Introduction: The Letter Samech in Psalm 119
We continue with the letter Samech in Psalm 119. The four verses before us lead us from one level to the next: a plea for complete support so that one can meditate upon the Torah without distractions, a description of the stumbling of those who stray from the decrees, the purging of the dross from the earth, and finally - fear and awe before the Holy One, Blessed be He. We will proceed verse by verse, with the commentaries of the Radak and the Malbim, along with the accompanying words of Chazal and mussar.
"Support Me and I Shall Be Saved" - Total Sustenance Is Greater than Mere Support
סְעָדֵנִי וְאִוָּשֵׁעָה וְאֶשְׁעָה בְחֻקֶּיךָ תָמִיד׃ (קיז) - Support me and I shall be saved, and I will occupy myself with Your statutes continually. (117)
The Radak explains: If You support me, You will save me from their hand, and thereby nothing will trouble me, and I will be able to meditate upon the Torah of Hashem free from distractions. And what is the meaning of "ve'esh'ah"? Rashi explains: I will occupy myself, as in "let them not pay attention (al yish'u) to lying words." Another interpretation: "ve'esh'ah" is from the language of recounting and reviewing, as in the expression "ve-lishnina," "and for those who speak" (u-lish'o'in) - they speak of you; "ve'esaper ve'ishta'ei" (I will recount and speak). We see that recounting and speaking are referred to as a form of sha'ayah. And the Radak further cites that it is related to delight (sha'ashu'im): Your statutes will always be my delight and joy.
The Malbim notes that the central focus of the verse is the statutes (chukim), and adds a precise nuance to the wording of the plea: "sa'ad" (total sustenance and support) is greater than "semichah" (leaning or upholding). To uphold (lismoch) applies when something tilts slightly and one braces it; to sustain (lis'od) applies when it must completely lean upon someone - as in modern Hebrew "si'udi" (nursing or dependent care), where someone requires full assistance. Therefore, in the previous verse he asked, "Uphold me (samcheini)... that I may live" - if You merely uphold me, I will have life, but not yet complete salvation. Here, however, "Support me (se'adeini) and I shall be saved" - if You grant me full sustenance and support, the salvation will be absolute. And then, when I am no longer preoccupied with wars and struggles against enemies, "I will occupy myself with Your statutes continually."
And why specifically statutes (chukim)? The Malbim explains: Even with statutes that have no apparent reason. Statutes also include the methodologies of the Oral Torah and the teachings of the Sages whose underlying rationale is not openly revealed, and then I will occupy myself with them continually - to delve into them and understand their reasons and secrets. Thus, it is specifically from the absence of distractions that a person attains deep contemplation in Torah, even in its most inward dimensions that are in the category of chukim.
The Sifrei: A Prayer Not to Forget One's Learning
The Sifrei expounds on "Support me and I shall be saved": that I should not learn Torah and forget; that I should not learn while the yetzer hara prevents me from reviewing. Listen to such a prayer! A person must pray that Hashem help him not forget his studies, and that he be able to review what he has learned. And we all know that this is the greatest yetzer hara - the inclination that will not let a person review and repeat. Why? Because it knows well that one who learns and does not review is like one who sows and does not reap, and therefore it prevents specifically this very thing.
It is known that the Vilna Gaon, when accepting students, would test their capacity for review: how capable they were of repeating and reviewing the same material. If he told a student to prepare a topic and come for an exam, and saw that after twenty minutes the student had already finished and stepped forward, he would not accept him. But if he saw that he reviewed and repeated, and reviewed and repeated, and reviewed again - he would accept him. In his eyes, perseverance and the ability to review and repeat were more valuable than quick grasp and depth. And the Gaon testified about himself that out of his great love for the Torah, he was capable of reviewing a single Mishnah his entire life. Who can grasp such a thing? Today, someone is told: "Let us review the Mishnah," and he immediately replies: "We already learned it, let us move on." You learned it? So what if you learned it - review it again!
The Sifrei continues to explain what the fear is: "Lest I declare the impure pure and the pure impure, and find myself ashamed in the World to Come" - that I will suffer disgrace there for ruling improperly and not in accordance with halachah; and further: "Lest the peoples of the land ask me and I do not know how to answer them, and find myself disgraced in their eyes."
"What Do You Want, for Me to Be an Am Ha'aretz?"
It is told of Rav Elyashiv zt"l that he would slip away to learn in the "Ohel Rachel" synagogue, lock everything up, close the windows, and hear nothing - no matter how hard people knocked from the outside, he remained immersed in his learning. When the Rebbetzin asked to allow in more people who wished to see him, he said to her: Please do me a favor, do not send people; it disturbs me during my study - what do you want, that I should become an am ha'aretz? People come to ask me questions! And this was said when he was already in his eighties and nineties.
Rav Mordechai Eliyahu zt"l related that when he, Rav Ovadia Yosef, and Rav Elyashiv sat together on a beit din panel and needed to write the halachic conclusions, he and Rav Ovadia would open books to research and write - while Rav Elyashiv would write the entire ruling in fifteen minutes, all from memory: the Shach in this siman, that se'if katan, writes this, and that authority writes that - and immediately afterward he would open a Gemara and sit down to learn. Some people sit for hours to draft a responsum, while he did it in a quarter of an hour. Incidentally, the only writings preserved from him are his rulings on the beit din; aside from that, he did not write. He explained that whenever he set out to write, the dread of halachic ruling fell upon him, for in writing, one decides definitively that a matter must be so, yet every issue has two sides and there are poskim who rule otherwise. Therefore, when people came to ask, he would issue a ruling, but to establish and fix it in writing - from that he refrained (though ultimately his disciples recorded everything from his mouth). In the same way, entire volumes by Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt"l were published solely from the letters and questions sent to him that were transcribed into print.
"You Have Trampled All Who Stray from Your Statutes"
סָלִיתָ כָּל שׁוֹגִים מֵחֻקֶּיךָ כִּי שֶׁקֶר תַּרְמִיתָם׃ (קיח) - "You have trampled all who stray from Your statutes, for their deceit is falsehood."
The Radak explains that salita shares the meaning of the intensive verb "sillah all my mighty ones" (Eichah 1:15) - an expression of treading down and trampling. Sillah is in the intensive conjugation (pi'el) while salita is in the simple conjugation (qal). The difference between the intensive and simple conjugations is that the intensive usually carries a dagesh or a heavier grammatical form, placing greater weight on the speech organs - one can say rotzei'ach (killer) or meratzei'ach (murderer); the basic meaning is the same, but the intensive form denotes a weightier, more forceful action. Here, salita means You have trampled and trodden down all who stray from Your statutes. The Radak further notes that this can be understood as a supplication: Master of the Universe, trample all who stray from Your statutes, "for their deceit is falsehood" - they present themselves as upright, but it is mere fraud and deceit; internally they are wicked, and in the end it becomes clear that everything was a lie.
Why are they called shogim (those who err inadvertently), when this is not an innocent error but deliberate deceit? The Radak explains: they are called shogim because when their wrongdoing is exposed to people, observers will say, "They merely made a mistake." Since they cultivated an image of decent, respectable individuals, when their disgrace comes to light, people say: he probably slipped up, he probably erred unintentionally. In truth, however, it is no inadvertent error - "their deceit is falsehood," their entire path is built on deception, merely putting on an outward show of integrity.
Here too, the Malbim focuses on the central term: chukim (statutes). In several places, he explains that a shegagah (inadvertent error) refers to an intellectual mistake: a person reasoned through an issue, but did not analyze it properly, and ultimately arrived at an erroneous conclusion. They fail to observe the statutes because they err in their analysis - relying on their own reasoning as to how the statutes should be kept, and denying the expositions of the Sages. "And their deceit is falsehood" - the conclusions they reached were achieved through falsehood, stemming from heresy and a lack of belief in the words of Chazal, who are the authentic transmitters of the tradition. Were it not for that, one would not have strayed and would not have fallen into those errors. History has seen many such errant movements: the Karaites, Shabbetai Tzvi and his followers, the Frankists after them, the Sadducees and the Boethusians - we have had no shortage of those who reasoned improperly, erred in their thinking, and arrived at grave distortions. And from where did it all stem? "Their deceit is falsehood" - because they did not analyze matters properly and did not walk in the accepted, upright path; therefore, they became corrupted and fell into all those delusions.
Mussar Is Internal Work
Reality proves this. When you look at people who are distant from mitzvot - and this does not even refer to gentiles - they have no concept of what a refined person is, what character development (avodat hamiddot) entails, or how a person confronts his internal impulses. Even if they tell you that arrogance is socially unacceptable, the restriction is entirely external: do not act arrogant on the outside, do not brag about yourself all the time. But in the heart? On the contrary, flatter yourself, swell with pride inside, as long as you do not show it outwardly. That is not mussar. Mussar means internal work - to purge the dross within us, not merely to polish an external facade. That is why among them you will never find discussion of cleansing hatred, jealousy, lust, and the pursuit of honor from the heart. Who speaks of internal work? One reaches this only through the power of Your testimonies - only through the power of Torah does a person truly arrive at internal work, refining his character and contending with the impulse of pride within him, with stubbornness, with anger, with all the traits hidden deep inside. Often no one on the outside has any inkling of them, yet he knows and feels that he is wrestling with them, and he learns mussar in order to transform them.
It is related of Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian zt"l, Mashgiach of the Kfar Chassidim Yeshivah, that once, when they reached the verse in Eshet Chayil, "Her husband is known in the gates, as he sits among the elders of the land," tears were seen rolling down his cheek. People asked him why, but he did not wish to say. Only to his wife, whose requests he always fulfilled, did he reveal: I began thinking to myself how much honor people give me. Everywhere I go, they set up my shtender, open my siddur, rise before me, address me as the Gaon and the Tzaddik and all kinds of titles. But none of that amounts to anything. "Her husband is known in the gates, as he sits among the elders of the land" - when I arrive at the Heavenly gates and sit among the elders of the earth, they will say: Who is this? Eliyahu Lopian? What is he doing here? Why is he taking a seat among the elders of the land - does he imagine he is one of them? What humiliation I will suffer there! Here, a person feels important, people honor him and sing to him - but where is one truly known? When he sits among the elders of the land.
Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian would always humble himself and say: "Who knows what an arrogant person I truly am." People would say to him: "The Rav has never been arrogant!" And he would say: "Who knows what a hot-tempered person I am." They protested: "The Rav has never displayed anger!" He replied: "True, I do not get angry - but only because no one provokes me; everyone treats me with honor, so where would I have an opportunity to become angry? And who knows, had someone provoked me properly, how furious I might have become." Notice the difference: we tend to say, "Heaven forbid that I am an angry person, people simply irritate me," whereas he - who never showed anger - would say, "Who knows what an angry person I am." A complete person engages in internal work, purging the dross from within.
"You Have Purged as Dross All the Wicked of the Earth"
סִגִים הִשְׁבַּתָּ כָל רִשְׁעֵי אָרֶץ לָכֵן אָהַבְתִּי עֵדֹתֶיךָ׃ (קיט) - You have eliminated all the wicked of the earth like dross; therefore I love Your testimonies. (119)
The Radak explains: Just as a silversmith purges the dross from the silver, so too must the wicked of the earth be removed in order to purify the earth. You have purged them just as one subjects the dross to fire in order to refine the silver, and the waste is burned away - "The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold" - so You consume the wicked.
And why "therefore I love Your testimonies"? According to the Malbim's explanation, "Your testimonies" refers to the narratives recorded in the Torah that testify to reward and punishment and to Hashem's providence: the Generation of the Flood, the Generation of the Dispersion, and the like. King David says: When I see how You eliminate the wicked, I love Your testimonies, for in this itself we have testimony to how the Holy One, Blessed is He, executes fair and righteous judgment, and how Hashem exacts retribution from the wicked. This finds expression in the fact that You discard all the wicked of the earth like dross.
"My flesh bristles from dread of You" - Dread and Awe
סָמַר מִפַּחְדְּךָ בְשָׂרִי וּמִמִּשְׁפָּטֶיךָ יָרֵאתִי׃ (קכ) - My flesh bristles from dread of You, and I fear Your judgments. (120)
The Radak explains: From the intensity of the dread of You, my flesh bristled. The word samar is related to masmerim (nails) - the hairs stand up stiff like nails. And the Malbim adds that there is a distinction between pachad (dread) and yirah (fear or awe): pachad is fear of the unknown, whereas yirah is fear of something known. "My flesh bristles from dread of You" is dread of the unknown, for I do not know what will be; "and I fear Your judgments" is fear of the known, for I know what Your judgments and Your punishments are, and therefore I fear them. Thus, there is both dread of the unknown and fear of the known.
The Malbim further explains: There are two types of fear - yirat ha'onesh (fear of punishment) and yirat haromemut (awe of the Divine Majesty). Fear of punishment is the basic level of fear, where a person is afraid of retribution; while awe of the Divine Majesty is reverent awe inspired by the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed is He, where a person comprehends Hashem's greatness and stands in awe before Him. "My flesh bristles from dread of You" refers to yirat haromemut - I am in awe of Your greatness; "and I fear Your judgments" refers to yirat ha'onesh - I am afraid of the judgments and the punishments. Here, then, we find both kinds of fear combined.
It is told of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter that he would say: If only we had fear of punishment! People talk about awe of the Divine Majesty, about the love of Hashem, and about lofty heights - but he would say: If only we could attain fear of punishment, if only we were afraid of Gehinnom, if only we dreaded punishment. Had we truly feared punishment, we would not sin. First and foremost, one must achieve fear of punishment, and only afterwards can one speak of awe of the Divine Majesty. And this is what King David says: "And I fear Your judgments" - I am afraid of Your judgments and Your punishments, and that is what protects me from sinning.
In summary:
The four verses form a single conceptual progression: First, David requests complete support (sa'ad) and not merely leaning (semichah) - "Sustain me and I will be saved" - so that he may meditate upon the statutes without distractions, alongside the prayer of the Sifrei that he not forget his learning and that the evil inclination not prevent him from reviewing, in keeping with the way of the Vilna Gaon, who based his entire test of achievement on constant review and repetition. Next - "You have spurned all who stray from Your statutes": those who erred in their analysis and denied the words of the Sages, turning out that their deceit is falsehood, even if people attribute it to an innocent error. From here we learned that only through the power of Your testimonies, through the power of the Torah, can one attain true inner spiritual work and internal character refinement. Therefore, "You have eliminated all the wicked of the earth like dross" - like a refiner purifying silver, which itself serves as testimony to Hashem's providence in reward and punishment, and therefore "I love Your testimonies." Finally, "My flesh bristles from dread of You, and I fear Your judgments" - dread of the unknown and fear of the known, awe of the Divine Majesty and fear of punishment; and as Rabbi Yisrael Salanter said, if only we were privileged first of all to possess fear of punishment, which will protect us from sin.