In this lesson, we will examine three verses in Mishlei, Chapter 13: the verse regarding the righteousness that preserves the upright of way, and the verses concerning illusory wealth versus true wealth. King Solomon does not come to teach us business advice, but rather how to acquire Torah, wisdom, and mitzvos, and how to discern what acquisition remains in a person's hand for eternity.
צְדָקָה תִּצֹּר תׇּם־דָּרֶךְ וְרִשְׁעָה תְּסַלֵּף חַטָּאת׃ (ו) - Righteousness preserves him who is upright in his way, but wickedness subverts the sinner.
The Malbim shows that this verse is constructed entirely upon parallels: "tam" (the upright) corresponds to "chattat" (sin/the sinner), "tzedakah" (righteousness) corresponds to "rish'ah" (wickedness), and "titzor" (preserves) corresponds to "tesalef" (subverts). An exact mirror, one opposite the other.
Who is the "tam derech", the upright of way? A person who is naturally inclined toward innocence and integrity. By nature, he is not drawn after physical desires and does not incline toward sin - not out of overcoming his evil inclination, but simply because he was created this way: an innocent, upright person. He rectifies his ways according to justice and judgment, as intellect dictates, choosing the good and rejecting the bad.
And yet the verse says: "Righteousness preserves him who is upright in his way." In this context, "righteousness" refers to mitzvos between man and God. As long as the upright person does not walk with righteousness - meaning he only observes what is dictated by polite conduct and common courtesy, being a decent, honest person who is neither a cheater nor a swindler - know that he will not remain upright for long. As the verse says, "Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me." People say: But we are decent people! Germany also produced very decent people. Ask anyone who was there in the 1930s and 1940s, and they will tell you how Germany was regarded as the cradle of high culture, to the extent that no one could believe what would happen.
They wanted to stone the Maggid of Kelm when he said there, in 1930: "'Those who sacrifice men kiss calves' - in this place, human beings will yet be slaughtered just as calves are slaughtered, without the slightest pang of conscience." What did he see? He saw a German woman kissing her dog. He said: Someone capable of kissing a calf has reached such a perversion of values that they are just as capable of slaughtering a human being as one slaughters calves. People could not understand what he was talking about: such respectable people, with their "thank you," "excuse me," "please," refined manners, "May God enlarge Japheth" - how wonderful. And then reality became clear, and the beast within man emerged entirely.
From here we see: a person who thinks, "I am upright in my way; by nature I am good" - this is not enough. One requires the righteousness between man and God, and if that is missing, even interpersonal ethics will not endure. It is enough for someone to encroach upon him slightly, for a minor self-interest to arise, or for someone to step on his toes, and the person immediately strips himself of all his values, ideals, and refined manners. Therefore, a person must possess righteousness - justice and uprightness between man and God - and it is this alone that will guard the upright of way so that he may continue along his path in wholesome integrity.
And from the other side: a person might say, if so, I will invest everything in righteousness and cultivate only the realm between man and God. This too is insufficient. For then it is possible that you will perform divine service out of external motives, desiring honor and esteem from others, rather than truly for the sake of Heaven. And when you see that serving Hashem is no longer advantageous, you might abandon it. Therefore, both are required together: the upright path joined with righteousness. When you are inherently upright, refining your conduct according to reason and acting with integrity, and atop that foundation you serve Hashem - in that combination you will find success. But divine service without ethical conduct, or ethical conduct without divine service - in separation, neither can endure.
One who possesses "chattat", a shortcoming and an inclination toward physical desire - that is the definition of cheit (sin). The Malbim distinguishes between cheit and avon: avon is a distortion of the intellect (ivut hasechel), whereas cheit is a sin driven by physical appetite. Simply put: a person who wants to do the will of Hashem, but desire pulls him elsewhere, is called a sinner (choteh). In contrast, someone whom you ask why he acts as he does, and he answers, "Who says one must serve Hashem? There is no proof" - in this, it is not merely cheit but avon, an intellectual distortion. He justifies his corruption with "proofs" that this is how things ought to be, which is far more severe, and his chances of doing teshuvah are far slimmer. The one who sins out of physical desire will feel remorse once his desire is satisfied, and he may repent; but the one who acts out of intellectual perversion presses "full throttle" ahead, because he is convinced he is doing right, and that all his actions represent justice and integrity.
And this is "wickedness subverts the sinner": one whose soul inclines toward desires may eventually arrive at wickedness, at genuine avon, until that iniquity twists his path and he ultimately claims that this is how things ought to be. At first he still admitted: "You are right, one must serve Hashem, but my inclination overcomes me." Later, when living with that tension becomes too difficult, he declares: "Not at all, there is no need to serve Hashem, where is the proof?" and seeks justifications for his erroneous way. What began as chattat (desire-driven sin) ends as rish'ah (wicked perversion).
יֵשׁ מִתְעַשֵּׁר וְאֵין כֹּל מִתְרוֹשֵׁשׁ וְהוֹן רָב׃ (ז) - There is one who feigns wealth yet has nothing; there is one who feigns poverty yet has great wealth. (7)
Rashi explains this verse in several ways. First: "There is one who feigns wealth" - he is not truly rich, but merely presents himself as wealthy, "yet has nothing" - in truth he has nothing at all. Second: there is a person who becomes rich in the end even though he started with nothing, having begun from scratch; in contrast, there is "one who becomes impoverished, yet had great wealth" - born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he inherited a fortune and became a millionaire, but from that vast fortune he was reduced to poverty. Third: "There is one who enriches himself" through the robbery of the poor, acquiring his wealth dishonestly and unjustly, "yet has nothing" - ultimately, nothing of it will remain in his hands; "and there is one who impoverishes himself" - it seems to us that he is depleting his wealth, as he spends his money on charity, for the poor, for Torah scholars, and for yeshivot, but know that great wealth awaits him, whether in this world or in the World to Come.
The Vilna Gaon explains: there is one who shows himself to be wealthy yet has nothing, and there is one who makes himself appear poor, but in truth possesses great wealth. The parable applies to Torah: there is a person who presents himself as a Torah scholar. Before the derashah he memorizes all the sources, and glibly cites "Gittin page 13b", "Berachot page 15a" - but ask him a basic question, and he does not even know if the matter is found in the Talmud at all, or whether such a halachah or ruling even exists. This is "one who feigns wealth yet has nothing." In contrast, there is someone whom you ask and he appears impoverished: "I do not know, this requires study" - yet in truth he possesses great wealth, overflowing and filled with Torah. As we have already noted regarding the word hon (wealth, הון): the Heh represents the Five Books of the Torah, the Vav the Six Orders of the Mishnah, and the Nun the Fifty Gates of Understanding. This is "and great wealth."
It is told of Rav Dov (Berel) Schwartzman, of blessed memory, the Rosh Yeshivah of Beis HaTalmud, who was an immense genius in both the revealed and hidden Torah, thoroughly proficient in all chambers of Torah - not merely superficial knowledge, but profound comprehension of everything that was ever said on each and every topic. Once, someone posed a difficult question to him regarding a complex ruling of the Rambam. He answered simply and briefly, a precise, truthful, and concise response, in keeping with his custom not to put his vast knowledge on display. That young man, possessing a measure of holy audacity, said to him: "Is that all the Rosh Yeshivah has to say on this matter?" The Rosh Yeshivah appreciated that holy audacity and said: "Do you truly want to hear? Sit down." He sat down, and for an entire hour the Rosh Yeshivah delivered a comprehensive discourse on the Rambam - analyzing contrasting opinions, clarifying what was stated, identifying the difficulty, demonstrating how it could be explained this way or that way, offering a resolution based on the Ran in Nedarim, and much more. From here we see: wherever you find his greatness, there you find his humility. He had no interest in displaying everything he knew, for there is an element of pride in doing so; you asked a question, here is a simple and truthful answer. But if you truly seek to understand, then he will open up and share all that he has.
This is the difference between the wise person and the fool, as mentioned in earlier verses: the wise person knows how to restrain himself, whereas the fool immediately empties out everything he has. So it is with words of Torah as well: someone mentions a topic, and the fool feels compelled to prove to everyone that he knows it, immediately pouring out everything he remembers on the subject. Someone once remarked: when a person tells everything he knows on a topic, I deduce that this is all he knows. If he spoke for three minutes and said everything, it is a sign that there is nothing more to him. But one who does not say everything he knows shows that he is overflowing and full: he shared something, yet he has vastly more; and if they draw it out of him and stimulate his thought, he will give even more. This is "one who feigns poverty yet has great wealth."
כֹּפֶר נֶפֶשׁ־אִישׁ עׇשְׁרוֹ וְרָשׁ לֹא־שָׁמַע גְּעָרָה׃ (ח) - A man's wealth is the ransom for his life, but the poor man hears no rebuke. (8)
The Malbim connects the two verses. From an outward perspective, it may appear that a person is growing wealthy, but upon deeper reflection it becomes clear that he has nothing; conversely, it may seem to the eye that a person is becoming impoverished and exhausting his wealth, yet in truth he possesses great riches. The reason: the acquisition of material wealth is not a true acquisition, but an illusory one. As the Rambam writes, were it not for the "madmen," the world would not endure - and who are the madmen? Those who build ivory houses, palaces, and towers for themselves. The one you call rich - who has numerous possessions, houses, fields, and vineyards - it is all an illusory vanity. Why? Because what real connection is there between your money and you? In a single moment you might leave your money, or the money might leave you. A person can lose his businesses and his money through a single unfortunate circumstance. There were wealthy men who seemed like millionaires, stock traders, and in an instant the bubble burst or they lost their lives. And so we saw in the recent collapses in banking stocks and foreign real estate: banks, bankers, billionaires - and suddenly it turns out that there is nothing at all. An illusory vanity, because money and man are two separate entities, with no intrinsic bond between them.
Once, a wealthy Jew came to the Chafetz Chaim and said: "Rabbi, people say that a person must fear that the wheel of fortune may turn and he will become impoverished. I do not understand why I need to worry about such a thing." He began listing his assets and wealth: properties on this continent and properties on another, funds in that bank, land here and there - "In my situation, how can anyone say to me, 'riches do not last forever'?" The Chafetz Chaim said to him: "Listen, my friend: the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not have to take the money from the person; He can take the person from the money." Terrified, the man began pleading with the Rav not to say such things, lest it be like "an error proceeding from a ruler."
And so we say: "One who amasses wealth unjustly will leave it in the midst of his days" - and who leaves whom? That depends. If you are fortunate, the money will leave you; but if you are unfortunate, the person leaves his money and passes away in the prime of his days, Heaven protect us. It turns out that wealth carries no absolute guarantee that it will remain in your hand, because it is not part of you. Material acquisitions are an illusory vanity, and there is no real connection between possessions and the one who acquired them. But one who disperses his wealth to charity - through this he acquires perfection for his soul, which is the essence of man, and this is a true acquisition, an eternal acquisition, wealth that is never lost.
It is told of the Abarbanel, who served as the king's royal treasurer. His detractors claimed that he was lining his pockets and amassing wealth at the expense of the royal palace, and indeed he possessed immense wealth; his wife even had a ring with a unique diamond such that even the queen had nothing like it. Hence his name: "nele" meaning diamond in Spanish, and "bravo" an exclamation of wonder - "a bravo nele," meaning, what a diamond! And from this, jealousy and hatred were stirred up against him.
The king demanded that he submit a declaration of all his wealth and assets. The Abarbanel sat for an entire night, and the next day presented him with a ledger. The king examined it and saw that based on what he himself knew, the Abarbanel possessed far more than he had declared. He said: He is trying to deceive me! He threw him into prison and confiscated his property. Yet because he knew the Abarbanel was an exceedingly wise man, he summoned him and asked: Are you mocking the king? Just your estates here and there are worth far more than this entire list, how could you make a false declaration? He answered him: Your Majesty, you asked how much money I have. I sat all night and calculated how much money I have given to charity until today, and that is the money that I truly possess - money that no one can ever take from me. As for the assets you thought I had, see how in a single moment it became clear they were not mine, for you confiscated all my property. In one moment they are here, and in the next they are gone. What do I truly have that even your majesty cannot take from me? The mitzvot and good deeds I have acquired, the tzedakah I have given - that is what I have truly gathered for myself. As the saying goes: My ancestors left their wealth to others, but I gathered for myself - for I take from here and transfer it to the World to Come.
And this is what the verse means: You see a person dispersing, giving here and there, and you ask, what does he have left? Tell yourself: "There is one who feigns poverty, yet possesses great wealth." He appears to you as impoverished - spending money on this yeshivah and on that mitzvah, on the synagogue and on the Torah class, on the orphan and on the widow - but in truth he has great wealth preserved forever. And why? This is the continuation of the verse: "The ransom of a man's soul is his wealth." The essence of wealth is when it serves as a ransom for your soul, when you give it to the poor to redeem your soul. This is the true wealth that can protect you and guard you. But external assets that a person acquired - how can they protect him?
And from here follows also "a poor man hears no rebuke": When you understand that "the ransom of a man's soul is his wealth," that true wealth is what you send ahead to Heaven, you do not become angry at the poor person who comes to ask you for charity. For more than the householder does for the poor person, the poor person does for the householder - and in truth, after giving him charity, one should kiss his hands, rather than the poor man kissing his. Therefore, you do not say to him: "Sir, you were here two days ago, why have you come back again?" Rather, you speak to him with respect, for this destitute man is granting you life in the World to Come, and through the charity he receives, you merit not descending into the pit and having a ransom for your soul. Not only does he hear no rebuke, but you give to him with a pleasant countenance.
Rashi explains: A person's wealth is the ransom of his soul when he gives charity from it - provided that the poor man hears no rebuke, meaning on condition that you fulfill the mitzvah properly: that you respect the poor man and give to him with a welcoming countenance, not rebuking him or shaming him.
The Ben Ish Chai related a story of a wealthy man who was visited by a pauper wearing muddy boots, who entered his home and dirtied his floor. The rich man began shouting at him, and eventually brought a servant who cleaned it all up. The pauper said to him: You have fulfilled the beginning of the passage, now fulfill its conclusion. The rich man did not understand. He said to him: You fulfilled "Blessed is He Who has mercy upon the earth" - for you had pity on the ground that I dirtied; now fulfill "Blessed is He Who has mercy upon the creatures" - have mercy on me and give me charity.
Another interpretation: "The ransom of a man's soul is his wealth" - this refers to his Torah learning, which protects him. And one who is poor in words of Torah - "hears no rebuke": he does not know how to steer clear from the snares of death, he does not know how to guard himself against halachic error, against legal error, or from improper conduct. The world seems smooth and level to him: "I am righteous, everything with me is fine." He never hears a rebuke that he is doing something wrong, that this is forbidden or that this is a transgression - because he simply does not know. The intention is not that he harbors ill will or negative intent, but merely that he does not know; and therefore every Shabbat he violates dozens of prohibitions of Borer (sorting), and every day dozens of prohibitions of lashon hara. He hears no rebuke - because he lacks Torah.
Furthermore, Rashi cites a Midrash Aggadah regarding the half-shekel: All of Israel gave "each man a ransom for his soul," and the contribution was equal for all - the rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less. And through this, "a poor man hears no rebuke": the poor man did not hear the rebuke of the wealthy man saying, "What did you give? Do you know how much I gave?" - for the rich man also gave only a half-shekel and was forbidden to add to it. In this way, the poor man was saved from rebuke and humiliation, lest the rich man tell him: My share in the communal sacrifices is greater than yours.
Rabbeinu Yonah explains: a person who becomes wealthy and does not give the ransom of his soul - this is foolishness on his part. You have wealth, and you do not give the ransom of your soul? Rather, the wealthy man must be wise and give from his money to charity, and then his wealth will be for his benefit and not to his detriment. This is the meaning of "A man's wealth is the ransom of his life": by doing so, first, the wealth will remain in his hands, and second, it will protect his soul.
A camel is loaded according to its capacity to bear. The wealthy man is a large camel; one can place a heavy load on him, bringing suffering and troubles upon him, because he has the means to redeem them - he can give money in exchange for them. But the pauper has nothing with which to redeem and nothing to give, and therefore one cannot load troubles and suffering upon him.
The Vilna Gaon adds: even a completely righteous person, when he departs from this world, must pass through Gehinnom, as it is written: "Passing through the valley of weeping, they make it a spring; the early rain also covers it with blessings." "A man's ransom" - what redeems him and saves him? Mitzvos are what save the soul of the wealthy man. But one who endured the exacting trials of poverty does not see the face of Gehinnom at all; he does not even pass through it. And why? Because he has already seen Gehinnom in this world.
And do you know what the exacting trials of poverty are? It is terrible. It is when a person constantly calculates: Should I buy one carton of milk or two? I do not have enough for two, and if I buy two it will come at the expense of something else; should I cut back on this or on that? Woe to a person who lives like this; it is a very difficult life. Kollel avreichim live exactly like this, calculating every single shekel. A man will walk to a more distant grocery because shopping there saves four or five shekels. An ordinary person says: Forget it, why tire yourself out? And when those five shekels are in your pocket, indeed there is no point in exhausting yourself; but when you do not have them - those are the exacting trials of poverty. Such a person falls into the category of "and a pauper hears no rebuke" - not even the rebuke of passing through Gehinnom; no punishment, no suffering in Gehinnom, Heaven forbid, and not even passing through it.
The Ben Ish Chai asks a fascinating question: ostensibly, a tzaddik should not need to pass through Gehinnom at all; let them bring him directly into Gan Eden! One reason is that the passage is not for his own sake at all, but for the sake of those dependent upon him - those souls rooted in his soul, so that the moment he enters there, he redeems them, gathers them, brings them out of the depths, and takes them along with him. But as for the tzaddik himself, why does he deserve this?
Rather, says the Ben Ish Chai, there is an element of punishment here. "For there is no righteous man upon earth who does good and does not sin" - and in what does a tzaddik sin? At most in thought; Heaven forbid that he would bring a sin into actual deed. A fleeting thought entered his mind for a moment to commit a transgression, to speak lashon hara or to cast a forbidden glance, and he immediately dismissed it. Yet the very thought of contemplating a sin is also improper, and it, so to speak, put the Holy One, blessed be He, into "suspense": here the tzaddik is about to transgress - and in the end he did not transgress. Measure for measure, the Holy One, blessed be He, leads the tzaddik through Gehinnom, and the tzaddik enters a state of panic: Woe is me, they are taking me into Gehinnom! And then they say to him: No, you are only passing through here - and they usher him into Gan Eden. You sinned in thought, and the punishment is likewise in thought: the terrifying belief that I am about to be punished and endure suffering. But actual Gehinnom he certainly does not deserve, for he never committed a sin that warrants that.
The Ralbag explains: a wealthy person has many detractors; people covet his fortune and envy him. And how does he smooth matters over? He distributes, gives, and acts generously, and through this, people envy him less. A person envies someone who has wealth and gives nothing to him, but if the wealthy man is generous and bestows gifts upon him, and perhaps even provides him with employment - he appeases his enemies, and they are enemies no longer. This is "A man's wealth is the ransom of his life": with his money, he acquires friends.
However, "There is one who pretends to be rich, yet has nothing" - how pitiful is that person who appears wealthy, yet truly has nothing at all. On the one hand, he has many detractors, for they envy him: Look at that rich man driving a limousine! On the other hand, the usual remedy - to give and bestow - is not within his reach, since he has nothing. Consequently, he cannot appease those who envy him, nor can he put forth money as the ransom of his soul. And so it is in matters of wisdom: a person who creates the impression of being a great Torah scholar yet possesses nothing - when he is asked to speak, when he is asked a question, it is revealed that he is empty, and through this he suffers immense disgrace.
These three verses teach us to examine what is real and what is illusory. "Righteousness preserves him whose way is blameless": natural uprightness and derech eretz cannot endure without fear of Heaven, and the service of Hashem without upright conduct may be driven by ulterior motives; only the combination of both can truly stand. "And wickedness subverts the sinner": one who begins with the sin of physical desire may end with a distortion of the intellect, from which it is very difficult to repent. "There is one who pretends to be rich yet has nothing": there is one who appears rich in wealth or in Torah yet possesses nothing at all, and there is one who appears impoverished - giving charity or concealing his knowledge - yet possesses great wealth. And "A man's wealth is the ransom of his life": external acquisitions are an illusory vanity, for in a single moment they will leave the person or the person will leave them; only what one transfers from this world to the next through charity and mitzvos is an acquisition that no one can take from him. One who realizes this will not only refrain from rebuking the pauper - he will receive him with a radiant countenance, knowing that more than what the rich man does for the poor man, the poor man does for him.