Part of the series: Divrei Hashkafa by Rav Mayer Twersky
There’s a yetzer hara to acknowledge, but then ignore, principles, and rationalize that the current case is an exception. Even when I don’t see how this “exception” can go wrong (vacation spot, secular college, etc.), we have to make our determination based on what we know, in general, to be true, and not based on whatever rationalizations we can think of for this case, no matter how certain we are of those rationalizations.
Transcript
AI-generated transcript. May contain errors.
Perek, good morning rabosai, posuk tes-zayin.
כי רגליהם לרע ירוצו וימהרו לשפוך דם. היכנת מספתה בפיתויי ושפת שפתי חלקות.
How are you taken in? How are you fooled by their smooth, glib speech shekavanatam lehaitiv lach? That they want to, that they have your best interests in heart. vehalo einecha ro'os, you see sheragleihem lera yarutzu. You see how they live their lives. You see that they're a band of thieves וכמו כן הם חפצים בוודאי להרע לך. veyimaharu lishpoch dam.
אם תעלה על דעתך אלך עמהם עד שאקבץ ממון ואפרד מהם.
I'll separate from them. I'll extricate myself from the situation before it becomes dangerous. lezeh omer veyimaharu lishpoch dam, kodem pridascha mehem. והוא נגד השניים הנזכרים לעיל, again the posuk is following up on the two types of ganavim, some who shed blood, some who steal without shedding blood. lera yarutzu is bemamon levad and veyitlu es mamoncha. veyimaharu lishpoch dam הוא נגד אותם ההורגים נפשות. Let's see at least one more posuk and then try to process a little bit. כי חנם מזורה הרשת בעיני כל בעל כנף. And so, ha-reshes is the netting which serves as a trap. And mezora means that it's spread out, right? As in ויזר על פני המים, when Moshe Rabbeinu scatters the, after burning the egel, he scatters it al pnei hamayim. So ki chinam, the food which is in the netting which serves as the bait for the trap, but it seems to be that it's there for free. כי חנם מזורה הרשת בעיני כל בעל כנף. That's the way it appears to every bird that then gets entangled. Let's see the Hagahos HaGra here. ואם תאמר הלא אנכי רואה שהם שלמים איתי. I see that they're sincere וחפצים בטובתי לגמול לי ממון. lezeh omer הלא שים עיניך והבט אל עוף השמים. Look at the example of the birds of the sky שכל בעלי כנף מדמים לעצמם. All the birds, they reason, they imagine שהרשת לחינם היא מזורה that the netting is there, again, it's gratis, it's not, they don't see it as a trap. And they think to themselves וזה התבואה אשר שם תחת הרשת. That those, the grain which is there underneath the netting, underneath the trap,
היא נתונה שם לטובתם למזונם. ובאמת אתה יודע שלא כן הדבר הזה.
But really you know that despite their perception, as convinced as they are, that's how wrong they are. There's a big yesod here rabosai, big yesod. What the Gaon is here illuminating for us in the words of Shlomo HaMelech. There's a yetzer hara to sometimes disregard klalim, general principles that we know to be true and to try to assess the individual case and to rationalize for ourselves how yeah, it's true that in general such and such isn't a good idea, it's true that in general, but I don't really see how that relates to this case. So for instance, Chazal say in Gemara Sanhedrin לעולם אל יביא אדם עצמו לידי נסיון. A person shouldn't gratuitously create, look for extra nisyonos. Obviously many many nisyonos are just endemic to life, so that that is there letovaseinu. But a person is not supposed to לעולם אל יביא אדם עצמו לידי נסיון. So let's say a person is I don't know the yesod is too big and I'm afraid any examples I give are going to trivialize it, so with that with that disclaimer, with that moda'ah. Let's say a person can get very very cheap tickets to some vacation spot, but it's not the type of spot that the person would consider appropriate to be in, it's not the kind of place that he would think that the influences there are influences to which he should be exposed. But the deal is an unbelievable deal, like they mamash have slashed prices and the deal is an unbelievable deal. So what what what do we do in that situation? So we tell ourselves it's true that in general that's not a good idea, and then we rationalize for ourselves why A, B, C, and D, why that general principle doesn't apply over here. And kimidumeh that if if you think about it rabosai, there are a lot a lot of such situations in life. Again, from the very commonplace to to somewhat less less common, from the trivial to to the important. There's a yetzer hara to acknowledge a principle but then not not want to, but then rationalize making an exception. And that's exactly what Shlomo Hamelech is talking about here what the Gaon is explaining to us. Yeah, I know, I know that these people are professional gannavim. I know that they have a terrible reputation. I know that everything they've been involved in has been crooked. But look, I don't see it here. I I see this as a good business opportunity, I'm going to get in for a short time. And person, people can do it in, it can be done in the financial world. It can be done in the spiritual world. A person financially a person knows that that you never jeopardize your your financial base. You never do that. You never jeopardize your base. But right now, I've got this investment is just so promising. It looks like it can't go wrong. So you know what? So I'll I'll take on the debt because I know that that's generally not a prudent mahalach. There is, it's a very very common And it can be done, and it often, usually is done with a sincerity as the mashal that the Gaon has given, is that the Baal Kanaf takeh really does think that he can take the food and not get caught in the net. So here's the klal rabosai, which we're supposed to take away from this pasuk, is that in these types of situations, even when, not just, "Oh, I should look carefully again and again and scrutinize and make sure there's nothing I'm overlooking," no, the point is even when I don't see how this is going to go wrong, even when I think I can jeopardize my financial base but it can't go wrong, even when I'm sure I have so many safeguards built in that I can be מביא עצמי לידי נסיון by, I don't know, by enrolling in a certain school, by going to a certain vacation spot, by reading a certain book, even when I'm convinced that it's the case, a person has to know that there's a middah which is often the correct and applicable middah, that what determines, the determination has to be made based on what we know the klal to be, not on our assessment of the pratiyus of the situation. Again, just think about it; there are endless applications. Yeah, I know you're not supposed to drink and then drive, but I'm telling you, I don't feel anything. I know that, but if I felt the slightest thing, I wouldn't get behind the wheel. But I'm telling you, I don't feel anything despite the amount of wine that I drank on Purim, I don't feel anything. And it yitachen that the person's not deluding himself, he takeh doesn't feel anything. But the point is that we're not supposed to try to be smarter than the klalim, because it's not always nitan, it's not always possible to recognize it in each individual circumstance. And that's why we have to be guided by those klalim, whether it's a klal such as אל יביא אדם עצמו לידי נסיון or whatever that klal may be. Yeah. והם לדמם יארבו יצפנו לנפשותם. So despite the perception and the conviction that the baalei kanaf have, the reality is שהציד אורב להרגם, that the hunter is laying in ambush to kill the birds as soon as they become ensnared in the net. Or, yitzpenu lenafshosam, they're hiding. Right, tzafun, hidden, Tzafun Baruch, they're hiding the nafshosam, או שיצפינו את עצמם, or they're hiding themselves בכדי שיפלו ברשתם, so that the birds will become entangled, ensnared in the net, ויצודו אותם בחיים, and then they're not, these hunters are not interested in killing their prey, but they're interested in trapping them alive, בעוד שהנפש בהם, that's the yitzpenu lenafshosam, kedei limkor osam, and ve-zehu lenafshosam. And again, once again, says the Gaon,
והם גם כן נגד שני הנזכרים לעיל, אותם הגוזלים ממון לבד,
which is the second half of the pasuk. o hahoreg nefashos which is the first half of the posuk. כן ארחות כל בצע בצע את נפש בעליו יקח. A person has to recognize that even if he can't see it and doesn't see it in the individual circumstance, that is the modus operandi of these people who are offering you this investment. כמו כן דרך של ה rei'im or ro'im, I don't know, the evil people or the people who pretend to be your friends who are really evil, harotzim ligrom mamon, who ostensibly are looking to help a person grow a person's portfolio, but it's clear what the endgame is.
הוא בכדי שיהיו יכולים ליקח על ידי זה הנפש של אותם הבעלים של הממון שגרמה לו ליקח.
Ultimately they're gonna just take away everything from the person that ostensibly they were looking to build up. Okay, so we'll stop here. Good. Okay, we'll continue bli neder im yirtzeh hashem at around 12:30 with Pesachim. Kol tuv everyone. Have a good productive morning and be well and be safe.