Anger. Speech.

ולכן הכעס דעה רעה היא עד למאוד וראוי לאדם שיתרחק ממנה עד הקצה האחר וילמד עצמו שלא יכעס ואפילו על דבר שראוי לכעוס עליו וכן אם רצה להטיל אימה על בניו ובני ביתו או על הציבור אם היה פרנס ורצה לכעוס עליהם כדי שיחזרו למוטב יראה עצמו בפניהם שהוא כועס כדי לייסרם ותהיה דעתו מיושבת בינו לבין עצמו כאדם שהוא מדמה איש בשעת כעסו והוא אינו כועס.

So it's a very very strange formulation of the Rambam. Mitzad echad the Rambam says that ka'as is a דעה רעה היא עד למאוד and therefore וראוי לאדם שיתרחק ממנה עד הקצה האחר. But me'idach gisa the Rambam then speaks about דברים שראויים לכעוס עליהם. But if ka'as is such a דעה רעה היא עד למאוד, so then there's nothing that's ra'uy lich'os alav because ka'as is never is never appropriate if it's such a דעה רעה היא עד למאוד. So on the one hand, the Rambam does depict ka'as that way, but me'idach gisa the Rambam does speak about הדבר הראוי לכעוס עליו. So lich'ora the pshat is as follows: Rashi al haTorah comments that wherever we find Moshe Rabbeinu, and in the Rambam's phrase, bechir mimenei ha'anashim, where Moshe Rabbeinu gets angry, hi balech lach'alta'os. ויקצוף משה על פקודי החיל in parshas Matos and then nistalma mimenu halacha and it has to be Elazar who teaches them the dinim of kashering the keilim. By in parshas Chukas, shim'u na hamorim, and then Moshe Rabbeinu errs and he he hits the the sela instead of speaking to the to the sela. That wherever Moshe Rabbeinu was ko'es, hi balech lach'alta'os. And again so what do what do you see from from Rashi? That ka'as is is something volatile. It's it's something which is virtually impossible to modulate, to to control. Sort of the mashal is like this, you know, when you open a faucet, so there's something inside the handle, some kind of a spring or whatever it is, I don't know what it is, which sort of allows you to control how much of a flow you you release by by opening the faucet. But if that gets worn out as it can and and does after prolonged use and that breaks, so then you open it and it just gushes out and and you can't and you can't control the the flow. So the emes is that ka'as on one level, it certainly is warranted in certain situations on certain occasions. When Moshe Rabbeinu got angry, the situation warranted ka'as. Whether it's parshas Chukas, parshas Matos, the situation warranted ka'as and on that level, there are things which are re'uyim lich'os aleihem. However, mitzad mitzad hagavra, mitzad the person, because it's something which is so volatile and it's virtually impossible to, again, to to control and to modulate that it should that the ka'as should be, again, controlled and and targeted only where appropriate and not spill over beyond that and not let the lack of of composure and yishuv hadas which which- and and that's what the pshat is: it's not that that again mitzod situations, there are situations which do warrant a reaction of kaas, which is why the Rambam then continues and says that in those situations a person should feign anger, he should pretend he's an actor and and that he's acting out a scene where he's where he's portraying someone who's who's angry, but but inwardly he has to maintain that that composure. In that sense he seems to be depicting it, you know, differently than the other exception, differently than the exception of govah lev, where there it's just intrinsically that that a person shouldn't have even a shemetz. Ma she-ken here, in theory, as the Rambam illustrated in perek alef, in theory a person should get angry in certain situations, but practically because it's because of the volatility, the lack of composure, as Rashi illustrates in so practically a person should never do it. Is the Rambam just talking within this midah beinonis or also this midas chasidus? Sounds like this is for everyone, even for chasidus, even for chasidus, to medameh the kaas, you mean? Presumably, presumably.

אמרו חכמים הראשונים כל הכועס כאילו עובד עבודה זרה ואמרו שכל הכועס אם חכם הוא חכמתו מסתלקת ממנו ואם נביא הוא נבואתו מסתלקת ממנו בעלי כעס אין חייהם חיים לפיכך צוו להתרחק מן הכעס עד שינהיג עצמו שלא ירגיש אפילו לדברים המכעיסים

again the same he-arah. There are devarim hamachisim, there are things which are raui to lichos on them, but practically it's not something that we can control and modulate.

וזו היא דרך הטובה ודרך הצדיקים הן עלובין ואינן עולבין שומעים חרפתם ואינן משיבין עושין מאהבה ושמחים בייסורים עליהם הכתוב אומר ואוהביו כצאת השמש בגבורתו.

So how does this shtem? Again, we commented in the first perek on the Rambam's use of the psukim of tov maat litzadik, צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו, that the Rambam quoted those psukim to illustrate the midah beinonis. So we said because what's true of a tzadik is something that's relevant to all of us because really that's what we're all supposed to be. It doesn't represent something which is above and beyond; it means someone who fulfills mitzvas asei and avoids mitzvas lo saasei, so that's something which is is is relevant to all of us. Here you have the impression that the Rambam is describing derech hatzadikim, is introducing a midas chasidus, right? Meaning the ikar hadin is a person can't let himself get angry, can't let himself get angry, and derech hatzadikim is not only do they not get angry vechulu. So how does that... I don't know, I'm not sure. I think the Sefer HaChinuch also depicts this שומעים חרפתם ואינם משיבים as being a Meaning me'ikar hadin if someone's being insulting and abusive, so me'ikar hadin you have a right to tell the person, you know, again, not to get angry, but to tell the person, you know, to show them the door and tell them you're being rude and please leave. And the שומעים חרפתם ואינם משיבים עושים מאהבה ושמחים בייסורים Sefer HaChinuch describes as a middas chasidus. And that's sort of the impression you have here when the Rambam says zohi derech hatovah is that the person doesn't get angry. And the derech hatzadikim is it's more than that. It's not only that they avoid the pitfall of anger but more than that. So that should have been I don't know it should have been derech hachasidim or something it should have been introduced with a different lashon I don't know. Halachah daled:

לעולם ירבה אדם בשתיקה ולא ידבר אלא או בדברי חכמה או בדברים שצריך להם לחיי גופו. אמרו על רב תלמיד רבינו הקדוש שלא שח שיחה בטלה כל ימיו וזו היא שיחת רוב כל אדם. ואפילו בצרכי הגוף לא ירבה אדם דברים ועל זה ציוו חכמים ואמרו כל המרבה דברים מביא חטא. ואמרו לא מצאתי לגוף טוב אלא שתיקה. וכן בדברי תורה ובדברי חכמה יהיו דברי החכם מעטים ועניניהם מרובים והוא שציוו חכמים ואמרו לעולם ישנה אדם לתלמידו דרך קצרה. אבל אם היו הדברים מרובים והענין מועט הרי זו סכלות ועל זה נאמר כי בא החלום ברוב ענין וקול כסיל ברוב דברים.

So this Gemara in Pesachim of לעולם ישנה אדם לתלמידו דרך קצרה, so Rashi al ha-atar says that to make it easier for the talmid to commit the Torah she-be'al peh to memory, so the Rebbe should distill it into as few words as possible because it makes it easier to commit to memory. If you have to memorize five words, if you have to memorize fifty words, the chances of success are much greater with the five words than the fifty words and the time you'll have to move on to something else. So it's a din in מסירת תורה שבעל פה. And the Rambam understands no that it's in general it's part of what the middah beinonis is in using speech that a person even in divrei Torah should speak as much as he needs to and not more. Even in divrei Torah. Lo mibayi when a person is talking about דברים שהגוף צריך להן vechulu, so lo mibayi there that a person's words should be measured. He should say what he needs to say and not stam prattle. But afilu bedivrei Torah afilu bedivrei chochmah there too agam that the content is kadosh but there too a person should economize in speech. Then the Rambam begins halachah hey: syag lachochmah shtikah. Starts talking about shtikah again. The Rambam has two halachos again halachah daled is לעולם ירבה אדם בשתיקה and halachah hey is syag lachochmah shtikah. How does the syag lachochmah shtikah play out? לפיכך לא יהא ממהר להשיב ולא ירבה לדבר. So that's interesting right that the Rambam says so think before you answer. I mean if you have a watch and someone asks you what time it is you don't have to think too much about answering a question you look at your watch and you. But if it's a question that requires a little bit of judiciousness, so then lo yemaher lehashiv. So הרב זלמן זכרונו לברכה explained very beautifully that the Rambam has here two halachas, two perspectives on Shtika. Number one is, and this is what Halacha Daled talks about, if a person talks too much, so he's gonna get into trouble. As the Rambam quotes, כל המרבה דברים מביא חטא. A person talks too much, he's gonna get involved with devarim asurim. Even if he talks too much in Divrei Torah, he's gonna water down the Divrei Torah. If a person says in twenty words what could have been said clearly and lucidly in five words, so then he's watering it down. And again, the בבחינת כל המוסיף גורע. So Halacha Daled is talking about the need for Shtika to prevent problems. That ribui devarim is a source, again, it's a source of problems. If a person stam is talking too much, so first he's talking devarim betalim. From devarim betalim, one can easily segue to devarim asurim vechulu. In the context of Divrei Torah, it waters down, it adulterates, and ultimately therefore detracts from the Divrei Torah. That lichora is the pshat. It's the Mishna in Avos, לא מצאתי לגוף טוב אלא שתיקה. A funny thing, lo matzasi laguf. I don't know, we would have said לא מצאתי לגוף טוב אלא, you know, this exercise regimen, you know, jogging two miles a day. לא מצאתי לגוף אלא, I can't say that from personal experience, but that's what people say. לא מצאתי לגוף אלא, what is this lashon, lo matzasi laguf? What's Shtika gonna do with the guf? So maybe that's what... No, the guf, the guf represents, you know, the guf is the source of, you know, the neshama is where we identify with the yetzer hatov and the guf, the chomriyus are where we identify with our aveiros. לא מצאתי לגוף טוב אלא משתיקה. That by keeping quiet, a person avoids lots of problems, avoids lots of aveiros. That's what Halacha Daled is about. Halacha Hei, the Rambam's saying something else. Halacha Hei, the Rambam's not talking about avoiding aveiros. The Rambam's talking about that by speaking carefully and judiciously, one thereby enhances his speech. One enhances the speech. He's not talking about seyag in the sense of avoiding an aveira, but seyag as something which enhances and upgrades and improves. By not answering immediately, by answering and then speaking deliberately, so then the quality of what the person says is going to be vastly improved. And that's why this is... and that's clearly the flow: וילמד לתלמידים בשובה ונחת בלא צעקה. What's that gonna do with if we're talking about how much a person talks, you know, whether he's yelling and screaming or whether he's talking very softly, it's the same number of syllables. Decibels lechud and syllables lechud. So how does this connect with this halacha of seyag l'chochma shtika? So no, hem hem hadevarim. Seyag l'chochma shtika, here the Rambam's talking about how to use speech most effectively. And here too, shtika, that that's the paradox, that shtika allows a person to use speech most effectively. So in that context, it's not only shtika which is a way of marshaling the koach hadibbur most effectively, but the fact that a person says it benachas. syag that’s what the Chofetz Chaim was talking about how syag doesn't only mean when you talk about asu syag laTorah it doesn't only mean a safeguard against against aveiras but it also means something that that enhances a mitzvah that you find syag in in that sense in that sense also. Okay, we'll stop here for for this.