פרק ו:
זהירות is what you aren’t supposed to do, but זריזות is an עשה. The פסוק says, "סור מרע ועשה טוב"- before you do good, you must turn away from bad. The idea of זריזות is the way you have to do מצוות and finish them. "זריזים מקדימים למצווה"- you must do מצוות and do them fast. Just like we must guard ourselves from the יצה''ר’s trap, we must also be very alert to grab מצוות and not let them slip by. Just like the יצה''ר tries to catch us in the net of חטאים, he also tries to prevent us from doing מצוות. If a person is lazy and doesn’t grab after מצוות, he will remain empty.
The nature of a person is to physically heavy- we are thick and lazy. Therefore, a person who wants to serve ה' must overcome his nature and have זריזות, or he won’t succeed. The תנא says in פרקי אבות, "הוי עז כנמר...". A נמר is a little animal that isn’t afraid to attack a bigger animal. It stays around it’s nest to keep watch, doesn’t give up and is fast and strong.
תורה and מעש''ט need חזוק. יהושע was told that he must be "חזק מאד"- he needs a lot of strength in order to do what the תורה wants. A person needs a lot of strength in order to take his nature and turn it upside down. שלמה says, "מעט שנית..."- a little bit of sleep and poverty will come upon you like a visitor, what you are lacking will come on you like an armed warrior. A lazy person isn’t doing anything bad, but not doing anything at all can also be bad. Someone who makes you weak in your work is a brother to the יצה''ר. Even though he isn’t doing something bad, he isn’t doing what he is supposed to be, and that is also wrong. So he is a contemporary to doing actual wrong.
The ספר gives a graphic description of a lazy person: if you pass the field or vineyard of a lazy person, it will be covered in thorns and vines. We must take מוסר from this- if you are lazy, poverty will crawl up on you.
Someone learns and doesn’t understand what he is learning, but he is too lazy to look into the ענין properly. So he makes up his own פירוש and says that something טהור is טמא and vice versa. He is פורץ גדר of חכמים. Someone like this, it’s like he is suffering from a snakebite- in the beginning he won’t notice that he is doing something wrong, but slowly he will go off the correct path. He will go from one bad to another until he ends up totally off, all because he was too lazy to learn properly. It’s bad enough that he didn’t learn properly, but it is only going to get worse. He is to make things up and distort the truth. Then he will be פורץ גדר and he will die. So when a person is too lazy to do the right thing, remember that it is like a poison which spreads slowly.
Why don’t people do the right thing when they know they should? People make up excuses because they are lazy. Every excuse is so that he won’t do what he really has to. He will also bring ראיות from the תורה and warp it so that he can use it as an excuse.
"חכם עצל בעיניו משביעה משיבי טעם"- a person who is lazy thinks that he is smarter than seven advisors of the king. His laziness doesn’t allow him to think, or listen to the rebuke that people are giving him. He thinks that they are wrong and he is the only smart one.
When a person wants to grow, he must have in mind that "כל קלא צריכה בדיקה"- everything that seems easy, investigate it to make sure that it is really ok. (There is a play on words here- "כל כלה צריכה בדיקה"- you must check out a girl before marrying her.) There are some leniencies which are correct, but it is likely that most are just the work of the יצה''ר. So if someone informs you of a leniency, check it out. We must get rid of the laziness that stops us.
"גברי כח עושי דברו לשמע בקול דברו". Also מלאכים are strong and do the work of ה' at all times. But we are people, not מלאכים, so we can’t achieve this level of strength. There are some people though who come close:
1. שומרי שמיטה- they have a tremendous נסיון and many excuses.
2. הנעלבים ואינו עולבין
פרק ז:
There are two parts to זריזות-
1. Before you start the מעשה
2. Afterwards
When you have the opportunity to do a מצוה, don’t let it become חמץ, don’t delay. A person has three opportunities to do a מצוה:
1. מצוה that has a time.
2. It happens to come in front of you.
3. It occurs to you.
There is no danger like the danger of delaying a מצוה, because something will come up which will stop you from doing the correct thing. We see an example of this in תנ''ך, when שלמה was supposed to be crowned. דוד told בניהו to take שלמה down to גיחון. בניהו answered, "אמן כן יהי רצון'"- he meant to say, what’s the rush? ה' already promised that he’ll be king! But דוד wanted him to hurry because there are many קטיגורים between here and גיחון.
"ושמרתם את המצוות"- מצוה הבאה לידך אל תחמיצנה.
A person should hurry up and be the first one to do a מצוה. We see this from לוט’s daughters- since the older one went first, she was זוכה that her descendant רות should come into כ''י four generations before נעמה.
A person should run after מצוות, even on שבת.
זריזות is a מדה שלמה גדולה and a person’s nature stops him. Anyone who runs and grabs, לעתיד לבא he will get שכר for it.
A person must complete מצוות, he shouldn’t stop in middle. A person should worry that maybe he won’t finish his מצוה. It says that anyone who starts a מצוה and doesn’t finish it will bury his wife and children. This is referring to יהודה, who didn’t save יוסף all of the way. This עונש is מכ''מ because a wife is a husband’s השלמה and the children are his future.
A מצוה only gives credit to the one who finished it. שלמה said, "חזית איש מהיר...". The חכמים say that this is referring to שלמה, who built the בהמ''ק right away and משה, who built the משכן as soon as he got the מצוה.
Examples of people who hurried:
1. א''א
2. רבקה
3. אשת מנוח- she hurried after the מלאך who came to her.
It is the way of צדיקים to hurry. A person who wants will never be lazy. He won’t stop until he sees that something is finished. Even if a person isn’t inspired to do something fast, the זריזות will bring him the inspiration to do so. But if he does everything slowly, his spirits are going to be like that too.
"כאיל תארג..."- just like the איל is thirsty for water, my soul is thirsty for You, ה' and my flesh is longing for You.
Even if you don’t have it in you, if you act with זריזות, the desire will come because "התנועה החיצונה מעוררת הפנימית"- your outer movements will inspire your inner ones. Obviously, you have more control over your actions than your inner movements. So if you do something fast, inside you will be like that too. If you do everything that is in your control, you will get what’s not in your control too.
The נביא says, "ונדעה ונרדפה..."- you will know and chase to know ה'. We will do a מצוה with the כח that a lion puts forth when he roars.
פרק ח:
קנין הזריזות = קנין הזהירות.
They both have the same three levels:
1. שלמי הדעת
2. פחותים מהם
3. כל ההמון
Whichever way you acquire זהירות, you are going to do the same thing for זריזות.
What is going to make your decision to be careful? Look at all the טובות that ה' ever did for you, and then how can you not repay ה' by doing what He wants from you?
Even if a person only has a little bit of good, he must still recognize the good that he does have- he is alive, has food…
Doing the right thing does include enjoying and relaxing.
שלמי הדעת know how to enjoy and live properly. פחותים מהם skip out on the little things, and the המון עם just doesn’t want to get punished.
If we look back and see how grateful we have to be, how can we not repay ה' by doing what He wants?
פרק ט:
Why aren’t we all זריזים? Because the nature of a person is to be lazy. We want physical ease, we love pleasures and easy things and hate to be bothered with hard work. For a lazy person, everything he has to do is a burden. Anyone who wants to eat slowly, sleep without being disturbed and sleep slowly will have a hard time hurrying for a דבר מצוה (ex. waking up to go daven). If a person is constantly programmed like this, it’s going to be hard for him to hurry when he has to. He is chained down by habit and it will become second nature to him.
But this is not what we are here for. We are here to work hard and exert ourselves. We are like day laborers who get paid only for the work that they do. We must be like soldiers who eat fast, sleep when they can and are always ready for emergencies. "אדם לעמל יולד"- we are born to work hard. He should make this הרגל because he has to prepare to be like this. He must live "פת במלח תאכל..."- he must live like this so that he won’t be spoiled with luxuries.
Another problem is fear. There are two kinds of fear:
1. Real fear
2. Phobia- for example, I can’t go out in the rain because I might get pneumonia. These are fake fears.
ה' gave every person a שכל ישר- you can decide if something is a real or foolish fear.
שלמה said, "עצל... הרחובות"- this is a lazy person’s excuse: maybe there will be a leopard in the streets and a lion between the lanes. Our חכמים look down upon this quality and call it sinning. So people who are constantly afraid are sinners. One of the גדולים told his תלמיד, "חוטא אתה" because he was scared.
It says in ישעי', "פחדו... חנפים"- if you have בטחון in ה', you will do the right thing. A person should feel secondary in this world and remove himself from all earthly things. He must have בטחון and not be afraid of what is going to happen.
It says, "בטח בה' ועשה טוב...". A person must make himself incidental, but קבוע in עבודה. He must take advantage of what he is able to do in this world- he must be willing to work. He should distance himself from מנוחה and be involved in work. And he shouldn’t be afraid of all the little things that happen, yet the חכמים say that must take care of yourself. So a person must know "הכל בידי שמים חוץ מצנים פחים". It says, "ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיכם". You aren’t supposed to ignore this kind of בטחון- even for a דבר מצוה, you can’t put yourself in danger.
Sometimes, having fear is having בטחון, and sometimes it’s just foolish. ה' gave us intelligence and we must use it to reason logically. A person must distance himself from the things ה' created to punish רשעים with. A person who wants to conduct himself in a way where he doesn’t use his intelligence, that isn’t בטחון, he’s just being foolish. ה' wants us to take care of ourselves. So not only isn’t he being careful, he is now guilty of a sin, and he is going to be punished because you can’t put yourself in a dangerous situation.
Real fear, however, is established through intelligence and is appropriate. A smart person sees what is bad and he avoids it. Foolish people don’t.
Someone who has foolish fear puts one fear on top of another. It is going to bring about בטול תורה and he won’t perform מצוות.
How do you know if fear is real fear or foolish fear? If there is likely to be a loss, you must be careful. But if there’s no real fear, you don’t have to worry about it. You only have to worry about what your eye sees.
"ערום ראה רעה נסתר"- a smart person seed if there is danger and if there is visible danger, he hides from it. A lazy person though, comes up with all kinds of fears- there might be a lion in the street!
If you tell an עצל that his רבי is in town and he should go learn from him, he’ll say that maybe there is a lion in the street. If you tell him that he is in the town, not the forest, he’ll say that the lion might come there. If you tell him that the רבי is in his house, he’ll say that maybe the door is locked. And if you tell him that the door isn’t locked, he’ll say that he doesn’t care, he just wants to take another nap. This doesn’t come from fear, it comes from עצלות.
זריזות comes after זהירות because you can’t hurry if you aren’t doing the correct thing. A person who doesn’t have זהירות won’t get so excited and want to do it with his whole heart. He is still drowning in the תאבות of his body and doesn’t want to do anything fast. Once he opens his eyes and wants to do the correct thing, he will be able to get excited.
בן איש חי- when it comes to learning תורה: in the old days when they learnt בע''פ, it was very hard. Then it got written down so it became easier to learn. But still, it was written on scrolls and they weren’t so easily accessible. Next came the printing press, and then everything was organized. But if a person doesn’t want to learn, it won’t make a difference how easy it is.
דברי תורה:
פרשת תרומה:
• פרשת תרומה discuss the כלי המשכן and פרשת תצוה discusses the בגדי כהונה- each one carries such an important message for our lives. Then the פרשה goes on to קרבנות and at the very end it discusses מזבח קטרת. Why is this not discussed with the other כלים? Everything carries key messages that are applicable to our lives. The קטרת has a good, satisfactory smell- "לעשות ריחך". The bottom line of all of our actions is "לעשות ריחך".
• The משכן had high boards put into silver sockets. There were ten on one side, ten on the other side and eight across. They were connected with corner boards- "תומים למטה ותומים על ראשם וטבעת על הראש". R’ Schwab- this is the perfect formula for marriage. You must be compatible for everything in גשמיות and in רוחניות you must have one outlook. Maybe this is the reason you give a ring at the wedding, to symbolize this פסוק.
פרשת תצוה:
• ה' commands בצלאל to build the משכן- "את הכיור הנחשת...". The כיור was made from the women’s mirrors. משה didn’t want to take them because he felt they represented גשמיות. But ה' told him to take them. They were so חביב in the eyes of ה' because it was through them that כ''י was created- the woman flirted with their husbands in order to get them to have children with them. They were called מראות צבאות. צבא- they created an army of כ''י. These woman used their femininity correctly. We are supposed to look nice for only our husbands. The מי סוטה came the כיור- because the סוטה used her beauty in the wrong way.
פורים:
• אסתר and אחשוירוש ruled over 127 provinces. שרה lived 127 years. שרה was a role model to אסתר- שרה was taken to פרעה and she davened to get out. אסתר learnt from her and she was able to live in אחשוירוש’s palace as a true בת ישראל.
• When המן offered the 10,000 שקלים to kill the Jews. So ה' had us give שקלים to build a בנין of קדושה long before he tried to build a מקום טמא.
פרשת פרה:
• Why does it say "זאת חקת התורה" and not "זאת חקת הפרה"? This is a sign for everything in the תורה- we do it because ה' knows what’s best for us.
פרשת תזריע:
• ר' הירש- why does a person become so טמא from a מת that he has to wait seven days, get sprinkled on days three and seven and only then is he טהור? Why does a woman have to wait after she gives birth before going into the בהמ''ק? Because our נשמה rules over our גוף. This is why we have so many מצוות, so that what we are supposed to do will rule over what we want to do and then we will be able to rule over our desires. When a person goes into the בהמ''ק, he must be טהור. But after מיתה, we are so overwhelmed with גשמיות, our bodies are in control. After a woman gives birth, her body rules over and she needs special time to become reconnected with her נשמה before she can go into the בהמ''ק.
• Why is a woman’s טמאה twice as long when she gives birth to a girl than when she gives birth to a girl? Because a boy has a ברית on the most physical organ of his body and he has to learn how to have control. So his ברית מילה is a constant אות. But a woman has to teach her daughter how to have control, so she needs twice as long to prepare.
פרשת קדושים:
• ר' הירש- it says "קדושים תהיו"- the key to be קדושים, "איש אביו ואמו תיראו"- the parent’s job is to teach their children obedience. The Slonimer Rebbe says that the most important stage in a child’s חנוך is before they are בר or בת מצוה- you teach them that they must obey. ר' משה says that if you are a parent or teacher, you must learn what to tell your children they can or can’t do. You must make life pleasant for them, not everything could be “no”. The next half of this פסוק discusses שבת. שבת is also a very big discipline- you can’t just do whatever you want whenever you want. שבת is the cornerstone of becoming קדוש. When you have the ability to overcome and be disciplined, you can be קדושים.
פרשת אמור:
• The הפתרה describes the third בהמ''ק and talks about the בגדי כהונה. When the כהנים wear these clothes, it imbues in them קדושה and inspires them to be who they really want to be. For us, this is our בגדי שבת- they imbue in us the spirit of שבת.
מגילת רות:
• רות becomes the grandmother of מלך המשיח. She was so great. We can learn from here. She was the daughter of עגלון מלך מואב. She was married to מחלון for ten years and they had no children. She was inspired by her mother-in-law and she gave up everything to do חסד. It says, "כאשר תלכי אלך". R’ Ehrentrau- אינו דרך של בת ישראל ללכת לבתי טאטרות..."- this isn’t talking about places which are wrong. But a בת ישראל only goes places with a purpose, not just to kill time.
• When רות goes down to בועז, it says "ותאמר רות כה אשר תאמר אלי אעשה". The word אלי has dots on it, it’s a קרי בלא כתיב. רות said, whatever you are telling me, there is no me. She didn’t have אנכיות.
• What is the connection between מגילת רות and זריזות? בועז married רות quickly, and this was important because he died the next day.
• It is called מגלית חסד. מלכות בית דוד is built on this strength- both בועז and רות did something which was against their nature and שכל, and did what had to be done.
• נעמי told רות to uncover her feet as a רמז that he owes her יבום. יבום gives feet and stability to the wandering נשמה of the מת.
• דוד’s name has two ד- low, and a ו- אמת. דוד didn’t have a sense of אנכיות. He had no גאוה, yet when it came to אמת and חבור to ה', he excelled.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
שפת תמים- פרק ה
This פרק brings two big, obvious reasons that may bring someone to גזל.
Everything that we said before is for those who aren’t רגיל in the חטא of גזל- they will hopefully be healed easily. But someone who is already seeped in this חטא must ask himself, how did I get so sick?
There are many reasons for this, but we will discuss two:
1. Spending too much money on luxuries- this has caused all of our צרות from within (among Yidden) and מבחוץ (among גויים). When you spend a lot of money, you don’t pay attention to where it’s going to go. The יצה''ר acts like a hunter- he puts down the food. You want the food so badly that you don’t know that it’s a trap. And by the time you realize it, it’s too late. You can see this clearly with the idea of spending money- you say that there’s nothing wrong with something, you spend the money and fall into the trap of גזל.
Really, ה' gives us money in order to sustain ourselves and do מצוות. But the יצה''ר pushes us to think that since we have the money, we should raise ourselves to look nicer and more honorable. Everyone wants to look like the people one step above them. So this is what you do when you get a hold of more money, until it becomes more and more necessary for you to live that way. When there comes a time that you can no longer afford this, but still want to upkeep your standards, he is stuck until the יצה''ר convinces him to steal.
Finally the יצה''ר is able to find a crack in you and he convinces you to steal, take by force, borrow without intending to pay the money back… Why do you do this? In order to keep up with your standards, because if you lower your standards you will be embarrassed. So the יצה''ר finds you in a pinch and he gets you to do bad. In the end, you will become a real thief and you won’t even think twice about the person you are stealing from. You will only worry about your own פרנסה.
He also brings himself to a סכנה because he is so worried about money. So because he wanted a little bit of כבוד, he now has lots of shame and he loses his health. Of course, he will get punished in עוה''ב too.
חז''ל say, "איזהו חכם הרואה את הנולד". Even when you have money, realize that it probably won’t last, so don’t raise your standards too high. Just try to blend in and keep a low profile. If you do have great wealth, don’t wear such expensive and מכובדיק clothing because it will bring you to גאוה. Don’t allow the amount you paid for something to be your status. By doing this, you are inciting your יצה''ר. Also, this will cause others to become jealous of you. Even if you can afford it, maybe they can’t and they will steal in order to copy you. There are so many extravagances which aren’t necessary, but people will think they are because you have them. So they will steal so that they can live up to your standard. Even if you have money, be considerate of those who don’t.
Because of these luxuries, there is a lot of money spent on חתונות to a point where many girls of marriageable age are embarrassed. The parents are crying and no one can help. This is a result of the people who spend too much. They bring bad onto the world at large, not just onto themselves. So you should live normally. You don’t have to give up on everything, but you don’t have to raise your standards to include luxuries. Don’t overdo it.
2. Lack of knowledge- people don’t realize what constitutes גזל. They think that only if you physically steal from someone are you עובר on גזל. But this is wrong! Any time you take something בתסר or without the owner’s consent, you are stealing. The word in ל' הקודש for borrowing is לשאול- to ask, because when you borrow something you must ask for permission first. If someone gives you something to watch for them, you can’t use it. If a poor person gives you a פקדון, you must return it to him if he needs it. Using something without the owner’s permission is גזל.
You can’t delay paying a worker- "לא תעשק". The פסוק says, "ביומו תתן שכרו"- you must pay a worker on time.
If you take back payment more than you lent someone, it’s רבית, which is אסור. It’s also רבית if the person you lent to does an extra favor for you.
Anyone in whose hands remains dishonest money, even if it’s a פרוטה, this is still גזל. We as Yidden don’t differentiate between petty larceny and grand larceny. Stealing is stealing no matter how much money is involved.
A worker might want a certain salary, but you don’t want to pay him that much, so you say that you will only give him a certain amount. This would make you עובר on "לא תעשק", so it’s better to negotiate the price up front.
There is the issue of אונאה- unfair money dealings. Many think that certain things are permissible, but they aren’t. Examples:
1. You can’t falsely praise a product.
2. You can’t say that you bought the product for more than you actually did, or lie that you have a higher offer than the one the individual at hand is offering you so that he pays you more.
3. You can’t raise the price of something if it’s not worthy of that price.
4. You can’t conceal the bad of an item by the good.
5. You can’t have incorrect measurements.
If you are dishonest with these things, you are considered disgusting and hated and your עונש will be worse than the עונש for עריות. For every minute that you have in your possession an incorrect משקל, you are עובר on an עבירה. This is one of the only עבירות you can do while you are sleeping.
You won’t have הצלחה in the end and even עוה''ז will be terrible.
People make התירים with their money. But you must know, "בשלשה דברים העולם ניכר בכסו בכיסו ובכעסו"- you can see what kind of a person someone is based on how he spends his money. It’s better to live honestly and poorly, but this won’t happen because "דורשי ה' לא יחסרו כל טוב".
The יצה''ר gives you נגיעות, so the way you know if you are being honest is not to rely on yourself, but ask a שאלה- "על בינתך אל תשען". The יצה''ר can give you thirty-nine תרוצים of why it’s ok.
We should learn from the אבות- "אם לא תדעי לך היפה בנשים צאי לך בעקבי הצאן (אבות)": יעקב asked for only לחם לאכל ובגד ללבש even though he was raised in such a wealthy home (יצחק was richer than אבימלך). He didn’t even ask for לחם ובגד because that has no קץ- people can take it to the craziest degrees. So he only wants לחם לאכל- not to waste and בגד ללבש- not to have extras of.
So no one should feel pressured to get wealthy. Becoming wealthy is דומה to a man who is so rich with a life so full of luxuries that he was so גאוהדיק and he was מורד במלכות. So they made him sit on a high pole, and he was fed and treated in a luxurious manner, too. But his pleasures don’t mean anything to him because he knows that he could fall any second. נמשל- it’s better that we should be on the ground and not stay on top. When people are wealthy, they aren’t on solid ground. They can lose their money in a second and it’s not worthwhile to have luxuries now because once you get used to it, you won’t be able to break away.
Don’t feel so pressured to strike it rich. It shouldn’t be your goal. And certainly if you do it in a bad way, because you’ll be about to fall from the pole. But ה' will hold back להולכי תמים, even in עוה''ז.
רבית-
רבית can be with:
1. Money
2. A favor
3. Words- you can’t say תזכה למצוות or יישר כחך to the person who lent you money.
ר' שוואב borrowed money from ר' ירוחם and when he was paying it back, he said thank you. So ר' ירוחם said, “the laws of etiquette don’t come before the laws of the רבנים”. So the next time ר' שוואב borrowed money, he didn’t say thank you and ר' ירוחם said, “you still must feel the thanks”.
There is a מחלוקת whether or not you can say a simple thank you. ר' שוואב says that you should tell the person, “you know how much this favor means to me”.
If you are עובר on רבית, you are עובר on up to six אסורים. But רבית with גויים is מותר- you can pay back more than you borrowed for a mortgage if the bank isn’t Jewish.
You can’t borrow a credit card and not the money back, because then the money accrues interest. If you pay back the person you borrowed the card from the money plus the interest, you are paying back interest.
You can’t charge more money for post-dated checks.
Early bird specials are a problem because really, I only owe you the money once my child is in camp. But when I give it to you in advance, I am lending it and you pay me back more than I deserve when you provide me with the service of making the camp.
A היתר עסקא is if you say that you aren’t loaning someone money, you are becoming a partner in his business. So if I invest money in a business and they pay me back dividends, it’s not that I loaned the money and I’m getting back more, I am a partner.
You can only switch favors with someone if they are exactly equal in all the characteristics. You can’t tell someone that you are inviting them over for a meal because they had you over last week.
בל תלין-
It says, "ביומו תתן שכרו ולא תעבר עליו השמש". There is a time frame in which you must pay your worker- before the day is over. There is a מצות עשה and a מצות לא תעשה in both. There is another פסוק, "לא תלין פעולת שכיר אתך עד בקר". It seems to be a contradiction whether it’s referring to sunset or sunrise. The answer is- depending on what comes first. If I pay by the next opportunity it’s a מצות עשה, but it’s not an עבירה if I don’t and they don’t ask for it. You could ask someone if he’s מוחל you not to pay him on time, and if he is you don’t have to.
The same is for rentals- you must pay on the first of the month. The ח''ח says that you would even be required to borrow money in order to pay back on time. Not everyone holds this way, but they say that it’s still good to do so.
If a worker is too embarrassed to come and tell you that he needs the money, this means that he isn’t מוחל you and you must pay him on time.
This also applies to children. If you promise them something, you must give it to them by שקיעה. This is even more complicated because a child can’t be מוחל.
You must pay your workers before you pay for your צרכי שבת.
Everything that we said before is for those who aren’t רגיל in the חטא of גזל- they will hopefully be healed easily. But someone who is already seeped in this חטא must ask himself, how did I get so sick?
There are many reasons for this, but we will discuss two:
1. Spending too much money on luxuries- this has caused all of our צרות from within (among Yidden) and מבחוץ (among גויים). When you spend a lot of money, you don’t pay attention to where it’s going to go. The יצה''ר acts like a hunter- he puts down the food. You want the food so badly that you don’t know that it’s a trap. And by the time you realize it, it’s too late. You can see this clearly with the idea of spending money- you say that there’s nothing wrong with something, you spend the money and fall into the trap of גזל.
Really, ה' gives us money in order to sustain ourselves and do מצוות. But the יצה''ר pushes us to think that since we have the money, we should raise ourselves to look nicer and more honorable. Everyone wants to look like the people one step above them. So this is what you do when you get a hold of more money, until it becomes more and more necessary for you to live that way. When there comes a time that you can no longer afford this, but still want to upkeep your standards, he is stuck until the יצה''ר convinces him to steal.
Finally the יצה''ר is able to find a crack in you and he convinces you to steal, take by force, borrow without intending to pay the money back… Why do you do this? In order to keep up with your standards, because if you lower your standards you will be embarrassed. So the יצה''ר finds you in a pinch and he gets you to do bad. In the end, you will become a real thief and you won’t even think twice about the person you are stealing from. You will only worry about your own פרנסה.
He also brings himself to a סכנה because he is so worried about money. So because he wanted a little bit of כבוד, he now has lots of shame and he loses his health. Of course, he will get punished in עוה''ב too.
חז''ל say, "איזהו חכם הרואה את הנולד". Even when you have money, realize that it probably won’t last, so don’t raise your standards too high. Just try to blend in and keep a low profile. If you do have great wealth, don’t wear such expensive and מכובדיק clothing because it will bring you to גאוה. Don’t allow the amount you paid for something to be your status. By doing this, you are inciting your יצה''ר. Also, this will cause others to become jealous of you. Even if you can afford it, maybe they can’t and they will steal in order to copy you. There are so many extravagances which aren’t necessary, but people will think they are because you have them. So they will steal so that they can live up to your standard. Even if you have money, be considerate of those who don’t.
Because of these luxuries, there is a lot of money spent on חתונות to a point where many girls of marriageable age are embarrassed. The parents are crying and no one can help. This is a result of the people who spend too much. They bring bad onto the world at large, not just onto themselves. So you should live normally. You don’t have to give up on everything, but you don’t have to raise your standards to include luxuries. Don’t overdo it.
2. Lack of knowledge- people don’t realize what constitutes גזל. They think that only if you physically steal from someone are you עובר on גזל. But this is wrong! Any time you take something בתסר or without the owner’s consent, you are stealing. The word in ל' הקודש for borrowing is לשאול- to ask, because when you borrow something you must ask for permission first. If someone gives you something to watch for them, you can’t use it. If a poor person gives you a פקדון, you must return it to him if he needs it. Using something without the owner’s permission is גזל.
You can’t delay paying a worker- "לא תעשק". The פסוק says, "ביומו תתן שכרו"- you must pay a worker on time.
If you take back payment more than you lent someone, it’s רבית, which is אסור. It’s also רבית if the person you lent to does an extra favor for you.
Anyone in whose hands remains dishonest money, even if it’s a פרוטה, this is still גזל. We as Yidden don’t differentiate between petty larceny and grand larceny. Stealing is stealing no matter how much money is involved.
A worker might want a certain salary, but you don’t want to pay him that much, so you say that you will only give him a certain amount. This would make you עובר on "לא תעשק", so it’s better to negotiate the price up front.
There is the issue of אונאה- unfair money dealings. Many think that certain things are permissible, but they aren’t. Examples:
1. You can’t falsely praise a product.
2. You can’t say that you bought the product for more than you actually did, or lie that you have a higher offer than the one the individual at hand is offering you so that he pays you more.
3. You can’t raise the price of something if it’s not worthy of that price.
4. You can’t conceal the bad of an item by the good.
5. You can’t have incorrect measurements.
If you are dishonest with these things, you are considered disgusting and hated and your עונש will be worse than the עונש for עריות. For every minute that you have in your possession an incorrect משקל, you are עובר on an עבירה. This is one of the only עבירות you can do while you are sleeping.
You won’t have הצלחה in the end and even עוה''ז will be terrible.
People make התירים with their money. But you must know, "בשלשה דברים העולם ניכר בכסו בכיסו ובכעסו"- you can see what kind of a person someone is based on how he spends his money. It’s better to live honestly and poorly, but this won’t happen because "דורשי ה' לא יחסרו כל טוב".
The יצה''ר gives you נגיעות, so the way you know if you are being honest is not to rely on yourself, but ask a שאלה- "על בינתך אל תשען". The יצה''ר can give you thirty-nine תרוצים of why it’s ok.
We should learn from the אבות- "אם לא תדעי לך היפה בנשים צאי לך בעקבי הצאן (אבות)": יעקב asked for only לחם לאכל ובגד ללבש even though he was raised in such a wealthy home (יצחק was richer than אבימלך). He didn’t even ask for לחם ובגד because that has no קץ- people can take it to the craziest degrees. So he only wants לחם לאכל- not to waste and בגד ללבש- not to have extras of.
So no one should feel pressured to get wealthy. Becoming wealthy is דומה to a man who is so rich with a life so full of luxuries that he was so גאוהדיק and he was מורד במלכות. So they made him sit on a high pole, and he was fed and treated in a luxurious manner, too. But his pleasures don’t mean anything to him because he knows that he could fall any second. נמשל- it’s better that we should be on the ground and not stay on top. When people are wealthy, they aren’t on solid ground. They can lose their money in a second and it’s not worthwhile to have luxuries now because once you get used to it, you won’t be able to break away.
Don’t feel so pressured to strike it rich. It shouldn’t be your goal. And certainly if you do it in a bad way, because you’ll be about to fall from the pole. But ה' will hold back להולכי תמים, even in עוה''ז.
רבית-
רבית can be with:
1. Money
2. A favor
3. Words- you can’t say תזכה למצוות or יישר כחך to the person who lent you money.
ר' שוואב borrowed money from ר' ירוחם and when he was paying it back, he said thank you. So ר' ירוחם said, “the laws of etiquette don’t come before the laws of the רבנים”. So the next time ר' שוואב borrowed money, he didn’t say thank you and ר' ירוחם said, “you still must feel the thanks”.
There is a מחלוקת whether or not you can say a simple thank you. ר' שוואב says that you should tell the person, “you know how much this favor means to me”.
If you are עובר on רבית, you are עובר on up to six אסורים. But רבית with גויים is מותר- you can pay back more than you borrowed for a mortgage if the bank isn’t Jewish.
You can’t borrow a credit card and not the money back, because then the money accrues interest. If you pay back the person you borrowed the card from the money plus the interest, you are paying back interest.
You can’t charge more money for post-dated checks.
Early bird specials are a problem because really, I only owe you the money once my child is in camp. But when I give it to you in advance, I am lending it and you pay me back more than I deserve when you provide me with the service of making the camp.
A היתר עסקא is if you say that you aren’t loaning someone money, you are becoming a partner in his business. So if I invest money in a business and they pay me back dividends, it’s not that I loaned the money and I’m getting back more, I am a partner.
You can only switch favors with someone if they are exactly equal in all the characteristics. You can’t tell someone that you are inviting them over for a meal because they had you over last week.
בל תלין-
It says, "ביומו תתן שכרו ולא תעבר עליו השמש". There is a time frame in which you must pay your worker- before the day is over. There is a מצות עשה and a מצות לא תעשה in both. There is another פסוק, "לא תלין פעולת שכיר אתך עד בקר". It seems to be a contradiction whether it’s referring to sunset or sunrise. The answer is- depending on what comes first. If I pay by the next opportunity it’s a מצות עשה, but it’s not an עבירה if I don’t and they don’t ask for it. You could ask someone if he’s מוחל you not to pay him on time, and if he is you don’t have to.
The same is for rentals- you must pay on the first of the month. The ח''ח says that you would even be required to borrow money in order to pay back on time. Not everyone holds this way, but they say that it’s still good to do so.
If a worker is too embarrassed to come and tell you that he needs the money, this means that he isn’t מוחל you and you must pay him on time.
This also applies to children. If you promise them something, you must give it to them by שקיעה. This is even more complicated because a child can’t be מוחל.
You must pay your workers before you pay for your צרכי שבת.
שפת תמים- פרק ד
This פרק talks about the עונש in עוה''ב for שקר. We already mentioned some עונשים in עוה''ז, for example death, בזיונות…, but this פרק discusses עוה''ב.
If one doesn’t fix up his חטא in his lifetime (by returning or compensating the money and getting מחילה), there is no כפרה for this, not even יו''כ or יום המיתה because it is באל''ח. What happens to this person?
After three “days” in עוה''ב, the stomach of the person splits open and give its contents to the mouth and tells it “here are all the stolen things you wanted to give to me”. The person will be fed sand and his teeth will end up cracking. He’ll say, “I don’t want it”. ה' will answer him, “Well why did you say you wanted גזל, it’s also disgusting?”. This person will get no תקון, so he’ll have to come back as a גלגל to be מתקן for his חטא. Some people will even have to come back as animals, like the story of the man who came back as a horse and had to work for his master until he paid back everything he owed him. Even if you don’t come back as an animal, you will still have to be recreated and this is very scary.
It says in קהלת, "ישמח בחור בילדותך ויטבך לבך... ודע כי על כל אלה יביאך ה' למשפט". There is a משל- man running away from the קוסטינר. The קוסטינר told him that he’s a fool because he is going to have to come back. So the further he runs, the further he’ll have to come back. נמשל- the further you try to run away from being accountable for the bad you did, the further ה' will have to take you to justice and so you will have to come back for longer. Why should you have to worry about coming back? Why don’t you just be מתקן now?
You might think that it’s not so bad if you have to come back. משל- someone lost his פרנסה, so sadly he had to leave his wife and children and go to a far away island in order to make money. There he had a hard time making money. He was only able to make enough for his daily means, and he complained about his lot. Finally, he started to make money. He immediately informed his family that he would come home in seven months. He had to cross seven oceans and each would take one month to cross. His family was so happy and he gathered his things and left immediately. As he was about to embark on his trip home, his friend advised him to think if he owed anyone money so that he wouldn’t have גזל on his hands. He didn’t take his friend’s advice seriously and he left. He sent a message to his family that he’s on his way home and he will arrive on an appointed day. When the day came, his family went to the place in the city that lead to the ocean (there was a wall surrounding it, but there here there was an opening). They waited anxiously and saw that his ship was coming, but to their dismay the wall opening closed. From behind the wall they could hear their father’s voice begging the שר to let him in. The שר said that he couldn’t because he had a debt from ten years earlier that was written into the ספר זכרונות and never paid back and he must personally go and pay it back. (He couldn’t mail it back because the faraway place didn’t get mail.) He begged them to let him in, but they refused. He even offered to pay them even more, but they said that that won’t help the person he owes the money to. They told him that they know he was previously warned to pay back his debts, but he didn’t listen, so it’s his fault. He asked if he could go to his family, but they didn’t let. They only allowed him to see them from afar, through the gate. Then they made him return to the faraway land with him not knowing if once again he’ll owe someone money and repeat this scenario.
נמשל- our home is really עוה''ב, but we are here to do business- מצוות. We often don’t get too serious about doing מצוות until we are older, like the man who didn’t make money until right before he left. Right before we leave, our רבים, teachers and ספרים tell us to make sure that we don’t have גזל on our hands. Then we go through seven ימים, seven דינים a person must go through before he gets to his final resting place, he must go through them even before גיהנום. These seven דינים make a person cry waterfalls. And the person can’t wait to finally reach עוה''ב and reap the benefits of his מצוות. But after he goes through all that, the מלאכים standing at the gate of גן עדן don’t let him through. If he has enough of a זכות, they will let him catch a glimpse of גן עדן, but he will have to go back down to repay the money he owes. And when he finally returns, who knows if he will be זוכה not to have to go back to עוה''ז again?
There are stories about people who came to others in dreams and asked them to repay the money they owed so that they wouldn’t have to come back to this world again. But this is only if you have a very big זכות.
If one doesn’t fix up his חטא in his lifetime (by returning or compensating the money and getting מחילה), there is no כפרה for this, not even יו''כ or יום המיתה because it is באל''ח. What happens to this person?
After three “days” in עוה''ב, the stomach of the person splits open and give its contents to the mouth and tells it “here are all the stolen things you wanted to give to me”. The person will be fed sand and his teeth will end up cracking. He’ll say, “I don’t want it”. ה' will answer him, “Well why did you say you wanted גזל, it’s also disgusting?”. This person will get no תקון, so he’ll have to come back as a גלגל to be מתקן for his חטא. Some people will even have to come back as animals, like the story of the man who came back as a horse and had to work for his master until he paid back everything he owed him. Even if you don’t come back as an animal, you will still have to be recreated and this is very scary.
It says in קהלת, "ישמח בחור בילדותך ויטבך לבך... ודע כי על כל אלה יביאך ה' למשפט". There is a משל- man running away from the קוסטינר. The קוסטינר told him that he’s a fool because he is going to have to come back. So the further he runs, the further he’ll have to come back. נמשל- the further you try to run away from being accountable for the bad you did, the further ה' will have to take you to justice and so you will have to come back for longer. Why should you have to worry about coming back? Why don’t you just be מתקן now?
You might think that it’s not so bad if you have to come back. משל- someone lost his פרנסה, so sadly he had to leave his wife and children and go to a far away island in order to make money. There he had a hard time making money. He was only able to make enough for his daily means, and he complained about his lot. Finally, he started to make money. He immediately informed his family that he would come home in seven months. He had to cross seven oceans and each would take one month to cross. His family was so happy and he gathered his things and left immediately. As he was about to embark on his trip home, his friend advised him to think if he owed anyone money so that he wouldn’t have גזל on his hands. He didn’t take his friend’s advice seriously and he left. He sent a message to his family that he’s on his way home and he will arrive on an appointed day. When the day came, his family went to the place in the city that lead to the ocean (there was a wall surrounding it, but there here there was an opening). They waited anxiously and saw that his ship was coming, but to their dismay the wall opening closed. From behind the wall they could hear their father’s voice begging the שר to let him in. The שר said that he couldn’t because he had a debt from ten years earlier that was written into the ספר זכרונות and never paid back and he must personally go and pay it back. (He couldn’t mail it back because the faraway place didn’t get mail.) He begged them to let him in, but they refused. He even offered to pay them even more, but they said that that won’t help the person he owes the money to. They told him that they know he was previously warned to pay back his debts, but he didn’t listen, so it’s his fault. He asked if he could go to his family, but they didn’t let. They only allowed him to see them from afar, through the gate. Then they made him return to the faraway land with him not knowing if once again he’ll owe someone money and repeat this scenario.
נמשל- our home is really עוה''ב, but we are here to do business- מצוות. We often don’t get too serious about doing מצוות until we are older, like the man who didn’t make money until right before he left. Right before we leave, our רבים, teachers and ספרים tell us to make sure that we don’t have גזל on our hands. Then we go through seven ימים, seven דינים a person must go through before he gets to his final resting place, he must go through them even before גיהנום. These seven דינים make a person cry waterfalls. And the person can’t wait to finally reach עוה''ב and reap the benefits of his מצוות. But after he goes through all that, the מלאכים standing at the gate of גן עדן don’t let him through. If he has enough of a זכות, they will let him catch a glimpse of גן עדן, but he will have to go back down to repay the money he owes. And when he finally returns, who knows if he will be זוכה not to have to go back to עוה''ז again?
There are stories about people who came to others in dreams and asked them to repay the money they owed so that they wouldn’t have to come back to this world again. But this is only if you have a very big זכות.
שפת תמים- פרק ב
We will discuss the עונש גדול of שקר. שקר shortens your life, as the פסוק says, "אנשי דמים ומרמה לא יחצו ימיהם". If we value life so much that we would do anything to live longer, we should be more careful regarding אמת.
What happens to a שקרן?
1. He will die earlier.
2. ה' will show his מרמה to the world, so what he is hiding will become known- "הלוך בתום ילך בטח ומעקש דרכיו יודע". This is talking about someone who puts bad in his heart, but he doesn’t tell anyone, so that his friend doesn’t know. ה' will make it so that they know. "אין הקב''ה גובה מן האדם עד שהוא מפרסם מעשיו". Sometimes you think that you will get away with something, but you won’t. It’s like the פסוק that says, "סוף דבר הכל נשמע את האלקים ירא ואת מצותיו שמור"- in the end it will be known what you did.
3. The bad thing that he wanted to do to the other person (cheat, steal) will be done to him, as the פסוק says, "שוחר טוב יבקש רצון ודורש רעה תבואנו".
4. This חטא has the כח to make someone lose his פרנסה. Maybe today’s bad economy is because of this. It can punish him in many ways, in both this world and the next. Why?
a. Because מרמה is compromised of many different חטאים- גזל, אונאה, שקר. So he gets such a great punishment because he did so many חטאים.
b. If you are מורגל in this, it’s terrible. And this is the kind of חטא that you are מורגל in- you don’t just do it once.
חז''ל say in the מדרש in דרך ארץ זוטא that ה' created everything except שקר and עולה. Mankind has brought it into the world. ה' never made it, as the פסוק says, "הצור תמים פעלו... קל אמונה ואין אול". So if it exists, it’s because of the people. "ה' צדיק בקרבה לא עושה עולה". Also, "חלילה לקל מרשע שקי מעול".
Also, "פעל האדם ישלם לו"- ה' created an upright world and your actions will be returned to you. This means that no one has צער if it’s not proceeded by שמחה. ה' gives a שבועה that the יצה''ר tempts people to do bad and say שקר so they can have כבוד and שמחה, and this leads someone to suffering. So don’t listen to theיצה''ר who wants to “keep up with the Joneses”. Do not steal so you can have שמחה because it will end up bringing צער.
ה'’s world is a world of שמחה, so why is there צער? He really created it in a way that it should only have good. But mankind brought suffering into the world because of their corruption. When you don’t act with אמת, you break the foundation of the world because the world leans on אמת. So שקר causes the world to crumble and not operate correctly- people die, there is suffering, fruits rot, there is no פרנסה… פרנסה only goes bad because mankind has done bad.
In פרשת בחוקתי it says, "ועץ השדה יתן פרי'"- if we listen to ה', even the fruits which don’t usually bear fruit will bear fruit. This is the way the world is really supposed to run. "ואכלתם יושן נושן"- you will eat very old things. Really, food isn’t supposed to rot and spoil.
People wouldn’t feel בושה if not for this, people’s eyes wouldn’t get blind in the middle of their lives if not for this. Really, the way of the world shouldn’t be like this. But because we corrupted the world, it is like this. Of course ה' created teeth and eyes that could last a whole lifetime, but we ruined the way of the world.
What does it mean that no one dies if not for food, drink and שמחה? Death and צער come about by dishonesty. Dishonesty stems from the fact that I want to be able to eat like you, drink like you and have what you have.
There is a משל in the מדרש: שקר and פחתא (loss, damage) mated so that everything שקר earns, פחתא takes away. It is the deal they have between themselves. So if we think that by lying we will gain, it’s the opposite. We are actually going to lose.
מהר''ל asks two questions on this מדרש:
1. Why is this a husband- wife relationship?
2. Why is the story with the תבה of נח important for us to know?
תבה is a symbolic word, a משל to קיום. שקר wanted קיום. A זכר and נקבה are only able to be מתקיים if they have each other. Logically, שקר can’t be מתקיים because it is out of the balance of the world. All of the world must have a balance. If someone takes what they aren’t supposed to, they are disturbing the balance of the world. If פחתא comes and takes what שקר got, it balances out. So you can’t have שקר alone, it must be balanced out. So the זכר- פועל does, and the נקבה- מקבלת accepts. This is the relationship of שקר and פחתא. There if no קיום if they aren’t a pair. This should really take away the נסיון, because whatever you get through שקר, it is guaranteed that פחתא is going to take it.
There is a different explanation to this story, ע''פ פשט- until נח, ה' was מאריך אף regarding the חטא of חמס, which comes from מרמה and שקר. So it could be 600 years before someone got punished. This was מצד רחמנות ה' so that people could do תשובה. But instead, people said that nothing ever happens if they steal, ה' doesn’t punish them. So they allowed themselves to steal because they thought they could get away with it. So ה' started all over again. He brought a מבול and wiped out the world and started again. But this time, שקר was followed by פחתא quicker so that everyone should learn their lesson. So now, people started dying early. People now clearly understood that שקר’s mate is פחתא- so it was as if they married at this point. Now you could see the relationship between the two clearly, as the פסוק says, "עושה עושר ולא במשפט בחצי ימין יעזבנו יראו רבים וייראו". So the more שקר you do, the closer you bring yourself to punishment.
Dishonest money will put a disease into your פרנסה and affect your כשר money, so you will lose even that money. "אם נטלת את שאינו שלך יטלו ממך ולא נשאר בידו". Don’t do שקר for the sake of gaining, because you will only lose.
People think that you could be dishonest in business. This isn’t true. People think that if they aren’t dishonest, they won’t have a פרנסה. When we act this way, it causes the גויים to say that it’s a known thing that Yidden cheat. We aren’t innocent of this accusation and they know when we cheat. There is a verb- to Jew= to cheat.
R’ Shimon Schwab- we will be a ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש when it comes to a point where it will make no sense that to Jew means to cheat, rather it means to be scrupulously honest.
Dishonesty causes the world to get smaller. Maybe this means that it causes earthquakes and tsunamis.
The wheel of עניות turns in the word- you might be at the top now, but it probably won’t stay as such. In the earlier years, it used to last for a very long time (ex. the Rothschild family). Now, richness doesn’t really last. Why? Because ה' is bringing שקר and פחתא close together. A person can be rich for a few minutes and then lose it all, for example with stocks. This is all being caused by גזל, חמס, שקר and מרמה. Even though you yourself might not be a שקרן, כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה so we all suffer the consequences.
We must understand that it is a relationship- whenever you do שקר, פחתא follows close behind. Now we see the consequences immediately. It was for our sake that ה' took away the מדת הרחמים of ארך אפים. Now, the גלגל העניות turns faster.
What about dishonest people who seem to never lose their wealth? You can be sure that the money is being kept to his detriment, as the פסוק says, "משלם לשונאיו על פניו להאבידו". ה' uses the money in order to prevent them from having good in the next world. It’s not a good sign for this person that he isn’t being paid back in עוה''ז- this means that he is ה'’s enemy and therefore ה' doesn’t want him to have good in עוה''ב. In עוה''ב, this person will grind his teeth on sand.
Additionally, although he had money in עוה''ז, his descendants will lose it. They will lose all of the money because even a bit of dishonest money contaminates all of it, so they lose even the כשר money. The daughter of נקדימון בן גוריון- she was so poor that she had to search through animal dung for food because her father didn’t use his vast riches for good things. So we see how it can affect the next generation.
One should realize that there is no reason to lie- you will have whatever you’re meant to have either way. So why throw in a lie and contaminate all of the money? If a person is selling an item, they should make sure not to say “in Bloomingdales they sell it for double the price” (unless it’s true), because this will contaminate the whole sale.
By saying שקר, you end up losing more than you gain, as the פסוק says, "מי האיש החפץ חיים אוהב ימים". חפץ חיים refers to עוה''ז and אוהב ימים refers to עוה''ב. We see from here that אמת is also good in this world- you live longer. Maybe at first you will look successful if you say שקר, but you will end up losing. Remember that פחתא always comes along with שקר. So don’t say שקר and you will have good in both עוה''ז and עוה''ב.
What happens to a שקרן?
1. He will die earlier.
2. ה' will show his מרמה to the world, so what he is hiding will become known- "הלוך בתום ילך בטח ומעקש דרכיו יודע". This is talking about someone who puts bad in his heart, but he doesn’t tell anyone, so that his friend doesn’t know. ה' will make it so that they know. "אין הקב''ה גובה מן האדם עד שהוא מפרסם מעשיו". Sometimes you think that you will get away with something, but you won’t. It’s like the פסוק that says, "סוף דבר הכל נשמע את האלקים ירא ואת מצותיו שמור"- in the end it will be known what you did.
3. The bad thing that he wanted to do to the other person (cheat, steal) will be done to him, as the פסוק says, "שוחר טוב יבקש רצון ודורש רעה תבואנו".
4. This חטא has the כח to make someone lose his פרנסה. Maybe today’s bad economy is because of this. It can punish him in many ways, in both this world and the next. Why?
a. Because מרמה is compromised of many different חטאים- גזל, אונאה, שקר. So he gets such a great punishment because he did so many חטאים.
b. If you are מורגל in this, it’s terrible. And this is the kind of חטא that you are מורגל in- you don’t just do it once.
חז''ל say in the מדרש in דרך ארץ זוטא that ה' created everything except שקר and עולה. Mankind has brought it into the world. ה' never made it, as the פסוק says, "הצור תמים פעלו... קל אמונה ואין אול". So if it exists, it’s because of the people. "ה' צדיק בקרבה לא עושה עולה". Also, "חלילה לקל מרשע שקי מעול".
Also, "פעל האדם ישלם לו"- ה' created an upright world and your actions will be returned to you. This means that no one has צער if it’s not proceeded by שמחה. ה' gives a שבועה that the יצה''ר tempts people to do bad and say שקר so they can have כבוד and שמחה, and this leads someone to suffering. So don’t listen to theיצה''ר who wants to “keep up with the Joneses”. Do not steal so you can have שמחה because it will end up bringing צער.
ה'’s world is a world of שמחה, so why is there צער? He really created it in a way that it should only have good. But mankind brought suffering into the world because of their corruption. When you don’t act with אמת, you break the foundation of the world because the world leans on אמת. So שקר causes the world to crumble and not operate correctly- people die, there is suffering, fruits rot, there is no פרנסה… פרנסה only goes bad because mankind has done bad.
In פרשת בחוקתי it says, "ועץ השדה יתן פרי'"- if we listen to ה', even the fruits which don’t usually bear fruit will bear fruit. This is the way the world is really supposed to run. "ואכלתם יושן נושן"- you will eat very old things. Really, food isn’t supposed to rot and spoil.
People wouldn’t feel בושה if not for this, people’s eyes wouldn’t get blind in the middle of their lives if not for this. Really, the way of the world shouldn’t be like this. But because we corrupted the world, it is like this. Of course ה' created teeth and eyes that could last a whole lifetime, but we ruined the way of the world.
What does it mean that no one dies if not for food, drink and שמחה? Death and צער come about by dishonesty. Dishonesty stems from the fact that I want to be able to eat like you, drink like you and have what you have.
There is a משל in the מדרש: שקר and פחתא (loss, damage) mated so that everything שקר earns, פחתא takes away. It is the deal they have between themselves. So if we think that by lying we will gain, it’s the opposite. We are actually going to lose.
מהר''ל asks two questions on this מדרש:
1. Why is this a husband- wife relationship?
2. Why is the story with the תבה of נח important for us to know?
תבה is a symbolic word, a משל to קיום. שקר wanted קיום. A זכר and נקבה are only able to be מתקיים if they have each other. Logically, שקר can’t be מתקיים because it is out of the balance of the world. All of the world must have a balance. If someone takes what they aren’t supposed to, they are disturbing the balance of the world. If פחתא comes and takes what שקר got, it balances out. So you can’t have שקר alone, it must be balanced out. So the זכר- פועל does, and the נקבה- מקבלת accepts. This is the relationship of שקר and פחתא. There if no קיום if they aren’t a pair. This should really take away the נסיון, because whatever you get through שקר, it is guaranteed that פחתא is going to take it.
There is a different explanation to this story, ע''פ פשט- until נח, ה' was מאריך אף regarding the חטא of חמס, which comes from מרמה and שקר. So it could be 600 years before someone got punished. This was מצד רחמנות ה' so that people could do תשובה. But instead, people said that nothing ever happens if they steal, ה' doesn’t punish them. So they allowed themselves to steal because they thought they could get away with it. So ה' started all over again. He brought a מבול and wiped out the world and started again. But this time, שקר was followed by פחתא quicker so that everyone should learn their lesson. So now, people started dying early. People now clearly understood that שקר’s mate is פחתא- so it was as if they married at this point. Now you could see the relationship between the two clearly, as the פסוק says, "עושה עושר ולא במשפט בחצי ימין יעזבנו יראו רבים וייראו". So the more שקר you do, the closer you bring yourself to punishment.
Dishonest money will put a disease into your פרנסה and affect your כשר money, so you will lose even that money. "אם נטלת את שאינו שלך יטלו ממך ולא נשאר בידו". Don’t do שקר for the sake of gaining, because you will only lose.
People think that you could be dishonest in business. This isn’t true. People think that if they aren’t dishonest, they won’t have a פרנסה. When we act this way, it causes the גויים to say that it’s a known thing that Yidden cheat. We aren’t innocent of this accusation and they know when we cheat. There is a verb- to Jew= to cheat.
R’ Shimon Schwab- we will be a ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש when it comes to a point where it will make no sense that to Jew means to cheat, rather it means to be scrupulously honest.
Dishonesty causes the world to get smaller. Maybe this means that it causes earthquakes and tsunamis.
The wheel of עניות turns in the word- you might be at the top now, but it probably won’t stay as such. In the earlier years, it used to last for a very long time (ex. the Rothschild family). Now, richness doesn’t really last. Why? Because ה' is bringing שקר and פחתא close together. A person can be rich for a few minutes and then lose it all, for example with stocks. This is all being caused by גזל, חמס, שקר and מרמה. Even though you yourself might not be a שקרן, כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה so we all suffer the consequences.
We must understand that it is a relationship- whenever you do שקר, פחתא follows close behind. Now we see the consequences immediately. It was for our sake that ה' took away the מדת הרחמים of ארך אפים. Now, the גלגל העניות turns faster.
What about dishonest people who seem to never lose their wealth? You can be sure that the money is being kept to his detriment, as the פסוק says, "משלם לשונאיו על פניו להאבידו". ה' uses the money in order to prevent them from having good in the next world. It’s not a good sign for this person that he isn’t being paid back in עוה''ז- this means that he is ה'’s enemy and therefore ה' doesn’t want him to have good in עוה''ב. In עוה''ב, this person will grind his teeth on sand.
Additionally, although he had money in עוה''ז, his descendants will lose it. They will lose all of the money because even a bit of dishonest money contaminates all of it, so they lose even the כשר money. The daughter of נקדימון בן גוריון- she was so poor that she had to search through animal dung for food because her father didn’t use his vast riches for good things. So we see how it can affect the next generation.
One should realize that there is no reason to lie- you will have whatever you’re meant to have either way. So why throw in a lie and contaminate all of the money? If a person is selling an item, they should make sure not to say “in Bloomingdales they sell it for double the price” (unless it’s true), because this will contaminate the whole sale.
By saying שקר, you end up losing more than you gain, as the פסוק says, "מי האיש החפץ חיים אוהב ימים". חפץ חיים refers to עוה''ז and אוהב ימים refers to עוה''ב. We see from here that אמת is also good in this world- you live longer. Maybe at first you will look successful if you say שקר, but you will end up losing. Remember that פחתא always comes along with שקר. So don’t say שקר and you will have good in both עוה''ז and עוה''ב.
שפת תמים- פרק א
הקדמה-
מיכה divides the תורה into three parts:
1. עשות משפט
2. אהבת חסד
3. והצנע לכת עם ה' אלקיך
We don’t focus so much on the עשות משפט- being honest and ehriliche. Included in this is:
1. Respecting other people’s belongings.
2. Knowing what belongs to me.
3. Not taking advantage of other people.
This ספר is written by the ח''ח. He also wrote the משנה ברורה, ספר חפץ חיים, ספר אהבת חסד… Whatever he saw a need for, he wrote about.
This ספר has seven פרקים. It is called קונטרוס שפת תמים.
The ח''ח lived in Radin. He was the leader of European Jewry. He died in 1933, when he was well into his nineties. The ח''ח personified the פסוק which he always said, "מי האיש החפץ חיים". He even davened for a long life so that there shouldn’t be a חלול ה'.
The ח''ח said, we spoke about ל''ה- "מי האיש החפץ חיים...", but the second half of the פסוק must also be discussed. It says, "נצור לשונך מרע ושפתיך מדבר מרמה". This ספר is called שפת תמים for this reason.
The ח''ח gathers here from many different sources, and בפרט from שערי תשובה.
פרק א-
What is מרמה and how do we distance ourselves from it?
מרמה is when a person speaks and intends to trick his friend with his words. Included in this are all kinds of trickery, even in business. אונאה means to hurt a person. אונאת ממון is hurting people with money. An example of this would be overcharging someone, even if he is willing to pay it. Another example of אונאת ממון would be if I was selling a container of strawberries, and I put the good ones on top to conceal the bad ones. According to the law, this is ok because the rule is “let the buyer beware”. But according to הלכה, this is not ok and the money from this sale is dishonest money because you got it through trickery.
We see that our values are so far ahead from the גויים. The פסוק in וזאת הברכה says, "ואתה על במותמו תדרך"- you, on their high places, you will step on top of them all. R’ Schwab explains this to mean that on their highest point of morality, that’s where we start- our lowest point.
What if the שקר doesn’t cause נזק and הפסד, but it eventually will. For example, an accountant helps out an old lady who is his client so that she won’t watch out from him. Then one day, he goes and steals from her. The trickery that he had throughout his entire interaction with the woman is מרמה and he is hated by ה' for doing this. There are three types of people that ה' hates and one of them is המדבר אחד בפה ואחד בלב. Also, ה' will take revenge on this person like it says in ירמיהו, "בפיו שלום את רעהו ידבר ובקרבו ישים ארבו. העל אלם לא אפקד בם נאום ה' אם בגוי אשר כזה לא תתנקם נפשי"- a nation who does things like this, My נפש won’t take revenge?
People who are like this will get punished for:
1. שקר
2. נזק that was caused.
שקר alone is תועבת ה', as it says "תועבת ה' שפתי שקר". No matter how big or small, a lie is a lie. But it is so much worse when he is planning to hurt and damage his friend.
Let’s say someone does not yet have something, but he is going to get it in the future and through lying you divert it your way, this is also מרמה. Although this is not as simple as just שקר, it is not complete נזק. ה' removes such a person from His face, as the פסוק says "לא ישב בביתי עושה רמי'". This can be compared to a king who announces that anyone who isn’t loyal to his מלכות must leave. If he decides to stay and he doesn’t follow the laws, he will be killed. So to, the constitution of ה'’s מדינה is אמת- בראשית ברא אלקים. If you don’t want to listen, you must get out.
The world stands on three pillars:
1. דיו
2. אמת
3. שלום
אמת is a pillar of the world, so a בעל שקר can’t live in this world. The חותם of ה' is אמת.
You must speak the truth and don’t like שבועת שקר- "דברו אמת איש את רעהו... אל תחשבו בלבבכם ושבועת שקר אל תאהבו". Don’t think that you need to say “I promise”- whatever else comes out of your mouth isn’t true?
The פסוק in משלי says, "שפת אמת תיכון לעד ועד ארגיעה לשון שקר"- a lip of truth lasts forever, but שקר doesn’t last forever- it only lasts for a second. Obviously it works a bit, or you wouldn’t say it. But after a while it will be proven to be untrue. It’s like the boy who cried wolf- it works for a while, but then people see that you are a liar and you lose your credibility. If you cheat on a test or cheat with money, it might work for a bit, but not for long. If you’re honest though, you will be מצליח and people will believe you.
Once a בחור had to go to court, and the ח''ח came to testify for him. The lawyer told the judge that if a robber would come to the ח''ח’s house, he would run after him and say, “I’m מוחל you!”. The judge asked the lawyer if he believed the story and the lawyer said no, but they don’t say those things about you and me. This story shows that you can gain credibility.
If you are honest, your words will have הצלחה- they will come true. Your words should be the complete truth- truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. "ימינה ימין שקר"- must be true. However, if you say שקר, you are אחד בפה ואחד בלב and ה' calls you רע.
תנא דבי אליהו- those people who smooth talk and say שקר, ה' will give them a slippery path in life- יהי דרכם חשך וחלקלקת.
So someone who wants good in עוה''ז and עוה''ב should be אמתדיק because "ה' מי יגור באהליך... הולך תמים".
מיכה divides the תורה into three parts:
1. עשות משפט
2. אהבת חסד
3. והצנע לכת עם ה' אלקיך
We don’t focus so much on the עשות משפט- being honest and ehriliche. Included in this is:
1. Respecting other people’s belongings.
2. Knowing what belongs to me.
3. Not taking advantage of other people.
This ספר is written by the ח''ח. He also wrote the משנה ברורה, ספר חפץ חיים, ספר אהבת חסד… Whatever he saw a need for, he wrote about.
This ספר has seven פרקים. It is called קונטרוס שפת תמים.
The ח''ח lived in Radin. He was the leader of European Jewry. He died in 1933, when he was well into his nineties. The ח''ח personified the פסוק which he always said, "מי האיש החפץ חיים". He even davened for a long life so that there shouldn’t be a חלול ה'.
The ח''ח said, we spoke about ל''ה- "מי האיש החפץ חיים...", but the second half of the פסוק must also be discussed. It says, "נצור לשונך מרע ושפתיך מדבר מרמה". This ספר is called שפת תמים for this reason.
The ח''ח gathers here from many different sources, and בפרט from שערי תשובה.
פרק א-
What is מרמה and how do we distance ourselves from it?
מרמה is when a person speaks and intends to trick his friend with his words. Included in this are all kinds of trickery, even in business. אונאה means to hurt a person. אונאת ממון is hurting people with money. An example of this would be overcharging someone, even if he is willing to pay it. Another example of אונאת ממון would be if I was selling a container of strawberries, and I put the good ones on top to conceal the bad ones. According to the law, this is ok because the rule is “let the buyer beware”. But according to הלכה, this is not ok and the money from this sale is dishonest money because you got it through trickery.
We see that our values are so far ahead from the גויים. The פסוק in וזאת הברכה says, "ואתה על במותמו תדרך"- you, on their high places, you will step on top of them all. R’ Schwab explains this to mean that on their highest point of morality, that’s where we start- our lowest point.
What if the שקר doesn’t cause נזק and הפסד, but it eventually will. For example, an accountant helps out an old lady who is his client so that she won’t watch out from him. Then one day, he goes and steals from her. The trickery that he had throughout his entire interaction with the woman is מרמה and he is hated by ה' for doing this. There are three types of people that ה' hates and one of them is המדבר אחד בפה ואחד בלב. Also, ה' will take revenge on this person like it says in ירמיהו, "בפיו שלום את רעהו ידבר ובקרבו ישים ארבו. העל אלם לא אפקד בם נאום ה' אם בגוי אשר כזה לא תתנקם נפשי"- a nation who does things like this, My נפש won’t take revenge?
People who are like this will get punished for:
1. שקר
2. נזק that was caused.
שקר alone is תועבת ה', as it says "תועבת ה' שפתי שקר". No matter how big or small, a lie is a lie. But it is so much worse when he is planning to hurt and damage his friend.
Let’s say someone does not yet have something, but he is going to get it in the future and through lying you divert it your way, this is also מרמה. Although this is not as simple as just שקר, it is not complete נזק. ה' removes such a person from His face, as the פסוק says "לא ישב בביתי עושה רמי'". This can be compared to a king who announces that anyone who isn’t loyal to his מלכות must leave. If he decides to stay and he doesn’t follow the laws, he will be killed. So to, the constitution of ה'’s מדינה is אמת- בראשית ברא אלקים. If you don’t want to listen, you must get out.
The world stands on three pillars:
1. דיו
2. אמת
3. שלום
אמת is a pillar of the world, so a בעל שקר can’t live in this world. The חותם of ה' is אמת.
You must speak the truth and don’t like שבועת שקר- "דברו אמת איש את רעהו... אל תחשבו בלבבכם ושבועת שקר אל תאהבו". Don’t think that you need to say “I promise”- whatever else comes out of your mouth isn’t true?
The פסוק in משלי says, "שפת אמת תיכון לעד ועד ארגיעה לשון שקר"- a lip of truth lasts forever, but שקר doesn’t last forever- it only lasts for a second. Obviously it works a bit, or you wouldn’t say it. But after a while it will be proven to be untrue. It’s like the boy who cried wolf- it works for a while, but then people see that you are a liar and you lose your credibility. If you cheat on a test or cheat with money, it might work for a bit, but not for long. If you’re honest though, you will be מצליח and people will believe you.
Once a בחור had to go to court, and the ח''ח came to testify for him. The lawyer told the judge that if a robber would come to the ח''ח’s house, he would run after him and say, “I’m מוחל you!”. The judge asked the lawyer if he believed the story and the lawyer said no, but they don’t say those things about you and me. This story shows that you can gain credibility.
If you are honest, your words will have הצלחה- they will come true. Your words should be the complete truth- truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. "ימינה ימין שקר"- must be true. However, if you say שקר, you are אחד בפה ואחד בלב and ה' calls you רע.
תנא דבי אליהו- those people who smooth talk and say שקר, ה' will give them a slippery path in life- יהי דרכם חשך וחלקלקת.
So someone who wants good in עוה''ז and עוה''ב should be אמתדיק because "ה' מי יגור באהליך... הולך תמים".
תרי עשר- מלאכי ג
מלאכי is the last נביא of תרי עשר.
מלאכי was עזרא. חגי, זכרי' and מלאכי were the last three נביאים that כ''י had. They were מתנבא during חרבן בית שני. מלאכי is the last of the three, so he is called חתום הנביאים.
This is the הפתרה of שבת הגדול. It talks a lot about אליהו and the גאולה.
It is written in a question- answer style.
ב:יז הוגעתם- you tired.
כל עשר רע טוב- ענין of צדיק ורע לו רשע וטוב לו.
Either ה' likes bad people because he does good with them, or there is no דין.
מלבי''ם א In this world, it’s not שייך to have instant punishment or reward because it’s the עולם הבחירה. ה' wants us to have a choice for what we do. But judgment will come, לעתיד לבא. This is on a global level, on a personal level we get judged after 120.
א I’m going to send a מלאך from שמים and he is going to clear the רשעים out.
האדון- משיח
רד''ק פתאום- since the end of time isn’t revealed, it uses the ל' of פתאום. No one will know that he is coming until he actually comes.
People give a day for משיח, but it’s wrong. This is also dangerous because it causes people to lose their אמונה.
מלאך הברית- אליהו
מ''ד הנה בא- it uses a ל' of עתיד because אליהו will be here before משיח comes.
רד''ק אליהו is called מלאך הברית because he tried to encourage בריתים in מלכות אפרים. ה' said, because you defended ברית מילה, you will attend every ברית in כ''י.
ב מכלכל- יכול לסבל
מ''ד בורית- type of grass that cleans.
מלבי''ם The difference between אש מצרף and בורית מכבסים: fire gets rid of everything that isn’t gold. By clothing, you want to get out the stain, but you don’t want to cut away everything else with it. אש מצרף- רשעים. בורית מכבסים takes the stain out of the צדיק, but it leaves him intact. יסורים are cleansers.
מלבי''ם ג After the מלאך cleans out the רשעים and deals with the צדיקים, then "וישב"- they have to be even more refined because they are going to be involved in the בהמ''ק- ככסף. The בני אהרן have to be the most refined, כזהב, because they are going into the בהמ''ק. They the קרבנות are going to be בצדקה.
ד וערבה- sweet and רצוי
כימי עולם- the days of משה’s משכן.
וכשנים קדמניות- days of שלמה’s בהמ''ק.
משל- a silversmith puts the silver into the heat of the fire. He sits there holding it and looking at it because if it is in the fire one minute too long, the silver will get ruined. How can he tell when the silver is pure? When it is so silver that he can see his own reflection in it. נמשל- יסורים are the heat of the fire and what purify us. But ה' holds us the whole time, and he is looking at us. When He sees Himself reflected in us, He takes us out.
ה ה' seems to like those who do bad. מלאכי is telling us, don’t worry. They will have to give a דין וחשבון.
Even though this world isn’t the world of payment, we do see that there is some משפט going on for the Jews so that we won’t have to come to complete destruction.
There are very big עבירות that when people do them, ה' brings judgment into this world:
1. Magic
2. נואפים
3. זנות
4. Swear falsely
5. Stealing from a גר, יתום, אלמנה
6. Stealing from a worker
All these עבירות seem so much worse than stealing from a hired worker. How does it connect to the other ones? The only thing that will stop you from doing of these עבירות is יראת שמים.
ה' gives us משפט so that we should keep being good.
ו I am ה' and כ''י won’t be extinguished.
מלבי''ם Why does ה' judge them early? ה' promised that He will never extinguish כ''י, and ה' never changes His words. ה' wipes the גויים off all at once, but ה' destroys כ''י little by little so that they won’t be extinguished.
ח מלאכי says that it is possible to steal from ה'. How were they stealing from ה'? Through תרומות and מעשרות.
You are being cursed and you are stealing from ה'. All of you are stealing from ה'.
How do you get כפרה? Bring all of your מעשר to the treasure house in the בהמ''ק and there will be enough food for everyone. So ה' said, test Me and see if I give you the ברכות. The amount of ברכות you will get is עד בלי די.
There is a ל' נסיון here. If you want to see if something could be done, you test it. A ל' מבחן is if you know something could be done, you want to see if the person is going to do it.
צדקה is one ענין where you can test ה'.
"זרעו לכם לצדקה קצרו לפי חסד"- you work so hard to make money and now you are giving it away? This seems ridiculous, but really you are only gaining.
יא וגערתי- I will reprimand.
באכל- rodents which consume the crops.
תשכל- missing
If a person gives צדקה, all the natural things which will cause you to lose your פרנסה, ה' will take care of it.
יד קדרנית- very dark
מלבי''ם Two reasons a person could do something:
1. מצד הנעבד
2. מצד העובד
ה' doesn’t need us to serve Him, and you say we are going to gain, but all we get are צרות.
טז מלבי''ם יראי ה' also look around and see צדיק ורע לו..., but they come up with a different conclusion: he has no question that the צדיק is going to get שכר. Since he isn’t going to get it in this world, obviously this world isn’t the תכלית. The תכלית is עוה''ב. They are happy that they don’t get paid in this world because they know that they are doing it לש''ש and not for the שכר. ה' hears this conversation and it’s so precious to Him that He writes it down.
יז There is going to be a day when ה' will gather all the treasures and he will have רחמנות, like a son who works for his father.
מלבי''ם The less important a worker is, the sooner he gets paid. A son who works for his father wants the business to build up and isn’t so worried about the money. The father pays his son back by making him a shareholder. So צדיקים will get a רוחניותדיק reward- he gets נצחיות.
מלאכי was עזרא. חגי, זכרי' and מלאכי were the last three נביאים that כ''י had. They were מתנבא during חרבן בית שני. מלאכי is the last of the three, so he is called חתום הנביאים.
This is the הפתרה of שבת הגדול. It talks a lot about אליהו and the גאולה.
It is written in a question- answer style.
ב:יז הוגעתם- you tired.
כל עשר רע טוב- ענין of צדיק ורע לו רשע וטוב לו.
Either ה' likes bad people because he does good with them, or there is no דין.
מלבי''ם א In this world, it’s not שייך to have instant punishment or reward because it’s the עולם הבחירה. ה' wants us to have a choice for what we do. But judgment will come, לעתיד לבא. This is on a global level, on a personal level we get judged after 120.
א I’m going to send a מלאך from שמים and he is going to clear the רשעים out.
האדון- משיח
רד''ק פתאום- since the end of time isn’t revealed, it uses the ל' of פתאום. No one will know that he is coming until he actually comes.
People give a day for משיח, but it’s wrong. This is also dangerous because it causes people to lose their אמונה.
מלאך הברית- אליהו
מ''ד הנה בא- it uses a ל' of עתיד because אליהו will be here before משיח comes.
רד''ק אליהו is called מלאך הברית because he tried to encourage בריתים in מלכות אפרים. ה' said, because you defended ברית מילה, you will attend every ברית in כ''י.
ב מכלכל- יכול לסבל
מ''ד בורית- type of grass that cleans.
מלבי''ם The difference between אש מצרף and בורית מכבסים: fire gets rid of everything that isn’t gold. By clothing, you want to get out the stain, but you don’t want to cut away everything else with it. אש מצרף- רשעים. בורית מכבסים takes the stain out of the צדיק, but it leaves him intact. יסורים are cleansers.
מלבי''ם ג After the מלאך cleans out the רשעים and deals with the צדיקים, then "וישב"- they have to be even more refined because they are going to be involved in the בהמ''ק- ככסף. The בני אהרן have to be the most refined, כזהב, because they are going into the בהמ''ק. They the קרבנות are going to be בצדקה.
ד וערבה- sweet and רצוי
כימי עולם- the days of משה’s משכן.
וכשנים קדמניות- days of שלמה’s בהמ''ק.
משל- a silversmith puts the silver into the heat of the fire. He sits there holding it and looking at it because if it is in the fire one minute too long, the silver will get ruined. How can he tell when the silver is pure? When it is so silver that he can see his own reflection in it. נמשל- יסורים are the heat of the fire and what purify us. But ה' holds us the whole time, and he is looking at us. When He sees Himself reflected in us, He takes us out.
ה ה' seems to like those who do bad. מלאכי is telling us, don’t worry. They will have to give a דין וחשבון.
Even though this world isn’t the world of payment, we do see that there is some משפט going on for the Jews so that we won’t have to come to complete destruction.
There are very big עבירות that when people do them, ה' brings judgment into this world:
1. Magic
2. נואפים
3. זנות
4. Swear falsely
5. Stealing from a גר, יתום, אלמנה
6. Stealing from a worker
All these עבירות seem so much worse than stealing from a hired worker. How does it connect to the other ones? The only thing that will stop you from doing of these עבירות is יראת שמים.
ה' gives us משפט so that we should keep being good.
ו I am ה' and כ''י won’t be extinguished.
מלבי''ם Why does ה' judge them early? ה' promised that He will never extinguish כ''י, and ה' never changes His words. ה' wipes the גויים off all at once, but ה' destroys כ''י little by little so that they won’t be extinguished.
ח מלאכי says that it is possible to steal from ה'. How were they stealing from ה'? Through תרומות and מעשרות.
You are being cursed and you are stealing from ה'. All of you are stealing from ה'.
How do you get כפרה? Bring all of your מעשר to the treasure house in the בהמ''ק and there will be enough food for everyone. So ה' said, test Me and see if I give you the ברכות. The amount of ברכות you will get is עד בלי די.
There is a ל' נסיון here. If you want to see if something could be done, you test it. A ל' מבחן is if you know something could be done, you want to see if the person is going to do it.
צדקה is one ענין where you can test ה'.
"זרעו לכם לצדקה קצרו לפי חסד"- you work so hard to make money and now you are giving it away? This seems ridiculous, but really you are only gaining.
יא וגערתי- I will reprimand.
באכל- rodents which consume the crops.
תשכל- missing
If a person gives צדקה, all the natural things which will cause you to lose your פרנסה, ה' will take care of it.
יד קדרנית- very dark
מלבי''ם Two reasons a person could do something:
1. מצד הנעבד
2. מצד העובד
ה' doesn’t need us to serve Him, and you say we are going to gain, but all we get are צרות.
טז מלבי''ם יראי ה' also look around and see צדיק ורע לו..., but they come up with a different conclusion: he has no question that the צדיק is going to get שכר. Since he isn’t going to get it in this world, obviously this world isn’t the תכלית. The תכלית is עוה''ב. They are happy that they don’t get paid in this world because they know that they are doing it לש''ש and not for the שכר. ה' hears this conversation and it’s so precious to Him that He writes it down.
יז There is going to be a day when ה' will gather all the treasures and he will have רחמנות, like a son who works for his father.
מלבי''ם The less important a worker is, the sooner he gets paid. A son who works for his father wants the business to build up and isn’t so worried about the money. The father pays his son back by making him a shareholder. So צדיקים will get a רוחניותדיק reward- he gets נצחיות.
תרי עשר - מיכה ו
This is part of the הפתרה of פרשת בלק. There is a direct mention to בלק in the פסוק.
This נבואה is in response to a feeling that כ''י may have- sometimes there are נבואות for either good or bad, and the same נביא can give both. It’s like ה' has moods and the נבואות are a reflection of ה'’s moods. So now it’s coming to say ח''ו that you should think that. ה'’s רצון is תמיד להיטיב. The נבואות depend on כ''י.
אברבנל In his previous נבואות, מיכה gave two opposite נבואות- that שומרון and ירושלים will be destroyed and that they will return back to their lands in the time of אחרית הימים. מיכה was afraid that כ''י would say that ה' changes all day- sometimes he is fighting with them and sometimes he is fighting for them. He’s like a master who has חרטה for his decisions, so he changes from good to bad. Therefore, the נבואות of a נביא, some are for good and some are for bad. מיכה comes to give this נבואה to tell us: ה' only wants to do good. He doesn’t ask us in return for anything which will tire us out, he asks us to do what is ישר and good. So it’s you who brings about the bad, it’s because of your own actions.
שפתי חיים "לסוסי ברכבי פרעה דמיתיך רעיתי" (שה''ש)- I compare you to the horses of פרעה’s horsemen, I compare you my loved ones. From יצ''מ, הנהגת הבריאה became מצליח on כ''י. By יצ''מ, פרעה’s horsemen didn’t have control over their horses. So from יצ''מ and on, we כאילו have control over ה'.
א It’s an open proclamation.
קום ריב- get up and have a וכוח. Really, it means to come with a clarification.
מ''צ את ההרים- אל ההרים. It’s a ל' of publicly.
אברבנל את ההרים- it should be so clear that even the mountains which aren’t בעלי נפש will understand.
רש''י הרים= אבות, גבעות= אמהות.
"אשא עיני אל ההרים"- אל תקרי הרים אלא הורים . There is a certain strength and solidity which mountains represent, just like our parents are to us. Mountains are the foundation of the world, just like our אבות and אמהות.
When כ''י need a ישועה, the אבות are the ones who must be informed.
ב אתנים- mountains. They are called this because they are strong. א''א was called אתן because he was the strength and יסוד of the world.
This is clarifying that everything is תלוי in your action.
הלאתיך- tire you out.
מה עשיתי לך- look at all the good that I did for you.
ומה הלאתיך- did I ask for things in exchange that tire you out? עבודת ה' doesn’t tire you out.
ה' judges us when we don’t take responsibility for things. The worst thing we could do is not take responsibility.
ר' חיים ש. מדרגתו של אדם נמדדת לפי אחריתו למעשיו- by seeing how much responsibility they take for what they did wrong.
דובנא מגיד מה הלאתיך- משל- a man is huffing and puffing, and you know he has the wrong bag because the bag he is supposed to have is light. נמשל- if someone comes to ה' all stressed out and tired, it means that he doesn’t have the correct bad of עבודה- עבודת ה' is געשמעק!
Sheet ישעי' You aren’t calling out to me. How do I know? Because you are tired out.
"נחלתי עדותיך לעולם כי ששון לבי המה"- gave over as an eternal inheritance Your תורה because they were the joy of my heart. R’ Scheinberg- What is the difference between שמחה and ששון? ששון is the external expression of שמחה, when your heart is so full of שמחה that overflows into your outer expression.
במדבר "ולא ראה עמל בישראל". The אוה''ח says on this that בלעם intended to say that they are busy with תורה and מצוות all day and they are עוסק בדברי תורה. But they don’t feel like they are עמל, they feel like they are earning.
The תורת חיים says that there isn’t a פינה in your life that isn’t governed by the תורה.
תהלים "פקודי ה' ישרים..."- ר' הירש says that ה'’s פקודים (מצוות) are in perfect accord with the בריאה, for example שחטing animals. This is good for the animal. You and your needs synchronize with the world and its needs.
ר' הירש ה'’s מצוות shtim with our personalities and blend with nature and the purpose of the entire בריאה. Someone who keeps ה'’s תורה has a quiet, joy and serenity that nothing can ever dim. The שמחת חיים of doing what you should has nothing to do with how long you live for.
ה'’s פקודים make you happy, but you must remember that the geshmak isn’t the reason we do them. We do the מצוות because כך הוא מצוה.
ד-ה are showing all of ה'’s טובות, from leaving מצרים to going into א''י.
אברבנל ד משה, אהרן and מרים represent the good that ה' did physically and spiritually.
רוחניות גשמיות
למד תורה לאנשים מן משה
כפרה ענן אהרן
למד תורה לנשים באר מרים
ה זכר... מואב- remember what he advised. בלק was afraid that כ''י was going to destroy them, so he hired בלעם to curse them. The פסוק is telling us to remember what בלק wanted to do to us.
Story- סטיפלר and Kiddush- make a double Kiddush, also from the twenty years of anxiety that ה' saved you from. We must also be thankful for the bad that didn’t happen. We must recognize that בעצם, this is the biggest חסד.
We say "בא''ה מלך עוזר ומושיע ומגן"- עוזר is day to day help, מושיע is a salvation and מגן is protection when you don’t even realize that it’s happening. This is the greatest.
We must realize that it is a huge נס that ה' foiled בלעם’s plans.
בלק asked בלעם to curse ב''י and בלעם answered, "מה אזעם לא זעם ה'"- how can I cause them harm if ה' doesn’t want to harm them? Every enemy knows this- if ה' isn’t angry, He won’t help them.
בלעם tried cursing כ''י three times, and it didn’t work. בלק told בלעם that he should cause כ''י to sin with the בנות מואב and ע''ז. This will anger ה' and He will send a מגפה.
שטים- the place כ''י were when the בנות מואב came to them. It is called this because here they did מעשי שדות.
למען דעת צדקות ה'- so you should see how much good ה' wanted to do for you.
ו Maybe כ''י will say …
אכף- how should I show my subservience to ה'?
בעגלים בני שנה- most supreme קרבן.
ח These are the three מצוות that מיכה said that כל התורה כולה could be placed into them.
מלבי''ם You can include the whole תורה by dividing it into באל''ח and באל''מ:
1. What is good to do מצד that you are a בן אדם- באל''ח-עשות... חסד .
2. What does ה' want from you- באל''מ- והצנע לכת....
ימי הספירה are days like חול המועד.
שפתי חיים He divides ב''י’s development as a nation into three שלבים:
1. ימי העבור- שעבוד מצרים
2. לידה- יצ''מ
3. ימי הגדול- the days between יצ''מ and קבלת התורה.
A fetus in the womb is hidden. It’s developing the most crucial part of your physical existence, however you can’t see it. It’s a משל to the way כ''י were in מצרים- ה' was taking care of us, it was just נסתר. We were a גוי בקרב גוי. We were being nurtured by the מצרים, so we were in danger. לידה is when the גוף and נשמה are born. What was the difference between the people in מצרים and the people by יצ''מ? By יצ''מ, we had our נשמה blown into us. Then they became a nation. But by לידה, you need tremendous intervention by ה'. So too by כ''י, we needed 100% intervention (like a fetus in distress), so ה' took us out. When a person goes into cardiac arrest, they shock his heart back to life. It is now artificially working, but the goal is for it to work again on its own. By יצ''מ, ה' shocked us back to life. We felt good, and in seven weeks when we accepted the תורה upon ourselves, we will feel like that on our own. This is why by ספירה we count up- during these days we should take what we got over פסח and work on ourselves so we can accept the תורה on שבועות on our own.
בית הלוי Explains the connection between משפטים (laws באל''ח that you can’t do, stealing…) and תרומה- before a person does צדקה with his money, he must make sure that his money doesn’t have a חשש גזל. Why? Because if there isגזל with his money, his צדקה doesn’t count. It says in ישעי', "והושג אחור משפט"- your משפט was held back, therefore your צדקה is also worthless. Therefore first, there are משפטים- all of the laws, and then ה' tells them to give צדקה.
It says in the פסוק, "עשות משפט" and then have אהבת חסד. You can’t give צדקה without knowing all the משפטים and מצוות עשה. The מצוות עשה are built on the מצוות לא תעשה and you need both. When it comes to the מצוות עשה, it is much more gratifying than to refrain from doing a מצוות לא תעשה. Ex. gym membership vs. money for צדקה. The חזון איש explains that psychologically, you feel better about doing something when you have something to show for it. This is only in this world, though. Before ה', both the מצוות עשה and מצוות לא תעשה are the same.
רמב''ם- יראה קודמת אהבה- if you want your אהבת ה' to be wholesome, it must be built on יראת ה'.
Real אוהבות חסד don’t hurt the people who they are doing the חסד for.
Sheet 3 ר' ירוחם לוויץ- he compares the משפטי העומות to the משפטי התורה. They are totally different:
1. משפטי העומות are by the agreement of human beings.
2. They go according to the times.
3. They go according to the place.
4. Depends on the conditions of the צבור.
5. They aren’t inherently obligatory, they are because of the need. Today they are accepted and tomorrow they are rejected.
They are a reflection of the people who designed them- full of contradictions.
This is not the case with the משפטי התורה though. They are the work of ה'’s hands. Not only aren’t they made up by human beings, the תורה is our foundation- הסתכל באוריתא וברא עלמא. ה' designed the people according to the תורה and its מצוות .
ר' ירוחם לוויץ says that if you think that ה' needed parents in order to make children: ה' knew that there was a מצוה of כבד את אביך ואת אמיך, and He knew that the תורה and the מצוות are necessary for our קיום.
Sheet 4 When it comes to משפט, it says עשות משפט. But when it comes to חסד, it says אהבה חסד. Why is there a change in the לשון? Because it’s not enough to just do חסד, you must love it. The difference between loving and doing is like the difference between ארץ and שמים.
כוכבי אור והצנע לכת עם אלקיך-
1. "אחרי ה' אלקיכם תלכו"- הולך אחרי מדותיו
2. "ואנוהו"- הוי דומה לו, מה הוא קובר מתים... מה הוא רחום...
One טעם doesn’t come out of two מקורות. There are two stages of working on your מדות.
1. You must do it.
2. You must be a חנון ורחום בעצם- got to have it as a part of you.
The reason why the חסד that we do doesn’t counteract שנאת חינם is because they can coexist. But שנאת חינם can’t coexist with אהבת חסד.
"הכל הולך אחר החתימה"- the first ברכה of ש''ע is the חתימה. This ברכה discusses א''א, who was the עמוד חסד. We see from here that everything can be traced down to חסד.
"והצנא לכת..."- this is the third of מיכה’s צווים. The מלבי''ם says that this is the whole יסוד of באל''מ. How? We said that you are supposed to go with ה'. In what way? "והצנא לכת...".
Sheet R’ Chaim Freedland was amazing in his צניעות, and he was even more amazing at hiding his צניעות- no one knew that he was hiding some of his מעש''ט. How did people know that there was more to him? All of the sudden, things didn’t match up or something came up and they realized that it was him. He had a principle that all עבודת ה' is based on צניעות.
Why is צניעות the foundation of all מעלות? Every person has to be an עבד ה'. There is a כלל, "מה שקנה עבד קנה רבו"- an עבד has none of his own identity. Being an עבד ה' means that anything I do is because I am מתבטל to the איבשתער. I am not just a person, I am a part of ה'. How does one reach this level? By breaking his אנכיות- self centeredness. When one realized that אנכי isn’t me, that I’m just a part of the master plan, he will become an עבד ה'. This is why "ואהבת לרעיך..." is the יסוד of כל התורה כולה, because a person is realizing that אנכי is not just me, it expands to other people. It says in ואתחנן, "אנכי עומד בין ה' וביניכם". The אנכי of a person is what separates him from ה'.
מהר''ל- how do you know if a person is doing his עבודה for ה' or because he has ulterior motives? If a person can be מצניע his מעשים, it shows that his עבודה is for ה'.
רחל saw in ר' עקיבא that he was a צנוע. She saw that he had the מעלה that it takes to be an עבד ה'. Although now he was an עם הארץ, she saw that he was able to do מעשים for פנמיות and would eventually do it for ה'.
This נבואה is in response to a feeling that כ''י may have- sometimes there are נבואות for either good or bad, and the same נביא can give both. It’s like ה' has moods and the נבואות are a reflection of ה'’s moods. So now it’s coming to say ח''ו that you should think that. ה'’s רצון is תמיד להיטיב. The נבואות depend on כ''י.
אברבנל In his previous נבואות, מיכה gave two opposite נבואות- that שומרון and ירושלים will be destroyed and that they will return back to their lands in the time of אחרית הימים. מיכה was afraid that כ''י would say that ה' changes all day- sometimes he is fighting with them and sometimes he is fighting for them. He’s like a master who has חרטה for his decisions, so he changes from good to bad. Therefore, the נבואות of a נביא, some are for good and some are for bad. מיכה comes to give this נבואה to tell us: ה' only wants to do good. He doesn’t ask us in return for anything which will tire us out, he asks us to do what is ישר and good. So it’s you who brings about the bad, it’s because of your own actions.
שפתי חיים "לסוסי ברכבי פרעה דמיתיך רעיתי" (שה''ש)- I compare you to the horses of פרעה’s horsemen, I compare you my loved ones. From יצ''מ, הנהגת הבריאה became מצליח on כ''י. By יצ''מ, פרעה’s horsemen didn’t have control over their horses. So from יצ''מ and on, we כאילו have control over ה'.
א It’s an open proclamation.
קום ריב- get up and have a וכוח. Really, it means to come with a clarification.
מ''צ את ההרים- אל ההרים. It’s a ל' of publicly.
אברבנל את ההרים- it should be so clear that even the mountains which aren’t בעלי נפש will understand.
רש''י הרים= אבות, גבעות= אמהות.
"אשא עיני אל ההרים"- אל תקרי הרים אלא הורים . There is a certain strength and solidity which mountains represent, just like our parents are to us. Mountains are the foundation of the world, just like our אבות and אמהות.
When כ''י need a ישועה, the אבות are the ones who must be informed.
ב אתנים- mountains. They are called this because they are strong. א''א was called אתן because he was the strength and יסוד of the world.
This is clarifying that everything is תלוי in your action.
הלאתיך- tire you out.
מה עשיתי לך- look at all the good that I did for you.
ומה הלאתיך- did I ask for things in exchange that tire you out? עבודת ה' doesn’t tire you out.
ה' judges us when we don’t take responsibility for things. The worst thing we could do is not take responsibility.
ר' חיים ש. מדרגתו של אדם נמדדת לפי אחריתו למעשיו- by seeing how much responsibility they take for what they did wrong.
דובנא מגיד מה הלאתיך- משל- a man is huffing and puffing, and you know he has the wrong bag because the bag he is supposed to have is light. נמשל- if someone comes to ה' all stressed out and tired, it means that he doesn’t have the correct bad of עבודה- עבודת ה' is געשמעק!
Sheet ישעי' You aren’t calling out to me. How do I know? Because you are tired out.
"נחלתי עדותיך לעולם כי ששון לבי המה"- gave over as an eternal inheritance Your תורה because they were the joy of my heart. R’ Scheinberg- What is the difference between שמחה and ששון? ששון is the external expression of שמחה, when your heart is so full of שמחה that overflows into your outer expression.
במדבר "ולא ראה עמל בישראל". The אוה''ח says on this that בלעם intended to say that they are busy with תורה and מצוות all day and they are עוסק בדברי תורה. But they don’t feel like they are עמל, they feel like they are earning.
The תורת חיים says that there isn’t a פינה in your life that isn’t governed by the תורה.
תהלים "פקודי ה' ישרים..."- ר' הירש says that ה'’s פקודים (מצוות) are in perfect accord with the בריאה, for example שחטing animals. This is good for the animal. You and your needs synchronize with the world and its needs.
ר' הירש ה'’s מצוות shtim with our personalities and blend with nature and the purpose of the entire בריאה. Someone who keeps ה'’s תורה has a quiet, joy and serenity that nothing can ever dim. The שמחת חיים of doing what you should has nothing to do with how long you live for.
ה'’s פקודים make you happy, but you must remember that the geshmak isn’t the reason we do them. We do the מצוות because כך הוא מצוה.
ד-ה are showing all of ה'’s טובות, from leaving מצרים to going into א''י.
אברבנל ד משה, אהרן and מרים represent the good that ה' did physically and spiritually.
רוחניות גשמיות
למד תורה לאנשים מן משה
כפרה ענן אהרן
למד תורה לנשים באר מרים
ה זכר... מואב- remember what he advised. בלק was afraid that כ''י was going to destroy them, so he hired בלעם to curse them. The פסוק is telling us to remember what בלק wanted to do to us.
Story- סטיפלר and Kiddush- make a double Kiddush, also from the twenty years of anxiety that ה' saved you from. We must also be thankful for the bad that didn’t happen. We must recognize that בעצם, this is the biggest חסד.
We say "בא''ה מלך עוזר ומושיע ומגן"- עוזר is day to day help, מושיע is a salvation and מגן is protection when you don’t even realize that it’s happening. This is the greatest.
We must realize that it is a huge נס that ה' foiled בלעם’s plans.
בלק asked בלעם to curse ב''י and בלעם answered, "מה אזעם לא זעם ה'"- how can I cause them harm if ה' doesn’t want to harm them? Every enemy knows this- if ה' isn’t angry, He won’t help them.
בלעם tried cursing כ''י three times, and it didn’t work. בלק told בלעם that he should cause כ''י to sin with the בנות מואב and ע''ז. This will anger ה' and He will send a מגפה.
שטים- the place כ''י were when the בנות מואב came to them. It is called this because here they did מעשי שדות.
למען דעת צדקות ה'- so you should see how much good ה' wanted to do for you.
ו Maybe כ''י will say …
אכף- how should I show my subservience to ה'?
בעגלים בני שנה- most supreme קרבן.
ח These are the three מצוות that מיכה said that כל התורה כולה could be placed into them.
מלבי''ם You can include the whole תורה by dividing it into באל''ח and באל''מ:
1. What is good to do מצד that you are a בן אדם- באל''ח-עשות... חסד .
2. What does ה' want from you- באל''מ- והצנע לכת....
ימי הספירה are days like חול המועד.
שפתי חיים He divides ב''י’s development as a nation into three שלבים:
1. ימי העבור- שעבוד מצרים
2. לידה- יצ''מ
3. ימי הגדול- the days between יצ''מ and קבלת התורה.
A fetus in the womb is hidden. It’s developing the most crucial part of your physical existence, however you can’t see it. It’s a משל to the way כ''י were in מצרים- ה' was taking care of us, it was just נסתר. We were a גוי בקרב גוי. We were being nurtured by the מצרים, so we were in danger. לידה is when the גוף and נשמה are born. What was the difference between the people in מצרים and the people by יצ''מ? By יצ''מ, we had our נשמה blown into us. Then they became a nation. But by לידה, you need tremendous intervention by ה'. So too by כ''י, we needed 100% intervention (like a fetus in distress), so ה' took us out. When a person goes into cardiac arrest, they shock his heart back to life. It is now artificially working, but the goal is for it to work again on its own. By יצ''מ, ה' shocked us back to life. We felt good, and in seven weeks when we accepted the תורה upon ourselves, we will feel like that on our own. This is why by ספירה we count up- during these days we should take what we got over פסח and work on ourselves so we can accept the תורה on שבועות on our own.
בית הלוי Explains the connection between משפטים (laws באל''ח that you can’t do, stealing…) and תרומה- before a person does צדקה with his money, he must make sure that his money doesn’t have a חשש גזל. Why? Because if there isגזל with his money, his צדקה doesn’t count. It says in ישעי', "והושג אחור משפט"- your משפט was held back, therefore your צדקה is also worthless. Therefore first, there are משפטים- all of the laws, and then ה' tells them to give צדקה.
It says in the פסוק, "עשות משפט" and then have אהבת חסד. You can’t give צדקה without knowing all the משפטים and מצוות עשה. The מצוות עשה are built on the מצוות לא תעשה and you need both. When it comes to the מצוות עשה, it is much more gratifying than to refrain from doing a מצוות לא תעשה. Ex. gym membership vs. money for צדקה. The חזון איש explains that psychologically, you feel better about doing something when you have something to show for it. This is only in this world, though. Before ה', both the מצוות עשה and מצוות לא תעשה are the same.
רמב''ם- יראה קודמת אהבה- if you want your אהבת ה' to be wholesome, it must be built on יראת ה'.
Real אוהבות חסד don’t hurt the people who they are doing the חסד for.
Sheet 3 ר' ירוחם לוויץ- he compares the משפטי העומות to the משפטי התורה. They are totally different:
1. משפטי העומות are by the agreement of human beings.
2. They go according to the times.
3. They go according to the place.
4. Depends on the conditions of the צבור.
5. They aren’t inherently obligatory, they are because of the need. Today they are accepted and tomorrow they are rejected.
They are a reflection of the people who designed them- full of contradictions.
This is not the case with the משפטי התורה though. They are the work of ה'’s hands. Not only aren’t they made up by human beings, the תורה is our foundation- הסתכל באוריתא וברא עלמא. ה' designed the people according to the תורה and its מצוות .
ר' ירוחם לוויץ says that if you think that ה' needed parents in order to make children: ה' knew that there was a מצוה of כבד את אביך ואת אמיך, and He knew that the תורה and the מצוות are necessary for our קיום.
Sheet 4 When it comes to משפט, it says עשות משפט. But when it comes to חסד, it says אהבה חסד. Why is there a change in the לשון? Because it’s not enough to just do חסד, you must love it. The difference between loving and doing is like the difference between ארץ and שמים.
כוכבי אור והצנע לכת עם אלקיך-
1. "אחרי ה' אלקיכם תלכו"- הולך אחרי מדותיו
2. "ואנוהו"- הוי דומה לו, מה הוא קובר מתים... מה הוא רחום...
One טעם doesn’t come out of two מקורות. There are two stages of working on your מדות.
1. You must do it.
2. You must be a חנון ורחום בעצם- got to have it as a part of you.
The reason why the חסד that we do doesn’t counteract שנאת חינם is because they can coexist. But שנאת חינם can’t coexist with אהבת חסד.
"הכל הולך אחר החתימה"- the first ברכה of ש''ע is the חתימה. This ברכה discusses א''א, who was the עמוד חסד. We see from here that everything can be traced down to חסד.
"והצנא לכת..."- this is the third of מיכה’s צווים. The מלבי''ם says that this is the whole יסוד of באל''מ. How? We said that you are supposed to go with ה'. In what way? "והצנא לכת...".
Sheet R’ Chaim Freedland was amazing in his צניעות, and he was even more amazing at hiding his צניעות- no one knew that he was hiding some of his מעש''ט. How did people know that there was more to him? All of the sudden, things didn’t match up or something came up and they realized that it was him. He had a principle that all עבודת ה' is based on צניעות.
Why is צניעות the foundation of all מעלות? Every person has to be an עבד ה'. There is a כלל, "מה שקנה עבד קנה רבו"- an עבד has none of his own identity. Being an עבד ה' means that anything I do is because I am מתבטל to the איבשתער. I am not just a person, I am a part of ה'. How does one reach this level? By breaking his אנכיות- self centeredness. When one realized that אנכי isn’t me, that I’m just a part of the master plan, he will become an עבד ה'. This is why "ואהבת לרעיך..." is the יסוד of כל התורה כולה, because a person is realizing that אנכי is not just me, it expands to other people. It says in ואתחנן, "אנכי עומד בין ה' וביניכם". The אנכי of a person is what separates him from ה'.
מהר''ל- how do you know if a person is doing his עבודה for ה' or because he has ulterior motives? If a person can be מצניע his מעשים, it shows that his עבודה is for ה'.
רחל saw in ר' עקיבא that he was a צנוע. She saw that he had the מעלה that it takes to be an עבד ה'. Although now he was an עם הארץ, she saw that he was able to do מעשים for פנמיות and would eventually do it for ה'.
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