Sefer Yirmiyahu, chapter 9. "Who will make me in the wilderness a lodging place for wayfarers, that I might leave my people and go away from them, for they are all adulterers, an assembly of traitors." "Who will make me in the wilderness a lodging place for wayfarers," the Radak explains: if only I could lodge in a wayfarers' inn in the wilderness. And the point is so that I not see Israel in their wickedness, so that I not see their corrupt conduct. "That I might leave my people and go away from them." And what is their conduct? "For they are all adulterers, an assembly of traitors." They are all adulterers, may Hashem have mercy, and also an assembly of traitors. What is "an assembly of traitors"? "Atzeret," the Radak explains, is from the term for people who gather (ne'etzarim) for a certain purpose. And for what? Here they gather to speak falsehood, to speak words of betrayal. And so too says the Targum: "a band of liars." The meaning is that "atzeret" is a band who gather and assemble for falsehood. He brings an explanation in the name of his father that "atzeret bogedim" is from the term "crown prince" (yoresh atzer). So according to this, "atzeret bogedim" means their leaders, the heirs to the throne, are traitors.
The Malbim says: "who will make me in the wilderness" (mi yitneni) - notice, it does not say "who will grant me in the wilderness a lodging place for wayfarers," but rather "who will make me in the wilderness a lodging place." Therefore the Malbim says the plain meaning, which also seems more fitting in the interpretation of the verse, is that he is essentially saying: would that I myself were, would that I were a wayfarers' inn in the wilderness. Not "who will place me in a wayfarers' inn that is in the wilderness," but the meaning is that I myself would have my own private inn in the wilderness. What is the idea here? That I would not need to be with any other person, that I would not need the services of any other person, for if I stay at a wayfarers' inn then there is still someone there who runs the inn, and guests still arrive from other places. He says no, I want that I myself be a wayfarers' inn in the wilderness. And then through this I will be able to completely isolate myself. And why? "For they are all adulterers," and in any case they are "an assembly of traitors." What does this mean? The Malbim says: "atzeret" always comes as an expression for someone who gathers to pray. It could be for idolatry, it could be for Hashem's sake, but it always means gathering to pray. "An atzeret to Hashem," "they proclaimed an atzeret for the Baal" - always "atzeret" means to pray. So he says, come and see that these people are all adulterers, and this does not prevent them from also being "an assembly of traitors." They gather before Hashem, as it were, to pray. But do not be impressed by this: this assembly is traitors. Their heart is full of iniquity, as it is written, "I cannot bear iniquity along with assembly." That is to say, they are as if gathering to pray to Hashem, but it is in falsehood, it is treachery, it is not with sincere intent for the sake of Heaven.
"And they bend their tongue, their bow of falsehood, and not for faithfulness are they mighty in the land, for they go from evil to evil, and Me they do not know, says Hashem." "And they bend their tongue, their bow of falsehood." Rashi says: the term "bending" (derichah) that applies to the expression of a bow means to draw the bow, to stretch the string of the bow. And how would they stretch it forcefully when they wanted it to shoot far? He would place his foot and stretch the string with his hand. And then through this the bow would shoot really far. The stretching of the bow was much stronger. Therefore he says, since they would tread on it with their feet, this is why he says "and they bend their tongue." It is a term of treading, since he is speaking of drawing the bow, "and they bend their tongue, their bow of falsehood." The prophet is essentially comparing their tongue to a bow of falsehood, for the bow shoots arrows, so too here they shoot with their arrows and their bow, with their tongue they shoot arrows of falsehood. "For they go from evil to evil, and Me they do not know, says Hashem." They go from evil to evil, from transgression to transgression. The Radak explains: "and they bend their tongue" is a drawn bow as we explained, their arrows are falsehood, they are bitter matters. "And not for faithfulness are they mighty in the land." That which they use to overpower and strengthen themselves against the weak, this could be in a situation where it is done for faithfulness. What is "for faithfulness"? So that I can properly govern the people, the judge, the magistrate, needs to have power in his hand. So it is quite possible that he became mighty in the land, casting his dread in order to truly establish peace and justice and all that is needed to govern the people. Since that is so, his power became mighty in the land. He says, but here it was not so, they were not mighty in the land for faithfulness. That which they used to overpower the weak was not for faithfulness and truth, not to carry out righteous law and justice and to prevent oppression. "Not for faithfulness are they mighty in the land. For they go from evil to evil."
The Radak gives one explanation of their deeds. They go from one evil deed to another evil deed. This means, there is a person who did an evil deed, and afterwards he rests for a week. He says, but with them there is no pause between one evil deed and the next. "For they go from evil to evil." He finished this evil deed, and already another evil deed begins. Like those you know, some are chain smokers. He lights the second from the end of the first. He says, this is how they were: the second transgression he lights from the end of the first. "From evil to evil they go" - he has no respite, no interval, but rather from evil to evil they go. All their days are spent in evil deeds, busy with this and that. And in all this they did not set upon their heart even one hour to know Hashem. Good, that there be some particular moment, some particular time, that perhaps some thought of repentance. Not a moment did they have free time. All the time "from evil to evil they go." That is one explanation. He gives another explanation: what is "from evil to evil they go"? That it speaks of the punishment. He says, come and see that these people bent their tongue, their bow of falsehood, they were not mighty in the land for faithfulness, and this is what causes them that "from evil to evil they go." From the evil of one enemy to the evil of another enemy. Or one year they are stricken with blight, one year with mildew, one year with locusts. This means, they should already have understood: look, our corrupt way causes us to go from evil to evil. How can it be that we never have quiet? How can it be that once it is Hezbollah and once it is Iran and once it is the Palestinians and once it is Syria and once it is... "from evil to evil they go." Why do they not open their eyes to understand that there is some process here? That someone is speaking to us, that someone wants something from us? For there has been no quiet here for 70 years. So "from evil to evil they go" - why does no one open their eyes to observe, to understand, to know Hashem? So this thing should have opened their eyes. And Hashem concludes: "and Me they do not know." So even though "from evil to evil they go," the matter did not lead to any reflection. "And Me they do not know, says Hashem." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: they do not seek Me, they do not know Me, they do not try to understand why this evil is coming upon them.
The Malbim explains that the prophet essentially comes here to characterize the offspring of their evil deeds. The Malbim says: a person in his evil deeds has two kinds of offspring. One kind of offspring is that which he generates from the side that he is a living creature. This means, that he is a human being and he actually generates offspring. This is one offspring of a person, as we speak of "these are the offspring of Noach," so there is one kind of offspring which is Shem, Cham, and Yefet, and there is a second kind of offspring which is his deeds, as we shall soon see. So regarding the first kind of offspring he says, come and see, "they are all adulterers, an assembly of traitors." So what are their offspring, may Hashem save us? They beget mamzerim, they beget flawed ones, they beget alien children. This is regarding the first kind of offspring, "they are all adulterers, an assembly of traitors." He says, but there is another kind of offspring, this is from the side that a person speaks, he has a speaking spirit. And then the speech, the sentences, the syllogisms, these are the offspring of the speaking soul. And then in this too he can beget alien children. This means, he speaks forbidden speech, he blemishes the covenant of the tongue, he corrupts his deeds. And then the Malbim says: it turns out that they blemished both covenants. For as is known, the Zohar says, this corresponds to that: the covenant of the sign corresponds to the covenant of the tongue. That is, one corresponds to the other. And it is written in the works of the Kabbalists that when a person is very blemished in evil speech, examine and you will see that he is also blemished in the covenant of the sign. Since one corresponds to the other. And whoever pays attention: if you take the person and fold him, you will see that the covenant of the sign is opposite the covenant of the tongue. This means, a person has two arms there. If he raises his arms and spreads his legs and you fold him, you will see that indeed one corresponds to the other. The covenant of the tongue is located between the chesed of the right arm and the gevurah of the left arm, between his two arms. And the covenant of the sign is located between the two thighs, between netzach and hod. So one corresponds to the other, says the holy Zohar. And whoever is blemished in this is necessarily also blemished in that. So come and see that these people had in them the offspring of the speaking soul, in which too they bore alien children. This means, they corrupted with their tongue. "And they bend their tongue, their bow of falsehood." The Malbim says: there were here two sins in the matter of the sin of the tongue. First, that which concerns a person's relationship with the Omnipresent, second, that which concerns a person's relationship with his fellow. Person to the Omnipresent is mentioned in our verse. Person to his fellow will be in the next verse.
Regarding that which concerns a person to the Omnipresent, about this he says "they bent their tongue, their bow of falsehood." The Malbim says: notice, this is something he mentions in many places, that there is a difference between "tongue" (lashon) and "lip" (safah). The lip is the external part, whereas the tongue is the internal part. So it turns out that when we speak of speech, I can speak of something external and I can speak of the more internal speech, the intellectual, the rational. This is the more internal speech. He expresses it as "tongue" because the tongue is more internal, more hidden. So he says, therefore he describes for us here the rational speech, the more intellectual. And he now portrays the tongue like a bow. And just as through a bow, when you wage war, you thus defeat the enemies, so too here they would conduct debates with their tongue. So what is written here, "and they bend their tongue," means this is in order to debate matters of opinion, matters of belief. For they are not speaking of external speech, this is not "lip," they spoke of "tongue." And "tongue" is essentially internal speech, speech of intellectual matters. And then in order to prove your points, you shoot arrows. The tongue essentially shoots arrows in order to win the battle. So if I have a debate with you, then in the debate I raise arguments, and you raise counterarguments. So we are like arrows, enemies at the gate, each fighting with his arguments in order to prove and to nullify the opposing arguments. So seemingly this is very wonderful, they had a war, a war that is a kind of debate, an ideological war to prove their way. But the prophet says, "and they bend their tongue, their bow of falsehood." They would bring proofs and set up wonders and demonstrations fabricated from the heart, lies, falsehood, and "not for faithfulness."
The Malbim says: sometimes there is a person who brings false proofs, but at least in order to prove faith in Hashem. Not that this is a permitted thing. Faith, the way of Hashem, has enough true proofs. We do not seek to prove the truth of faith through falsehood. We have spoken of this several times: we will never tell a story that did not happen in order to strengthen someone in faith. Unless you tell him this is a story that did not happen. Rabbi Hillel Zaks, may his memory be a blessing, used to say: this is a story that almost happened. Yes, it really, really almost happened, but it did not, it did not happen. But to come and tell and fabricate deeds about something that did not happen in order to bring people closer, this is the opposite of the view of Torah. It is told that once some preacher stood and said that he had asked a rabbi and the rabbi told him that it is permitted to tell stories that did not happen in order to bring people closer and return them in repentance. So everyone raised their eyebrows, where have we heard such a thing? So he told them, and this is the first story. Yes. Well, in any case you understand, so therefore this thing is forbidden. So he says thus: these people "bend their tongue," and we already explained that "tongue" means debate about matters of belief. But "their bow of falsehood." The bow, they would set up proofs, demonstrations, and he wages war with falsehood, bringing proofs of falsehood. But it would be one thing if you did this at least for faithfulness, in order to prove faith in Hashem. But he says, "and not for faithfulness." Their lies were not intended to prove faith in Hashem. Rather what they did was to prove beliefs of vanity, falsehood. For this they bent their tongue. It would be one thing if you say, I received faith from my fathers, I have no proofs, so I bring fabricated proofs, fine, at least you came to prove something true, you came to prove faith. But here they were mighty in the land with these arrows of falsehood, and not to establish true faith were they mighty in the land. Rather, "not for faithfulness are they mighty in the land. For they go from evil to evil." The Malbim says a wonderful thing: what is "from evil to evil they go"? They resemble, says the Malbim, one who wants to refute the belief of the Persians, for example, who as is known believed in duality. They believed there are two powers, the good god and the evil god. We have spoken of this several times. So they want to refute this view in order to establish and give validity to the belief of the Indians who believed in four deities. So do you understand what they did? For "from evil to evil they go." You want to refute one evil in order to strengthen another evil. You want to refute the belief in duality in order to strengthen the belief that speaks of four powers. So a person who went out from one evil, but where did you fall? Into another evil. Nothing came of it for you. It would be one thing if you went out from evil to good, fine. But you went out from evil, you went to refute Islam in order to prove Christianity. What did you accomplish with this? "From evil to evil they go." It would be one thing if you came to prove Judaism, then you proved truth. But to refute one falsehood in order to accept another falsehood, the prophet says, "and Me they do not know, says Hashem." That is to say, they do not know the religion of truth. So he went to refute one religion in order to prove another religion, both of which are vanity and both of which are falsehood. So "from evil to evil they go, and Me they do not know, says Hashem."
"Every man of his fellow beware, and upon any brother do not rely, for every brother utterly supplants, and every fellow goes about as a talebearer." "Every man of his fellow beware." The Malbim says: earlier we spoke of the transgressions regarding a person's relationship with the Omnipresent. And then we spoke that "their tongue, their bow of falsehood" is to prove the belief of falsehood, the belief of vanity. But they also had falsehood between a person and his fellow. About this he says, come and see how great the betrayal, how great the lack of loyalty, the lack of readiness to help one another. To the point that I instruct you that whoever wants to guard himself, "every man of his fellow beware." What are you saying, he is my friend? No, no, sir, even from your friends you would do well to beware, you would do well not to reveal your secrets to them. And I also tell you, "and upon any brother do not rely." But he is my brother. He tells you no, even upon any brother do not rely. What is "any brother"? He says, not merely "upon a brother do not rely," but "any brother." There is a brother only from the father, there is a brother only from the mother. So you say, listen, between us the relationship is fine, but we did not really grow up in the same house. He says, "upon any brother," even if he is a full brother, he is your brother from all sides, both from father and from mother. So if that is the case, on him I can indeed rely. About this he tells you, even upon any brother do not rely. And the reason is that "every brother utterly supplants." Every brother will deceive you. And what do you say, I will guard myself from the wicked one? He tells you, why guard yourself from the wicked one? Because "the fellow goes about as a talebearer." The Malbim says: even though one need not really guard against the brother that he will actually do me harm, but to rely on him, to obtain from him some benefit, you can no longer count on that. So regarding the brother, he will not harm you, but to rely on him that he will do you good, he tells you, do not build on that. Regarding the wicked one, he says, not only should you not build on his doing you good, but he will even harm you. Therefore, "every man of his fellow beware." But regarding the brother, I do not tell you beware lest he harm you, but only do not rely. To count on him you can no longer count. Why? Because "every brother utterly supplants." What is "akov ya'akov"? The Radak says: the matter of deception and cunning. Like "and he deceived me" - it is doubled. It is from the term "akov ya'akov," which means in a way of deceit (akvah). The Malbim says: not without reason did he use such an example, since regarding Yaakov it is said thus, "is it because his name is called Yaakov?" That is to say, since Yaakov is an example of someone who deceived his brother, though there it was in a positive way, but regarding someone who deceived his brother, therefore he warns you, be careful, "every brother utterly supplants." And by the way, everywhere "Yaakov" is written as a name throughout all of Tanach, it is "Ya'akov." The letter ayin has a chataf patach, or a hurried patach as it is called. In contrast, here is the only place where the ayin has a resting sheva. And since that is so, always, by the way, after a patach, which is a short vowel, the sheva that comes after it is always a resting sheva. Therefore here we say "every brother utterly supplants" - "ya'kov," and not "Ya'akov." For "Ya'akov" means we are speaking of a person named Yaakov. And where it is written "ya'kov," the intent is from the term "akvah" as we explained. And here the meaning is he will supplant, he goes with him in deceit, in cunning, meaning he leads him around in tangled circles of trickery. So the Malbim explains.
"And each man mocks his fellow, and truth they do not speak, they have taught their tongue to speak falsehood, they weary themselves committing iniquity." "And each man mocks his fellow." So even though I tell you "every man of his fellow beware," nevertheless a man mocks his fellow. That is, even so, each man mocks his fellow, to spread slander and gossip that he never heard from him at all. What does this mean? The Malbim has here a somewhat deeper explanation. The Malbim says: people who want to spread slander about someone, what does one usually do? He hears something from him, and slightly creates some change in what he said. Or he even puts emphasis on one sentence out of an entire story that he told. And with this he spreads it about him, as is the way of journalists. What do they usually do? They take, he has an interview of, I don't know, 5,000 words, out of which he pulls four words. And these four words, if you set them up as a headline, really do not sound good. And he puts it at the top, "So-and-so said such and such." Wow, now what an outcry, he does not even remember that he uttered such a sentence from his mouth. But afterward he will prove to him: here, look, you said this and you said that and... yes, no, these things were taken out of context. And that is true. So it turns out that when such a person wants to lay a trap for someone, to spread slander about him, he simply needs to take some sentence of his, perhaps distort it, perhaps change its tune, and behold he traps him by saying, "So-and-so said." Now prove that you did not say it and prove that these things were taken out of context. The words have already been said and published and you are in serious trouble. The Malbim says: all this we are speaking of in a situation where your fellow did not guard himself from you. What does "did not guard himself from you" mean? In our terms, he came to you for an interview. He did not guard himself. Since he did not guard himself, then out of a four-hour conversation with him you will manage to pull out some sentence from which you can make a headline and it will make noise and afterward he will have to, under every fresh microphone, deny the matters. But what happens if the fellow is not at all willing to come to an interview? He comes and says, I do not trust you. I do not want to come to an interview, I am not interested, I do not trust you. You will distort my words, you will take them out of context, I do not want to. He says, in such a situation he cannot do anything to you. What will he do? What will he fabricate about you? He heard nothing from you. He says, if so, the reality now is that "every man of his fellow beware." If every man guards himself from his fellow, a person guards himself from his fellow, he cannot spread slander about him. He cannot spread about him things taken out of context, he guards himself, that one does not open his mouth. So what will he do? The Malbim says: all this is true if that person has a minimum of integrity and a minimum of decency. But in contrast, if that person is a person accustomed to lying, if that person "mocks his fellow," if he spreads slander even about things that never happened at all, you are in serious trouble. Because this person tells that he had an interview with you, and he tells that you said, and he... now the whole thing is a fabrication, understand. When we are dealing with a man of falsehood, then the story from beginning to end is made up out of thin air. So it turns out that in such a situation even guarding yourself will not help you. This is what he says, "and each man mocks his fellow." Why? Because these people "do not speak truth." They spread slander even though he never spoke with him at all. Since these people have become so accustomed to not speaking truth, they have so taught their tongue to speak falsehood, absolute falsehood that has not even a drop of truth in it, it is not even some falsehood that he dressed onto something that happened, but the whole thing from beginning to end is falsehood. And he says, it follows then that even if you guard yourself from him, it will not help, because "each man mocks his fellow and truth they do not speak. They have taught their tongue to speak falsehood, they weary themselves committing iniquity." This means, until now what would he do? Distort. He takes your words and distorts them. But this tires him. He needs to start searching within everything you said to him for some sentence, from which to create some negative connotation. This tires him. "He'aveh," to distort, "nil'u," they wearied. He wearied of distorting. So what does he do? He invents the falsehood from beginning to end, much easier. It is much easier to invent a falsehood than to come and take something you said and try to dress negative meanings onto it. So these people already wearied of distorting, so they lie from beginning to end.
The Radak explains that what is written "limdu" (they taught) is not from the term "teaching," but from the term "habit." Like "a wild donkey accustomed (limud) to the wilderness." What is "limud"? What did this wild donkey learn? No, the meaning is accustomed to the wilderness. Or the wayward and rebellious son, it is written about him "he seeks his limmud and does not find it." What "limmud"? Where does he study? In which room? Rather "he seeks his limmud" means his habit. He was accustomed to a tartimar of meat and half a log of wine, and "he seeks his limmud," his habit, "and does not find it." So what is written here, "they have taught their tongue to speak falsehood," they have become so accustomed to falsehood, that it already wearies them to fabricate fabrications as we said, which contain fragments of truth, and they lie from beginning to end.
"Your dwelling is amid deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me, says Hashem." "Your dwelling is amid deceit." Rashi explains: when they sit, all the time their thoughts are on deceit. And then according to Rashi the address here is to the people. "Your dwelling," you, Israel, are amid deceit. And through deceit they exchanged the fear of Me and refused to know Me. Instead of fearing Hashem, which is truth, which is true faith, they occupy themselves with matters of deceit. And for the sake of deceit "they refuse to know Me." And we have explained this several times in the past: why did they truly distance themselves so much from the way of Hashem? Because the way of Hashem is demanding. In contrast, all the ways of idolatry are very light and pleasant. Idolatry has few demands. What is the Christian required to do in his belief of vanity? For he need only believe in that man and already he will take him out of hell, out of the devil, and bring him to paradise. And he need only believe in him. Come once or twice a week, a month, to the priest, lay down some 100-200 dollars, make some confession and "your iniquity is removed and your sin atoned," and it is done. It is really quite pleasant to be a Christian. It is almost like being Reform. It is really something light like that, not demanding, requiring nothing, really very nice. So the person who had the choice between whether to go after idolatry or to go after the service of Hashem, the service of Hashem was very hard, very demanding, it requires a person to be meticulous in his deeds and to guard himself particularly in matters that a person's soul craves. These are matters of theft, these are matters of forbidden relations. And then what would happen? "Through deceit," since their way, says Rashi, is to practice deceit, then "they refuse to know Me." So they refuse to know Hashem, because I want deceit. And if I know Hashem, I am prevented from walking in ways of deceit. Since that is so, "through deceit," because of the deceit, "they refuse to know Me, says Hashem." According to the Radak, the address here is to the prophet, not to the people. And then the Holy One, blessed be He, says to the prophet: what benefit is there in your dwelling amid a people of deceit? "Your dwelling," you, the prophet Yirmiyahu, amid a people of deceit. In simple words, as it were, He tells him: you will not succeed in returning them in repentance. You will not succeed in drawing out the good from them. "Your dwelling," you dwell amid a people who are deceit. It is quite possible that there is also here some intent, as it were, to say: this people, even if they make an impression on you that they are, as it were, changing their way, or as it were they are accepting the matters, He says this is deceit. For these people, their way is trickery. "Through deceit they refuse to know Me, says Hashem." So you dwell amid a people of deceit, what are your chances of correcting them? The Targum Yonatan says a terrible thing. It says: they sit in their synagogues and tell of their iniquities with cunning. A terrible thing the Targum says. They sit in the synagogue and tell of the wickedness they used to do by way of trickery, of their scheming. Each one sits, what, you don't know what I did to him, come let me tell you how I got the better of him. And that one tells, what a thing, someone came to me today, don't ask, how I deceived him. They sit within the synagogue, in Hashem's sanctuary, and each one tells of his trickeries, of his transgressions. And this is a most severe sin. Therefore I always tell people, when there are people holding the impure devices that all the great ones of Israel forbade, but how can a person bring an idol into the sanctuary? How does he sit with this thing inside the synagogue? And what are you busy with? You bring idolatry into the place where the Holy One, blessed be He, said that this is My house, and inside Hashem's house you bring an idol? Master of the world, where is there sensitivity? Where, where is a little sense? People, this is simply, it is astounding, the idea is horrifying. About this he says, come and see that this reality of "they sit in their synagogues" and there occupy themselves with terrible things, he says, this is the most terrible of all. Even outside the synagogue it is a severe sin. So inside the synagogue this is bringing an idol into the sanctuary, "a maidservant who dispossesses her mistress." In a place where in Hashem's house you should open a book, occupy yourself with something of a mitzvah, the person scrolls inside the synagogue. And sometimes during the prayer. For sometimes he even prays from within this sewage. He stands with this sewage and prays, and suddenly a notification pops up for him. You understand? One moment, Master of the world, one second, I have a notification. One second, Master of the world, and... how do you, you do not understand what a lack of sense, you do not understand how, how small-minded, it is simply unbelievable. He says, behold, come and see, these are things they used to do in their time, and unfortunately today it comes in a more upgraded form. The Malbim explains: "your dwelling is amid deceit." The Malbim says: "toch" is an expression for trickery. "His mouth is full of deceits and toch." That is to say, you see that "toch" means deceit. What is the difference between "mirmah" (deceit) and "toch"? The Malbim says: "toch" is a person who deceives someone else with matters that have two faces. Something that can be understood in two ways. He says a certain thing, and this thing is ambiguous. This is the expression of "toch." In contrast, when we speak of "mirmah," "mirmah" is external speech. This means, he says the external speech, and the external speech has a "toch." What does it mean that it has a "toch"? It has a double meaning. Now, you understand one thing, and he intends another thing. And this is usually often the way of people who come to defraud in all sorts of business and all sorts of telephone trade. He, you will say, wait, you said, wait, where did I tell you such a thing? You said such and such. Well, where here is that found? No, it is implied from it. Implied - I said it? That is to say, he will lead you to the conclusion, but you will not be able to catch him on a word. Why? Because his words have a "toch." There is an inner meaning that he tries to have you understand, and often you fall into the trap and understand. But if afterward you try to prove that he defrauded you, he tells you, sir, come look, it is written here in the contract, I did not say it. Yes, but if you told me such, then it is implied that I do not pay for this. Did I tell you that you do not pay? Is it written here that you do not pay? No, but that is how I understood it. Ah, you understood. That is to say, understand that in deceit, the way to deceive is that there be a "toch." And the "toch" is essentially the ambiguity, the expression from which one can understand one way and can understand another. And through this the person manages to deceive. So we said that sometimes when a person must lie according to halachah and is permitted to lie, then we said that this is a lie that is preferable. That is to say, if one must lie, it is preferable not to lie an outright lie, but to lie a lie that is, as I now defined, with a "toch." I will give you an example. The Chafetz Chaim says that there are situations where it is permitted to lie. So someone whispered with you, spoke about another. You say Reuven spoke about Shimon. He said harsh things about him. Fine, you did not want it, you said enough, I do not want to hear, not this. Afterward Shimon says, tell me, I saw Reuven speaking with you, he looked at me. What, did he speak about me? Right, tell me, what, what did he tell you? So the Chafetz Chaim says, you are permitted even to tell him, no, Reuven did not speak about you. This is an outright lie. You are permitted to say, he did not speak about you. For what do you want, to tell the truth? And then what will you tell him? Yes, Reuven spoke about you. You will create a conflict, you... no, tell him, he did not speak about you. But with all this, there is a preference not to tell him, not to lie to him in a clear manner, but to speak in language that can be understood in two ways. What, for example? He tells you, tell me, is it true Reuven spoke about me? Tell me, what do you think, does Reuven have no one to speak about except you? Really, all the time you only think that they are speaking about you. You constantly live in fantasies. He did not tell him that he did not speak about him. Did I say he did not speak about you? I did not say. I only said that you constantly live in such thoughts. That is true. But Reuven really did speak about you. This is always preferable to coming and saying "Reuven did not speak about you." If he asks you point-blank and argues, you will be permitted to say also "he did not speak about you." But it is always preferable not to lie but to say only something that can be understood in two ways. So let us return to our matter. The Malbim says: if so, then when a person deceives, there is the "toch," and the "toch" is the thing hidden within his words. And if so, the Malbim says, what is written here, "your dwelling is amid deceit," it is as if he addresses the deceit as an entity. He as if speaks with the deceit. As if the deceit is some someone with whom he speaks. And then he says, the deceit, it is like some abstract entity, it places its dwelling within the hearts of the people. This means, the Malbim says, for deceit's dwelling is always in the mouth, not in the heart. What is "in the heart"? "In the heart" is something I believe in. "In the mouth," in contrast, I acquire you with the mouth. Or if you like, I sell you with the mouth. That is to say, I tell you a story, deceit is always something external. Through the smoothness of my tongue I managed to deceive you. But in my heart I know the truth. So one cannot say that deceit is in the heart. Deceit is always in externality, always in the mouth. But he says here it is not so, rather "your dwelling is amid deceit." The deceit, where do you dwell? Amid. You sit in the heart. You dwell within the heart. How can such a thing be, that deceit be in the heart? The Malbim says: this is not possible unless a person deceives himself as well. Do you hear? When I know the truth, then in my heart there is no deceit, there is only truth. I tell you a story, I deceive you, so the deceit dwells in the mouth, its dwelling is in the mouth. In contrast, when I of myself reach a state in which I deceive myself, then the deceit already dwells for me within the heart. For truly I have created lying to myself and deceiving myself. Therefore he says here, "your dwelling is amid deceit." You, deceit, as it were, did not only remain outside on their lips, you have already entered inward and you dwell within their heart. This means, "through deceit they refuse to know Me." Even in matters of the knowledge of Hashem, the Malbim says, they present themselves as if seeking to know Hashem, seeking to investigate matters of the Divine. He says, but know, truly this is deceit hidden within a man and a deep heart of trickery. And these people only make themselves out as if seeking matters of faith. But the most terrible thing, understand, is that they do not only make themselves out; they also succeed in deceiving themselves. As it were, how does one tithe straw and salt - all these questions in matters of faith and halachah, it is not a question only to deceive and dazzle the eyes of the listener, but he also wants to give himself some sort of good feeling that he really is delving deep and investigating and... this is often also a reality of a person, and unfortunately it is an existing reality. The evil inclination sometimes, after it brings the person to transgression, then arranges a mitzvah for him. Why? Why does it need to arrange a mitzvah for him? Since when does the evil inclination arrange mitzvot? It quiets your conscience. It quiets your conscience. And then sometimes the mitzvah it arranges for him is sometimes even some stringency, you understand? It is not even a mitzvah, it is not even something that is written, it is some feeling, some meticulousness in halachah about something, some approach. Why? You understand, he already feels righteous, he is not just this. What was before, that juicy evil speech that was before, that is not, it is as if that is not part of me. But I, know that deep inside I really, I investigate matters of the Divine, I, I seek God. He says, these people deceive themselves. So it turns out that the deceit was not only external with them, but rather "your dwelling is amid deceit." You, deceit, have acquired a dwelling already within their heart. "And they refuse to know Me, says Hashem." So even though they, through deceit, as it were, seek Hashem, do not accept this. "They refuse to know Me." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: within the hidden recesses of their heart there is deceit, they refuse to know Hashem.