Misilas Yesharim

What is מסילת ישרים? R’ Sarna says on מסילת ישרים, "מה שלקט הרמב''ם במשנה תורה יד חזקה עשה הרמח''ל במסילת ישרים"- the רמב'ם took all of the הלכות and divided them amongst subject matter, so too the רמח''ל collected various thoughts in מוסר and divided them according to the ברייתא of ר' פנחס בן יאיר.

The פסוק says, "נעשה אדם בצלמינו כדמותינו". רש''י says that ה' consulted with the מלאכים. The שפת אמת says that He was talking to אדם- ה' can make you, but you won’t be perfected until you work on yourself. In order to be a mentsch, you must work together with ה' and be His partner. How do we do this? We need to accept ה' over ourselves. ר' יונה says that it’s easy to be ממליך ה' on the world, but it’s much harder to be ממליך ה' over ourselves. So how can we do this? The אריז''ל says that when you make a ברכה, you raise that thing from mundane to a דבר שבקדושה. But this only happens if you are מתבונן in the ברכה. Really, ה' wants us to be מורגל to do מצוות, however it shouldn’t be a מצות אנשים מלומדה. ר' שלמה וואלבה says that when you are מתבונן, it totally changes what you are doing. You are elevating it and it brings a light into the world, which chases away the darkness. One should think before he does anything and never do something without a reason.

תפילה is one such area where we must have התבוננות. The word להתפלל is התפעל- doing to yourself. Its שרש is פלל. We see this when יעקב told יוסף, "ראות פניך לא פללתי"- I didn’t think that I would see you again. We see פלל means to think or judge. We aren’t ordering ה', we’re inspiring ourselves about Him. This is what we do by פסוקי דזמרה- we thank ה' in order that we should make ourselves realize his greatness (this is why every תפילה has הודי' and שבח) - we are judging ourselves and making ourselves think internally. The ספר עקרים asks why do we daven to ה' if he made a גזירה anyway? Because through davening, you elevate yourself and you change yourself so you are a new person and therefore have a new גזירה. It was quoted by someone, “How do you know when your תפילה is answered? When you have changed.” תפילה is so difficult, but it is an opportunity for growth.

הקדת המחבר-

The רמח''ל lived a very difficult life and died at the age of forty. At a very young age, he began learning נסתר. At one point in his life, he wrote מסילת ישרים and something else. R’ Sarna says that it’s amazing that someone who had such a deep knowledge could write a מוסר ספר that speaks to everyone. This ספר is a classic מוסר ספר.

In his modesty, he said that he didn’t write this ספר because the people don’t know the concepts. He wrote it to remind people of the things we all know- just to make them away. Everyone knows these concepts, but since this knowledge is so widespread, it’s not actually found in concept. There is no point in learning this ספר once because there are no חדושים- the תועלת is in reviewing this ספר to have a constant reminder of how to live. We need this reminder because we don’t stop to think. If we would discern what is important and what is really unimportant, we would be happier people, more complete people and people who are always doing the right thing. Doing the right thing doesn’t take the שמחה out of your life. Often, we see people with צרעות in their lives who are perpetually happy because they are doing the right things and true שמחה comes from doing the right thing.

People with who have clear minds and are bright usually put their intelligence towards different חכמות- science, technology… Some are even putting their minds towards הלכה and מדרש. But very few people put their minds to the עבודה of becoming closer to ה'. Why? They do think that it’s important, but they don’t bother to learn it because they feel that it is so obvious and don’t realize that it requires intense studying. It ends up that only the people who are not so smart are left to learn מוסר. Because of this, people’s attitude toward learning מוסר is that if someone is learning מוסר, he must not be so smart. This is a terrible attitude, because this means that no one will know what it’s really about and it will cause people to have the wrong idea of what חסידות really is. People will have no clue what it entails because they have no experience with it and מלתא דלא רמיא עלה דאינש לאו אדעתה. No one has it in their nature this מדה of חסידות and to do the right thing. We won’t sense a need to implement it into ourselves; therefore we must work to implement it within ourselves. How? By learning מוסר. Everyone knows deep down within that we must perfect our עבודת ה'. What will we answer by the יום הדין if we were weak in our עבודת ה' and didn’t learn about it?

When we realize the truth to this, we’ll work on it and teach it to others. The פסוק says, "אם תבקשנה ככסף וכמטונים תחפשנה"- one must search for יראת ה' the same way he searches for money. Just like you put yourself all out to attain money and you must look for it and dig deep down for it, so to יראת ה'. Is it enough to satisfy ourselves with the חנוך that we get in our parents’ home? It won’t come by itself even then. We must set aside time to learn about יראת ה'. It says, "הן יראת ה' היא חכמה"- הן means אחת in Greek. The only true חכמה is יראת ה'. In order to acquire it though, you must concentrate and learn.

The פסוק in דברים tells us the five things that ה' asks of us:
1. יראה- you must have יראת הרוממות. You must fear ה' like one fears a king and therefore act with respect when you’re davening or learning.
2. הליכה בדרכיו- you should follow in ה'’s footsteps and try to emulate His מדות. The תורה starts with ה' dressing אדם to show us His מדות. Everything that you do should be תפארת לעושי' ותפארת לו מן האדם- must result in חזוק התורה and affecting the community.
3. האהבה- you should show Him love like you show love to your parents to the point that you want to do His will and it pains you if you or someone else fails to do so.
4. שלמות הלב- your עבודה should not have any ulterior motives. You should only serve ה' because you have a sincere desire to do so. Also, your עבודה should be complete and not like פוסח על שתי הסעיפים- straddling on two sides of the fence. Included in this is doing a מצות אנשים מלומדה.
5. שמירת המצוות- keep all the מצוות according to all their פרטים and details.

In order to attain these five things, you need the proper מדות, as it is said by ר' פנחס בן יאיר that תורה brings to זהירות → זריזות →נקיות → פרישות →טהרה →חסידות →ענוה →יראת החטא →קדושה →רוח הקודש → תחית המתים. This ספר is based on this. The רמח''ל says, "ללמד לעצמי ולהזכיר לאחירים"- this shows his ענוה.

Each of these מדות has three פרקים:
1. Defining it.
2. Acquiring it.
3. Guarding ones self against being מפסיד it.

By learning this ספר, you’ll learn to be a יראי שמים and you won’t forget your חובה to ה'. You’ll try to remove the חמריות for yourself and we’ll be מקיים what דוד המלך said, "הוריני ה' דרכיך אהלך באמתך יחד לבבי ליראה שמך".

באור חובת האדם בעולמו-

The foundation of חסידות and the root of perfect עבודה is that one should clarify what is his חובה in this world. It says "בעולמו"- in his world. Each person has his own world because everyone has different תפקידים, different כוחות and a different situation. It’s the most important thing to know and develop.
Once you have the foundation, you can build around its parameters. Once you have a יסוד of חסידות, you can spend your life building on this foundation. Once you know your חובה, you can keep on growing and building your character higher and greater. Everyone has different things that fit on his building- so whatever חסידות is conducive to your growing, take it in. Your foundation has been built by your חנוך, but it’s up to you to acquire חסידות.

The שרש is the root- the נשמה given to you. In order to keep your root alive, you must keep on nourishing it with your עבודה. Our עבודת ה' is constantly refined as we nourish these roots. You already have it, but you need to work to improve it. How do you build on the יסוד and שרש? A person must clarify and verify for himself what his חובה is in this world. Each person has his own worlds- every person was born with different qualities and he must see in what he should put his outlook and goal with everything that he does. Everything you do should be with reason- don’t do anything without a reason. Sometimes, you do something which you think is so insignificant but you don’t realize what a difference it makes. Ex. If אהרן would have known that the תורה would mention "וראך ושמח בלבו", he would have come out to meet משה with תופים ומחולות. For everything you do, no matter how small it seems, you must know the positive reasoning for it and fit into the goal of life. Even if you think that it is not so major, it could make such a difference. Life has to be meaningful and we must constantly be growing.

We were created only to be מתענג by being close to ה' and to get עדון from the זיו השכינה in עוה''ב, which has been prepared for this purpose. But we can only get there if we prepare for it here, in עוה''ז- this is the only place where you can accumulate זכותים. עוה''ז is like the hallway that is leading you to the ballroom- עוה''ב. But even in עוה''ז, the more you allow yourself to get close to ה', the happier you will be. Even though you are not yet in עוה''ב, you will feel the closeness to ה'. But in עוה''ב, you will really be נהנה from the זיו השכינה.

Proof that this is the way the world runs:
1. "קרבת אלקים לי טוב"- the only thing that’ll be for me good is קרבת ה'.
2. "אחת שאלתי... שבתי בבית ה'"- I ask only for one thing- to have קרבת ה', everything else is הבל. How can you attain this? By doing מצוות.

However much we try to be good, that how close to ה' we will get. The more you give in to your תאוות, the more you are distancing yourself from ה'. Everything in life is a נסיון. All around you are תאוות. If you win over them, you will be an אדם שלם and you’ll be זוכה to enter the טרקלין, maybe even in this world.

Everything in this world was created for our sake. If we do good, we raise the balance of the world. If we do bad, we ruin ourselves and the world. So, the world is benefitted by צדיקים. That’s why ה' made such a thing as a light for צדיקים, which enhances the entire world. By the story of the rocks under יעקב’s head- each one wanted to be under his head because he would enhance it. When ה' created the world, he showed it to אדם, but told him not to ruin it. Our עבירות ruin it.

We see that the point of our existence is what will be in עוה''ב and not what is in עוה''ז:
1. "העולם הזה דומה לפרוזדור"
2. "היום לעשותם ומחר לקבל שכרם"
3. "מי שטרח בערב שבת אוכל בשבת"
4. "העוה''ז דומה ליבשה והעוה''ב דומה לים"– because you need to get together your equipment for your journey, otherwise it is too late.

A single בעל שכל can not think that the purpose for our creation is עוה''ז because we see that our lives here are so short and so מלא צרה, so obviously עוה''ז is not the goal. Additionally, why would you have a נשמה if you תכלית is עוה''ז- your נשמה doesn’t appreciate עוה''ז, so why bring it here? Because the תכלית is עוה''ב. משל- עירוני who married a princess. נמשל- our נשמה hates being in this world.


דברי תורה-

ר''ה and יו''כ:
• Why do we say "שמע קולנו", and not "שמע תפילותינו"? We have the idea of קול. We see this same idea by the שופר- have the קול שופר. A שופר is so powerful because it is a crying voice that we want to connect to ה'. So too in our תפילות- the calling out to ה' is what is really important.
• Rabbi Yaakov Reisman- on ר''ה, we are ממליך ה' over ourselves. When we forge the הוספה of "המלך הקדוש" we must go back and not by any of the other הוספות. Why? Because the most important thing is המכלת ה'.
• The עבודה of יו''כ has in it the שני השאירים- two identical goats that stand at the פתח to the אהל מועד. Early in the day, the כהן does a raffle on them. One gets לה' חטאת. This goat is שחטed and its blood is sprinkled in front of the פרוכת seven times and then the כהן sprinkles the blood towards the ארון and on the posts of the מזבח הזהב to be מכפר. Next, the כהן goes out to the other goat, puts his hands on its head and admits all of ב''י’s חטאים that were בשוגג and throws it down a cliff. ר' שמשון רפאל הירש explains that because he is outside of the בהמ''ק, he has חטאים upon him that he is responsible for and although it was בשוגג, he is held accountable because you have to go into the בהמ''ק, where you become closer to ה'. Before the גורל, these two goats were identical, but one rose so high and one didn’t. This must be applied to our lives- if we commit ourselves, we can go until לפני ולפנים.

פרשת בראשית:
• The earth was created, but grass didn’t grow "כי אדם אין לעבוד את האדמה". רש''י says there was no one to daven for it to grow. Without תפילה, nothing would be here for man.
• ר' שמשון רפאל הירש- we have the מצוה of פרו ורבו. This לשון seems to be redundant, but it’s not. פרו- to have children. ורבו- it’s מל' רובה קשת- to direct them at a goal. It is not enough just to have children, you must raise them and teach them the right ways.
• When אדם and חוה were חוטא, they got an עונש. The purpose of punishment is not to hurt you, it’s to make you a better person. חוה’s punishment was "הרבה ארבה עצבונך והרונך" and אדם got the punishment of "בזעת אפיך תאכל לחם בעצבון תאכלנה". ר' שמשון רפאל הירש says that בעצבון (with pain) can be translated as בעזבון- forgo. You can only have פרנסה if you forgo your desires, for example you must get up in the morning even though you may be tired. This was מכ''מ to their חטא because their חטא was giving in to their desires and now he must forgo it. Women must have עזבון all the time- they forgo their needs for their children’s needs. This makes us closer to גן עדן than men.

סוכות:
• The קריאת התורה for סוכות mentions "ושמחת" three times. This applies only to סוכות. Why?
1. גשמיות- the harvest is in.
2. רוחניות- we got a כפרה, therefore we are on a high.

פרשת נח:
• נח was told to build a תיבה and was told, "צוהר תעשה לתיבה". A צוהר is either a window or a gem that gives off light. The בעש''ט and שפת אמת teach that תיבה means a word also. So "צוהר תעשה לתיבה"- make the words you say have a light and enlighten you. This is referring to your תפילות- they should lighten up your day.

פרשת לך לך:
• After the מבול, people still reverted back to their old ways. Decency started really with the אבות only. א''א married שרה- was called יסכה:
1. שכסה ברוח הקודש- she was overflowing with רוח הקודש.
2. שהכל סוכין ביפי'- everyone was impressed with her beauty.
When she was seven, she realized that her dazzling beauty was not something to walk around with and it should be covered up. She covered herself with royalty and majesty (שרי- מל' שר) in a way that people won’t know of her beauty. This was the case, except for מצרים because they were so immoral. The וולנא גאון says that a woman working on צניעות is equal to a man who’s learning and working on his התמדה- they are both an עבודה.
• "הנה באהל"- this shows her צניעות and she set the precedent for woman being in the tent, especially when guests come. עמון and מואב are not allowed to marry a Jew because they didn’t give to ב''י in their time of need. But the עמוני and מואבי women were in their tents, so they are not included in this גזירה- from them we have רות.

פרשת וירא:
• The source for צניעות is"הצנע לכת עם אלוקיך" and "אל הצנועים חכמה". רש''י quotes תרגום for הצנע לכת, which explains it as having יראת ה'. The פסוק in מיכה talks about three things that ה' wants from you:
1. עשות משפט
2. אהבת חסד
3. הצנע לכת
מיכה encapsulates all מצוות into these three things. דוד encapsulates it all into פרק טו in תהלים- עשות משפט and אהבת חסד represent באל''ח and באל''מ. הצנע לכת represents doing what ה' wants of you. צניעות applies to all different aspects of your life. When we don’t act with צניעות, we are מכשיל men. If we would treasure the femininity that we have, we wouldn’t want to use it in the wrong way. The more precious something is, the more we cover it up.

פרשת חיי שרה:
• When יצחק brought רבקה into his mother’s tent, everything returned like it was by שרה and he was comforted:
1. ברכה בעיסה
2. נרות דולקות
3. ענן
רמב''ן- In the בהמ''ק, there were also these three things- ה' copied it and put it into the :
בהמ''ק:
1. נרות- symbolizes the learning of תורה. By licht benching, we daven for our children’s תורה. We must see that everything in our house is על פי תורה.
2. עיסה- symbolizes the שלחן in the בהמ''ק, which symbolizes our גשמיות, פרנסה and money. It all must be על פי תורה- whatever we do with גשמיות must be with the correct standard. You don’t just have to use your money for חסד and צדקה. You are supposed to use it for גשמיות, but you must use it correctly.
3. שכינה- we re responsible for the קדושה and טהורה in our homes. We must be careful with what comes into our homes and what goes on inside of our houses.
• When רבקה saw יצחק, "ותסכס"- she was covered. Meaning, she was covered because it was such an automatic response when she covered herself that she just found herself covered.