Extremes. Lshem Shomayim & Middah Beinonis.

פרק ג הלכה א שמא יאמר אדם הואיל והקנאה והתאוה והכבוד וכיוצא בהן דרך רעה הן ומוציאין את האדם מן העולם אפרש מהן ביותר ואתרחק לצד האחרון עד שלא יאכל בשר ולא ישתה יין ולא ישא אשה ולא ישב בדירה נאה ולא ילבש מלבוש נאה אלא השק והצמר הקשה וכיוצא בהן כגון כהני האדום גם זו דרך רעה היא ואסור לילך בה.

So at the end of Perek Bet, the Rambam had quoted the Mishnah in Avot of הקנאה והתאוה והכבוד מוציאין את האדם מן העולם. And Halacha Alef in Perek Gimmel is clearly following up on that, right? Shema yomar adam because these, these things are so insidious, they're so destructive that מוציאין את האדם מן העולם. So maybe a person would have a havah amina, efroshen mehen beyoter. Why did he drop kin'ah? Right, the Mishnah again at the end of Perek Bet from Avot, which is the Rambam's point of departure here, is that הקנאה והתאוה והכבוד מוציאין את האדם מן העולם. Right, and and that provides the havah amina of Shema yomar adam. So shouldn't the Rambam have said Shema yomar adam, הואיל והקנאה והתאוה והכבוד? So if you look in the perush, in the Rambam's Perush Hamishnayot on that Mishnah of Rabbi Elazar Hakappar: הקנאה התאוה והכבוד מוציאין את האדם מן העולם. So the Rambam says omar:

צרות עין בשל חבירו ורוב התאוה ואהבת הכבוד מוציאין את האדם מן העולם.

Again: צרות עין בשל חבירו. So kin'ah means jealousy in the sense that a person begrudges someone else what he has. If I, if I'm mekaneh you in the sense that I begrudge you what what you have. צרות עין בשל חבירו ורוב התאוה ואהבת הכבוד. So the Rambam learns pshat in this Mishnah, he learns pshat unevenly as it were. He doesn't modify kin'ah. He just says tzarut ayin, doesn't say רוב צרות עין בשל חבירו. He doesn't say excessive tzarut ayin. He doesn't say a lot of tzarut ayin. He says צרות עין בשל חבירו. There's no qualifier to kin'ah being מוציא את האדם מן העולם. By ta'avah, so there the Rambam has a qualifier, a modifier. What, what the Tanna means is rov hata'avah. And similarly by kavod, similarly by kavod, the Rambam says, the Rambam puts in ahavat hakavod, that a person is, he, he thrives on kavod, ahavat kavod. So it's klar that what the Rambam here in the Perush Hamishnayot is telling us is that any kin'ah is מוציא את האדם מן העולם. It's not excessive kin'ah. The pshat, when Rabbi Elazar Hakappar mentions these three, so he mentions them in one breath because they have in common מוציאין את האדם מן העולם. But he doesn't intend to equate these three in terms of degree. The fact that kin'ah is מוציא את האדם מן העולם is without any modifier. kin'ah is מוציא את האדם מן העולם. Ta'avah and kavod means excessive ta'avah, rov hata'avah. A healthy appetite that a person eats a good breakfast, that he has a ta'avah, that he has a healthy appetite to eat a good breakfast is not motzi et ha'adam, is not מוציא את האדם מן העולם. And so too kavod, it means a disproportionate, a disproportionate focus and preoccupation with kavod. The fact that a person is machshiv kavod, that he dresses neatly, that he dresses in a, in a dignified manner, that's not מוציא את האדם מן העולם. But ahavat hakavod, when it's not just, when it's not just that a person is mischashei bakavod, that he should appear and act in a, in a dignified way. But ahavat hakavod, that's what's מוציא את האדם מן העולם. Veshema yomar adam, it's only a rasha, hava amina, you know, by taivah and kavod. By kinah, it's right. A person should say that הקנאה מוציאה את האדם מן העולם, even a little bit of kinah is no good. Even a little bit of kinah is no good. And Chazal say rekev atzamos kinah. What causes the body to decompose after misa is the kinah that a person felt and experienced in his lifetime. So kinah ein hachinami, kinah is takeh yomam valayla, not shema yomar ha'adam and the Rambam wants to push back against it. It is a correct inference from the Mishna that it is a correct application. Again, it's not an inference because in the leshonus you can't infer it, but it is a correct application from the Mishna that השתרחק מן הקנאה ביותר. It's not a correct application of the Mishna to be

להשתרחק מן התאוה והכבוד ביותר. גם זו דרך רעה היא ואסור ללכת בה. המהלך בדרך זו נקרא חוטא. הרי הוא אומר בנזיר וכיפר עליו מאשר חטא על הנפש. אמרו חכמים ומה אם נזיר שלא פירש אלא מן היין צריך כפרה, המונע עצמו מכל דבר על אחת כמה וכמה.

So here the Rambam says something very very remarkable. The Rambam just says amru chachamim. D'tanya,

רבי אלעזר הקפר אומר מה תלמוד לומר וכיפר עליו מאשר חטא על הנפש?

Hanozir shenitma?

ויהי בנזיר שנטמא וכיפר על הנפש חטא, אלא זה וכיפר על הנפש חטא, אלא שציער עצמו מן היין.

So it's the same Tanna, the same Tanna who says הקנאה והתאוה והכבוד מוציאין את האדם מן העולם is the same Tanna who says that he's called choteh al hanefesh. The Rambam's juxtaposing and saying that the Mishna of התאוה והכבוד מוציאין את האדם מן העולם needs to be integrated with the ma'amar chazal of

וכיפר על הנפש חטא אלא זה שציער עצמו מן היין.

It's mamash the same Tanna. It's not just that the Rambam is saying you have to integrate this Chazal with that Chazal. The Tanna in Avos of hakinah vehataivah vehakavod is Rabbi Elazar Hakapor. This is the very same Tanna who darshens the

וכיפר עליו מאשר חטא על הנפש. לפיכך ציוו חכמים שלא ימנע אדם עצמו אלא מדברים שמנעה התורה בלבד, ולא יהיה אוסר עצמו בנדרים ובשבועות על דברים המותרים. כך אמרו חכמים לא דייך מה שאסרה תורה אלא שאתה אוסר עליך דברים אחרים.

So here be'emes the Rambam himself explains this also in Avos in the peirush hamishnayos on nedarim. How does it say? Nedarim siyag liprishus? That our attitude towards nedarim varies depending upon what the motivation for the neder is. what what the neder represents. If a person is just employing the neder to I don't know sort of he's creating his own ideal that that I shouldn't chas veshalom I shouldn't partake of basar veyayin. I shouldn't do this, I shouldn't do that as a way of again creating and pursuing his own ideal. So that's what Chazal are very critical of: לא דייך מה שאסרה תורה. But if the person employs the neder because on the contrary, let's say a person sees that he eats basar excessively. A person sees that he drinks yayin excessively and he hasn't been successful in disciplining himself. But he feels that that if he'll know that that there's an issur neder for him to indulge, so then that would allow him to have that that discipline. So if that's what motivates the neder, so that's why there is a parsha of shavuos unedarim in the Torah. But what Chazal are saying is if we abuse the parsha of shavuos unedarim in the Torah to again not to use it to get us to the Torah's ideal but to create our own our own ideal, so that's what what Chazal criticize. ובכלל הזה אלו שמתענים תמיד אינם בדרך טובה. Again, tova representing the middah beinonis. ואמרו חכמים ואסרו חכמים שהיה אדם מסגף עצמו בתענית. The Gemara says:

כל היושב בתענית נקרא חוטא. ועל כל הדברים האלו והיוצא בהן צוה שלמה ואמר אל תהי צדיק הרבה ואל תתחכם יותר למה תשומם. צריך האדם שיכוין כל מעשיו כולם כדי לידע את השם ברוך הוא בלבד.

So now these next two halachos, halacha beis vegimmel as the Rambam recapitulates at the end of halacha gimmel,

ועל ענין זה צוה חכמים ואמרו וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים והוא שאמר שלמה בחכמתו בכל דרכיך דעהו והוא יישר אורחותיך.

The Rambam now is switching, he's shifting away from the middah beinonis to talking about וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. So there are two questions that jump jump off the page here. Question number one is: so shouldn't the Rambam have appended halacha aleph to perek beis, finished his discussion of the middah beinonis and then he says a new topic so then he'll begin perek gimmel with a new topic of וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים? One halacha, I don't know, the editor told the Rambam, no, you're only allowed to have seven halachos in perek beis, that's it. So the Rambam sneaks it into perek gimmel but it doesn't really belong there. The the arrangement of the perakim is very tamuah. That's number one. Number two, this din of וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. So וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים is is a Mishna Avos. Bechol derachecha da'ehu is where is Mishlei? Is a posuk in in in Divrei Kabbala. So is it only a din deRabbanan? Is it only a Divrei Kabbala, this din of וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים? Is there is there no makom in the Torah for it? Again, so what is the din again just to get a little bit of a feel for the din? A person is supposed to calibrate and orient everything he does for the sake of for the sake of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, for the sake of yedi'as Hashem. Again, calibrate and orient everything he does for for the sake of avodas Hashem, yedi'as Hashem. The Rambam says if a person does as this successfully again towards the end of Halacha Gimmel

נמצא המהלך בדרך זו כל ימיו נמצא המהלך בדרך זו כל ימיו כולן עובד השם תמיד.

So lichora it's it's it's clear that the mechayev min hatorah in this hanhaga of וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים is the mitzvah of ahavas hashem. Davar yadua uvarur in the last halacha in Hilchos Teshuvah:

דבר ידוע וברור שאין אהבת הקדוש ברוך הוא נקשרת בלבבו של אדם עד שישגה בה תמיד כראוי ויעזוב כל שבעולם חוץ ממנה כמו שצוה ואמר בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך.

So to be mekayem the mitzvah of ahavas hashem fully, to be a person has to basically forsake anything and everything that isn't part of that pursuit of ahavas hashem, that isn't part of cultivating ahavas hashem. Or in other words, it has to be וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. Everything has to be הכל לעומת זה הדבר as the Rambam says in our perek.

צריך אדם שיכוין כל מעשיו כולם כדי לדעת את השם ברוך הוא בלבד הכל לעומת וישיבתו וקומו ודיבורו הכל לעומת זה הדבר.

That's exactly what he says: יעזוב כל מה שבעולם חוץ ממנה. So the mechayev here is is the din d'oraisa. Chazal formulated it so beautifully: וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים and as did Shlomo Hamelech: bechol derachecha da'ehu, but it's clearly it's clearly midinei ahavas hashem. Which which then poses the question, so why is it here in Perek Gimmel of Hilchos Deos? I mean as is, the Rambam broke down his discussion of ahavas hashem between Perek Bais of Yesodei Hatorah and Perek Yud of Hilchos Teshuvah. But but why why here in Perek Gimmel of Deos? So lichora as follows. All of Hilchos Deos until now has been about the mida beinonis. And again we sort of again you can mathematically depict it again that again practically we said conceptually this isn't what it means, but practically what it means ruba deruba deruba is that a person acts at a five. If you depict the two extremes as zero and ten, a person acts at a five. That's what it means practically, not conceptually, but practically. Okay, so all of that is in theory, but in practice how does a person identify what is the mida beinonis? How much money does a person need? How much does a person need to eat? How much does a person need to do in terms of sustaining his health? Should he be able to win the marathon like who says the guys from Kenya should win every year? No, maybe someone from someone from Washington Heights should win. I mean what's the, how do you identify practically how do you identify what the mida beinonis is? Let's say a person will will eat enough that he won't get sick, but lemaiseh it wouldn't allow him to concentrate fully. So he's going to be a little low on energy, but he's not going to get sick. So is that what the mida beinonis is? Let's say a person eats enough that he could concentrate fully. He can eat a little bit more and and maybe it won't detract from his concentration, it won't make him sick. Is that the mida beinonis? So the pashutus is is that the וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים is what identifies the mida beinonis. All these questions are answered al pi וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. How much money a person needs, how much how much a person eats and drinks, how much a person what does it mean to be in the to sustain his health? to sustain one's health? It should be וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים again. So in terms of health, no, it doesn't mean that a person has to be able to compete in the Olympics. No question that Olympic athletes are in extraordinary physical condition. But I don't know whether the difference between the Olympic athlete and being in very good health translates in terms of learning morning seder, in terms of being osek b'tzorchei tzibur, in terms of doing chessed, in terms of having kavana b'tefilla. If it doesn't translate to that extra level of physical prowess, so that's not part of the mida beinonit. That represents an extreme. So how do you identify the mida beinonit? You identify the mida beinonit but וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. Oh, so the Rambam wants us to realize that it's not a new topic. The reason he's tucked one back why heyos that's the mechayev and וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים is ahavas Hashem, why is it here? Heyos that this is a new topic, so why did the Rambam let the discussion of the mida beinonit with one halacha spill over into perek gimmel? It's not a new topic. The mida beinonit is not, you can't halacha l'maaseh, you can't implement, you can't follow the mida beinonit without the וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים, which is why agam that otherwise the Rambam would have put it in perek gimmel of hilchos teshuvah, he can't wait because the whole discussion of the mida beinonit is poreach b'avir without the וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. And that's why the Rambam knows it is, it's not a new topic. And that's why the Rambam bedavka takes one halacha from the mida beinonit and puts it into the same perek where we have the וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. Okay, so we'll stop here, we'll continue im yirtzeh Hashem Monday.