In this section of chapter 14, we examine a group of verses dealing with the power of truthful testimony, trust in Hashem and finding refuge in His shadow, fear of Hashem as a fountain of life, and finally - the relationship between a king and his people, and between a rebbe and his students. We will go through the verses in order, looking at the commentary of the Malbim alongside the wonderful explanations of the Vilna Gaon and Rabbeinu Yonah.
מַצִּיל נְפָשׁוֹת עֵד אֱמֶת וְיָפִחַ כְּזָבִים מִרְמָה׃ (כה) - A truthful witness saves lives, but one who breathes lies is deceitful.
We have already explained that this means a truthful witness saves two souls: both the soul of the victim of robbery and the soul of the robber. The Vilna Gaon asks: Which salvation is greater, that of the victim or that of the robber? He answers: Saving the soul of the robber is of higher stature. For you have saved the victim merely from monetary loss - you prevented harm to him. But the robber you saved from a sin in his soul, and a sin in the soul is a sin for all eternity. By testifying truthfully you have saved both of them, and most of all the soul of the robber.
And this is what the Gemara says: One from whom a garment was taken by the court of law should sing and go on his way. A person who comes to a din Torah, is found liable, and his cloak is taken from off his shoulders to pay the debt, leaves depressed and in tears. They say to him: No! Go out singing songs. Why? Because they saved your soul; they rescued you from the sin of robbery. Had they not done so, the sin of robbery would have remained upon you.
And regarding what is said, "but one who breathes lies is deceitful" - this refers to someone who promises his friend that he will testify for him, regardless of whether the testimony is true or false; he told him: "I will come and testify for you." That friend goes to court relying on your word, and in the end you evade him and do not go to testify. He leaves the beit din crushed, with no one to testify for him, having counted on you. One who breathes lies with all kinds of false promises is deceitful toward people.
Another explanation of "saves lives [souls]": A person who stole something from another and did not return it by the end of his days will have to return in a gilgul (reincarnation), and both the robber and the victim return in a gilgul together. Thus, when I testified truthfully and the stolen property was returned to its rightful owner while both were still alive, I saved both souls from reincarnation. This is "a truthful witness saves lives."
The Malbim explains the verse according to its literal meaning: One who comes and testifies truthfully before a beit din saves lives from death. There were individuals whom false witnesses sought to condemn to death even though they were innocent; you came to the beit din and offered truthful testimony on their behalf, saving them from death, and you are considered a savior of lives. But if one saves lives by breathing lies - fabricating stories that never happened and using falsehood to save someone from the death penalty - this is not a mitzvah.
"Breathes" (yafiah) - the Malbim already explained above that this means unclear speech. And the difference between sheker (falsehood) and kazav (a lie): sheker is an absolute falsehood, whereas kazav contains some truth at its start. Why does someone tell a kazav? Because he wants his lie to be accepted, so he begins with words that sound true and then slips in the falsehood. This is like a "nachal achzav" - a deceptive stream whose waters fail, flowing and then drying up; so too, one who speaks kazav begins with truthful words and later swerves into falsehood.
Therefore, says the Malbim: One who saves lives by breathing lies, know that this is deceit and fraud. Even if he argues, "What are you talking about? I saved lives from death!" - we look at the ultimate purpose, and the ultimate purpose is to arrive at the truth and determine if they are liable to the death penalty. We are speaking here strictly of a beit din operating under Halachah, and not, Heaven forbid, in gentiles' courts. If they are liable to death according to the law and you saved them through lies, Scripture calls this deceit, lest you think you performed a mitzvah. Only one who is a truthful witness is truly called a savior of lives.
בְּיִרְאַת יְהֹוָה מִבְטַח עֹז וּלְבָנָיו יִהְיֶה מַחְסֶה׃ (כו) - In the fear of Hashem is strong confidence, and His children will have a refuge.
Here the Vilna Gaon offers a truly wonderful explanation. He begins with a question on the verse, "It is better to take refuge in Hashem than to trust in princes" (Tehillim 118:9): What is the novel insight here? Would anyone have thought otherwise, that it is preferable to rely on benefactors rather than the Holy One, blessed be He? Did King David really need to come and inform us that taking refuge in Hashem is better than trusting in generous people?
The Vilna Gaon explains: there are two states of reliance. There is the reliance where the Holy One, blessed be He, promises to grant you wealth and fortune, just as He promised Avraham: "And I will make you great" - I will bless you with wealth. This is called bitachon, for bitachon shares a root with havtachah (a promise): it is guaranteed to you; Hashem told me that I will be wealthy. And there is another state: the Holy One, blessed be He, made you no promise, yet you, from your own initiative, place your trust in Hashem. This state is not called bitachon, but rather chisayon - taking refuge (lachasot). "A rock in which they took refuge" (Devarim 32:37) - when someone walks near a boulder, does the rock stand up and cover him? No; he goes and conceals himself in its shade. The rock never promised to serve as a refuge for him; rather, he chooses on his own to shelter in its shade.
According to this, the novelty becomes clear: "It is better to take refuge (lachasot) in Hashem than to trust (mibtocah) in princes." It is better for you to take refuge in Hashem even though He made you no explicit promise, placing yourself under His shelter and casting your burden upon Him, than to rely upon the absolute promise of a generous benefactor who said to you, "You have nothing to worry about, I will cover the debt, everything is on me, I will take care of you." Which should you choose? Taking shelter in Hashem without a promise, or the explicit promise of a benefactor? Choose taking refuge in Hashem.
This is also what is taught here: "In the fear of Hashem is strong confidence (mivtach oz)" - by virtue of the fear of Hashem, a person merits that the Holy One, blessed be He, gives him an explicit promise to do good for him. It does not say "a strong refuge" (machseh oz), but rather "strong confidence" (mivtach oz), for the Holy One, blessed be He, promises him: I will guard you, I will protect you. This is far greater than mere refuge, and when Hashem promises, it is a firm, powerful assurance. "And His children will have a refuge" - to the children He gave no such promise; for them, the Holy One, blessed be He, serves as a refuge, shelter in His shadow without a direct promise. For one who fears Hashem himself - an assured promise (mivtach); and for his children, who are not on that same level - a refuge (machseh).
The Malbim, in his linguistic commentary, explains the difference between machseh and mivtach in a different way: machseh relates to the object itself, whereas mivtach relates to the person who trusts. When someone relies on a rock to shield him, he is called the one who trusts (bote'ach), while the rock is called the refuge (machseh). The refuge is the protective entity, and the person relying upon it is the one trusting in it.
יִרְאַת יְהֹוָה מְקוֹר חַיִּים לָסוּר מִמֹּקְשֵׁי מָוֶת׃ (כז) - The fear of Hashem is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
The Vilna Gaon explains that this verse is directly connected to the preceding one. In the previous verse, "In the fear of Hashem is strong confidence," the subject was mitzvot; in this verse, "The fear of Hashem is a fountain of life," the subject is Torah. These represent two dimensions of fear of Heaven: mitzvot, which pertain to the body, and Torah, which pertains to the soul. A person fulfills mitzvot with his physical body - placing tefillin on his arm and head, taking the lulav in his hands. Torah, by contrast, resides in the soul, for someone who walks along contemplating words of Torah, even without uttering a single word with his mouth, is already considered engaged in Torah study - because the place of Torah is within the soul.
Therefore, regarding mitzvot, which pertain to the body, the verse uses the terms mivtach (confidence) and machseh (refuge), which correspond to the physical body. Regarding the Torah, which pertains to the soul, it says "a fountain of life" - the very source of a person's vitality, which is his soul. This aligns with what the Sages stated in the Gemara: mitzvot protect from suffering but do not rescue from the yetzer hara, whereas Torah both protects from suffering and rescues from the yetzer hara. Mitzvot have the power to protect a person from afflictions, but Torah has the power not only to shield from afflictions but also to rescue from the evil inclination - as Chazal taught: "I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as its antidote." What shields against the yetzer hara? Laboring in Torah.
Accordingly: regarding mitzvot, whose power is limited to protecting from suffering, the text uses the terms mivtach and machseh, expressions of physical shielding. But the Torah is "a fountain of life," not only protecting but also rescuing, which is the meaning of "to depart from the snares of death" - the Torah possesses the power to steer a person away from the snares of death, from the yetzer hara, and it is what grants true life and vitality to a person.
The Vilna Gaon adds a wondrous hint. In the previous verse, which speaks of mitzvos, it is said, "In the fear of Hashem [בְּיִרְאַת ה'] is strong confidence" - and "be'yiras" (ביראת) in gematria equals 613 (Taryag), corresponding to the 613 mitzvos. In our verse, which speaks of Torah, it is said, "The fear of Hashem [יִרְאַת ה'] is a fountain of life" - and "yiras" (יראת) in gematria equals 611, which is the numerical value of "Torah" (תורה, 611). There, "be'yiras" equals 613 because it refers to the mitzvos; here, "yiras" equals "Torah," and therefore it is a fountain of life - both protecting and rescuing (agoni magana ve'atzoli matzla), to turn away from the snares of death and be saved from the yetzer hara.
The Malbim explains: The path of wisdom is the path of life, for whoever walks in the ways of wisdom - meaning the path of the Torah and mitzvos - merits eternal life. Surrounding this path are snares of death, which are the traps set by the yetzer hara and evil desires, seeking to bring man to death. And fear is what saves - "to depart from the snares of death": the yetzer hara cannot cause you to sin and bring you to death, because you possess the fear of Hashem, which is itself the fountain of life, for whoever drinks from this fountain lives forever.
Yet the Malbim adds that fear without Torah is insufficient. A person must not say: If so, I will invest everything solely in the fear of Hashem; I will study mussar works all day without studying Halachah and without knowing the practical laws. Indeed, Rav Chaim of Volozhin, in the fourth gate of Nefesh HaChaim, strongly refutes this notion. Therefore, Scripture tells you: fear alone, without knowing the laws and Halachos, is not enough, for if there is no wisdom, there is no fear.
How so? A person may fear Hashem greatly, dreading His majestic grandeur and seeking never to transgress any sin, yet he then violates the prohibition of borer (selecting) on Shabbos - simply because he does not know that this is a transgression. He has yiras Shamayim, and had he known it was forbidden he would have fled from it as from fire, but he does not know. Thus, fear without wisdom is certainly not enough - what will you fear when you do not even know where the danger lies?
Therefore, the verses complement one another: here it says, "The fear of Hashem is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death," for if there is no fear, there is no Torah; and later it says, "The teaching of a wise man is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death," for if there is no Torah, there is no fear - for what will you fear, and from what will you flee, if you do not know that a sin exists here? It is evident that both must go hand in hand: on the one hand, great yiras Shamayim that deters one from sin, and on the other hand, Torah that teaches him what constitutes a transgression and what is permissible to do.
בְּרֹב עָם הַדְרַת מֶלֶךְ וּבְאֶפֶס לְאֹם מְחִתַּת רָזוֹן׃ (כח) - In the multitude of people is the king's glory, but in the lack of a nation is the ruin of the ruler.
In its plain sense: "In the multitude of people is the king's glory" - when the community is meritorious and the people have an abundance of merits, this brings glory to the Holy One, blessed be He. "And in the lack of a nation" - when they do not cling to Hashem, there is "the ruin of the ruler [mechitat razon]," from the root of leanness and deficiency (razeh), like the lean cows that were lacking; this causes, as it were, a diminishment before the Holy One, blessed be He. When a person honors foreign gods or anything else, and fails to observe the mitzvos, there is no honor for Hashem, may He be blessed, and the nations gain dominion over His children - enemies come and conquer us, causing His Name to be desecrated among the nations.
Rabbeinu Yonah writes in his own words: "How very much more confident and serene is one who fears Hashem, blessed be He, than a king." That is, someone who possesses yiras Shamayim is calmer, more confident, and more serene than a king ruling over a nation. Why? Because the security of one who fears Hashem does not depend on flesh and blood. Such a person feels: I fear only Hashem; I rely on no one; I place no trust in any created being; everything is from Hashem. There is no power greater than His; He is the Ruler, the Omnipotent, and the Master of all forces - therefore I am completely at peace.
By contrast, the king - his peace of mind and tranquility depend on flesh and blood, on his kingdom, for "In a multitude of people is the king's glory," and there is no king without a nation. As long as he has a large populace, he possesses great splendor; but "in the lack of people is the ruin of the prince" - when it turns out that he is left without a nation, that is the ruin of the noble ruler. "Razon" (רזון) is from the root of "rozen" (prince), and so explain both the Malbim and the Vilna Gaon. Thus, the king is dependent on the people and dependent on flesh and blood, constantly worried that tomorrow there might be a coup. But one who trusts in Hashem is calmer than the king: who can stage a coup against the Master of the Universe? The One upon Whom I rely exists eternally. You, the king, rely on the people, and if they decide one day not to be there - you are in serious trouble. It follows, then, that one who trusts in Hashem is more tranquil and secure than the king who trusts in the people.
The Vilna Gaon explains: there are two types of rulers - ministers and kings. The kings are the Torah scholars (talmidei chachamim), as the Sages said: "Who are the kings? The Rabbis." And the ministers are the masters of divine service, the service of Hashem, like Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa and his colleagues, the people of prayer; those who serve Hashem through prayer are called ministers. As the Gemara relates, when they asked him to pray, Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa prayed and was answered, while the sage was not answered. His wife asked him: "Is he greater than you?" He replied to her: "He is like a servant before the King." At any rate, one who stands constantly before the King is in the realm of prayer. Anyone who prays before Hashem, may He be blessed, is not in the realm of talmidei chachamim, who through the Torah are considered kings; rather, the masters of divine service and prayer are considered ministers.
When the citizens of a country want something from the king, three hundred people do not come together to voice their petition; rather, they choose one person to approach the king, present their request, and intercede on their behalf. And when the king asks him: "And where are they themselves?" he replies: "They are right behind me; they all came today to speak with the king, and they sent me ahead of them before you." The king says: "If so, let them come and enter; I want to see them." What a disgrace it is when he goes out to look for them, only to discover that they have all vanished! They had told him, "You go up first, you do the talking, we are all behind you" - and he searches, but there is no one there. On this, the Vilna Gaon comments: the king's anger will be aroused not only against those three hundred who disappeared, but also against their representative - "You claimed that three hundred people were behind you, and it turns out that behind you there is barely even yourself!"
And by whom do we find such an incident? By Shevna, who went outside Jerusalem to make peace with Sancheirev against Chizkiyahu, and it was said, "Shevna and his faction made peace." But every member of his faction slipped away one by one, and at the moment of truth, he remained a faction of one. Sancheirev saw this and was furious with him. He asked him: "Where are your men?" He replied: "They left." Sancheirev said to him: "Are you mocking me?" He tied his heels to the horse and dragged his flesh over thorns and briers. Thus, if you come forward to represent people and it turns out they are not behind you - your words were empty, and not only are they punished, but you are punished as well.
This is also what is written in the Gemara: that when the Holy One, blessed be He, comes to the synagogue and does not find ten men there, He immediately becomes angry. Two points should be noted here. First, the Vilna Gaon punctuates the phrase differently. Until now, we understood it simply: "And He did not find ten there - He immediately becomes angry." But the Vilna Gaon punctuates it: "And He did not find ten there immediately - He becomes angry." What does "ten there immediately" mean? That there are not ten present right away; rather, until they manage to bring the tenth and round out the minyan, one's soul departs from waiting. And when the Holy One, blessed be He, arrives and there are not ten there immediately, He becomes angry.
And second, at whom is He angry? The Vilna Gaon says: also at those who did show up! For you, as it were, came and said: "Master of the Universe, we came to speak before You, there are ten of us, and I am the first among them" - and the Holy One, blessed be He, asks: "Where are those whom you claimed were coming?"
And this is what is stated in Yeshayahu 50:2: "Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand too short to redeem, or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make rivers a wilderness; their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst."
The Vilna Gaon explains: "Why, when I came, was there no man (ish)?" - what is an "ish"? An ish is a minister or officer, as in: "Who made you an ish, a ruler and a judge over us?" And when there are ten in the synagogue, who is considered the minister over all of them, who is the ish? The one who arrives first, of whom it is said that he receives a reward equivalent to all of them; he is the one considered the ish and the minister. But when there are not ten, then there is "no man" (ein ish), and even the first one who arrived is considered as though he never came. Why? Because if there is no minyan, there is nothing. For in what sense are you considered an ish and a minister? When you have an entourage behind you, when nine others follow after you. If only three people arrive, can we say of him that he arrived among the first ten? There are no ten here! In order for you to be the first of the first ten and a minister over them, nine others must arrive after you. Therefore, when the Holy One, blessed be He, comes to the synagogue and does not find ten there immediately, He is angry even with that ish who did come - and this is the meaning of "Why, when I came, was there no man," for as it were, even the first is considered as nothing.
The Vilna Gaon continues to explain the continuation of the verse. If its first part speaks of the synagogue, the place of prayer, then "I called" speaks of the Beit Midrash, the place of study, as it says, "At the head of bustling streets she calls" (Mishlei 1:21), which refers to the holy Torah. "I called and there was no answer" - there is no one sitting and engaging in Torah study.
And regarding this, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: "Is My hand too short to redeem, or do I have no power to save?" (Yeshayahu 50:2) - and the continuation of the verse corresponds precisely to the two parts of its beginning. For there is a difference between one who redeems (*podeh*) and one who saves (*matzil*). A redeemer steps in, pays the ransom, and redeems you from the hands of the captors; redemption is always with the consent of the captor and oppressor - one goes and pays, and he agrees to release the captive. A rescuer (*matzil*), by contrast, acts even against the captor's will, going and wresting the captive from his hand by force, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm.
"Redeeming," says the Vilna Gaon, comes through prayer, as it is written: "He redeemed my soul in peace from battles against me, for there were many with me" (Tehillim 55:19). Through prayer, Hashem has the power, as it were, to redeem us with the consent of those who oppress us. "Saving" is an even greater power, and this comes through the power of Torah: whoever sets a fixed place for his Torah, his enemies fall before him, and the Torah shields and saves (*agonei magna ve'atzolei matzla*). The Torah possesses the quality of a rescuer, the power to save you even forcibly from the hand of enemies.
According to this, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: Why did I come and find no man in the synagogue, and why did I call and find no answer in the Beit Midrash? "Is My hand too short to redeem?" - do you fear that through the power of prayer I cannot redeem you, and that there is not enough power in your prayer, and therefore you did not come to the synagogue? "Or do I have no power to save?" - do you not trust in the power of Torah to save, and therefore no one responds in the Beit Midrash?
To return to our subject, the Vilna Gaon explains: according to this, one can understand our verse. If there are not ten men in the synagogue, as we explained, even the first to arrive is caught in the shortcoming and is not credited with distinction. From this we see: if there are no students, there is no Rav. Let us examine this carefully: if a Rav has no students, does any actual damage come to the Rav himself? No, for the Rav himself sits and engages in Torah study. What is he lacking? Honor and splendor. If he had five hundred students, he possessed great honor and great splendor; if he does not have five hundred, he lacks that great splendor. But he suffers no harm: he sat and engaged in Torah beforehand, and he will return and engage in Torah afterward.
And *am* ("people") mentioned in the verse refers to the Torah scholars, whereas *le'om* ("nation") refers to the masses. Thus: "In a multitude of people is a king's glory" - when there is an abundance of Torah scholars who come to hear the Rav's shiur, there is splendor and honor for the Rav, for the Rav is the king - as Chazal ask, "Who are the kings? The Rabbis." If there is not a multitude, the king lacks splendor, yet he suffers no downfall, ruin, or harm.
"And in the lack of a nation is the ruin of a prince" - but when the *le'om*, the masses of the people, is absent - and where is their place? Not in the Beit Midrash, but in the synagogue. When there is no nation in the synagogue, it is "the ruin of a prince": their leader, their dignitary - who is the first person to arrive at the synagogue - suffers a downfall. For he is their head and regarded as their prince, the "man" about whom the Vilna Gaon explained, "Why did I come and find no man?" As soon as the other nine do not follow him, he himself suffers harm, as the anger of the Holy One, blessed be He, includes him as well. *Mechitah* means brokenness or ruin, and who is broken? *Razon* - the nobleman, prince, and leader among them, who also suffers damage simply because the divine displeasure encompasses him. Thus there is a difference between the two cases: a Rav whose students do not come suffers no damage, only a lack of splendor; but the first person in the synagogue whose nine peers do not follow suffers actual harm. This is the Vilna Gaon's explanation.
In this group of verses, we learned that a truthful witness saves two souls, chief among them the soul of the robber who is rescued from eternal sin. In contrast, one who breathes lies - even if he effectively "saved" someone - has placed falsehood upon his deed, for the true purpose of judgment is uncovering the truth. We learned the distinction between confidence (*mivtach*) and refuge (*machaseh*): one who fears Hashem has strong confidence through explicit promise, while his children have a refuge without a promise, and it is better to take refuge in Hashem even without a promise than to trust in the promise of nobles. We saw that the mitzvot protect from suffering, and the Torah is a fountain of life that also saves from the evil inclination, and that fear of Heaven cannot exist without wisdom, nor wisdom without fear of Heaven. Finally, we learned from "In a multitude of people is a king's glory" that one who trusts in Hashem is more serene than a king who depends on his people, and that one who represents the public bears responsibility for them - so that if ten are not present immediately, even the first is included in the divine displeasure. From here we see the immense importance of being among the first to arrive at the synagogue and the Beit Midrash.