son deviates from the path of wisdom due to his desires, the blame falls upon the mother. She was the one who coddled him excessively, indulged him too much, consistently lifted the burden from him and sought to make things easy for him, preventing his father from disciplining him with a rod. The father demanded standards, while she said: There is no need, leave him alone, the poor thing, it is too hard for him, be considerate of him. If the wise son brings joy to the father who invested in him and now sees the fruits of his labor, the foolish son brings grief to the mother, for these are the rotten fruits of her own indulgence - and it is fitting that she, in particular, should bear the sorrow.
לֹא יוֹעִילוּ אוֹצְרוֹת רֶשַׁע וּצְדָקָה תַּצִּיל מִמָּוֶת׃ - Treasures of wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death.
The Malbim distinguishes between "good" and "beneficial." Stores of money and grain are not intrinsically good in themselves, but they certainly provide utility: if one is hungry, grain satisfies hunger; if one needs to purchase necessities, money fulfills that role. However, treasures accumulated by the wicked through theft and robbery lack even utility. One might think: It is good that I have money, so that in times of distress I will have resources to draw upon - but that is a mistake. Wealth accumulated through wickedness will be of no benefit at all.
Later (chapter 11), it is written: "Wealth does not profit on the day of wrath." There, the verse refers to legitimately acquired wealth, which fails to profit only "on the day of wrath," in a time of divine anger, danger, and affliction in the world. But wicked wealth - the Malbim explains - does not profit even in times of peace. This is the meaning of "Treasures of wickedness do not profit": even in days of tranquility, they will be of no help. Legitimate treasures, by contrast, are useful in times of peace, but in times of war and calamity they cannot protect their owners. Many people possessed great treasures during the Holocaust in Europe, yet all that money availed them nothing. Many Jews in Arab lands, when seeking to make aliyah to the Land of Israel, had all their property nationalized and were expelled destitute and bare. Let no person say: In times of danger, my wealth will protect me. Even legitimate wealth - do not rely upon it, for salvation does not come from it.
What, then, does save? "But righteousness delivers from death." Tzedakah and good deeds between man and God - these are what can truly save. But relying on treasures of wickedness will bring no help; and even legitimate treasures, on a day of trouble when a harsh decree looms, cannot avail.
לֹא יַרְעִיב יְהֹוָה נֶפֶשׁ צַדִּיק וְהַוַּת רְשָׁעִים יֶהְדֹּף׃ - Hashem will not starve the soul of the righteous, but the ruin of the wicked He will thrust away.
In a time of famine, stores of wealth are of no use, for there is no grain to buy. What can a person do with his money when there is nothing to purchase? This is like the story related in the Gemara about that wealthy woman during the siege of Jerusalem, who sent her servant to buy her fine wheat bread - and the messenger returned and said it had run out; she sent for another type of bread - it was gone; and so on again and again, until finally "she removed her shoe and expired." She scattered her money in the streets and said: Look at all this silver and gold, what help has it been to me in a time of trouble?
Even so - "Hashem will not starve the soul of the righteous": even in a time of famine, the tzaddik will be satisfied. The verse specifies "the soul of the righteous" (nefesh tzaddik) because the Holy One, blessed be He, grants him the full desire of his soul, for nefesh means will or desire, as in "if it is your desire" (im yesh et nafshechem). "And the ruin of the wicked He will thrust away" - havat is an expression of ruin or calamity, as in lehavati, which means "to my ruin." Regarding the ruin of the wicked - Hashem thrusts them until they fall and do not rise again; once the wicked person begins to fall, the Holy One, blessed be He, does not leave him halfway.
The Malbim raises a question: Does not havat also denote being and existence (havayah) - the exact opposite of ruin - as in the rabbinic phrase "let it remain in its existing state" (be-havayato yehei)? He explains: This is one of the reversible verbs whose meaning can go in two opposite directions. Just like lesharesh (to uproot) and lehashrish (to plant roots); or lekaeles, which means to praise, whereas in the phrase la'ag va-keles it denotes mockery and scorn. So too with havat - it can mean existence, and it can also mean being torn from existence and shattered.
The Malbim further distinguishes between the verbs dacha (to push away) and hadaf (to thrust away): Dacha is used for something firmly attached to its place, which one separates from its point of attachment. Hadaf is used for something that is not fixed or attached, but already moving, as in "like windblown straw" (ke-kash nidaf) and "like chaff that the wind blows away" (tidefenu ru'ach). According to this, the verse can also be explained in a second way: "The havat of the wicked" refers to the existence and survival of the wicked, and Hashem will blow it away like windblown straw - leaving it with no lasting existence.
רָאשׁ עֹשֶׂה כַף רְמִיָּה וְיַד חָרוּצִים תַּעֲשִׁיר׃ - He becomes poor who works with a deceitful palm, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth.
Kaf refers only to the palm of the hand, whereas yad refers to the entire hand and arm. "He becomes poor who works with a deceitful palm" - one who engages in deceit, financial manipulation, and the like, employing nothing more than his palm, will ultimately become destitute and poor. He is neither diligent nor industrious to earn his livelihood through honest toil, but instead seeks to make a living through deception and easy money, looking for ways to slip wealth into his palm - and this inevitably brings him to poverty.
"But the hand of the diligent brings wealth" - the diligent person (charutz) is industrious in his craft, working with his entire hand, with all his strength, and not merely with his palm. It is the hand of the diligent that will bring him true wealth.
אֹגֵר בַּקַּיִץ בֵּן מַשְׂכִּיל נִרְדָּם בַּקָּצִיר בֵּן מֵבִישׁ׃ - He who gathers in summer is a wise son; he who sleeps at harvest is a son who brings shame.
The Malbim distinguishes between oger (gathering), osef (collecting), and kibetz (assembling), each carrying a distinct meaning. Agirah is gathering little by little, grain by grain, one by one. And what is kayitz (summer)? Harvest time is when grain is typically gathered; it is cut and brought into the silos and storehouses. The harvest season falls around Shavuot, and as we recall, Boaz was at the threshing floor at that time. By contrast, the kayitz is the stage following the harvest, named after the dried figs (ketzi'ot) and fresh figs set out to dry. Kayitz is related to ketzitzah (severing), as they sever them from the tree and set them out for drying.
The wise son is one who does his work with discernment: he does not gather only during the harvest season, when it is natural to gather, but gathers in the summer as well. He goes out to the field to see if any grains remain, and goes about gathering them one by one. He does not say to himself, "Forget it, the main harvest is over, that is enough" - rather, he knows there is still an opportunity to do more, to exert more effort, and to strive further.
In contrast, the shameful son is lazy and sluggish. Not only does he refrain from going out to gather in the summer once the harvest has ended, but even during the harvest itself, when he is told: "Sir, the field is full of grain, come and gather" - he falls asleep. Here lies the difference: the wise son gleans one by one even when the main crop is no longer there, while the shameful son abandons everything and goes to sleep even when the entire crop lies before him.
All this is an allegory and a parable, for Shlomo is not coming to teach us labor laws. The wise son is the sage who engaged in Torah in his youth and continues to engage in it in his old age. The harvest has ended, the summer has passed - yet you see him at age ninety sitting and learning, at age one hundred sitting and learning; Rav Elyashiv at age one hundred and one sitting and learning. Granted, the intellect is no longer as sharp as in youth, the memory is not what it once was, and one can no longer gather in large quantities or formulate many novel insights, but only gather a little at a time - yet this is a wise son, who even in his old age remains immersed in his studies, fulfilling: "And in the evening do not withhold your hand." The shameful son, on the other hand - even during the harvest season, when he is still young and possesses the intellectual vigor and stamina to sit and learn, even then he falls asleep.
בְּרָכוֹת לְרֹאשׁ צַדִּיק וּפִי רְשָׁעִים יְכַסֶּה חָמָס׃ - Blessings are upon the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked covers violence.
When a person performs deeds of righteousness, everyone blesses him, for he generates an abundance of good for all. It is as if everyone places their hands upon his head and says: "Blessed may you be, your good deeds bring good to us all." The wicked person, however, does the exact opposite of the righteous: violence, theft, robbery, and murder. Not only is he not blessed, but he himself strives to conceal and hide his actions, knowing that if his violence becomes known, he will receive a curse instead of a blessing, and all will curse him and speak harsh words about him. This is the meaning of "but the mouth of the wicked covers violence."
זֵכֶר צַדִּיק לִבְרָכָה וְשֵׁם רְשָׁעִים יִרְקָב׃ - The memory of the righteous is for a blessing, but the name of the wicked shall rot.
The Malbim distinguishes between shem (name) and zecher (remembrance): a shem is the personal name of a thing, its very essence; a zecher is how it is remembered based on its deeds, its historical legacy. For the righteous, even his remembrance endures as a blessing: in every generation, people recall Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, his virtues, and his holiness, and his Torah serves as a shield for us. With the wicked, on the other hand, not only are their deeds finished and gone with no one to remember them, but even their name, which is their essence, rots away on its own and perishes. They have neither immortality of the soul nor any lasting remembrance in this world. One can see this tangibly: when people wish to recite an Ashkavah at the grave of Ben-Gurion, they cannot even find a minyan, whereas to the grave of the Rashbi, more than nineteen hundred years later, hundreds of thousands make the pilgrimage.
The Vilna Gaon explains this distinction differently: zecher refers to what is remembered from the past, while shem refers to the present - what is happening with him now. "The memory of the righteous is for a blessing" - even after his passing, he left something behind here, and he is remembered for generations for a blessing. The wicked, however - even in the present, even during his lifetime, people curse him, for already now everyone sees the damage he causes.
The Vilna Gaon offers a deeper explanation, touching upon the esoteric realm of Sod. It is written in the books of the Kabbalists regarding the verse, "This is My Name forever, and this is My remembrance from generation to generation" (Shemot 3:15): "My Name" (Shemi) alludes to the negative commandments, while "My remembrance" (Zichri) alludes to the positive commandments. How so? Take the proper Name of the Holy One, Blessed be He - which may not be pronounced as written - and divide it in two. To Shemi (שמי), add the first two letters (Yud-Hei), and to Zichri (זכרי), add the last two letters (Vav-Hei). Shemi has a numerical value (gematria) of 350, and combined with 15 (Yud-Hei), it equals 365, corresponding to the 365 negative commandments. Zichri has a gematria of 237, and combined with 11 (Vav-Hei), it equals 248, corresponding to the 248 positive commandments. Thus, both divisions of the mitzvot are encoded within the Holy Name of Hashem, may He be blessed.
As an aside: the 248 positive commandments correspond to the final two letters of the Name, as seen in Zichri. This is also why a "mitzvah" (מצוה) bears this name: its last two letters (Vav-Hei) are the last two letters of the Name, and its first two letters (Mem-Tzadi) correspond to the first two letters of the Name (Yud-Hei) through the cipher of Atbash.
Now back to our subject. Generally, when we wish to praise a righteous person, how do we praise him? Through the mitzvot and good deeds he performs. And when we wish to condemn a wicked person, what do we mention? The transgressions he commits. This is what the verse means: "The memory of the righteous is for a blessing" - "memory" (zecher) corresponds to the 248 positive commandments, through which the tzaddik is praised and blessed. In contrast, "and the name of the wicked shall rot" - "name" (shem) corresponds to the 365 negative commandments; through them, through the prohibitions he violated, the wicked person is disgraced and his name rots away. Truly magnificent.
Chapter 10 opens a new section: here, Shlomo himself rebukes his son as a father. The wise son - who applies the principles of wisdom - brings joy to the father who trained him, while the foolish son, who knows the truth yet is dragged after his desires, brings grief to the mother who overly pampered him. Treasures amassed through wickedness are of no benefit whatsoever, nor does even legitimate wealth help on the day of wrath; only charity rescues from death. The tzaddik will not starve even in times of famine, while the wicked are cast away. One who seeks easy wealth through a deceitful hand inherits poverty, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth. The discerning son gathers grain by grain even after the harvest - representing one who continues engaging in Torah even in his old age; whereas the disgraceful son falls asleep even during the harvest, in the prime of his strength. The righteous person earns the blessings of all; the wicked person conceals his deeds so they are not cursed; and ultimately, the memory of the righteous stands as a blessing for generations, while the name of the wicked rots on its own.