אַךְ בַּיהוָה לִי אָמַר צְדָקוֹת וָעֹז עָדָיו יָבוֹא וְיֵבֹשׁוּ כֹּל הַנֶּחֱרִים בּוֹ - Only in Hashem, one shall say of Me, are righteousness and strength; to Him shall come and be ashamed all who are incensed against Him. Rashi comments that this verse is transposed (mesuras). Rashi says this verse is written... sometimes there is a case of a transposed verse. A transposed verse means the verse is not written in its proper order. Rather it is written in such a way that, as it were, you have to start reading it from the middle, then return to the beginning, and then finish it. And then you have to straighten out the verse, as it were, rewrite it, break it down for you, read it in this way, and then you will understand the verse. Now this can happen for two reasons. One possible reason is that our way of understanding is not the way of understanding of the author of the book. He expresses matters in this manner, and only in order to bring things closer to our comprehension do we need to arrange things differently, and then it becomes easy for us to understand. That is one possibility. There is a second possibility, that the words of the prophet also contain within them hidden matters, matters of secret, and therefore there is a need to write them in a certain way in order to hint at the hidden matters within them, to hint at the inner matters within them. And in order to understand the words on the level of the plain meaning, you have to transpose the text in order to understand it. But in truth, within the text itself there are several layers. So Rashi explains: Only in Hashem, one shall say of Me, are righteousness and strength; to Him shall come and be ashamed all who are incensed against Him. Even though... only in Hashem, only to Me in Hashem is said righteousness and strength. Even though all the nations will bow before Him, only to Me alone, Knesset Yisrael, in Hashem has been promised righteousness and strength. I will always have, forever and eternally, a standing above and beyond the situation of the nations. Am Yisrael will forever be on a higher level, in the aspect of "You are children to Hashem your God." So even though every knee will bow and every tongue will swear, do not think that they will stand at the level of Am Yisrael. Rather, in Hashem, as it were, Hashem has promised me, as if there is here an oath by Hashem, that for Am Yisrael, for Me, there will be a boundary of righteousness and strength from the Creator. And the deniers of the Torah will not come to desecrate His honor. And all who are incensed against the Holy One, blessed be He, that is, all those who believe... all those, excuse me, who provoke Hashem, who are incensed against Hashem, all who are incensed against Him shall be ashamed. And they will regret their deeds and return in repentance. But forever the situation of Am Yisrael will be higher, the level of Am Yisrael will forever be a level of children to Hashem their God, and not like the level of the nations.
So he says here: "He who is lacking in heart shakes hands, pledging surety before his fellow." One who is a judge who effectively goes and takes money from one in order to give it to another, and does not do things with the proper precision, with the proper contemplation, but rushes to rule the judgment, this is a person lacking in heart. Why? Because he pledges surety before his fellow. You went to become a guarantor (arev kablan) before your fellow, so that before they sued him they sued you, and then the one who becomes liable is you. "And the exactor exacts a soul." From those who rob Yisrael, the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts a soul. So if the judge perverted judgment, then in effect they immediately come to him. This is called an arev kablan, so a person who does such a thing is lacking in heart. I want perhaps to emphasize that "lacking in heart" should not be confused, we are not speaking in the contemporary sense of "you have no heart." Today, when they want to say about someone that he is cruel, they say "he has no heart, he is heartless." No, that is not what is being spoken of. "Lacking in heart" that is spoken of here means lacking attentiveness, lacking contemplation of the heart. If you had contemplation of the heart, you would have seen what you are coming to, you would not have done such a thing. Only because you are lacking in heart, you did not set your heart to your deeds, therefore you come to shake hands, pledging surety before your fellow. If you had a little of the proper attentiveness, you would not have come to this.
"He who loves transgression loves strife; he who raises his opening seeks ruin." A year ago a new explanation of this verse occurred to me. Whoever remembers, at the time a ring was caught who had found a huge warehouse, a huge hangar in the south, of counterfeit matzos with all the best kosher certifications. They went with the simplest scanning machine, photographed the tickets and made Beit Yosef matzos, Rav Machpud matzos, Badatz Eidah HaChareidis Yerushalayim matzos, all the best certifications they photographed, and they made matzos with, you understand, not inadequate supervision, not rabbinate, without any supervision, nothing, nothing at all. Just so, they took, baked matzos, and were about to market it to the markets. This was an enormous and terrible pitfall, because it is complete chametz. And by the kindness of Hashem, apparently someone knew about this, and he had enough conscience to go and report the matter, and by the kindness of Hashem it was caught even before it reached the markets. But there was a great uproar over it. So I said, now I understand a novel explanation of the verse, "he who loves transgression loves matzah." Do you understand? Those lovers of transgression love matzah, the main thing is to make a little easy money.
Rashi explains: "he who loves transgression," one who loves to transgress against his fellow; "loves strife," you arouse by this quarrel and dispute. And "he who raises his opening" means he speaks with arrogance; "his opening" means "open your mouth and let your words shine." One who raises his opening is a person who, as they say, speaks of great things, speaks with arrogance, "seeks ruin." How true this is. Many times you see a person boasting, we will do and bring and succeed and... boasting, "let not him who girds boast like him who ungirds." Sometimes it is "let not him who girds boast like him who is disgraced." Why? Afterward he has only shame and disgrace. Why did you speak so much? At least if you had not spoken, the fall afterward would not have been so noticeable. But since you spoke so much, what we will do and how we will succeed and how we will and... and... and... afterward suddenly you come out so small, so this is called ruin, great disgrace. So "he who raises his opening seeks ruin." You are already inviting the fall. Do not boast too much, let not him who girds boast like him who ungirds, first let us see you do it, then speak. Do not say, no, we are bringing twenty mandates. Twenty mandates, and afterward it turns out that the person did not even get himself in. He did not pass the electoral threshold. You made a lot of noise, a lot of fuss, a lot of that, and it turned out you said nothing. Well, in any case a person's way is always to add a little for himself in order to inflate a spirit of enthusiasm and action, to speak on a reasonable scale. But when you come to speak on unreasonable scales, you jump and rise far beyond your navel, then afterward there is a fall, and the ruin is great. "Seeks ruin."
Rabbeinu Yonah explains: "he who loves transgression loves strife." Rabbeinu Yonah says, as we explained earlier, this is connected to the previous verse. How bad is the matter of the person who goes and gives surety, who distributes guarantees to others. This is like a person who loves strife, who loves transgressions. Why? Because through this he has reasons to quarrel. He loves quarrels. He enjoys quarreling. And out of anger many transgressions emerge. As it is written, "a man of wrath abounds in transgression." So a person like this who goes and becomes a guarantor for his fellow, you will surely come to wrath. You will become angry, as we said, at the lender who comes to demand the money from you, because a person does not happily give money he did not take. You will be angry at the borrower, in whose place you have to pay. There will be wrath here, right? And when there is wrath there is transgression. "A man of wrath abounds in transgression." This is reality. In an abundance of matters transgression does not cease, and a person who is angry is capable of the greatest sins and transgressions, and all sorts of hells rule over him, and out of anger a person goes wild, a person does things that are the opposite of logic and the opposite of reason, is capable of harming himself, harming others. There were those who in a single moment of anger even murdered their fellow, and afterward on the way to prison he had many years to think about the foolishness he did in a single moment. Where did it stem from? From wrath. Who brought you to this wrath that brought you to transgression? The deed you did in going and signing surety. Through this you brought yourself to a state of anger at the lender, at the borrower, you came to wrath, and through this you will also come to transgression.
"He who raises his opening seeks ruin." One who raises his opening, that is, as I said, climbs too high, seeks ruin. For it is said, "before ruin comes pride." Before ruin, this is said, for example, about Haman. What is written about Haman? "In those days the king promoted Haman." Why did he promote him? Why does he need to promote him? Chazal say, "before ruin comes pride." To throw a person from the second floor, the boom does not sound good. When you throw him from the fiftieth floor, that is much more as it should be. So the Holy One, blessed be He, says to cast down Haman from where? As a scribe in some backwater village? No, that does not make the appropriate noise. What does the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He throws him from where? From viceroy to the king, from the highest level, the king's seal in his hand. From there He casts him down. From there He catapults him to the gallows, that truly is an enormous ruin. Before ruin comes pride, so be careful, do not exalt yourself, do not become proud too high, so that the ruin will not be correspondingly great.
Rabbeinu Yonah says, this verse comes to connect the two. "He who loves transgression loves strife," and "he who raises his opening seeks ruin," which seemingly speak about two separate matters. The seeker of quarrel loves transgressions, and one who raises his opening, rising up, seeks the fall. Why did he connect them? Rabbeinu Yonah says, the verse comes to weigh these two evil traits and to determine that the love of dominion is worse. Why? Because the essence of the disgrace of quarrel, why is quarrel such a terrible thing? Because through loving strife, you will come to transgression. Do you understand? That is to say, the quarrel itself is certainly not a good thing, but what is the main harm of it? It is the results that come from it. From quarrel you will come to transgression, you will strike, you will steal, you are even capable of murdering. This is the essence of the disgrace of quarrel. The essence of the disgrace of quarrel, the strife, is that through it you will come to transgression. But dominion, arrogance, is a disqualified thing in itself. Not because of what it will bring you to. So if that is so, it is a worse thing. Do you understand? That is to say, it is worse to do a thing that is disqualified in itself than to do a thing that will bring me to a disqualified thing. Quarrel brings to transgression. In contrast, the pursuit of arrogance and dominion is a thing that in itself is flawed and disqualified, and in the end its owner will receive ruin. And about this it is said, "an abomination to Hashem is everyone proud of heart." What do you see? The very haughtiness is an abomination. Not because it will bring me to something, but the very haughtiness is already an abominable thing.
The Vilna Gaon explains: one who loves strife, quarrel, loves to rebel and transgress against his fellows. That is, he does all sorts of things that irritate others, because it is part of his pleasure to quarrel, to argue. There are people who enjoy it, they enjoy it when there is a quarrel, when there is action, action. He does not like life to be too tranquil. But when there is someone to talk about, someone to gossip about, he tells this and that, did you see what he did, he seeks, he seeks reasons to quarrel. Sometimes there are such people, unfortunately, even in the synagogue. Do you understand? He is just, as they say, looking for some slip, looking for someone to say something so that he can get up and, how do you say it, pounce on him. These are people who love strife, they love transgression. He seeks transgressions so that there will be something to quarrel about. But "he who raises his opening," what is "raises his opening"? The Gaon brings an interesting explanation for this. The entrance of a house has a certain height. This person wants many people to enter his house. He raises the entrance. Come, come, he brings many companions into the entrance of his house. This person seeks ruin. Why does he seek ruin? Because there is a verse that says, "a man of many companions comes to grief (lehit'ro'ea)." What is "a man of many companions comes to grief"? You think that if you have many companions it is good? Know that it will bring you to ruin. From what root is "lehit'ro'ea"? To be broken. "You shall break them (te'ro'em) with a rod of iron, like a potter's vessel you shall shatter them," right? Ah, it is written about the month of Av "re'a mazlei," as we explained in the past. What is "re'a mazlei"? Its fortune is fragile (ra'u'a), not "its fortune is bad." Fragile. In contrast, what is written about the month of Adar? "Its fortune is healthy (bari mazlei)." "Bari" means strong. Strong versus fragile. It is not bad versus good. In any case, what do you see? That "a man of many companions comes to grief." One who has too many friends, it will bring him to ruin. It brings to quarrels, it brings to slander, it brings to a situation where when a person is with his companions a lot, he is also with the wife of his companion, and he can come through this to all sorts of failures, through this friends drag him also to things that are not the best. Choose for yourself a friend, make for yourself, acquire for yourself a friend, that he be a good friend, a true friend, a friend who will advance you in the service of Hashem. But do not think, no, many friends is good. No, no, too many friends is not good, this thing will not necessarily benefit you. And therefore "he who raises his opening," brings many people into his house so that many companions come, seeks ruin. This is "comes to grief," many companions will often bring you down and break you. Therefore it is better for you to have a single friend and not to raise your entrance to many friends.
Another explanation the Vilna Gaon gives: "he who raises his opening" follows Rashi's approach. "His opening" is the opening of his mouth. "Open your mouth and let your words shine." "He who raises his opening," opens his mouth to speak evil, "seeks ruin," this will be a stumbling for him. The meaning is, when a person speaks improper things, your mouth will trip you up. Your talk, your mouth, will in the end trip you up. "And in an abundance of words transgression does not cease." You talk a lot, in the end they will find a contradiction in your words, in the end you will incriminate yourself over things you did not even intend, in the end you will hurt all sorts of people, with intention or without intention, so that they will feel you had a negative or malicious intent against them. Speak less, harm less. "He who raises his opening seeks ruin," you bring upon yourself ruin, failure.
The Ralbag explains: "he who loves transgression." The Ralbag explains, we are speaking about a person, you know there are people, there are types who are experts in flaws. Experts in flaws. He would be suited to work as a quality inspector. Every straight thing he grasps. Where it is not good, where they did not do it right, where he enters a house, he immediately tells you, who made you this crooked wall? No one noticed, he does immediately. He is an expert. All matters of deficiencies and flaws, he is an expert. He also finds in others transgressions, whether they happened or did not happen, it does not matter. He is an expert, he has such an enormous magnifying glass, the Hubble telescope, so that everyone he examines under ten examinations in order to find in him what is not right and what he did not do correctly and what he was not precise about and what... a person like this Shlomo defines as one who loves transgression. He is a type fit for the criminal department in the police. He loves transgression, seeks transgressions. All the time he is looking for all sorts of conspiracies, and he has all sorts of explanations for why the other acted this way, and what they intended against him, and what they wanted to do to him, and how they wanted to harm him, and... he loves transgression, loves strife. Do you know what you bring upon yourself? Strife and quarrel. Because people will always do things to which you can give a negative interpretation, and you will always have all the circumstances that will prove to you that you are right and that what they did to you was done with malicious intent against you. He says, this person loves quarrel and dispute. And "he who raises his opening," what is "raises his opening"? According to the Ralbag, pay attention, this is wonderful because it is a continuation. "He who raises his opening," looks down on things from a position of superiority, placing himself in a lofty position. "He who raises his opening," he looks down on everything from above. Do you understand? He is the quality department. He looks down on everything from above. "He raises his opening." So this person, you will in the end find in everyone a deficiency, in everyone a flaw. You will always find, this one did such to me, he intended thus, this one had such a desire. Why? Because you look down on everything from above. From above, you are the superior one, and what everyone did to you and intended against you. He thinks himself of great stature, and everything someone does he always interprets as being against him, and they did not honor me properly because after all I deserve great honor. This person seeks ruin. This will bring upon you great evil.
The Malbim explains: "he who loves transgression loves strife." The Malbim says, what is the difference between quarrel (merivah) and strife (matzah)? The Malbim says, quarrel is to argue. Strife is when they already begin to move to pantomime, already speaking with the hands. Already beginning to strike. "When men strive together and they hurt a pregnant woman." Quarrel is what is called still with the mouth. Stage two, they already move to the hands, right? So that is called strife. He says, "he who loves transgression loves strife." Through loving transgression, as it is written "a man of wrath abounds in transgression," through the wrath comes strife. Through this also comes quarrel. Why? Because, as we explained earlier, he feels above everyone. And "he who raises his opening seeks ruin." What is "raises his opening"? Pay attention, the Malbim has here a novel interpretation. Not like the others who explained, there is one who explained his mouth, there is one who explained that he raises the entrance so that many enter his house. But pay attention, the Malbim says not so. "He who raises his opening," raises the threshold of his entrance. When you raise the threshold of the entrance, a person comes to enter the house, what happens to him? He falls on his face, right? One who raises his opening, his house is built in a low place and he raises only the entrance, what does he get from it? He will be broken. "He who raises his opening seeks ruin." You enter, crash, you strike the entrance that you raised, the threshold that you raised. So too, if the person is a lowly person, and opens his mouth with arrogance more than what he is, this is like you raised the entrance. It does not fit, lower it. You raised the entrance, you will each time strike and be broken. So "he who raises his opening," speaks with arrogance more than what he is, this person will in the end be broken by those same words that he brings out of his mouth.
"He whose heart is crooked (ikesh) shall not find good, and he who is perverse in his tongue shall fall into evil." "Ikesh," what is "ikesh"? Crooked. "The teeth of the fox are crooked (akushot)." What is "akushot"? Crooked. "He whose heart is crooked" is usually also a person who is stubborn (akshan). What is "akshan"? They explain to him, I say to him, sir, this is logical, this is straight. He stubbornly insists on the crooked. What is this stubbornness? In a crooked way. "Ikesh" means twisting, crooked. Yes. So "crooked of heart" means a person whose view is crooked, his opinion is corrupted, he does not recognize the truth. He shall not find good. Why? Because one whose opinion is straight will find good, "he who is prudent in a matter will find good." But one who is crooked of heart, his heart is always crooked, his opinion corrupted, will never reach a good thing, will always reach evil things. "And he who is perverse in his tongue shall fall into evil." But one who recognizes the truth, pay attention, and nevertheless claims falsehood, and nevertheless justifies the wicked, condemns the righteous. Why? Because he hates the righteous, therefore he condemns him, he loves the wicked, therefore he justifies him. This person shall fall into evil. Now pay attention, who is worse? He or the crooked of heart? Surely he is. Why? The crooked of heart is a person who needs mercy. He is pitiable, his view is crooked, and this always leads him to crooked conclusions, so he shall not find good. But the perverse in his tongue, his opinion is straight. Why then does he pervert his opinion? Why does he twist it? For interests. He is much worse than the first. The first is truly pitiable, he is truly crooked. What can he do? All his decisions come out crooked because he is crooked in the head. His opinion is crooked. The second speaks of a person who sees the truth but stubbornly insists on saying the opposite. He sees the truth, but he has interests, so he justifies the wicked, condemns the righteous. This is "perverse in his tongue." He knows what is straight, but he perverts his tongue in order to prove the opposite. This person is much worse. Not only will he not find good like the crooked of heart, but this person is worse, he shall fall into evil. This person, evil will come upon him for the corrupt deeds he does.
The Vilna Gaon explains: "crooked of heart," one who has a crooked heart, a twisted heart, he departs from the good path. What does this mean? What is the good path? It is the positive commandments. What one should do, "you shall do the upright and the good." He does not fulfill positive commandments, he is called crooked of heart. He departs, twists and bends his heart to depart from the good path. A person like this will not find good. For it is written, "your sins have withheld the good from you." Now see how wonderfully precise this is. What is "sin" (chet) in the Holy Tongue? A deficiency. "And I and my son Shlomo will be chata'im (sinners/lacking)." What is "chata'im"? Lacking. Now Adoniyah son of Chagit exalts himself to reign, and it comes about that, as it were, saying "I will reign" and so on, through this I and my son Shlomo will be lacking from the kingship. There are additional explanations there, but this is the simple plain meaning. "Chet" is a deficiency, as I say about a person, he missed the target, he fell short of the target. About this he says, "crooked of heart shall not find good." What is the meaning? This person who, as we said, is crooked of heart and does not walk in the good path of fulfilling positive commandments, so he has a "chet," he has a deficiency. He lacks the positive commandments. He is lacking the positive commandments. Good is lacking from him, but pay attention, it is not written that there is evil in him. Why? Because he does not transgress prohibitions. He does not fulfill a positive commandment. One who does not fulfill a positive commandment is called "shall not find good." In contrast, one who is perverse in his tongue, this is a man of perversions who does evil with his speech, this is much worse. This one transgresses a negative commandment. One who transgresses a negative commandment shall fall into the evil that he does. Because the first is passive. But the second is already active, doing evil in practice. Ah, evil in practice is much worse. A person like this shall fall into evil, that same evil that you do will bring you down and trip you up.
The Malbim explains: "crooked of heart shall not find good." The Malbim says, crooked of heart, a person whose heart - the Malbim always explains that the heart is the ruling faculty in a person. The heart is the ruling faculty. "The righteous are in control of their heart," what does this mean? They have complete rule over all their desires. And those who rule over their heart. And the wicked are in the control of their heart, meaning that their heart, which draws them to lusts, draws them to whatever it desires, and they are dragged after it. So the Malbim says, crooked of heart is a person whose ruling faculty, the heart, is crooked, is twisted. It does not go according to the way of wisdom, does not walk in the straight path. So even though he actually contemplates all the time and thinks how to reach the straight path, he shall not find good. Why? Because if you remember, we explained in the past that wisdom a person cannot deduce on his own, rather it must be received from a higher power. Because wisdom is what is straight, what is moral, what is proper to do. This we always said, every side is sure that it is the straight and the proper and the moral. And as we spoke and elaborated on this in the past in the early chapters, and throughout the whole book we see this line. Wisdom is matters of character traits, one cannot reach a determination of what is moral and what is not moral, one cannot reach a determination by the power of the intellect. So this person shall not find good. Why? Because his intellect is crooked, he cannot reach the correct conclusions, and one can only reach this through receiving from the sages, from the holy Torah, from the Master of the world. So it may be that evil he will not do, but you will not attain the way of the good, because the way of the good cannot be attained by the crooked intellect of a person.
But "he who is perverse in his tongue" - the Malbim always explains that the mouth symbolizes wisdom and the tongue understanding. "Her mouth she opened with wisdom." Whereas the tongue is "a tongue of understanding." The tongue always symbolizes understanding. Wisdom, as we said, is what is received from the sages, from the holy Torah, it is what is moral and what is straight. Understanding is after I contemplate matters and I deduce further conclusions. I expand it and understand one thing from another also regarding what was not transmitted to me. So one whose tongue is perverse, his tongue speaks perversions, what does this mean? Instead of contemplating and deducing correct logical inferences, he deduces the opposite. He does not learn the... the conclusions, he does not deduce the correct conclusions. Many times you see that a person has data, according to the data he should have reached conclusion A, he reached conclusion B. What does this mean? Something crooked there. This is a tongue that speaks perversions. He perverts the straight. And through this he reaches all sorts of mistaken conclusions. So the mistaken conclusions in wisdom, he arrives at heresy, he arrives at denial of Hashem may He be blessed, he arrives at all sorts of things that negate the existence of the Creator or His commandments. Why? Because his tongue, as we said, the contemplation, perverts things. Instead of reaching the correct conclusions, he reaches the opposite conclusions. From the very verse in which I see Godliness, that same verse he takes and learns in a crooked way in order to prove his mistaken reasoning. For example, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness." Here, you see? There was not just one, "let us make man." This implies there were several deities. As Moshe Rabbeinu himself feared this error. That is to say, I understand from here how much the Holy One, blessed be He, teaches us ethics, that the great one should always take counsel from the small one. But this person who is perverse in his tongue, his conclusions are always mistaken, he does not contemplate correctly, perverse in his tongue, he shall fall into evil. Not only will he not find good, but he shall fall into evil. Because the evil means the heresy, means the incorrect understanding of the Torah, which is the existence of God, the fulfillment of His commandments may He be blessed. From what? From mistaken logical inferences, from contemplation that was not done properly.
"He who begets a fool does so to his grief, and the father of a churl (naval) shall not rejoice." "He who begets a fool," Rabbeinu Yonah explains, this is a person who has bad character traits. This person causes grief to his father. You begot a fool, you have grief from it, you have sorrow from it. "And the father of a churl shall not rejoice." Similarly the churl. The churl, Rabbeinu Yonah says, is the despised, lowly person, the person who has acquired no virtues, neither in wisdom nor in intellectual virtues. As it is written, "and his end will be a churl (naval)." This is a term of descent and disgrace. The flower withers (novel), "its leaf withers." This is a term of descent and disgrace. "If you have been a churl (nabalta) in exalting yourself," and "the churl (naval) will no longer be called noble." So "the father of a churl shall not rejoice." One who has a son who is a churl, who has not acquired wisdom, a person like this who is in the aspect of "withering," shall not rejoice. Now pay attention, what is worse? One who begot a fool or one who begot a churl? Surely the fool is worse than the churl. Because the fool walks in the ways of folly and brings the bad traits into actuality. As we said, a fool is one who has bad traits, so it does not remain within him, but he brings it into actuality. He has hatred, he has jealousy, he has anger, he has arrogance. These traits he brings into actuality. That is the fool. It comes out then that he has actual harm. Harm in practice. In contrast, the churl, the churl as we said has no wisdom, does not contemplate, has not acquired intellectual virtues. He does not do evil in practice. So therefore his father will not have grief, but he will not rejoice. "The father of a churl shall not rejoice." In contrast, when you have a son who is a fool, "he who begets a fool does so to his grief." This is truly grief, this is truly sorrow, this is truly suffering that he has such a son.
He explains another matter, what is "the father of a churl shall not rejoice"? He shall not rejoice, he says, even if he has wealth, he will not rejoice in this wealth. Why? Because he says, to whom will I leave it? To a churl. Do you understand? What does he have? What kind of son does he have? A churl. Not wise, not... as we said he has no intellectual virtue. To this one I will leave my wealth? That he lose all of it in some bad business? So although he will not have grief, he also will not rejoice.
The Vilna Gaon explains: the rabbi who teaches the student Torah, is he called the student's father spiritually or physically? Spiritually, right? He is his spiritual father. Even today we express ourselves with this phrase. The father, his spiritual parent, is the one who taught him Torah. Where did we see this? Who called his teacher father? Excellent. "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen." Elisha said this to Eliyahu. You see that he called him his father, right? There are those who say that today's youth shouts "Abba, my father," "my father the vehicle." Bring the vehicle. Yes. Elisha says, "my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen." So you see that the rabbi is called the spiritual father of the student. And this is what he says, "he who begets a fool." One who begets a fool, what is "begets a fool"? Teaches a fool. You become a spiritual father to whom? To a fool. "Does so to his grief." Why? Because this foolish student will afterward dispute you, disgrace you with words, not treat you with respect. So you begot, in the sense of teaching Torah, you taught Torah to whom? To a fool, to a foolish son. And this person says, "he who begets a fool does so to his grief." What is the meaning? It serves you right. Why did you go teach a fool? You taught a fool, do not be surprised afterward if it comes back to you like a boomerang, that this fool disputes you, speaks against you with arrogance and contempt, sets up a place against you and does things in order to nullify your words. "And the father of a churl shall not rejoice." In contrast, when he speaks of a biological father, here he speaks "the father of a churl shall not rejoice." When the son is a churl, what is a churl? He goes idle, speaks excess words, multiplies chatter, an idler, he is called a churl. So his biological father shall not rejoice. So in essence we are speaking here both about a spiritual father and about a biological father.
The Malbim explains, according to the line he follows throughout the book. That the fool may, in terms of intellectual level, be very sharp, he may be a genius, he may have an IQ of 180. No problem. Only what? He does not manage his life with wisdom. He does not go according to the Torah. Because in truth a person may be the greatest professor, who will explain to you the harms of smoking, and afterward will take out a cigarette in order to calm down from what he said, because he is very alarmed by the matter. So he needs to calm down. What is he called? A fool. Why? Because in truth you have no intellectual problem, you have the problem that your lusts overpower the great intellect you have. This is what he says here. The fool is always a person who knows the thing, and nevertheless his lust overpowers him, blinds his eye. Now pay attention, the Malbim says, there is a fool from birth and there is a fool as an acquired attribute. The fool from birth is a person born with many lusts. And there are people from a young age you see that he was born with many lusts. And this is well known, the power of the one who begets, that there is some nature the father and mother gave, and as is known this also depends on the four elements that are in the child. Whether it is the element of water, the element of earth, the element of air, the element of fire. One in whom the element of water predominates, this is the element of lust. So there are those who from birth, from the womb and from birth, he is a man of lust. And there is a fool, and there is a fool who is so through habit and learning. What is the meaning? In truth he did not have lusts from a young age, but he gradually connected with such fellows, gradually did such deeds, until he came and connected to lust. In any case, the Malbim says, if the foolishness is not natural foolishness, even though he will not rejoice in him, he will not have some special sorrow from it. Why? Because he hopes that he will be educated toward the good path. So now they dragged him toward the lusts, he hopes that the intellect will overpower and draw him toward the intellect, the good path. But if he begets a fool, what does this mean? Already from the outset, built in, all the lusts are in him. Already from the outset he is a fool, what is called naturally, the foolishness comes to him naturally. This is to his grief. Because to extract him from this is much harder. To extract him from this is much harder, because it is already rooted in him in the soul, already from the time of birth. Now, do not understand incorrectly, this does not mean you should shut, seal the lid on him. No. Certainly in any situation a person can correct his traits, can improve his deeds. Only certainly it is much harder for us to correct a nature that is imprinted in us from the time of our birth, than to correct an acquired nature. Because an acquired nature is not part of me. In contrast, a nature imprinted in a person from the time of his birth is part of him. It is harder to correct it. But certainly it is not appropriate to say it cannot be corrected, certainly it can be corrected. So "he who begets a fool," if he begot one with a nature that is foolish from the outset from the time of birth, then this is truly grief to him. Since with this, as we said, it will be hard to correct him. "And the father of a churl shall not rejoice." The churl, the Malbim says, is the opposite of the generous person. And the churl for the most part is so through habit. In the beginning he has a little money and he gradually begins to connect to his money, until it is hard for him to open his hand and give something. And there is a person whose father is a churl, he teaches his son to be a churl. No, why did you give to him? What, guard your money, everyone asks you, you have to give? What are you thinking, do not concede, and if you could take, why not take? The father educates him to be a churl. Educates him to be the opposite of the generous person, to close his hand, not to bestow, not to give to anyone. "The father of a churl shall not rejoice." What is "the father of a churl"? This person whose father is a churl and teaches his son to be a churl, so seemingly here it is good for me, thank God the student is a good student, the way I taught him, that is how he behaves. He says, no, no, know that in the end this will not rejoice you. In the end this will not rejoice you. The Malbim does not explain why, but one can explain simply, this will not rejoice you because suddenly it will turn out that it comes back to you. Because suddenly the son whom you taught so much to be an opportunist, one whose own benefit is his entire policy, he only cares what is good for me, that is what is important to me, nothing else interests me, it will turn out in the end that even you do not interest him. Even your benefit does not interest him at all. He has no problem spitting on you, he has no problem trampling you. I am your father, I... yes, so what? So what, what do I gain from helping you? What do I gain? It is over, you no longer have an inheritance. What did I gain from it? Do you understand? That is to say, you in the end think you succeeded in your education, here is one who is no sucker. Yes, but you begot a son who is, you educated him to be a churl, "the father of a churl shall not rejoice." In the end you yourself will regret this nature that you bestowed upon your son.
The Radak says: "Only in Hashem, one shall say of Me, are righteousness and strength." One explanation the Radak gives, the commentators explained that these are the words of the prophet. And the prophet says, these future events I do not know them by way of wisdom, for indeed a sage is superior to a prophet, there are things that can be known by way of wisdom, and there are things that were transmitted by prophecy. So he says, these matters I received by prophecy. In the name of the One who said to me, the God of righteousness and strength. "Only in Hashem, one shall say of Me, are righteousness and strength." As if he writes, only in Hashem who is the God of righteousness and strength, so it was said to me. So that you should not think that I say these things from my wisdom, but rather from Hashem may He be blessed. He brings another explanation in the name of the Ibn Ezra, only in Hashem alone are righteousness and strength. And what is written "only in Hashem, one shall say of Me," he means to say, in the name of the One who speaks with me I am speaking, in the name of the One who spoke to Me, who said to Me. Who is this? Hashem may He be blessed. He said righteousness and strength, of Hashem are righteousness and strength. He brings another explanation in the name of his father. See how difficult this verse is in terms of its arrangement, that he needs to explain another explanation and another explanation in order to try to understand it. In the name of my master, my father, of blessed memory, he brings: the prophet said, I swear by Hashem, that to Me He said righteousness and strength. "Only in Hashem" is, as it were, an oath. Only by Hashem I swear, that to Me Hashem said righteousness and strength. To Hashem may He be blessed belong the righteousness and the strength, thus Hashem swore. Well, until here are the explanations of others. Now he brings his own explanation. And the correct one in my view in the explanation of this verse, he has a novel explanation, that in essence this verse is a continuation of the previous verse. The previous verse was, "By Myself I have sworn, righteousness has gone forth from My mouth, a word that will not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear, only in Hashem." That is to say, "that to Me every knee shall bow," period. As if here a new verse begins, "every tongue shall swear only in Hashem." Every tongue shall swear only in Hashem. Only in Hashem shall every tongue swear and not in another god. Now he also has proof for this. For seemingly the plain meaning of the verse as we understood it earlier, the plain meaning of the previous verse, "By Myself I have sworn, righteousness has gone forth from My mouth, a word that will not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." This is the plain meaning of the text, that "every tongue shall swear" refers back to the previous verse. He says, it is hard to explain this. Because how will you explain it? "To Me every knee shall bow, to Me every tongue shall swear"? He says, we never find an oath with the language "to Me (li)." We always find an oath with the language "in (be)." One swears "in Hashem (baHashem)," "in Hashem I have sworn," "by Myself I have sworn (bi)," "in His name you shall swear," "and he swore to him in Hashem." You never find "to Hashem." One swears "to Hashem." So how will you say here "that to Me every knee shall bow," the "to Me" continuing further, "to Me every tongue shall swear"? Where did we find an oath "to Me"? It is always an oath "in Me." Therefore he says we must say "that to Me every knee shall bow," period, end of matter. "Every tongue shall swear only in Hashem." Every tongue shall swear only in Hashem may He be blessed. And then in essence the previous verse and this verse are actually connected verses. Another matter, now the continuation is not connected. "To Me Hashem said righteousness and strength." There is here an addition, it is not connected to what was said earlier, "only in Hashem every tongue shall swear." And so God said to Me righteousness and strength, I will give righteousness and strength to all those who served Me. And on the other hand, they shall come and be ashamed, all who are incensed against Him. Those who did not serve Hashem may He be blessed, the stage will come when they will come and be ashamed. They will come in order to receive His kingship may He be blessed, and they will be ashamed of what they did. They will come and be disgraced over the fact that throughout all the generations they rebelled against the mouth of Hashem. The Malbim says, "only," the Malbim says, behold Hashem swore to receive all the idol worshippers who will come and accept His kingship. Here they speak about the future, that the idol worshippers will come and believe in Hashem, "and every creature will know that You made it and every formed thing will understand that You formed it, and everything that has breath in its nostrils will say Hashem the God of Israel is King and His kingship rules over all." So this is what he says here, "only in Hashem, one shall say of Me, are righteousness and strength." He says, there will be a difference between Am Yisrael and all these nations that will come. The difference between them will be, in Hashem to Me is said righteousness and strength. As if it is written, said in Hashem there will be to Me righteousness and strength. To Me, to Israel, there will be in Hashem both righteousness and strength. I will have superiority over the nations, for to Me there will be righteousness and strength, which the nations will not have. What is the meaning? When Hashem comes to distribute reward, when the Holy One, blessed be He, will also receive the nations who agree to return to Him may He be blessed, then the Holy One, blessed be He, says, Am Yisrael will have an advantage: one, righteousness. Am Yisrael throughout all the generations were righteous. Righteousness. Indeed there were also those who strayed from the path, but we did not suddenly discover Hashem when Hashem reveals Himself, when His feet will tread upon the Mount of Olives. It was not then we discovered Him, not then we return to Him. Rather throughout all the generations, "for Your sake we were killed all the day." So I have one virtue, righteousness. One thing, we will also have strength. Its meaning is, the nations will come by the grace that Hashem receives them. Because now you come? Where were you during four thousand years, five thousand years? So Hashem will receive them, this will be within the category of grace. In contrast, Am Yisrael will come with strength. Strength means with force. They will have their own merits, they will have their own strength. And this will be the difference, that those who come to Him "to Him shall come and be ashamed all who are incensed against Him." These nations who until now are incensed against Him, who until now angered Hashem may He be blessed, they will come to Him, they will come up to Hashem, but they will be ashamed of how until today they disgraced Hashem may He be blessed. In contrast, Am Yisrael will come, one, with righteousness, two, with strength, the powers from the side of the righteousness they did, and consequently they come with force, meaning with the force of their deeds, with strength, and not like one who comes as if sneaking in, in shame. Therefore pay attention, there is here an interesting precision in the verse. "To Him shall come (singular) and be ashamed (plural) all who are incensed against Him." How should it have said? "Shall come" (plural). You are speaking about the nations, about many. "To Him they shall come and be ashamed." Either say "he shall come and be ashamed," or say "they shall come and be ashamed." What is "he shall come and they shall be ashamed"? The Malbim says, according to what we explained this is wonderful. Because when people are ashamed, they do not enter as a group. They sneak in individually. So that he is not seen, he sneaks in, he enters individually. So therefore "to Him he shall come," they will come sneaking in individually, "and be ashamed." They will have shame in this from Hashem may He be blessed, and since they will have shame they will come as individuals, as humiliated ones, like the people that suffered a defeat in war, then each to his tent, they do not return as a group, as a battalion. When the people succeed in war they return as a battalion, singing. But when there is a rout, a defeat, they flee as individuals, each one flees to his own hole. So too the nations "to Him he shall come," since they will be ashamed then each one will come and slip away like this individually. But in contrast, "in Hashem all the seed of Israel shall be justified and shall glory." In contrast, not only will they be justified in Hashem, they have righteousness, they have commandments and good deeds, but they will further glory. We will have something to glory in, that we never forgot Hashem. Am Yisrael as a people never abandoned the service of Hashem. Not like the idol worshippers who will be ashamed. And therefore pay attention, "shall be justified and shall glory" is written in the plural. Why? Because we will come as a group. Because we merited to serve Hashem. Also in the period of exile, also in the period of concealment, also in the period of difficulty. In contrast, among the nations it will be "he shall come." They, as we said, will sneak in as individuals because for them it will be a shame. Among us all the seed of Israel shall glory, so consequently through this not only will we not have shame, but we will further rejoice in the kingship of Hashem may He be blessed, and glory in Him, says the Radak, before the eyes of the peoples, because they cleaved to Him even in their exile. As it said, "if we forgot the name of our God and spread out our hands to a foreign god," did we in exile abandon Hashem? We remained cleaving to Hashem even while being in our exile. So "in Hashem all the seed of Israel shall be justified and shall glory."