Chapter 11 of Mishlei continues the theme of the preceding chapter: contrasting the path of the righteous with that of the wicked, and clarifying what truly benefits a person and what does not. In this lesson, we will examine two pesukim - verse 4 and verse 5 - seeing the insights of the Vilna Gaon and the explanation of the Malbim, and how these two verses open before us an entire world of self-reckoning: what accompanies a person on the day of judgment, and how one straightens his path in this world.
לֹא־יוֹעִיל הוֹן בְּיוֹם עֶבְרָה וּצְדָקָה תַּצִּיל מִמָּוֶת׃ (ד) - Wealth will not avail on the day of wrath, but tzedakah delivers from death. (4)
The Vilna Gaon explains: "The day of wrath" is the day that every person ultimately reaches - the day of death, the day a person is judged on High. And what benefits him there? "And tzedakah delivers from death" - meaning here, from Gehinnom. For Gehinnom itself is called death, as it is said, "Destruction and Death say, 'With our own ears have we heard its fame.'" What will deliver a person from Gehinnom? The tzedakah he gave during his lifetime.
However, one must ask: In the previous chapter it was already stated, "Treasures of wickedness will not profit, but tzedakah delivers from death" (Chapter 10, verse 2), and here the verse repeats, "Wealth will not avail on the day of wrath, but tzedakah delivers from death" (Chapter 11, verse 4). Seemingly, this is redundant. The Vilna Gaon explains that these are two completely different matters. There, the verse refers to before death - when a person is judged whether he will live or die, and the verse tells him: Treasures of wickedness will not add even a single moment to your life; what will decree life for you here in this world? "Tzedakah delivers from death." But here, the verse comes and adds: Even after death, do not imagine that assets and wealth will stand by you - "Wealth will not avail on the day of wrath." There, he no longer has any use for his money; what does he need deliverance from? From Gehinnom. And what will save him? "And tzedakah delivers from death" - the tzedakah he gave in his lifetime will deliver him from Gehinnom, which is called death.
Notice the precise wording. There, it states "treasures of wickedness" - treasures accumulated through wickedness; these certainly will not profit. But here, it simply says "wealth" - wealth gathered honestly and justly. From this emerges a clear distinction: Prior to death, ill-gotten wealth will not avail, and even if you distribute it to tzedakah it will not help - are you Robin Hood? Robbing one person to give to another? That is outright theft and a mitzvah performed through an aveirah, achieving nothing. But wealth acquired justly can indeed benefit you prior to death - how? By giving it to tzedakah, and that tzedakah will deliver from death. After death, on the other hand, whether the wealth was gathered honestly or wickedly, the money itself will be of no help at all - what can you do with it now? Therefore, the verse says here, "Wealth will not avail on the day of wrath," on the day after death: even wealth acquired honestly will not avail, and only the tzedakah you gave during your lifetime will save you.
The Vilna Gaon continues and explains that there are three judgments to which a person is subjected after death: Kaf HaKela (the hollow of the sling), Gehinnom, and death. This is alluded to in the words of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai: "For if He is angry with me, His anger is an eternal anger; and if He imprisons me, His imprisonment is an eternal imprisonment; and if He puts me to death, His death is an eternal death."
How do these correspond? "Anger" corresponds to the fire of Gehinnom. For anger is also expressed as charon af (wrath), and charon is related to heat; an angry person heats up and sweats. Anger is fire - namely, the fire of Gehinnom, and if Hashem is angry, His anger is an eternal anger. "If He imprisons me" refers to Kaf HaKela, where a person is bound and slung from place to place like a stone from a sling; this also contains an allusion to the mystery of gilgul (reincarnation), where the soul is bound and cannot escape. "And if He puts me to death" refers to death in its literal sense.
Regarding the matter of gilgul, the Ari z"l explains that a person may reincarnate into a stone, or into wood, as it is said, "For a stone shall cry out from the wall, and a beam from the timber shall answer it" - indicating that they hold a dialogue. A soul can reincarnate across all four realms: inanimate, plant, animal, and human. The Ari asks: Where is a person's suffering when he is reincarnated in a stone? He answers: Know that everything the stone undergoes - weather damage, cold, heat, being trodden upon - the soul feels it all. And not only does it feel it, but it remembers its previous stature, suffering immense anguish over its present state. Thus, this condition falls under "if He imprisons me, His imprisonment is an eternal imprisonment" - the soul is imprisoned within the stone as if in jail, confined to a cramped, narrow place, yearning to be freed yet unable to escape, like one whose feet are placed in stocks.
And this is what the Gemara says in Pesachim 28a: Rav Yosef said, this is what people say - "From the spoon that the carpenter carved, let his palate burn with mustard." Abaye said - "The stock-maker sits in his own stocks; from the labor of his hands he is repaid." Rava said - "The arrow-maker is killed by his own arrow; from the labor of his hands he is repaid." The Gemara brings three parables to explain the principle of measure for measure, just as Shlomo said, "He digs a pit and hollows it out, and falls into the pitfall he made" - you dug the pit, you will fall into it.
The explanation of the parables is as follows: The spoon carved by the carpenter - with that very spoon they feed him mustard, and mustard is pungent and burns his mouth. He is fed with the spoon he fashioned himself. The second parable: The carpenter who made the stocks - when he steals, they put him in those very stocks. The stocks were a customary punishment: in the town square they would set up a device with holes for the feet, or a hole for the head and holes for the hands, locking the person in place to stand in disgrace, while passersby mocked and spat upon him - great humiliation. Then the carpenter who made the stocks says: "These stocks look familiar..." The third parable: The one who manufactures arrows is ultimately killed by his own arrow; an arrow is shot at him, and it is of his own making.
Parenthetically: There is a two-wheeled vehicle known as a "Segway," which one rides standing while holding onto a type of handlebar. The man who acquired the company made an immense fortune from it - and was killed in an accident while riding his own Segway. Here you have precisely what the Gemara is describing.
However, one must ask: The concept of middah keneged middah (measure for measure) is simple enough, so why does it require three different parables? The Vilna Gaon explains: See how marvelous this is. We mentioned that there are three types of punishment - Gehinom, Kaf HaKela and gilgul (reincarnation), and death. Rav Yosef cited the parable of the spoon and the mustard - mustard burns the mouth, corresponding to the fire of Gehinom. Abaye said "sadna besadna yativ" - he who made the stocks is seated in those very stocks, meaning one returns and reincarnates into the same place; this is related to the phrase "sadna de'ar'a chad hu," the foundation of the earth - you were here in this setting, and you will return to it to rectify what you damaged, which is gilgul. And Rava spoke of the arrows - to be killed by the arrows he himself produced, which corresponds to the third punishment: physical death. Everything the Holy One, Blessed is He, does is measure for measure, as it says, "For He pays a man according to his deeds."
This is likewise alluded to in the words of King David in Tehillim: "For You have delivered my soul from death" - this refers to physical death. "My eyes from tears" - where does one weep? "Passing through the valley of weeping, they make it a spring" (Emek HaBacha), a fountain of tears, where tears are shed like a spring - this is Gehinom. "My feet from stumbling" - that I should not have to descend once again in bodily form into this world. For the foot always symbolizes the physical body, as is explained regarding the request of that prospective convert who asked Shammai, "Convert me on one foot" - his intention was: Convert me while I am still here in this world, so that I may rectify everything in this lifetime (on this "foot"), without needing to stand on another foot in an additional gilgul. And "my feet from stumbling" means that my foot should not be thrust back from the World of Truth to return here in reincarnation. These were the three things King David requested.
In our pasuk, Scripture addresses only two of these - not gilgul and Kaf HaKela, but Gehinom and death. "On the day of wrath" - on the day of death - nothing will avail a person if, Heaven forbid, it has been decreed that he descend into Gehinom. But "charity rescues from death" - charity rescues from Gehinom, which is termed death.
This is the very idea behind Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai's words: "And I cannot appease Him with words, nor bribe Him with money." What are "words"? Torah study. A person might say: "Master of the Universe, now I will study Torah!" They answer him: "Now? I waited for you day after day, and where were you? You had no time. Now, when you see Gehinom before your eyes, you suddenly want to learn? It is already too late." And what is meant by "nor bribe Him with money"? "Now I will give tzedakah, Master of the Universe, all my wealth to charity!" It is no longer possible - the money is no longer yours; it already belongs to your heirs. Only if one gave it beforehand, during his lifetime, does it have the power to save him. Therefore, "Wealth will not avail on the day of wrath, but charity rescues from death" - the charity you gave during your lifetime is what will save you, both from the death known as Gehinom and from physical death, but the wealth itself will be of no avail.
The Malbim explains: Wealth is indeed useful in times of peace, as it says, "A rich man's wealth is his strong city." A person of means builds himself a grand castle with towering walls, and even equips the walls with embrasures to ensure that no one can attack him or breach his fortress. But on a day of wrath - in a time of pestilence, the sword, and all-out war - even the wealthy are forced to flee their castles and palaces, and their riches provide no protection. On a day of widespread wrath in the world, your wealth cannot help you. It may help marginally, bribing someone here or there to get by slightly better, but to provide the kind of security it offers in times of peace - it certainly lacks that power.
On the contrary, there is "wealth kept by its owner to his own detriment." In the Bolshevik Revolution, who were the first to be hanged in the town square? The wealthy. There was immense hatred toward the moneyed class, who had mistreated the common laborers and paid them starvation wages. When the revolution erupted, they seized the wealthy, hanged them, and plundered their riches. Thus, on a day of wrath, not only is wealth useless, but it can often prove harmful: the very fact that you possess wealth causes people to target you, making you the first to perish. Unfortunately, we have witnessed this among Jews as well throughout persecutions, riots, and pogroms - who suffered first? The wealthy. Why? Because the Jew served as the banker who lent money to Gentiles with interest, which was virtually the only occupation permitted to Jews; and when a Gentile accumulated debts to a Jew, he would simply murder the lender, thus wiping out the debt. Consequently, not only did wealth offer no protection on the day of wrath, it proved to be a snare, and the wealthy were the very first victims.
Yet know that this wealth can be invested in something far more fruitful: "And charity rescues from death" - even on a day of wrath. Even in perilous times, even when the foundations of the earth shake - money will not help, but the charity you distributed can shield you even during the most dire circumstances. Through this, one can understand why this is not a mere repetition of what was stated in the previous chapter, "Treasures of wickedness will not profit, but charity rescues from death." There, the verse spoke of ordinary, natural death, whereas here it speaks of a "day of wrath" - a time of plague, epidemic, and war, when even honestly and fairly earned wealth cannot protect its owner. Only if one performed acts of charity can it save him even in the harshest of times.
צִדְקַת תָּמִים תְּיַשֵּׁר דַּרְכּוֹ וּבְרִשְׁעָתוֹ יִפֹּל רָשָׁע׃ (ה) - The righteousness of the wholehearted will straighten his way, but through his wickedness the wicked one shall fall. (5)
The Vilna Gaon explains: A tam (one of simple, wholehearted faith) is a person who walks with Hashem with purity of heart and does not rely on his own intellect. In contrast, the yashar (upright), as explained earlier, is someone who does what intellect dictates, what is upright according to reason - and we explained that such a person is at risk, since reason can sometimes be misleading and one's decision may be wrong. The tam seemingly cannot err, for he does not decide on his own authority, but simply acts according to what is written.
Yet this alone is not enough, for to truly serve Hashem, one also needs intellect, as our Sages said: "A person should always be cunning in the fear of God." And what is cunning in the fear of Heaven? If a person does not use strategy against the evil inclination (yetzer hara), it will be very difficult to overcome it. To illustrate: the yetzer hara comes to tempt a person. The innocent, straightforward person says: "I will not do this; I walk with Hashem with simple faith." But the inclination presses harder and harder until it manages to subdue him. The one who is cunning in fear of God, however, does not reject the inclination outright; rather, he tells it: "Not now - tomorrow." Since he postponed it only temporarily, the urge quiets down and is pacified, and by the next day he will be able to overcome it.
The strategy of the yetzer is always "here and now." The yetzer hara is urgent and insistent: "Come on, right now!" Just like a mobile phone salesman: "Sir, you have to close today, it's the last day of the sale! If you don't sign up now, you miss out; you'll thank me later; thirty people already took devices today..." Why? Because he knows that if you leave without closing the deal, he will never see you again. That is the evil inclination - immediately, right now. But if you tell him, "Leave a business card, I'm just about to close, let me just check my credit limit," he immediately calms down. Tell the yetzer hara: "I'll do it with you - but tomorrow." In this way you break free from its grip, and tomorrow you are free once more.
Furthermore, we learned from the Vilna Gaon in earlier chapters that the Gemara states that premature thought and speech can thwart even words of Torah. That is, if a person proclaims: "Tomorrow I will learn a full daf," or "Tomorrow I will finish the entire Tehillim," the very utterance may prevent him from doing so. One should not make absolute declarations, because the statement itself can cause the deed to fall through. Why? Because you voiced it aloud, and immediately the accusers, the prosecuting angels, and the yetzer hara fasten onto you, taking you on as their special project.
Therefore, see how wonderful King David's words are: "I considered my ways and turned my feet toward Your testimonies." King David knew the method of the evil inclination, and therefore "I considered my ways" - he would say: "Today I have no time for the Beit Midrash; I have to run to the bank, then sit with the Defense Minister, convene the cabinet, meet with the Finance Minister, and head to government offices." And the yetzer hara says: "No problem, government offices are great, there's not even any traffic today." But the moment he set out, he cut straight to the Beit Midrash, and that was it, he was there. He did not declare in advance, "I will do this and I will learn," for if he had, the evil inclination would have fought him with all its might. Thus, simplicity and innocence alone are not enough; one also needs cunning in fear of Heaven, to understand the stratagems of the inclination, for "by clever stratagems you shall wage your war."
Now, the tam who lacks this cunning might seemingly stumble. Regarding this, the verse says: "The righteousness of the wholehearted will straighten his way." The very fact that the tam walks with Hashem in righteousness - even though he lacks that cunning - is sufficient to make his path straight. Even though by natural means he ought to fall, since he lacks the cunning and intellect that characterize uprightness (yosher), nevertheless, because one clings to Hashem to walk with Him wholeheartedly, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will assist him. His righteousness itself will save him from sin, so that he will neither err nor fall.
By contrast, "but through his wickedness the wicked one shall fall." Why does the wicked person who stumbles fall? Because of the wickedness he committed at the outset, as our Sages taught: one sin drags another sin in its wake. The tam does not fall even though he seemingly lacks cunning, because being righteous protects you; being careful not to stumble in any transgression preserves you from falling even where you might otherwise have fallen. And who does stumble? The wicked person, who has a prior sin. Just as the Gemara says concerning Doeg and Achitophel, that they could expound three hundred halachot regarding "towers floating in the air" - tremendous geniuses - and despite all this, they fell. And what was the cause of their fall? The Gemara says: there was malice in their hearts. There was prior wickedness there, and when there is prior wickedness, it drags further wickedness along: "through his wickedness the wicked one shall fall" - earlier wickedness continues to bring him down. And the wicked person is the very antithesis of the tam.
The Malbim continues in his characteristic way to distinguish between the yashar (upright), the tam (wholehearted and consistent), and the tzaddik (righteous). The yashar is a person who is naturally upright; he might not observe the mitzvot at all, yet he possesses an innate personal integrity. The tam is a person whose deeds are entirely aligned in a single direction; he turns neither right nor left, does not change according to circumstance, but always maintains the same conduct. Tam denotes constancy and completeness - without deviations and without fluctuations.
Now, if that tam is also naturally upright, his uprightness turns out to be constant - he is upright all the time, without fluctuation, not waking up one way today and deciding differently tomorrow. But if he is not naturally upright, then even though he is constant, there is still no guarantee that he will walk a straight path, for he might be consistently crooked. That is, the virtue of being "without fluctuation" is a virtue only when one is naturally upright; but if you are not upright, on the contrary, constancy works against you, since you persistently and unswervingly act without integrity.
Regarding this, Scripture comes and says: "The righteousness of the wholehearted will straighten his way." Through righteousness, as the tam trains himself to do what is right until it becomes second nature to him, this habit straightens him so that he walks in upright ways. For what is the difference between a tzaddik and a yashar? The yashar was born with it; he possesses an innate integrity. The tzaddik trained himself in it - he broke his inclination, overcame it, until it became part of who he is. The Malbim explains: if someone is constant (tam) but not naturally upright, that is a problem; he is undivided and steadfast on one track, yet not upright. What can straighten him out? "The righteousness of the wholehearted" - breaking his nature and training himself always to act with righteousness. Then constancy, meaning unswerving consistency, combined with righteousness, meaning the breaking of one's negative nature, guarantees that he will not stumble. One person may be born naturally upright, while you were not; if so, adopt the conduct of a tzaddik, overcome your nature and nullify it, and then "the righteousness of the wholehearted will straighten his way" - his path will become as straight as if he had been born with uprightness, because he broke his nature and set it upon the straight path.
In contrast stands the wicked person, who is the exact opposite of the wholehearted person. The wholehearted person walks in a single, consistent line to do good, and the wicked person also walks in a single line - but to do evil. Wickedness establishes a permanent home in his soul, until he is no longer capable of acting against his wickedness; it becomes part of his nature, until he ultimately falls into the depths of destruction.
And this is a reality seen with one's own eyes. A man who worked as a contractor, where tradesmen would come to do jobs, recounted: If I walked past and saw a drill lying there and did not take it, I left with the feeling that I had forgotten something. It had become so deeply ingrained in his nature - if he did not steal, he felt he had left something behind. And even if he wanted to act differently, he could no longer do so. This is especially evident with liars. There are unfortunate people whose nature is to lie, and you hear them telling stories and ask yourself: What does he even gain from this? Had he said, "I pulled off a scheme and pocketed two hundred shekels" - at least that would make sense. But when you were present at that very place and event, and you hear him recount the story to someone else, you wonder: Did we truly witness the same event? That is where you start asking questions. A person trusts a journalist until the first time he himself is present at an event covered in an article; from that moment on he stops believing, seeing how much embellishment and how many invented details were added. That is the reality: the liar can no longer refrain from lying, even when he has no need to do so, lying simply out of habit.
This is what Scripture means by "and the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness": the wicked person is the opposite of the wholehearted. The wholehearted person follows a consistent path in the service of Hashem, while the wicked person has a consistent path of defying the will of Hashem, and there is no way he will change on his own. Rather, he will fall and plummet to the depths of destruction - unless he exerts a tremendous effort to extricate himself from his entrenched state.
We have studied two verses, both addressing the question of what truly stands by a person. "Wealth will not avail on the day of wrath" - wealth is useful in times of peace, but on a day of wrath and judgment it is worthless and even harmful. What accompanies a person is the charity he gave during his lifetime, which rescues him from death and from Gehinnom, which is termed "death." Nor is this a repetition of what was stated in the previous chapter: there it referred to treasures of wickedness prior to death, whereas here it refers to any wealth whatsoever on the day of wrath. Furthermore, "the righteousness of the wholehearted makes his way straight" - wholeheartedness alone is not enough, as one must also be shrewd in fear of Heaven and employ strategies against the evil inclination; yet one who walks with Hashem in wholeheartedness and righteousness finds that righteousness itself straightens his path and shields him from stumbling. Conversely, "and the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness" - prior wickedness becomes second nature, dragging further transgressions in its wake, and fells the person into the depths of destruction, unless he exerts a tremendous effort to break his nature and establish himself upon the straight path.