Chapter 112 serves as a direct continuation of the conclusion of the previous chapter. There it was stated, "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of Hashem," and here the Psalmist comes to elaborate on who this true God-fearing person is: what his character is, what his traits are, and what his reward is in this world and in the World to Come. The Radak notes that this psalm is also arranged in alphabetical order, with two letters per verse: "Fortunate is the man who fears Hashem" - Aleph; "in His commandments he delights greatly" - Bet; "Mighty on earth shall his seed be" - Gimel; "a generation of the upright shall be blessed" - Dalet; and so forth. And as we have already seen, when a psalm is built according to the Aleph-Bet, it is a sign of its elevated stature. This psalm is exceedingly esteemed, recounting the character traits of the upright person whose recompense from Hashem is complete both in this world and in the World to Come.
הַלְלוּ־יָהּ אַשְׁרֵי־אִישׁ יָרֵא אֶת־יְהֹוָה בְּמִצְוֺתָיו חָפֵץ מְאֹד׃ - Halleluyah! Fortunate is the man who fears Hashem, who greatly delights in His commandments.
The Ibn Ezra explains that these are the Psalmist's words to the congregation: Praise as I do, and declare, fortunate is the man who fears Hashem. And what is his fear? That he guards himself from stumbling in the negative commandments. He does so not because he fears disgrace or shame, nor for any external reasons, but solely out of fear of Hashem. Moreover: "in His commandments he delights greatly" - this refers to the positive commandments. "Fears Hashem" represents the aspect of caution regarding transgressions, while "in His commandments he delights greatly" represents the pursuit of positive commandments, which he fulfills with all his might.
The Radak adds: Since his fear is of Hashem and not of flesh and blood, he guards himself from transgressions in secret just as in the open. One who is cautious out of fear of flesh and blood feels uncomfortable before other people, but in private he transgresses; whereas this person, whose fear is the fear of God, guards himself in private as well. Furthermore, he performs the commandments willingly and with full desire - not to find favor in the eyes of others, nor to make a name for himself, but because such is the will of Hashem, and his entire heart desires to do His will. And what is meant by "greatly" (me'od)? That he has no other desire in his heart besides Hashem. Nothing else enters his heart to intermingle with his love for Him, blessed be He. Hence, he actively pursues the mitzvot and strives to fulfill them with all his might, both physically and financially. He does not act like one merely seeking to discharge an obligation, nor with indifference, but with enthusiasm and passion - that is the meaning of "delights" (chafetz).
Our Sages expound: "In His commandments he delights greatly" - in His commandments, and not in the reward for His commandments. The righteous person delights in the essence of the mitzvah itself. Why? Because the word mitzvah is related to tzavta, companionship and connection with the Master of the Universe; every mitzvah draws him near and unites him with Hashem, blessed be He. But one who performs a mitzvah for its reward essentially acts for self-interest, and regarding this it was taught: "Do not be like servants who serve the master on condition of receiving a reward."
To be sure, it has already been mentioned several times that this is the standard of the pious (mishnat chasidim), for strictly speaking, it is permissible for a person to serve his Creator on the premise of being promised the reward of the World to Come. If only we were serving Hashem for the sake of reward and staying away from transgressions out of dread of punishment; although this is a lower level of divine service, would that we reached even that. The higher levels require that a person possess awe of the Divine Majesty (yirat haromemut) rather than fear of punishment - that he reveres the splendor of His majesty. And an even higher level: that he would fulfill mitzvot even if he were told that transgressions are rewarded and mitzvot are punished - because Hashem desires the mitzvot, and he acts simply because it is the Creator's will. These are the levels toward which we must strive.
The Midrash states: "'In His commandments he delights greatly' - this refers to Avraham." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "Go forth from your land and from your birthplace," and immediately, "And Avram took Sarai his wife." There was no delay: the moment Hashem speaks, his desire to fulfill the command leads him to act at once. The Holy One, blessed be He, told him to circumcise himself - immediately, "On that very day was Avraham circumcised." No "let's look into it," no "I spoke with a doctor in the meantime" - Hashem said to circumcise: today, right now, immediately. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "Take now your son, your only son" - immediately, "And Avraham rose early in the morning." Here you have the prime emblem of "in His commandments he delights greatly": everything is done with alacrity for the honor of the Creator.
The Malbim links this chapter to the conclusion of the previous one. After having said, "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of Hashem," it comes and says: Know that fortunate is the man who truly fears Hashem, for into the heart of such a person, wisdom will enter enabling him to observe all of Hashem's statutes. And this wisdom does not stem from human intellectual deduction, but from an external power - from the power of prophecy - which implants it within his heart, and out of this he will be one who truly fears God.
And there is a difference between "fearing Hashem" (yarei mei'Hashem) and "fearing Hashem" (yarei et Hashem). "Yarei mei'Hashem" means fearing Him, afraid that He will punish him, take away his money, or take away his health. But "yarei et Hashem" refers to awe of His majesty (yirat haromemut), serving Hashem out of the splendor of His grandeur. And this is essentially the source for the homily of our Sages that we mentioned: "in His commandments" - and not in the reward of His commandments.
And continuing with that same verse, "a good understanding (sechel tov) have all those who perform them": in Tanach, "sechel tov" means that a person attains insight through Ruach HaKodesh. His intellect becomes a divine intellect, as the Holy One, blessed be He, channels spiritual intellect into the mind of man. Then the inner secrets of the commandments are revealed to him, and through this, "he delights greatly in His commandments." When a person must do something and does not know why, it is most difficult for him. But when he understands the inner dimension of the matter, its secret, and the rectification achieved through it - it is far easier for him to fulfill, and he performs it with genuine enthusiasm.
And this aligns with what we said, that the laws of wisdom cannot be grasped through proofs of human understanding and logic. By "laws of wisdom," we mean what is right to do and what is not, what is moral and what is not. This cannot be attained through intellectual proofs, for what seems moral to you may seem immoral to your friend. Rather, these matters are known through Ruach HaKodesh, through sechel tov. For when the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded something, even if to those around it seems immoral - "to destroy Amalek?" - if Hashem said so, that is complete goodness, that is moral, and that is right. And if a person refrains because it appears immoral to him - consider Shaul, who did not carry it out, and we received Amalek in its modern edition in our time, during the Holocaust of European Jewry. You think you showed mercy, you think it is inappropriate to slay men, women, and children - look at what the consequences were. Such matters cannot be decided by human intellect alone; only through Ruach HaKodesh or in accordance with the commandments of the Torah can one know the Divine will. And whatever Hashem desires is the most moral and upright thing, for His mercies are over all His works, and if He commanded so - it is the right thing.
Therefore, the Malbim explains: by possessing sechel tov and Ruach HaKodesh - as the previous chapter concluded, "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of Hashem; a good understanding have all those who perform them" - he merits that "he delights greatly in His commandments." He understands why each thing must be done, and identifies with it completely; not like someone who merely accepts an axiom that "this is obligatory," which a person struggles with. Indeed, with the chukim (statutes) we always have a greater struggle than with the rational commandments. "Do not murder," "Do not steal" - these are understood by the intellect, and there is no particular difficulty. But when a person is told, "This is obligatory," why? So His blessed wisdom decreed. And why is it this way here and differently there? And why does a single drop of water determine whether there was purification in a mikveh or not - after all, does not a person emerge equally clean from a mikveh of forty se'ah and from a mikveh of 39.9 se'ah, lacking one drop? And so it is with all the laws of ritual purity and impurity and all the halachot that are in the category of chok. When a person knows the inner secret of things, he also understands their deeper reason, and then he fulfills them willingly and wholeheartedly.
In Kabbalah, every matter has an inner dimension. For example, the number four is fundamental: the four-letter Name - Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei; the Four Species; ABYA - Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah, four worlds whose four levels we are meant to rectify. Likewise, the division into ten corresponds to the ten Sefirot. And the division into seven corresponds to the seven lower Sefirot (the ZAT): Chessed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut, which govern this world, as distinct from the upper Sefirot, which belong to the realm of the World to Come and pure spirituality. Therefore, everything in this world is linked to seven: seven days, seven Shemittah cycles, seven times seven - forty-nine years, and so forth. For the lower world draws sustenance from the seven lower Sefirot. In short, in Kabbalah there is an explanation for every detail: what its inner reality is, what its secret is, and why it is specifically in this form and not another.
In the book Tehilot Maharitz, he asks: Who is truly fortunate? If we examine what the world pursues, we find that the greatest pursuit is after happiness. Even money is merely a vehicle to attain happiness; and one who chases fame and publicity is also seeking happiness through it, convinced that if he is famous, recognized by everyone and not anonymous, he will be happy. People show him celebrities photographed in their joy, and he does not perceive the inner emptiness within them, imagining that if only he attains that status, he will be happy.
The Tehilot Maharitz explains: When is a person truly happy? When he attains complete fear, the ultimate purpose of fear - awe of His majesty (yirat haromemut), stemming from love of Hashem, blessed be He. These are stages: awe of majesty comes after fear of punishment, and after it comes love. And both dimensions are necessary, not one to the exclusion of the other. A person must have fear so that he does not rebel, and he must have love so that he acts willingly. For if one is forced to fulfill, he may do so - but grudgingly, and indeed with a desire to throw off the yoke. One who fears does not rebel; yet to serve Hashem out of fear alone means serving like someone with a gun held to his head, and that is not a healthy state: it shows that one seeks to cast off the yoke but is perpetually threatened. Therefore, it is imperative that one possess both love and fear.
And this is what he says: One who serves out of fear alone is careful not to anger his Creator - but he does not pursue the mitzvot. Rav Uri Zohar remarked at the beginning of his journey of teshuvah: Master of the Universe, I want to do the bare minimum so I know I will not enter Gehinnom; I am not looking for the main grandstand in the World of Truth, and if they give me a small corner in Gan Eden - that is enough for me. Of course, later on we saw that he sought precisely the central grandstand, fortunate is he and fortunate is his portion, of blessed memory. But initially, that was his request: just to know that I did no wrong. That is a person who serves out of fear.
And this is "Fortunate is the man who fears Hashem" - one who fears Hashem with awe of His majesty, fortunate is he, for he also "delights greatly in His commandments." Fear of punishment is a lower form of fear: I do not transgress because I do not want to be struck; which means that if I could, I would flee from You and Your commandments, but I am under threat. That is a harsh and terrible thought. And although would that we at least attained this level - since, after all, the person complies, refraining from lashon hara out of fear, guarding his eyes out of fear - one must understand that this is not what is ultimately desired. No person would want his son to serve him out of fear that he will hit him; on the contrary, we would view that as a great disgrace: Is this my relationship with my child, that he is terrified and therefore obeys me? We would rejoice if he acted out of joy and willingness - "You are my father, and I love you, and whatever you say, I eagerly anticipate doing." This is the aspect of awe of majesty and love.
One may add: someone who serves Hashem solely out of fear of punishment suffers. He is not happy, for he feels constantly threatened and fears being punished. In his eyes, the Holy One, blessed be He, is a menacing figure, as if to say: woe to you if you stray, you will get hit. Truly pitiable is one who views Divine reality this way, and he is certainly not happy. Who is truly happy? One who dedicates his entire being to Hashem, blessed be He, and performs the mitzvos with joy.
To illustrate: when someone comes before an exalted tzaddik like the Baba Sali, he is sometimes unable to utter a single word. What is he afraid of? What could the tzaddik do to him - curse him? He never cursed anyone. Rather, he has come before a truly exalted figure, and therefore feels awe toward him. This is yiras haromemus (awe of majesty), not yiras ha'onesh (fear of punishment). And so it is toward the Holy One, blessed be He: not a fear that He will inflict harm, but awe before the splendor of His majesty.
Nevertheless, fear of punishment is not to be dismissed. A person who does not serve Hashem at all desecrates Shabbos, incurs the penalty of stoning or kores (spiritual excision) - see how much guilt he amasses. On the other hand, one who serves out of fear, even though it is considered shelo lishmah (not for its own sake), will eventually arrive at lishmah, for fear of punishment is a stage that one must pass through to attain awe of majesty. Indeed, Rabbi Yisrael Salanter said: If only we could merit reaching even the fear of punishment! That is to say, man is formed of clay and must ascend stage by stage; he is not an angel and cannot leap ahead. To attain love of Hashem, he must also pass through fear, instilling within himself the realization that sin leads to Gehinnom, and in Gehinnom there is punishment.
When Rabbi Yisrael Salanter delivered a shiur, he would sometimes bring a candle and say to his students: To understand what Gehinnom is, hold your finger over the candle flame for just a moment. It burns, doesn't it? Keep it there a bit longer and it becomes unbearable; skin cells already begin to burn. Now imagine that continuing for seconds, and then for minutes. And consider that this fire is weak - it is merely a candle - whereas the fire of Gehinnom is the most intense of all, sixty times hotter than the fiercest fire in this world, as the Ramban writes. Nor is it for a brief moment, but for years. If a person internalizes this imagery, he will develop fear of punishment.
Yet must one always serve Hashem out of fear? No. One must strive for love, connecting to the mitzvos and performing them with understanding. However, there is no choice but to start from below, and starting from below means beginning with fear of punishment. When it comes to raising children, however, this approach is not recommended at all. One must be very careful not to depict the Master of the Universe as a terrifying, threatening figure - "Hashem will punish you," "You will get Gehinnom for that," "Woe to you!" What does this foster in a child? A desire to throw off the yoke. He will tell himself: Why must I live in constant fear? Look at the neighbor - his child lives a happy life, or so it seems - without mitzvos and without fears; and very quickly he will be drawn there. The way to encourage children is through joy, sweets, kind giving, and a good word, not through intimidation. Under intimidation, a child will soon want to break free from whatever he perceives as a threat to his well-being.
גִּבּוֹר בָּאָרֶץ יִהְיֶה זַרְעוֹ דּוֹר יְשָׁרִים יְבֹרָךְ׃ - Mighty in the land shall his seed be; a generation of the upright shall be blessed.
Ibn Ezra explains that the letter kaf is implied here, as though it read: "Like a mighty man in the land shall his seed be." The intention is not necessarily that his offspring will be physically mighty, but rather that his descendants will be renowned, like a mighty hero famous in his generation. And as for "a generation of the upright shall be blessed" - the father and the son together constitute a generation of the upright. With what will they be blessed? "Wealth and riches in his house," as the following verse states.
Radak explains why the verse mentions his seed here: to teach that on account of his good deeds, the Holy One, blessed be He, rewards his children after him as well. "Mighty in the land shall his seed be" - that people will revere and respect him just as they revere and respect a mighty warrior. Our Sages also teach that his sons will possess physical strength, which is one of the blessings granted to a person in this world. A person bequeaths five traits to his sons: strength, wealth, beauty, wisdom, and long life. And from where do we know that he bequeaths strength to his sons? Because if the father is strong, his offspring take after him and his sons will be strong, as it is said, "Mighty in the land shall his seed be." And "a generation of the upright shall be blessed" - as Ibn Ezra explained, this refers to both father and son, alluding to David and Solomon, whom the Holy One, blessed be He, blessed with extraordinary abundance, and we see the immense heights they attained.
The Midrash, which applied the previous verse to Avraham, interprets this verse as referring to Yaakov: "Mighty in the land shall his seed be" - this is Yaakov. And what was his might? "He strove with an angel and prevailed" - he wrestled against the angel; and he removed the stone from the mouth of the well like someone uncorking a small vial. Yet this might was not merely physical muscle, for our Sages say, "He concentrated his heart and rolled the stone away" - it was through the focus of his heart that he rolled the stone. The power was that of the spirit and the heart, an inner resolve that enabled him to perform acts of tremendous physical strength. And regarding "a generation of the upright shall be blessed," the Midrash comments: these are the Shevatim (the twelve tribes), as Yaakov merited seeing a whole generation of upright descendants.
The Malbim explains: this person will be fortunate in both this world and the World to Come, and his children too will be fortunate. Regarding this world - "Mighty in the land shall his seed be," meaning that on earth they will be prominent and strong; and regarding the World to Come - "a generation of the upright shall be blessed," meaning that from him will emerge an upright generation, people who conduct themselves with integrity, and anyone who acts with integrity will surely be blessed in the World of Truth.
The sefer Otzrot HaHaggadah cites one of the foundations of education: that the educator must serve as a living example for the student, and this is far more powerful than any preaching. An incident occurred in the time of the Steipler Gaon, who remarked concerning an educator who shouted at a student who had done something improper, turning red in the face and telling him how severe the transgression was: there are two things at play here - what you said, and what he saw you do. Our Sages teach, "Serving Torah scholars is greater than studying from them." Regarding what you taught him - for instance, that you shouted at him for lying in order to teach him that lying is forbidden - I am not certain how much he absorbed. But what he certainly learned was the "service," the living example: how one becomes angry, how one shouts, how one loses control. Shimush (serving / practical observation) means observing how a sage conducts himself and acting likewise, whereas study is the intellectual application of what one was told. Therefore, the likelihood of the student imitating your anger is greater than the likelihood of his learning from you the exalted virtue of truth.
The foundation of education is personal example, which is far more powerful than preachiness. We have noted several times that preachiness is almost entirely ineffective, and in most cases even destructive, because it is oppressive: constantly rebuking him, quoting what is written in the sefarim, incessantly offering words of "chizuk" - until at a certain point he feels suffocated, and once he is suffocated, he throws off all restraint.
A man once asked Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky: he is standing in prayer, and his son - a boy of about twelve, approaching Bar Mitzvah - comes over and plays instead of praying. Should he interrupt his prayer to signal to him to concentrate? Rabbi Chaim answered him: No, your own life comes first; you must pray as well, and why should you interrupt your prayer for the sake of his prayer? The man asked: But what will become of the child, since he is not praying? Rabbi Chaim replied: He will see you praying - and he too will pray. In simple terms: set an example, and this is far more powerful than any lecture on how one ought to pray or rebuking him for not being serious about his prayer. But when he sees a father who reprimands him to concentrate, yet later sees that same father daydreaming, conversing with his neighbor, or browsing through a flyer instead of the siddur - you have set a negative example. "But I spoke to him!" - you spoke, but what he saw you do is far more powerful than anything you said. Therefore, the matter of personal example is paramount.
This is what the verse states: "Praiseworthy is the man who fears Hashem, who greatly desires His commandments" - praiseworthy is the person who possesses fear of Heaven and whose entire will and desire is to fulfill Hashem's mitzvot. From this state, he merits: "Mighty in the land shall his seed be, a generation of the upright shall be blessed": his children will be mighty - "Who is mighty? He who conquers his inclination" - and they will be a generation of the upright, because they received from him the most vital thing of all: the message of personal example.
הוֹן־וָעֹשֶׁר בְּבֵיתוֹ וְצִדְקָתוֹ עֹמֶדֶת לָעַד׃ - Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.
This applies not only to example through action, but also to the tone of conversation in the home. When a child sees that all conversation in the house revolves around matters of Torah and fear of Heaven, that the parents discuss spiritual matters between themselves and that this is the primary focus of the home - this child will reach a state where this becomes primary in his own life as well. But if he sees a father who attends Torah shiurim and observes mitzvot even scrupulously, yet all conversation in the home is about how to make money, where one can profit, where one can earn more - what does he absorb? That the matter of mitzvot is secondary, and "let us see what is truly important to Abba." When the constant talk in the home is whether there is money or no money, that one must make money, and may Hashem give us money - the entire home becomes materialistic, and the only example he has received is an obsession with money.
In my humble opinion, this is hinted at in this verse. Even if one grew up in a wealthy home - after all, Rebbe, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, was extraordinarily wealthy, more so than all his contemporaries, embodying "wealth and riches are in his house" - nevertheless, he raised righteous sons: "So-and-so my son shall be Rosh Yeshiva, so-and-so my son shall be Dayan, so-and-so my son shall be Nasi," and all emerged as monumental talmidei chachamim. Seemingly, when there is wealth and riches in a home, a person is usually drawn after materialism, and the children grow up with a silver spoon in their mouth. However, in the case of such an individual, they constantly saw that "he greatly desires His commandments"; money meant nothing to him. Hashem granted him immense wealth, baruch Hashem, but in his eyes it was never a subject of preoccupation and conversation. Consequently, even if the child grew up with wealth and riches in his house - "his righteousness endures forever," you will see him grow up righteous, and his righteousness will endure for all time. For the question is not how much money is in the home, but how much room money occupies in the home; how much space material advancement takes up. Is it the constant topic of conversation, or is the constant conversation about how to attain fear of Heaven, spirituality, and the service of Hashem?
The chapter opens with the praise of the one who fears Hashem - one whose awe is the awe of majesty rather than the fear of punishment, who guards against sin even in private, and who pursues mitzvot with his body and wealth out of deep passion and devotion: "in His commandments," and not for the reward of His commandments, like Avraham Avinu who performed every command immediately and with alacrity. From such awe, a person merits "goodly understanding" and the holy spirit to comprehend the inner secrets of the commandments, and then the mitzvot are performed out of love rather than intimidation - and this is the true happiness that the entire world seeks yet fails to find. Since this is his nature, he merits it in his descendants as well: "Mighty in the land shall his seed be, a generation of the upright shall be blessed," for personal example and the home's hierarchy of values are the true educators - and even if "wealth and riches are in his house," so long as money does not supplant spirituality, "his righteousness endures forever."