Psalm 101 is a psalm in which King David describes his ways of conduct: how he conducts himself toward himself, toward his household, toward his people, and toward his Creator. The Radak explains that this psalm describes the royal practices of David - how he conducts himself with the people of Israel, and also what he does in his leisure hours. When litigants do not come before him, when he is in seclusion and away from people, during those hours he is free and engages in the path of wisdom, turning his heart away from worldly affairs and preparing his heart to receive Ruach HaKodesh (the Divine spirit). From this perspective, he describes what transpires with him throughout the day.
The holy Alshich introduces a principle here in the name of the Kabbalists: What is the difference between "Of David, a psalm" (LeDavid Mizmor) and "A psalm of David" (Mizmor LeDavid)? When David had to make preparations for Ruach HaKodesh to rest upon him - such as "when the musician played" and the other ways in which he would connect and bind himself to spirituality - it says "Of David, a psalm": first there is David's effort, and only then the psalm. But when Ruach HaKodesh rested upon him immediately, without prior effort or preparation, and the psalm burst forth from him on its own, it says "A psalm of David."
לְדָוִד מִזְמוֹר חֶסֶד־וּמִשְׁפָּט אָשִׁירָה לְךָ יְהֹוָה אֲזַמֵּרָה׃ - Of David, a psalm: Of lovingkindness and justice I will sing; to You, Hashem, I will sing praise.
Rashi explains: When You act toward me with lovingkindness, I praise You and say, "Blessed is He Who is good and does good." And when You deal with me through justice, I sing, "Blessed is the true Judge." Either way, "to You, Hashem, I will sing praise" - in every circumstance, I sing and play music to You.
The Radak adds another perspective: "Of lovingkindness and justice I will sing" - I sing and chant to Hashem for the kindness and justice that I carry out. I thank Your Name, Master of the Universe, that You made me king over the people of Israel, and that You granted me a good heart to reign over them with justice and righteousness, as it says, "And David executed justice and righteousness for all his people." Notice that David takes no credit for himself. He says: in Your kindness, Hashem, You gave me a good heart to judge them with justice and righteousness.
We have already discussed this regarding the Chafetz Chaim. When he enumerated everything the Jewish people had done for the Holy One, blessed be He - that we spread Your Torah, Master of the Universe, and who else would have listened to it, and that we gave our lives throughout the generations - he also enumerated the kindnesses that Hashem performed for him and for all of Klal Yisrael. Among other things, he said: "You gave me the Mishnah Berurah." That is, he did not view the Mishnah Berurah as something he had achieved for Hashem's honor, but as a kindness that Hashem had bestowed upon him, granting him the merit to author a foundational work of Halachah. It was an immense privilege that Hashem granted him in this regard.
The Radak also cites a Midrash: "Of lovingkindness and justice I will sing" - "for lovingkindness and justice are with You"; both lovingkindness and justice stem from Hashem. Concerning justice, it is said: "And Hashem of Hosts is exalted through justice," and concerning righteousness: "and the holy God is sanctified through righteousness." Therefore, this bounty within me is a kindness from You; it began from You, and You bestowed it upon me. Rav Huna in the name of Rabbi Acha explains like Rashi: whether justice, I will sing; whether lovingkindness, I will sing; and to You, Hashem, I will sing praise. And as Iyov said: "Hashem gave and Hashem took; may the Name of Hashem be blessed" - to thank Hashem even for that which appears in human eyes as strict justice and judgments.
The Malbim explains that David describes here his practices, both in matters between man and God and in matters between man and his fellow man, and he begins with matters between man and God. The conduct of the Holy One, blessed be He, toward me is either lovingkindness or justice - there is nothing evil in it. When Hashem bestows good upon me, it is out of His lovingkindness. What is the definition of lovingkindness? "Who has preceded Me that I should repay him?" Did I do anything to obligate Hashem to give me? The Holy One, blessed be He, bestows endless bounty upon me in His abundant lovingkindness. And if you should say: But there are also hardships - you are persecuted and you suffer - to this David responds: That is justice. Justice means that Hashem judges a person according to what he deserves, and David says: I deserve it.
This is the exact opposite of how people typically think. When Hashem gives to me - well, I have it coming, don't I? And when things are bad for me - why is Hashem doing this to me? King David says precisely the reverse: When Hashem gives to me - what do you mean I have it coming? It is pure chesed (kindness)! And when things are bad for me - that is in judgment, that is what I deserve, to atone for iniquity and put an end to sin. From this, the conclusion is clear: one must sing for both. For the chesed - that He gives me what I do not deserve in His abundant kindness; and for the judgment - through which He consumes my sins and atones for me. Therefore, for both, "I will sing praises," I will praise Hashem.
The Malbim explains the difference between ashirah ("I will sing") and azamrah ("I will sing praises"). Zemer is a higher form of praise than shir. A shir encompasses all topics and can also apply to secular matters. In contrast, zemer is only ever directed toward the Holy One, blessed be He. Therefore, you will always find "shirah and zimrah" in this order: first song, which can still apply to mundane matters, followed by zimrah, which is higher and directed exclusively toward the Holy One, blessed be He. This is why it says "I will sing" - even regarding specific personal matters, but "to You, Hashem, I will sing praises" - zemer is for You alone and has no place in mundane matters.
אַשְׂכִּילָה בְּדֶרֶךְ תָּמִים מָתַי תָּבוֹא אֵלָי אֶתְהַלֵּךְ בְּתׇם־לְבָבִי בְּקֶרֶב בֵּיתִי׃ - I will act wisely in a blameless way; when will You come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house.
Rashi explains: "I will act wisely in a blameless way" - I will contemplate and reflect upon the blameless way; "when will it come to me" - when will this path come to me, the upright path in which I should walk? And I will walk with integrity of heart, not only in my public conduct but also "within my house," in private and not just in public.
Radak explains: "I will act wisely in a blameless way" - I will set my heart to gain insight into the blameless way, and I anticipate when this path will come to me through Ruach HaKodesh (divine inspiration). "When will You come to me" refers to the Holy One, blessed be He. That is: I walk in a blameless way, and as is known, the disciples of the prophets performed actions to merit perceiving Hashem and receiving prophecy; my entire longing is for when I will merit closeness to God, that the Holy One, blessed be He, will connect with me and bestow upon me of His holy spirit.
And what is the walking implied in "I will walk" (ethalech)? Radak offers a fascinating explanation: like a person who puts his entire heart into contemplating something, pacing back and forth in his home. A person immersed in a matter, meditating on it, pacing the length and breadth of the room, forward and back. As is said regarding Elisha: "and he walked in the house, once here and once there" - a person who invests all his thoughts in the matter he is contemplating.
The Malbim defines it: temimut (integrity and wholeness) means that a person does a proper, righteous deed without any ulterior motive. His entire aim is for the sake of Heaven - not for reward, not out of fear of punishment, and not so that people view him as righteous and realize his high stature out of pride and ostentation. The tamim performs his deeds purely for the sake of Hashem, out of love of the good because it is good, and because Hashem commanded it. By extension, tamim is used to describe one who outwardly appears to walk in righteousness and never departs from it. Tamim denotes completeness (shaleim): he experiences no falls and no deviations, always continuing on that same path.
However, the Malbim notes, here lies the problem: outwardly, he may well appear tamim; people see someone who always walks the straight path, yet in his heart he is not entirely wholehearted - because in his heart he harbors ulterior motives. He acted to gain some benefit, he acted to receive a reward, or he acted so that others would esteem him and be impressed. And a person can easily deceive himself about this. Indeed, this is one of the most common errors: a person is certain that he acts purely for the sake of Heaven, thinking, "What do I care? On my own, I am nothing," convincing himself that everything he does is purely lishmah (for its own sake).
As is well known, Rav Shteinman would constantly encourage the study of Torah lishmah (for its own sake), repeatedly emphasizing that this is a very high spiritual level, and one should never imagine that he has already reached it. Once, people wanted to ask him to compose a text for a prayer, saying: a prayer in which we ask Hashem to help us draw closer to lishmah. To such wording he agreed, and he composed a brief two-line prayer for them. They knew that had they said, "Compose a prayer for us that we merit to learn Torah lishmah" - he would not have agreed to hear of it, lest someone pray this and be confident that by tomorrow he is already learning lishmah. These are exceedingly lofty attainments, and one must not live in delusions. Therefore, they phrased it as "that I may draw closer to lishmah" - that is something one can talk about.
The Malbim explains: Distinguishing between someone who is genuinely wholehearted in his heart and someone who is not completely sincere is an extremely difficult matter, for a person often imagines that his intentions are entirely for the sake of Heaven, while in reality he harbors other calculations and hidden motives. Therefore, one who is truly sincere is called "tom levav" (of pure heart): not an external wholesomeness of someone who merely appears on the outside to be a righteous, wholesome person, but an integrity that resides within the heart, deep inside. And when a person looks deeply into his own heart, he will often discover that matters he thought were performed with the utmost purity of motive for the sake of Hashem actually contained underlying agendas, personal motivations, and biases that he did not notice at all at first, and which only deeper reflection brought to light.
There is a story of a man whose acquaintance owed him money. He summoned him to a Beit Din; the judges obligated the defendant to take an oath, and the defendant swore. When the claimant heard the oath, he was appalled and cried out, "Be astonished, O heavens, at this - to hear a person swear falsely!" He reviled him with harsh words: "How are you not ashamed? Forget the money, but to swear falsely?!" He even tore his clothes upon hearing a false oath.
A few months later, that same man stepped up to the bimah in the synagogue where both of them prayed and said: "Gentlemen, I ask forgiveness from so-and-so. Not that he does not owe me the money, but the way I cursed and humiliated him was wrong, and I shamed him for nothing." When he stepped down, people asked him what had happened. He replied: "I was in Beit Din again, and once again I saw them administer an oath, and once again I saw someone swear falsely - and I noticed that it did not particularly move me. I did not insult him, I did not tear my clothes, nothing. You might tell yourself, 'Well, it was already the second time; I grew used to it.' But the truth is simpler: this time it was not my money, so it no longer bothered me. It was then that I realized I had attacked that man unjustly."
The lesson is clear: often a person has a personal bias, yet he is convinced that his stance is purely for the sake of Heaven. But if he examines himself - sometimes only after time has passed - he discovers: "My friend, this was not for the sake of Heaven; it was an illusion. There was money at stake that you lost, and you merely imagined that your outrage stemmed from the terrible desecration of Hashem's Name that took place."
Because this mistake is so common and a person can so easily fall into error, David says: "I will gain understanding in the path of integrity; when it shall come to me." I will gain understanding and contemplate the path of integrity, awaiting the time when this path will come to me so that I may be genuinely wholesome, "in the integrity of my heart." Notice the precise phrasing: "When it shall come to me" - that the path should come to me, rather than that I should come to it. Why? "That I should come to it" means training oneself in wholesome behavior through external actions, which stem from one's own efforts; in that case, one might very well fail to truly reach it and merely imagine that he has arrived. By contrast, that which is ingrained within a person's soul becomes his second nature, as if embedded in him from the time of his creation. Therefore he asks: Master of the Universe, do not let me come to the path of integrity merely through external habit while remaining with my underlying nature of insincerity; rather, instill integrity within me, so that the path comes to me. For this I plead and for this I pray, and only then will I know that I have attained integrity in its perfection.
And what is the ultimate test? "I will walk in the integrity of my heart within my house." Inside the home there is no showing off, no praise from people, no making an impression. Outside, a person may still put on an act and play games, but at home - that is where the test lies. There is a saying: two know a person thoroughly - the Holy One, Blessed is He, and your wife. Before them, there are no pretenses. Even if one acts for a month, two months, or a year, at a certain point a wife sees through every facade and knows the person completely, and likewise in reverse: spouses who live together know each other inside out.
And indeed, this is reality: at home, a person feels far freer than outside. Therefore, as mentioned, the people most hurt by him are often those closest to him: with strangers he feels embarrassed, and the only ones upon whom he vents whatever he thinks are the members of his household. There he wears no masks and feels no inhibitions. That is why it has been noted that the matter of asking forgiveness before Yom Kippur pertains primarily between a husband and his wife, and children and their parents - a child will say to his parents what he would never dare say to a principal or teacher, because he feels more at ease with them. In other words, within his house a person does things he would never do in public.
Therefore, David says: the real test is "within my house" - how a person behaves with his wife, with his children, with his servants and attendants, as was customary in their day. That is where we see whether a person is a mentsh, or whether he is arrogant, feeling "I am, and there is none else," trampling upon those beneath him. David says: I will walk within my house with integrity of heart as well. The wholeness must be integrity of heart, internal rather than superficial, and its test lies in a place where there are no games and no putting on a show for others.
The Malbim connects this verse to the first verse. One who lacks this genuine integrity, performing his deeds out of external motives, is constantly calculating: What benefit will I gain? What profit? Will people respect me, will I earn a reputation as a tzaddik? Likewise, he refrains from sin not because Hashem commanded it, but because he fears punishment - once again, out of self-interest: "I do not like being struck." For such a person, chesed (loving-kindness) and mishpat (judgment) are not equal at all. For the kindness he gives thanks - Baruch Hashem, how wonderful! But judgment does not please him: "Why am I being subjected to judgment?" After all, his entire service of Hashem was meant to ward off judgment and escape punishment.
However, for one who is truly wholehearted and upright, judgment and punishment are equal to the good and loving-kindness he receives from Hashem. To take it to the extreme: if this complete and sincere person were told that the Holy One, Blessed is He, had reversed the system - that one now receives punishment for mitzvos and reward for sins, but "My will is that you fulfill mitzvos" - he would still fulfill mitzvos! Do I serve Hashem for my own benefit? I serve Hashem because this is His will. Hashem wants me to fulfill mitzvos, so I will fulfill mitzvos, even if punishments were to follow.
Therefore, David opens specifically with this: "Of loving-kindness and justice I will sing" - both for kindness and when there is judgment and punishment, I sing to Hashem. And who can say such a thing? Only one who possesses pure integrity. Immediately afterward he continues, "I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart" - teaching you that this attribute belongs to someone who is wholehearted. For someone who is pure in heart, there is no difference between chesed and mishpat, because he does not serve Hashem to escape punishment, but because this is the will of Hashem.