In this part of Chapter 10, we continue with the contrasting proverbs between the tzaddik and the rasha: which of them truly exists in reality, what is the value of work done with laziness, does fear shorten days or prolong them, what is the difference between longing and hope, and how the very way of the Holy One, blessed be He, is a stronghold to one and ruin to the other. We will follow the order of the pesukim following the Malbim, alongside Rabbeinu Yonah and the Vilna Gaon.
כַּעֲבוֹר סוּפָה וְאֵין רָשָׁע וְצַדִּיק יְסוֹד עוֹלָם׃ (כה) - When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is an everlasting foundation. (25)
The Malbim explains: The wicked person has no deep root in reality, but only an incidental existence. He is not rooted; he is here only temporarily, like something weakly anchored. A storm comes and easily uproots him, blows him away, and a wind carries him off. As long as there is no storm, as long as the years run their ordinary and orderly course, you look and say: here he is, existing, alive, breathing, and kicking. But a slight storm is enough, and you cast your eyes upon him, and he is gone.
And why is this so? Because the tzaddik has true existence in reality, both by virtue of his soul's perfection and because the Holy One, blessed be He, watches over him; he is an aspect of "being." The wicked person is an aspect of "nothingness." As our Sages said: the righteous, even in their death, are called living, while the wicked, even in their lifetime, are called dead. Even during his life, he is as if nonexistent. What you see before you is merely an illusion, a mirage. What did you see here? Seventy kilograms of matter; and what are those seventy kilograms? Just as you see an animal existing before you, and upon its death its spirit descends downward to the earth and that is the end of it, so it is with the wicked: as the Ramchal writes, his soul is severed from its supernal root, and what you see here are walking corpses. He has no true existence in being, and therefore a small storm carries him away, for in truth, he does not exist.
In contrast - "but the righteous is an everlasting foundation." The tzaddik truly exists, and his existence sustains the world. Not only for his sake, but as our Sages said: the entire world is nourished for the sake of Chanina My son. He is among the foundations upholding the world. For what sustains the world? The study of Torah sustains the world, prayer sustains it, acts of lovingkindness sustain it - and who engages in all these? The tzaddik. It turns out that the tzaddik is the foundation of the world.
There is also an allusion here to the well-known concept in Kabbalah that the tzaddik corresponds to the sphere of Yesod (Foundation). Yosef is called "Yosef HaTzaddik," as one is called a tzaddik specifically when he is scrupulous in matters of holiness and purity, and Yosef, who did not stumble with the wife of Potiphar, merited this title. And Yesod, as is known, represents holiness in the supernal Sefirot. Therefore: a tzaddik is the foundation of the world.
כַּחֹמֶץ לַשִּׁנַּיִם וְכֶעָשָׁן לָעֵינָיִם כֵּן הֶעָצֵל לְשֹׁלְחָיו׃ (כו) - Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the lazy one to those who send him. (26)
Rabbeinu Yonah, the Vilna Gaon, and the Malbim explain this verse along more or less the same line. Vinegar is sometimes beneficial: sometimes it serves as a remedy, and sometimes - as the Gra notes - a person eats something sour to stimulate his appetite, since sour and sharp foods whet the appetite. Smoke is similar: sometimes it is necessary, when a person lights a fire to warm the house, as they used to heat homes with a hearth and wood. The trouble, however, is that all these things, with all their utility, also cause damage. Vinegar, even as it stimulates the appetite or heals, dulls the teeth and creates a coating that makes it hard to eat. And smoke, though essential for warmth, gets into the eyes and irritates them. That is the parable.
And the lesson: "so is the lazy one to those who send him." Sometimes a person has no choice and must send a lazy person on an errand, having no one else to do it. Scripture tells you: know that even if some benefit comes of it, there will never be benefit without harm. Rabbeinu Yonah explains: the sluggard is too lazy to listen to all the instructions. You explain to him where to go, whom to speak with, and what to do afterward, and he replies, "Fine, okay, I already know." You ask him to write it down, but he is too lazy to write and too lazy to remember. Not only that, but when he arrives there, he tells himself: it does not matter if this is not done right now; I do not have the energy to go up again and talk; it is not really urgent. It all stems from his laziness. Therefore, do not expect complete benefit from a lazy person; even if some benefit emerges, like vinegar that can be medicinal, ultimately there is damage alongside it.
Rabbeinu Yonah asks in his own words: "And if you have understanding, hear this: what does the sluggard and his dispatch have to do in the midst of the discussion of the traits of the righteous and the wicked?" That is, how did Shlomo HaMelech transition from one topic to another without prior notice? Until now, he spoke about "doing wickedness is like sport to a fool," "what the wicked dreads will come upon him," "when the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more" - all matters concerning the righteous and the wicked; and suddenly he teaches that whoever dispatches a sluggard suffers damage. Are we dealing with a courier service here? What does advice on mundane, practical matters have to do with this context?
Rather, Rabbeinu Yonah explains: "Stand and reflect, for the parable is about the work of the Torah and the mitzvos, and their mission." A person who serves Hashem is called a messenger of Hashem, as it is said, "And Hashem sent you on a journey" - which Shmuel said to Shaul when dispatching him to destroy Amalek, and as Moshe said, "That Hashem has sent me to do all these deeds, for they are not from my own heart." Whoever fulfills the word of Hashem fulfills His mission, and whoever does so deceitfully falls under the curse, "Cursed is he who does the work of Hashem deceitfully." Therefore, Shlomo came to teach: when a person performs the work of Hashem, he must be diligent, for if he is sluggish - even if some benefit emerges, it is a halved, fractured, incomplete benefit. Like vinegar, which heals the teeth on one hand yet ruins them on the other; like smoke, which heats the house on one hand yet stings the eyes on the other.
Rabbeinu Yonah gives examples: even though he performed a mitzvah, brought benefit, and his reward is with him, he will be punished for the deficiency he caused. Consider a person who studies Torah, attends a shiur, but does not pay close attention to all the words of his teachers, does not examine every angle and possibility, but merely tells himself, "I more or less understood" - and that is laziness. And what does this laziness cause? When he encounters a matter of Halachah, he errs in it and issues a mistaken ruling. Similarly with the mitzvah of tefillin: he fulfills the mitzvah, but allows his mind to wander from it. You performed the mitzvah, but it is like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes. So it is with all of Hashem's mitzvos: a person must be diligent, fulfilling the mitzvah in all its details, with all its precision and embellishments, and not like a sluggard who carries out only part of the mission, where that partial mission turns out to be vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes.
The Vilna Gaon adds an explanation: not only does the sluggard fail to bring what you sought, but first of all, he causes prolonged suspense. You wait for him - "he should be arriving any moment now, he's just about here" - and your eyes wear out in yearning; this is the longing and prolonged wait. And when he finally arrives, he returns empty-handed. You sent him to bring food, and he says: it was closed. Is there an adjacent shop? Yes, but that is a further walk, I lacked the energy, so I returned. That is a sluggard. Thus, there is both smoke to the eyes - the longing and strain of waiting - and vinegar to the teeth, for just as vinegar harms the teeth, so ultimately he has nothing to eat: he went and drank vinegar to whet his appetite, but in the end has nothing to eat.
The Malbim summarizes the verse, stating that everything said about the sluggard is also an allegory for one who is lazy regarding the overarching mission for which he was sent to this world - the perfection of his soul. A person was sent to this world to perfect his soul; that is his mission. Hashem sent us to do His will and fulfill a purpose. And when he arrives in the World to Come, it will become clear that he was like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes: not that he did nothing at all, but that he acted with flaws, with damages, and with incompleteness.
And as the Rambam says, it is very difficult for a person to perform a mitzvah in total perfection, but if a person performs even a single mitzvah completely, purely for the sake of Heaven, he has already earned life in the World to Come through it. This is by no means simple. From here we find an explanation for the words of Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya: "The Holy One, blessed is He, wished to grant merit to Israel; therefore, He gave them Torah and mitzvos in abundance." The question was once raised: if You multiply mitzvos, You have not necessarily granted me merit - for when there are many mitzvos, one can gain much merit, but one can also fail often! The answer is that "He gave them in abundance" means He gave us numerous opportunities to perform mitzvos. If there are many opportunities, you have another chance and yet another chance - perhaps in one of them you will perform it purely for the sake of Heaven, and through that single instance you have already earned life in the World to Come. And if not, Heaven forbid, it is like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes: he carried out the mission, but only by halves and thirds, and even caused damage in the process.
יִרְאַת ה' תּוֹסִיף יָמִים וּשְׁנוֹת רְשָׁעִים תִּקְצֹרְנָה׃ (כז) - "The fear of Hashem prolongs days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened." (27)
Rabbeinu Yonah explains: worries deplete a person's strength and bring his end nearer. He wrote these words long before modern medical studies revealed that individuals under chronic stress shorten their lifespan; and Chazal already derived this from several verses - that a person plagued by anxiety and stress, who lacks inner calm and is constantly agitated by anger, shortens his days.
If so, one might have thought that a God-fearing person also worries - over what? Over sins he may have committed, lest he stumble into transgression and iniquity - so perhaps this anxiety too is among the worries that shorten life? Concerning this, the verse teaches: "The fear of Hashem prolongs days." Fear and concern regarding Hashem are not like other anxieties and fears that shorten life; rather, they add days. This is how Rabbeinu Yonah explains it with regard to worries, and along the same line, the Vilna Gaon explains it regarding fears.
On the other hand: "but the years of the wicked will be shortened." For one might seemingly think that the wicked person is worthy of a long life, since he is unperturbed and free of worry; he never asks himself, "Perhaps I did not fulfill my obligation, perhaps I angered my Creator." All is always well with him, in calm and tranquility. Someone once asked: Why are people in Bnei Brak always running? A person leaves kollel and runs to pick up the children from kindergarten; then runs to rest in the afternoon because he must get enough rest to return to kollel; and then runs to evening kollel. Always running. Meanwhile, another person takes it easy, in no rush to go anywhere. One might have thought: surely he will live a long life, having no stress. But Scripture tells you: No. Even though the wicked sit in tranquility and have no fear, and might seemingly appear worthy of long life - their years will be shortened, because they are wicked and cast off the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, and this very thing causes their years to be cut short.
It is told of the Brisker Rav that he was among the most intensely meticulous people regarding the performance of Hashem's mitzvos. Once, matzos were being prepared for him for Pesach, and he sent an emissary. When the emissary brought him the matzos, the Rav began to interrogate him: "Tell me, did you guard them like this? What did you do when you arrived there? What did you do with the matzos? How did you sift the flour? How did you do this, and how did you do that?" The questions never stopped. Someone present became slightly irked by all this tension and said, "Rebbe, is all this really necessary? After all, the emissary says everything was fine, there was a trustworthy person supervising - why must one constantly worry?"
The Brisker Rav replied to him: "Tell me, when a person walks out of the house with a million dollars in his pocket, how does he walk? He puts the money in his pocket and starts to leave, and after three seconds checks whether it is still there; he moves it to his jacket pocket, taking no chances, and after ten seconds checks again, and after fifteen seconds checks once more. Will the money grow wings and fly away? At a certain point, he stops checking repeatedly and simply buttons his jacket and rests his hand over the pocket - to feel constantly that the money is secure. A million dollars is nothing to take lightly. And one does not even need a million; even someone carrying ten thousand dollars is cautious, looking left and right lest someone is targeting him - he is on edge." He added, "Know that to me, fulfilling the mitzvah of baking matzah, or any mitzvah at all, is worth far, far more than a million dollars. Now you can understand why I ask all these questions and why I am so concerned."
People also recounted how the Seder night was conducted in his home: how meticulously they recited the Haggadah, and how they fulfilled every single mitzvah with the utmost hiddur. As for the matzos themselves - it is said they were baked almost to the point of charring, so that not even the slightest apprehension of chametz would remain, to the extent that it was questionable whether they still qualified as matzah after such baking. Everything was done with such exactness that they finished eating the afikoman at the very last moment, just minutes before chatzos, without even having had time to eat all the dishes the rebbetzin had prepared for the Yom Tov meal. They sat and recounted the Exodus from Egypt all night long, and toward dawn, the Brisker Rav sighed and said, "Who knows whether we fulfilled all the mitzvos of this night properly and as required; who knows if we fulfilled our obligation."
This is not to say that this must be everyone's path; each person is on his own level, and other Gedolei Yisrael held different approaches. The point is simply to show that there is a state in which a person lives in reverence and awe of Hashem, and one might have worried that such intense awe would shorten a person's life. In contrast, one who lacks fear of Heaven is nonchalant: "Give me a piece of matzah, what does it matter, a kezayis or not, achilas peras in four minutes or ten minutes - forget about it." He seems to have no worries; he is calm, never stressed and never troubled. To this, Scripture responds: The fear of Hashem increases days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened.
The Malbim follows this line of thought and analyzes the precise wording: in the first half of the verse it says "days" - and days connote days of goodness and serenity, true longevity; whereas "years" symbolize distress, years of affliction. Regarding the wicked, it is written: "but the years of the wicked will be shortened" - not only will they be brief, but they will also be fraught with suffering. In contrast, for the righteous, "the fear of Hashem increases days" - both an abundance of days and days of genuine quality and goodness, as is said of Avraham Avinu, "advanced in days," meaning good, fulfilling years.
תּוֹחֶלֶת צַדִּיקִים שִׂמְחָה וְתִקְוַת רְשָׁעִים תֹּאבֵד׃ (כח) - The expectation of the righteous is gladness, but the hope of the wicked will perish. (28)
Notice that Scripture uses the word tochelet (expectation) regarding the righteous and tikvah (hope) regarding the wicked, even though both seemingly point to the same concept: "I yearn" and "I hope" appear to be one idea expressed in different words. Nevertheless, two explanations are offered here to distinguish between them: that of the Vilna Gaon and that of the Malbim.
The Vilna Gaon explains: Tochelet is anticipation for something that will arrive after a long time, not immediately, as in the verse, "Prolonged expectation makes the heart sick" - where one yearns and yearns for a long duration. Tikvah, on the other hand, is an expectation of an immediate outcome, as in, "If I should be married tonight... for I said I have hope," where hope is directed toward what is near at hand. According to this: the righteous do not expect to receive their reward in this world; rather, their expectation is directed toward the distant future, after one hundred and twenty years, which is the time of receiving reward. They yearn for Hashem to grant them reward in the World to Come, and of this it is said, "Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright of heart." He awaits a joy that will endure for all time. But the wicked person lacks patience and is restless; he wants everything here and now: immediate wealth, immediate profit, immediate gratification, immediate pleasure. Therefore, "the hope of the wicked will perish" - much like "the way of the wicked will perish" - his expectation of immediate gratification will come to naught.
The Malbim likewise addresses the distinction between tochelet and tikvah, offering a different explanation: A person has tochelet for something that will certainly occur, something guaranteed; whereas tikvah is used for an uncertain outcome - much as people say today, "hopefully it will arrive," or "in the hope that this happens." The righteous have tochelet, for they anticipate a certainty: the reward of the World to Come, beholding Hashem eye to eye, yearning for His lovingkindness - and this will materialize with absolute certainty. But the wicked person has no certainty, only mere hope: Is it guaranteed that you will become wealthy? Is it guaranteed that your desires will be fulfilled? It is not guaranteed; he merely hopes. Therefore, "the hope of the wicked" - what they hope for in bodily pleasures and cravings - "will perish"; it will not endure, and in the end it will come to nothing.
מָעוֹז לַתֹּם דֶּרֶךְ ה' וּמְחִתָּה לְפֹעֲלֵי אָוֶן׃ (כט) - "The way of Hashem is a stronghold to the person of integrity, but ruin to workers of iniquity." (29)
The Vilna Gaon explains: The way of Hashem is a stronghold and a source of security for those who walk with Hashem in simple, wholehearted faith. Such a person trusts in Hashem and walks with Him in integrity, and Hashem serves as a stronghold for him. Yet that very same path is ruin - a shattering blow - to the workers of iniquity, who are workers of wickedness. And how does the way of Hashem become their ruin? This is what the verse means when it says: "For the ways of Hashem are straight; the righteous shall walk in them, but the transgressors shall stumble in them." On that exact same path, the righteous person succeeds while the wicked person stumbles.
A prime example of this is brought in the Gemara regarding two people who ate the Korban Pesach: One did not gorge himself during the meal, and then ate the Korban Pesach to satiety while still having a slight appetite for it - thereby fulfilling the wondrous mitzvah of eating the Paschal offering (may Hashem grant us to fulfill it speedily with the rebuilding of our Temple). The second person, however, engaged in coarse, gluttonous overeating: he had already stuffed his belly beforehand with the meat of peace-offerings and delicacies prepared by his wife, and when the time came for the Korban Pesach - which must be eaten to satiety - he was completely stuffed and bursting. When told that it is an obligatory mitzvah, he had no choice but to force it down. This is the meaning of "and transgressors shall stumble in them" - and notice what he stumbled in: not in desecrating Shabbat, but "in them," in the very mitzvah commanded by Hashem. For the righteous person, it was a path to the World to Come, while for the wicked person, it became a path to Gehinnom.
The Vilna Gaon makes a fine distinction: Why does the verse say po'alei aven ("workers of iniquity") rather than osei aven ("doers of iniquity")? Scripture speaks of both the po'al of Hashem and the ma'aseh of His hands, as it is written: "And the work (po'al) of Hashem they do not gaze upon, and the deeds (ma'aseh) of His hands they have not seen." What is the difference between them? A po'al is hidden - what Hashem does in concealment, such as Divine providence, something that requires reflection. In contrast, ma'aseh yadav refers to what is overt: if hailstones were to rain down from heaven right now, that is not hidden, but obvious to the eye.
Accordingly, the verse is precise: Regarding "the work (po'al) of Hashem" - the concealed - it says "they do not gaze (yabitu)," because habatah denotes deep contemplation, yet they do not contemplate. And regarding "the deeds of His hands" - the revealed - it says "they have not seen (ra'u)," since seeing can occur even through a casual glance, simply seeing and walking away without deep thought, yet they lack even that, despite it being out in the open. The same applies here: "and ruin to the po'alei aven" - not merely osei aven, which would imply overt action, but even po'alei aven, where po'el encompasses what takes place in thought and in secret. Know that the way of Hashem will become a ruin even to someone who harbors wrongful designs in his mind, negative thoughts and evil schemes.
The Malbim explains that mechitah (ruin) is the exact opposite of ma'oz (stronghold). Mechitah connotes shattering, whereas ma'oz is something unbreakable, strong, and enduring (as in the expression "made without fear" - indestructible). The strength spoken of here is psychological fortitude, a person's inner spiritual power; its opposite is inner brokenness, a soul that is fractured and incomplete.
"The way of Hashem" refers to the conduct of the Holy One, blessed is He, and it is a stronghold to the upright. Anyone who reflects upon Hashem's ways sees how the Holy One, blessed is He, supports the fallen, watches over the downtrodden, and how all His ways are truth, justice, loving-kindness, righteousness, mercy, and grace. An upright person who conducts himself with these virtues finds in them a stronghold - strength, courage, and fortitude of spirit to behave in this manner, for he is acting just as Hashem acts: "Just as He dispenses loving-kindness, so too should you dispense loving-kindness." Thus, when an upright person contemplates the way of Hashem, he derives encouragement and reinforcement for his own conduct, knowing that this is how Hashem conducts Himself with His creations.
Conversely, that very same path is ruin to the workers of iniquity, who act in direct contradiction to Hashem's way. The way of Hashem empowers those who walk in His ways and shatters those who do not, for such a person is confronted with the reality: What you are doing is the exact opposite of what Hashem does - and this strikes him like a blow upon the head.
In these verses, we have learned that the wicked person has no root in reality and a mere whirlwind uproots him, whereas the righteous person is the foundation of the world and sustains it; that laziness in a mission - and especially in the great mission of fulfilling the mitzvos and perfecting the soul - turns all benefit into vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, which is why alacrity is required in every detail, precision, and enhancement; that the fear of Hashem, though it involves care and concern, does not shorten life but adds good days, whereas the years of the tranquil wicked are shortened and filled with sorrow; that the yearning of the righteous centers on a certain, distant reward and will end in joy, while the hope of the wicked for immediate, uncertain pleasure will perish; and finally, that the way of Hashem itself is a stronghold to the person of integrity who contemplates it and emulates the attributes of his Creator, yet ruin to the workers of iniquity - even to those whose iniquity is merely in thought.