Introduction
In this section of Psalm 36, we move from the depiction of the wicked man's path - "Transgression speaks to the wicked" - to the praise of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the description of true life. Here, King David lays out the difference between physical existence, which is nothing more than a shadow and a trickle, and the spiritual life and light flowing from their Source, blessed be He. From this foundation, he arrives at a prayer for those who know Hashem and the upright of heart, a warning against arrogance, and concludes with the downfall of evildoers.
They Are Sated with the Abundance of Your House - Sustenance for the Soul
יִרְוְיֻן מִדֶּשֶׁן בֵּיתֶךָ וְנַחַל עֲדָנֶיךָ תַשְׁקֵם׃ - They are abundantly sated with the fatness of Your house, and You give them drink from the stream of Your delights.
The Malbim explains: Man contains a part of God from Above, and the spiritual component within him is the holy of holies. All natural, physical, and material matters are like those in the courtyards of the House of Hashem - outside, governed by the laws of nature. But human souls are on the level of those who enter the chamber of the Holy One, blessed be He, as diners at His table who eat His bread. The soul's sustenance is not physical food but spiritual: it does not live on steak, but on prayer and Torah study. Its water is not corporeal water drawn from a spring or a cistern, but "from the abundance of Your house," angelic food, and its drink is: "You give them drink from the stream of Your delights." When we speak of the spiritual element within man, its existence is sustained through spiritual means, not material ones. The flowing stream is a metaphor for divine bounty: the Torah, the mitzvot, the unification of the Shechinah, and the flow of prophecy - all these are like a flowing stream that pours into the soul of the Jew.
From here, the Malbim notes: Who could still be so foolish as to question the reason for the mitzvot between man and God? Who could ask, "After all, we do not see a person physically affected by this"? Once you realize that man is linked to the Holy One, blessed be He, through invisible spiritual bonds, it is self-evident that by observing His mitzvot, you strengthen those very bonds with Him. And if one rebels against His mitzvot, not only does he distance himself, but he can reach a state of "that soul shall be utterly cut off" - a total severance from spirituality, leaving the soul starved.
Radak explains that everything stated here - "They are abundantly sated with the fatness of Your house, and You give them drink from the stream of Your delights" - refers to the World to Come, the realm of souls and angels. There, the World to Come is called the House of Hashem, the Sanctuary of Hashem, His holy mountain, the mountain of Hashem, the pleasantness of Hashem; all these expressions refer to the spiritual reality after one hundred and twenty years. And what are this "fatness" and "delight"? Radak clarifies: goodness and the knowledge of God, blessed be He. This is the supreme good above which there is no higher level, a satiety after which there is neither hunger nor thirst. One who attains knowledge of the Creator of the world hungers not, thirsts not, and lacks nothing. "The stream of Your delights" means that the pleasures will be abundant like the waters of a river. And again, this does not mean physical pleasures - we are not Muslims, and we do not speak of seventy concubines, but of divine, spiritual delights flowing like the waters of a river. "You give them drink" - that which we cannot achieve through our own capacities, Hashem will bestow upon us: He will pour down upon us and open our hearts and minds to receive and grasp that sublime river of bounty from Him, blessed be He.
For with You Is the Fountain of Life - True Life
כִּי עִמְּךָ מְקוֹר חַיִּים בְּאוֹרְךָ נִרְאֶה אוֹר׃ - For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.
Radak explains: Just like the waters of a spring, which flow continuously without cease - unlike gathered water that can evaporate over time - but rather an endless wellspring, so too the life of the World to Come is an unending fountain. It is a life with no death to follow, a light followed by no darkness. This is the meaning of "in Your light we see light": an eternal light, an enduring light, a true light, not a coarse physical light like that of this world, which is transient.
The Malbim explains: While all living creatures within the framework of nature receive life and light from the world - life being mere existence, for even a dog needs life, otherwise it is a carcass; and light, in order to actualize the senses, seeing by virtue of light, moving to find food by light, with all its activities carried out through light. Thus, a creature possesses two things: life, which is its bare existence, and light, which activates its senses. Yet all of this is merely an analogy and illustration, for this natural, corporeal life is nothing more than a trickling conduit from true life - a faint droplet of actual life. And what is true life? "For with You is the fountain of life" - true life is with You, Master of the Universe. In the Malbim's words, we call natural life "life" by homonym alone (a shared name). Make no mistake - it is only a shared term. Physical life, which is essentially nothing, cannot be compared to the true life that is with Him, blessed be He. Spiritual life is the only true life.
"How Many Are the Days of the Years of Your Life?" - Yaakov Avinu's Answer
From here, we have spoken at length in the past: when Pharaoh asked Yaakov Avinu, "How many are the days of the years of your life?", instead of simply stating the number of his years, Yaakov delivered an entire mussar discourse: "The days of the years of my sojourning are few and evil, nor have they attained the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojournings." Does a simple question about the number of years require so much elaboration? The Malbim explains there: Yaakov Avinu wished to set Pharaoh straight on his error. When you ask, "How many are the days of the years of your life?", you certainly mean physical, material life - and that is not called life at all, but rather "the days of the years of my sojourning", how long I have dwelled here as a temporary resident. Is that truly life? Real life is "For with You is the fountain of life", and that is a completely different kind of life. But if you mean material life, those are merely the days of my sojourning, and by your parameters my life was not a success story; whereas by spiritual parameters, it is deep, deep, high above the high, who can fathom it.
It turns out that spiritual life is real life, flowing from the Source of life, from the Holy One, blessed be He, while physical life here is an illusory life. For this reason, a person should not feel excessive sorrow over a passing. We do not customarily say "dead" (even though the Torah does use this term), but rather "niftar" (released / departed) - meaning that he was discharged from here and moved there. Since life here is temporary anyway, and everyone at some point will resign or be discharged, it is clear that this is not the life of true meaning. A person should know that his relative is now in the light of Hashem, with the Source of life, and life here is nothing more than an illusory existence.
In Your Light We See Light - Physical Light as a Parable
The same applies to light, says the Malbim: the physical light through which we see, which brings the sense of sight from potential into actuality, is merely a spark of the Divine light. Divine light is the true light, the root of all lights, to the extent that physical light is considered material and like darkness compared to the supernal light. Notice that in Kabbalah, when they want to illustrate spirituality, they speak of light: what are the sefirot? Lights. Are the sefirot really lights? Certainly not - the sefirot are spiritual entities, whereas light is a physical phenomenon. How do we know that light is physical? Because only a physical thing can be quantified and measured. Light is measured in photons; lighting specialists come with an instrument, check, and say that there is not enough light here and four LED fixtures must be added in every corner. If light can be measured with an instrument, it is a sign that it is physical. Why, then, is the term "light" used? Because light is the most spiritual thing we can perceive in the physical world. Who has ever held light in their hands? Who has ever touched it? There is no such thing. This means it is the closest thing to spirituality, and therefore when speaking about the sefirot, which we cannot comprehend, we are told "lights". Thus, physical light is a parable for spiritual light and a spark of it, while the true light is the Holy One, blessed be He, the Root of all lights.
It is interesting that people who experienced clinical death describe seeing an immense light at the end of the tunnel through which they passed. They recount that the light was extremely powerful, and they were amazed that it did not blind them at all. Second, they felt that this light was a conscious entity. Third, they felt an overwhelming love emanating from it toward them, affection and warmth - not physical heat, but love and a desire to connect - so much so that many of them said that upon seeing this, they realized they were leaving the world, yet they were drawn to it and wanted to continue, out of their profound joy from this connection to spirituality, until they were stopped and told that their time had not yet come. The principle that emerges from this: this aspect of light is a transcendent spiritual light beyond our grasp, and our physical light is considered a coarse object beside it - a thin conduit emerging from the spiritual light, serving as merely an allegory to it.
And just as vision is not actualized except through light, and in a dark room we see nothing, so too the light in this world cannot exist except through the supernal spiritual light; for the lower light is like a thin conduit from the higher light, and if, Heaven forbid, the higher light were extinguished - something entirely impossible - there would be no light down here. This is "In Your light we see light": through Your light, the aspect of the hidden light, the light of Hashem, may He be blessed, the lower light is actualized. "Come, let us walk in the light of Hashem."
"And you who cling to Hashem your God are alive, every one of you, this day" - how does one live a real life here? Through cleaving to Hashem. Not like the path of "Transgression speaks to the wicked", who believed that life consists of materiality, health, eating, and the physical body; rather, those who cling to Hashem are all alive today. And what does "alive, every one of you, this day" mean, given that some have already died? Rather, those who cling to Hashem are alive even today; the righteous, even in their death, are called living, for "in the light of the King's countenance is life." Where are they now? In the light of the King's countenance, and therefore they are considered alive - "For with You is the fountain of life." The wicked, by contrast, are called dead even during their lifetimes. You hear him shouting, barking, making noise, cursing, blaspheming, and reviling - do not be fazed, he is dead, he is as good as dead. What you see here is a virtual reality, a temporary matter; very soon his time will come, and it will become clear to him and to everyone that he is gone - that he has no true existence or spiritual reality.
And how does one attain the Source of life and the true light? The Malbim says: through the Torah and the mitzvot. Through them, a person attains light, and through them he ascends step by step to draw from the Source of life and gaze upon the light of Hashem. And what is darkness? Transgressions, and death - that is darkness. With this, the Malbim explains, an answer has already been provided to "Transgression speaks to the wicked... to find his iniquity to hate it", to the claim of the wicked that there is no need for mitzvot. The coarse, material person thinks like an animal that they are unnecessary, but the spiritual person understands that existence here is merely an illusion compared to true spiritual reality, and therefore the way to cling to spirituality is to provide the soul with what it needs - the Torah and the mitzvot, which are true life and spirituality.
Extend Your Lovingkindness to Those Who Know You - A Prayer for Contemplation and Action
מְשֹׁךְ חַסְדְּךָ לְיֹדְעֶיךָ וְצִדְקָתְךָ לְיִשְׁרֵי לֵב׃ - Extend Your lovingkindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.
Based on this introduction, the Malbim explains, David Hamelech now asks Hashem to extend His lovingkindness and righteousness to those who were not seduced by the arguments of "transgression" that comes to mislead man, but rather align their path with the Holy One, blessed be He. This applies both in intellectual contemplation - to understand and contemplate the reality of God and to know Hashem, regarding whom it is said, "Extend Your lovingkindness to those who know You", to whoever genuinely seeks to know You; and in practical action - those who keep Shabbat, lay tefillin, observe mitzvot, and perform acts of kindness, fulfilling everything with an upright heart, regarding whom it is said, "and Your righteousness to the upright in heart."
Notice the distinction: for those who know Him, David asks that Hashem extend chesed (lovingkindness), while for the upright of heart who observe the mitzvot, tzedakah (righteousness). Why chesed for the former and tzedakah for the latter? The Malbim explains: those who know Hashem recognize that the Holy One, blessed be He, directs the world through a miraculous and wondrous providence, that everything is from Him, may He be blessed. Through this knowledge, they merit Hashem's lovingkindness - for the chesed of Hashem is a conduct that transcends nature. You acknowledge this - you merit it.
Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa - One Who Has Already Discovered Hashem
This aligns closely with what we find regarding Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, for whom miracles were openly manifest. Yet do not miracles diminish a person's merits, and does not the performance of a miracle compromise free will? How is it, then, that in his case he told the rafters to lengthen and they lengthened, he said of the goats that they would bring bears and they brought bears on their horns, and he declared that vinegar should burn and it burned? For Hashem does not perform miracles without cause when doing so compromises free will. As discussed at length in the teachings of Michtav Me-Eliyahu: Rav Dessler explains that only for us do miracles infringe upon free choice, because we do not yet truly see Hashem; when we witness an open miracle, we are awestruck and exclaim, "Look, a miracle, the Holy One, blessed be He!" Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, however, lived with the reality of the Holy One, blessed be He, at every moment, and perceived nature itself as a miracle. As the Ramban writes, a person has no portion in the Torah of Moshe until he recognizes, knows, and believes that all our occurrences and circumstances are miracles, having nothing to do with nature or the ordinary course of the world. Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa lived with the constant awareness that the rising of the sun is a miracle, and that oil burning is a miracle. Therefore, when vinegar burned - what was there to wonder at? He had already seen the miracle in the burning of oil.
It follows that he was worthy of immense kindnesses. To express this in our own terms: Hashem no longer plays hide-and-seek with him, for he has already discovered Him, and there is no longer any reason to hide. With us, Hashem still conceals Himself, since part of our service is to seek and reveal Him; but Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa had already found Him - what purpose was there in hiding from him? Therefore, regarding one who is within the category of "those who know You," Hashem extends lovingkindness to him. That is, supernatural influences and complete kindnesses can be bestowed upon him without compromising his free will and without artificially bolstering the faith he is meant to labor for - because he is already there.
And "the upright in heart" are those whose deeds are righteous in the realm between man and God: Shabbat, tefillin, and the like. This service between man and God is called tzedakah (righteousness). As noted several times, the Malbim explains that wherever the phrase "righteousness and justice" appears, justice (mishpat) refers to interpersonal matters, civil law, whereas righteousness (tzedakah) refers to piety between man and God, conducting all one's affairs uprightly in accordance with Hashem's commandments. We are accustomed to thinking that tzedakah means giving charity, and thus we perceive it as interpersonal; yet when Scripture speaks of "righteousness and justice," righteousness refers to uprightness between man and God. Therefore, "and Your righteousness to the upright in heart" means that those who are upright between man and God, the righteous, are worthy of Hashem extending His righteousness upon them.
Let Not the Foot of Pride Reach Me - Arrogance as the Root of Heresy
אַל תְּבוֹאֵנִי רֶגֶל גַּאֲוָה וְיַד רְשָׁעִים אַל תְּנִדֵנִי׃ - Let not the foot of pride reach me, and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.
David says: so that I do not stumble through the arguments of transgression, whether in intellectual contemplation or in practical deed. Countering its intellectual arguments and philosophical speculations regarding the Divine, he pleads, "Let not the foot of pride reach me." Here the Malbim reveals a profound insight: what causes a person to stumble in metaphysical contemplation, in divine matters that cannot be observed in a laboratory or tested empirically - and all the more so in Divine wisdom - is arrogance, leading him to presume that nothing eludes his comprehension. Simply put: heresy is often the direct result of arrogance. If a person is humble, he realizes that he does not understand everything. Who says I must understand everything? And who says Hashem owes me answers to everything? A person who possesses humility is capable of perceiving Godliness; an arrogant person immediately declares that it is all nonsense. Where does this stem from? From pride. Because the arrogant person is convinced that he must understand everything, and when he encounters something beyond his grasp, he dismisses it immediately.
Therefore, King David pleads: Master of the Universe, let not the foot of pride reach me, so that in theoretical matters I do not succumb to pride. For through pride, a person quickly tears apart Scripture and begins to criticize - "Wait, here it says this, and there it says that; it must have been written in a different era" - jumping straight to conclusions. Approach it instead with humility and self-effacement, and you will see that you can truly understand. This is what King David said: "My heart was not haughty, nor were my eyes lofty." On the other hand, regarding practical action, he says, "and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away" - the hand always symbolizes action: let not the hand of the wicked dislodge my hands from clinging to You, so that I may fulfill the actions and the mitzvot, and the wicked will be unable to harm me or sway me from performing Your commandments.
By way of homiletic allusion (remez), it is noted that the initial letters of "Al tevo'eni regel ga'avah" (אַל תְּבוֹאֵנִי רֶגֶל גַּאֲוָה) spell etrog (אתרוג). What is this allusion coming to teach? When someone buys an etrog, what does he do next? He makes the rounds among his friends: "Did you see what an etrog I got?" - he bought something beautiful and exquisite, invested heavily in it, and now he walks around showing everyone his special etrog. He is told: etrog - "Let not the foot of pride reach me." Take care that this etrog does not lead you to pride.
There the Evildoers Have Fallen - A Fall from Which There Is No Rising
שָׁם נָפְלוּ פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן דֹּחוּ וְלֹא יָכְלוּ קוּם׃ - There the workers of iniquity have fallen; they were thrust down and could not rise.
King David says: even though I know that the workers of iniquity sometimes enjoy success here in this world, do not be shaken by the success of the wicked. Know: "There the workers of iniquity have fallen." Wait; this world is fleeting and temporary, and those you see here enjoying great success - there they will have their fall. And what kind of fall? A fall from which there is no rising: "They were thrust down and could not rise." For if a person falls here in this world - "A righteous person falls seven times and rises" - he is still in the game, still in the arena, and can be restored. But one who has fallen and died - where will he rise? When will he rise? In that realm, rising is impossible. It is like a boxer who is knocked out cold onto the canvas, the count is called, and he does not get up - the match is over. One must realize that the realm of the World to Come admits no further changes: "There they have fallen... and could not rise"; one cannot begin to elevate oneself there. This is the ultimate ruin of the workers of iniquity; therefore, do not be overawed when you see them prospering.
"All the workers of iniquity blossomed" - like grass. Grass is a temporary growth; in moments, under the very first sun, you see it wither away. It grows quickly, and it falls quickly. Therefore, one should not be impressed by those factions that establish political parties whose entire agenda is war against everything sacred and precious. Notice that over time, all of those parties ended in failure, every single one of them. Meretz once held twelve Knesset seats - how many remain today? And even that was only after merging with another antagonist of Israel; had they not, they would have been wiped out completely. As has been noted: "Why does the way of the wicked prosper [tzalechah]?" - the key Hebrew letters spell MERETZ. It is a temporary success, a fleeting success. Later we saw that party that gathered seventeen or eighteen political dwarfs - how much noise, how much filth, blasphemy, and revilement, yet ultimately it was wiped out. Then the son arose after his father to restore his father's ruins, and once again the same noise: alliances, coalitions, a secular government. Do not be alarmed.
The Jewish people is a nation that runs long distances, not sprints. And over the long distance, the result is: "And you who cling to the Lord your God are all alive today." Torah-observant Jewry, those who guard the mitzvot and cling to Hashem, are steadily multiplying, and that is precisely what frightens those on the outside. But this is a stage of "perfecting the world under the sovereignty of the Almighty," while the wicked dwindle away. As the Chazon Ish expressed it, they have decreed karet (spiritual excision) upon themselves: by the very way you choose to live, you have decreed karet upon yourself, and what will remain of you? Therefore, when witnessing such a situation, one should not cry, "Woe is us!" We survived Pharaoh, and we will survive them as well; we have endured difficult eras, and we will endure this one too.
The same applies among the nations: Where is Babylon, which once held dominion over the entire world? Where is Greece, which also ruled supreme, when Alexander the Great conquered nearly the entire civilized world? Greece today is merely a burden on the Eurozone - an obscure country somewhere that determines nothing on the world agenda, absolute emptiness and void. That was the Greece that once ruled the world, and nothing remains of it! Therefore, one should not be alarmed upon seeing an evil power rise, for in the end, it is the Jewish people that endures. Hitler spoke of a "thousand-year Reich," and who would have believed it would not last even twenty years? People were certain Germany was going to rule the world, and how long did it take until it was forbidden even to maintain an army? Not very long at all. We become alarmed and see that times are hard, and indeed the Jewish people paid with its blood - we do not treat this lightly in any way. But when examining historical processes, the Jewish people still exists; it has witnessed them all, outlasted them all, and is an eternal nation. As Mark Twain famously put it: the nations raised their torch proudly, and their torch burned out in its own fire. And whoever wishes may draw an analogy here to our contemporary Lapid as well.
Let us understand, then, that one must not be alarmed by such a reality and ask, "What will we do now? How will Torah be studied? After all, they will cut budgets!" Do we live off their budgets? Are they the ones who sustain us? Does our life come from them? There were far harder eras, and the Jewish people survived. Difficult times demand from us greater effort, greater dedication, higher aspirations, and more willpower; it is a test required of us - but to despair, under no circumstances! One must know that at the end of the process, we are the ones who will triumph, and we are the ones who will remain here, as history itself proves. This is not merely an expectation or a hopeful wish: throughout all of history, the ones who remained here are us and no one else - "those who cling to the Lord your God," that is the Jewish people. Whoever abandoned that devotion did not survive and is no longer with us; and if you see someone like that among us today, it is only a temporary phenomenon, and soon he too will disappear.
A Story of the Chafetz Chaim - Side with the Strong
Let us conclude with a story. Once, Rav Kahaneman, who was then a communal rabbi, came to the Chafetz Chaim and told him that the situation was dire. He described how elections had taken place in the community, and the Neolog modernizers had gained the upper hand; they seized the community building and the Talmud Torah, began taking control of everything, and the public was starting to follow them. He asked: What is to be done? The Chafetz Chaim said to him: The rule states that when there are two opposing forces, one stronger and one weaker, one sides with the strong. Rav Kahaneman opened his eyes wide in astonishment: What, make peace with them? Acquiesce to their actions? The Chafetz Chaim said to him: You did not understand. Tell me, whose war is this, and against whom? You described a bleak picture of many powerful, authoritative figures who hold the reins of power, and they are setting out to fight - against whom? Against the Holy One, blessed be He! Calculate for yourself, then, who is stronger here, and side with Him, for whoever is stronger is the one who will ultimately prevail.
This is what a person must remember. You are not fighting against me, nor against observant Jews; when you seek to turn this into a secular state, you are fighting against the Holy One, blessed be He - you have opened a front against Him! And in those wars, what are the results? History has proven it. Therefore, there is no reason to be alarmed or afraid: your end will be like the end of all those throughout history who fought against Hashem. Where is Titus? Where is Nebuchadnezzar? Where is Babylon? Where is Greece? Where are they all? In the trash bin, in the recycling bin of history - and that is where you will end up as well. We need only remain strong, ensure our faith is clear and steadfast, and know that we do not live by their favor. And even if it seems to us that the High Court of Justice runs the country and will dictate how we conduct our gatherings - who are you to dictate? What do you understand? What do you know about true life? After all, in a single moment you will no longer be here; and "not being here" means that this person simply ceases to exist in reality, for one who incurs karet has his soul cut off and ceases to exist. You are nothing more than a virtual figure, wearing someone's judicial robes, pseudo-important. What importance? Sheer nothingness and vanity.
In summary: King David teaches us in this part of the psalm that the soul is nourished by the abundance of Hashem's house and the stream of His delights - a spiritual bounty of Torah, mitzvot, and comprehension of the Divine, not physical food; that the life and light we know here are merely a trickle and a spark of the true "source of life" and "Your light," and therefore those who cling to Hashem are called alive even after their death, while the wicked are called dead even during their lifetimes. From this flows the prayer, "Extend Your lovingkindness to those who know You" - supernatural kindness for one who recognizes miraculous providence, like Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, "and Your righteousness to the upright of heart" - to those who fulfill the commandments between man and God. And from this comes the plea, "Let not the foot of pride overtake me," since pride is the root of heresy, "and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away" in action. And the conclusion: "There the workers of iniquity have fallen" - their success is fleeting like grass, and their fall is one from which there is no rising. Therefore, one should never be alarmed by the rising power of those who violate the covenant; the end of anyone who opens a front against the Holy One, blessed be He, is known, whereas for us - "And you who cling to the Lord your God are all alive today."