Definition of Tzaddik. Simcha on Sukos / in the Mikdash. Simchas Beis Shoeiva, 5786

We're all familiar with the very basic idea that the kappara of Yom Kippurim, the what we trust was the favorable verdict of Yom Kippurim, forms the backdrop to the simcha of Sukkos. In that context, so perhaps we'll reflect on one dimension of the din and of the Yamim Noraim. The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah of course speaks of shelosha sefarim niftachim, one shel tzadikim gemurim, one shel reshaim gemurim, and the Rambam then reproduces this in Hilchos Teshuvah. And it's clear that the tzadik and the rasha are davka behipucha. The tzadik is the righteous individual, the rasha the wicked individual. We read last Shabbos in Parshas Haazinu,

הצור תמים פעלו כי כל דרכיו משפט אל אמונה ואין עול צדיק וישר הוא.

So without consulting Rashi, we would have translated that Hakadosh Baruch Hu who is the foundation of the world, of the universe, of the entire briyah, his handiwork is perfect, all his ways are justice, a God of faithfulness, there's no injustice, and tzadik veyashar hu, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is tzadik, he's righteous, veyashar. But Rashi interestingly, apparently, seemingly veers from the pshuto shel mikra, and Rashi says on tzadik veyashar, not that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is himself righteous, but הכל מצדיקים עליהם את דינו. That הכל מצדיקים עליו עליהם את דינו. All engage in tziduk hadin, they affirm, they acknowledge and they affirm the justice of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's judgments, of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's verdicts. So what prompts Rashi? So the construct of tzadik... is one you have in many other words in Lashon HaKodesh, in Tanakh. So for instance you have לא תלין פעולת שכיר אתך עד בקר. You have a pakid, the plural pakidim, veyafked the pakidim, melech hamashiach, etc. The common denominator of many, not all, but the common denominator of many of these words that are built by putting the yud between the ayin hapo'el and the lamed hapo'el. A sochir is a worker, someone who's been hired, right? Sechirus po'alim, a sochir is someone who has been hired. A pakid is someone who's been appointed, melech hamashiach is the melech who's been anointed, and asir, אסירי המלך אסורים שם, is someone who has been imprisoned, and elil is something which has been deified, and a shaliach is a messenger who's been appointed. So the Tzad HaShaveh of, again, not every word that follows this construct falls into this pattern, but many, many do, is that it's a status which is not something which is inherent, but there's a passive sense in the sense that it's conferred upon the person. The sochir is hired, the pakid is appointed, the mashiach is anointed, the elil is deified. So then what emerges is that the peshuto shel mikra of tzadik is not righteous, but the peshuto shel mikra of tzadik is where a person, someone, in the case of the Ribbono shel Olam, this is HaKadosh Baruch Hu שהכל מצדיקים עליו את דינו. So what emerges then is that Rashi is saying the peshuto shel mikra. Ramban in Parshas Noach on נח איש צדיק תמים היה בדורותיו says that צדיק הוא הזכאי בדין. That tzadik, that's what it means, Noach ish tzadik, that Noach was exonerated. But hashta de-asinu lehachi, it turns out that tzadik and rasha are not parallel opposites. Rasha doesn't say hursha, it doesn't say it's not the nif'al like chato'im that it refers to, rasha means that the person is inherently evil, and tzadik doesn't parallel that. Tzadik doesn't mean inherently righteous. Tzadik means exonerated, and rasha means evil. So why, why this lack of parallelism? So in Unesaneh Tokef, u-malachim yeichafezun, chil u-re'adah yoichezun

ויאמרו הנה יום הדין לפקוד על צבא מרום בדין כי לא יזכו בעיניך בדין.

That the malachim jitter, the malachim tremble because even they כי לא יזכו בעיניך בדין. The Machzor Meforesh calls, I assume earlier meforshim as well, cite the pesukim in Iyov:

הן בעבדיו לא יאמין ובמלאכיו ישים תהלה, הן בקדושיו לא יאמין ושמים לא זכו בעיניו.

So what are the malachim concerned with in the Yom HaDin? They're not ba'alei bechirah. The Rambam explains in the Yud-Gimmel Ikkarim that malachim are programmed, so they by definition execute their mission one thousand percent in accordance with retzon Hashem. So what are they, why are they trembling? And why is it that the reality is that כי לא יזכו בעיניך בדין? Tosafot says commenting on the piyutim of Rabbi Elazar HaKalir that in the machloket of Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yehoshua whether Be-Tishrei nivra olam or Be-Nissan nivra olam, so Tosafot says אלו ואלו דברי אלוקים חיים, that Be-Tishrei ala be-machshava, whatever that metaphorically expresses via HaKadosh Baruch Hu, but al kol panim, בתשרי עלה במחשבה לבראות העולם and then Be-Nissan was the actual beri'ah. So Rabbi Yehoshua's view doesn't preclude that of Rabbi Elazar, and Rabbi Elazar's view doesn't preclude that of Rabbi Yehoshua. In light of that, so itachen that Tosafot maintains, that's the implication in Tosafot, that according to everyone, that's the backdrop to the Yom HaDin of Rosh Hashanah. That since Hayom harat olam, mimela היום יעמיד במשפט כל יצורי עולמים, that since today is the anniversary of the beri'ah, so every year when the anniversary of the beri'ah of briat ha'adam, the culmination of the beri'ah, every year when the anniversary of the beri'ah comes around, so the din of Rosh Hashanah is not simply, it is that also obviously, but is not simply that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is looking at everyone's actions, this was a mitzvah, this was rachmana litzlan an aveira, but HaKadosh Baruch Hu as it were is weighing whether or not the beri'ah should be renewed because that's what occasions the din. Because Rosh Hashanah is the anniversary of the beri'ah, Hayom harat olam, and that's why hayom ya'amid bamishpat and טאקע כל יצורי עולמים, not just people, but kol yitzurei olamim, even the malachim. Nothing in the beri'ah, not even the malachim, can justify their own existence. Everything is

הכל צריכים לו והוא ברוך הוא אינו צריך לאחד מהם,

we're all superfluous. הכל צריכים לו והוא אינו צריך לאחד מהם. So that's what it means that מלאכים יחפזון חיל ורעדה יאחזון because the din is on whether or not to renew the beri'ah. So who, what, can claim that look at me, I'm needed, I'm necessary, my existence is warranted? Olam chesed yibaneh. The beri'ah is kuloh chesed. So coming back to our question that the terms tzaddik and rasha are not parallel, so ein hachi nami, the rasha is takeh rasha be'etzem. It's not just that he's found guilty, no, he's a rasha be'etzem. But the tzaddik in terms of the din of Rosh Hashanah, he's not a tzaddik be'etzem. There's no such thing as being a tzaddik be'etzem. Everything is just a matnas Elokim. The tzaddik is מי שהצדיקו את דינו, not because he's a tzaddik be'etzem, not because he's deserving and that there's an argument that justifies, no, it's because HaKadosh Baruch Hu was matzdik et dino of this person. That understanding is something which should tremendously deepen and intensify the hodaah that we have for Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It's not only that maybe our actions Hakadosh Baruch Hu can be done this way, can be done that way, but the awareness that even one who is ultimately inscribed b’sefer shel tzaddikim, but shel tzaddikim, it's not because of any inherent zchus, but because of a status which is conferred. Okay, so we'll take over and then we'll resume a little bit later b’ezras Hashem. Just wanted to thank my yedid nefesh Avrum Alter and his eshes chayil for so graciously initiating, organizing and hosting us all this evening.

אף על פי שכל המועדות מצוה לשמוח בהן בחג הסוכות הייתה שם במקדש שמחה יתירה שנאמר ושמחתם לפני ה' אלוהיכם שבעת ימים.

So when one initially reads, tries to process this line of the Rambam, there's a sense that something's not quite right.

אף על פי שכל המועדות מצוה לשמוח בהן בחג הסוכות הייתה שם במקדש שמחה יתירה שנאמר ושמחתם לפני ה' אלוהיכם שבעת ימים.

There's a lack of parallelism in the Rambam's two phrases. We would have expected the Rambam to say

אף על פי שכל המועדות מצוה לשמוח בהן בחג הסוכות במקדש מצוה לשמוח שמחה יתירה.

And instead the Rambam makes a statement of fact. בחג הסוכות הייתה שם במקדש שמחה יתירה. But then he turns around and quotes a posuk which includes the imperative of ושמחתם לפני ה' אלוהיכם שבעת ימים. A little bit later in Halacha Yud Daled,

מצוה להרבות בשמחה זו ולא היו עושין אותה עמי הארץ וכל מי שירצה אלא גדולי חכמי ישראל וראשי הישיבות והסנהדרין והחסידים והזקנים ואנשי מעשה הם שהיו מרקדין ומספקין ומנגנין ושמחים במקדש בימי חג הסוכות אבל כל העם האנשים והנשים כולם באים לראות ולשמוע.

Two points need to be elucidated here in Halacha Yud Daled. First of all, why was the simcha restricted? And number two, what's the significance of the fact that כולם באים לראות ולשמוע? It was the hottest thing in town to go see Simchas Beis Hashoeva, but what's the significance of ba'im liros v'lishmoa? The same posuk ושמחתם לפני ה' אלוהיכם שבעת ימים that the Rambam quotes here as the source for simcha yeseira in mikdash on Sukkos he quotes earlier in perek zayin.

מצות לולב להנטל ביום הראשון של חג בלבד בכל מקום ובכל זמן אפילו בשבת שנאמר ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון ובמקדש לבדו נוטלו בכל יום ויום משבעת ימי החג שנאמר ושמחתם לפני ה' אלוהיכם שבעת ימים.

So the same posuk serves as the source for that b’mikdash. Lulav is nital kol shiva and for the simcha yeseira that the Rambam quotes from the mamarei chazal, the exuberant and almost transcendent intense expression of simcha. So on the one hand, the pasuk of usmachtem, the imperative of usmachtem, is contained within the same pasuk of ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון, which suggests, as the Yerushalmi says, usmachtem bameh belulav. But me'idach gisa, usmachtem simcha everywhere else certainly has broader implications than simply lulav, and hence it means that in Mikdash there's supposed to be a simcha which goes me'al u'me'eiver to the simchas yom tov which is noheges bamedina, which is noheges all over the world. How would we define the difference between the simchas yom tov which we have min hatorah according to the Rambam even bizman hazeh, the simchas yom tov which is noheges bigvulin, and that simcha yeseira which is restricted to Mikdash? To this next point, we actually spoke about a few years ago here in the Sukkah. In

פרק ו' הלכות יום טוב, כשאדם אוכל ושותה ושמח ברגל,

as the halacha ordains that one should לא יימשך ביין ובשחוק ובקלות ראש. The person shouldn't get carried away ויאמר שכל שיוסיף בזה ירבה במצווה. If one drink is a mitzvah, so then the math would seem to suggest that ten drinks is ten times the mitzvah, no? So says the Rambam, no, that maybe in math class that would earn you a check, but in halachic math, that's not always the truth, not always the case, שהשכרות והשחוק הרבה וקלות הראש אינו שמחה, ella holilus vesichlus, it's frivolity and foolishness. ולא נצטווינו על ההוללות והסכלות, the mitzvah is not to engage in frivolity and foolishness, אלא על השמחה שיש בה עבודת יוצר הכל. So the Rambam's definition of mitzvas simcha is

שמחה שיש בה עבודת יוצר הכל. שמחה שיש בה עבודת יוצר הכל,

which means the simcha is not pure avodas Hashem. Well, we enjoy the basar veyayin gastronomically. We enjoy it. A good piece of meat, we're enjoying it. Every... I don't know if the Mesillas Yesharim has towards the end that the tzaddik hechassid is in such a high level that... but while eating basar and drinking yayin, not just Ramchal, so whatever was happening at Ramchal's table is one thing, but we're under no illusions as to what's happening at our table. We're enjoying it. We're enjoying it and that's good. It's supposed to be the simcha is supposed to be infused with an element of avodas yotzer hakol. The threshold for the mitzvah is not that it's pure pure avoda, pure pure simcha shel mitzvah. No, it's שמחה שיש בה עבודת יוצר הכל. This definition of the mitzvah is reflected in the Rambam's ta'amei hamitzva for the mitzvah.

אבל הימים הטובים הם כולם לשמחה ולקיבוצים שיש להם הנאה שבני אדם צריכים עליהם ברוב.

Simcha is a basic, for most people Simcha is a basic human need. So the Torah said, so take that Simcha and instead of focusing it on, right what the Rambam would call Havlei Hazman, so focus it on Yetzias Mitzrayim, focus it on Matan Torah, let that be the occasion. But the Yom Tov is to give us an outlet to have Simcha, but that Simcha should be infused with an element of Avodas Yotzer Hakol. If we engage in Simchas Yom Tov and don't feel that we're on we recognize that we're not on such exalted madregas, it's something not to feel guilty about, but to aspire to. But the mitzvah is שמחה שיש בה עבודת יוצר הכל. And it's precisely here where the Simcha Yeseira of Mikdash differs. The Simcha Yeseira of Mikdash is not Simcha which is also infused with an element of Avodas Hashem, but the entire Simcha, the entire experience, the entire content, the entire expression of the Simcha is an expression of Ahavas Hashem. Why is that the standard? So when the Rambam talks about kavana in tefilla, as you recall, כיצד היא הכוונה שיפנה לבו מכל המחשבות, a person is supposed to clear his mind of all other thoughts, of all thoughts, ויראה עצמו כאילו עומד לפני השכינה. Tefilla is Lifnei Hashem and the yesod is that Lifnei Hashem is not something that half measures are acceptable. There's no Lifnei Hashem lachatza'in. So mi-meila, again, whether this standard is is whether whether we insist upon this just for Avos or as Rav Chaim, whether it's for the entire Shmoneh Esrei, that's not the point. But when when the essence of the mitzvah is Lifnei Hashem, that's something which can't be lachatza'in. ושמחתם לפני ה' אלקיכם שבעת ימים, the mechayev of this Simcha Yeseira in Mikdash is Lifnei Hashem, so mi-meila, here already the Simcha, it's not enough the Simcha that we all noheg bigvulin of שמחה שיש בה עבודת יוצר הכל. Here it has to be a Simcha Sheyifane Libo from all other concerns, from all other involvements and be כל כולו שמח בה'. That needed to be restricted. How many people were in a position to be able to express authentically such a Simcha? So לא היה עושה אותה עם הארץ וכל מי שירצה. In Perek Yud of Hilchos Teshuva. In Perek Yud of Hilchos Teshuvah, al yomar adam, skipping a little bit within and between halacha alef and beis,

אל יאמר אדם הריני עושה מצות התורה ועוסק בחכמתה כדי שאקבל הברכות הכתובות בה או כדי שאזכה לחיי העולם הבא. אין ראוי לעבוד את השם על דרך זו שהעובד על דרך זו הוא עובד מיראה ואינה מעלת הנביאים ולא מעלת החכמים. העובד מאהבה עוסק בתורה ובמצות והולך בנתיבות החכמה לא מפני דבר בעולם לא מפני יראת הרעה ולא כדי לירש הטובה. ומעלה זו היא מעלה גדולה עד מאד.

And here comes for our present purposes the crucial line Rabosai:

ובזמן שיאהב את השם אהבה הראויה מיד יעשה כל המצוות מאהבה.

Again,

ובזמן שיאהב את השם אהבה הראויה מיד יעשה כל המצוות מאהבה.

The Rambam depicts avodah me'ahava as something which is a corollary and the consequence of ahavas Hashem. A person can't decide that he's going to simply go through the day and be mekayem every mitzvah me'ahava, that he's going to elevate himself and his performance. No, ובזמן שיאהב את השם אהבה ראויה. If a person is נקשרה נפשו באהבת השם, so then avodah me'ahava is a corollary and a consequence. It's a natural corollary and consequence. One does something lovingly if one loves, but if one doesn't love, you can't really do something lovingly. Which is why in Sefer Hamitzvos, המצוה השלישית היא שצונו לאהבו יתעלה וזה. So what is the mitzvah of ahavas Hashem entail? What does the mitzvah of ahavas Hashem demand of us? וזה שנתבונן ונשכיל מצותיו ופעולותיו עד שנשיגהו. We should reflect on Hakadosh Baruch Hu's mitzvos, on his Torah, on Hakadosh Baruch Hu's handiwork, on the briah, ad shenasigehu, until that gives us a yedias Hashem, ונתענג בהשגתו תכלית התענוג וזאת היא האהבה המחוייבת. The Rambam doesn't mention that the mitzvah of ahavas Hashem is when you put on tefillin in the morning, when you misatef b'tallis in the morning, when you eat matzah to do it be'ahava. No, that's going to be the natural corollary and consequence of the ahavah. The mitzvah is to cultivate that ahavah. If a person cultivates that ahavah, it is miyad, as a direct corollary and consequence,

ובזמן שיאהב את השם אהבה ראויה מיד יעשה כל המצוות מאהבה.

So too the exhilaration, the boundless joy, the intense ahava and simcha which was manifest in Simchat Beit HaShoeva is also something which can't be legislated; it can't be required in a vacuum. You can tell someone to eat a little bit of basar shlamim. You can tell someone כל אחד ואחד לשמוח כל אחד בראוי לו בשמחה. But that degree, that being totally, totally bound up with simcha b'Hashem is something which is, again, it's a corollary and consequence of ahava, as the Rambam says: Shehasimcha, halacha tet vav: שישמח אדם בעשיית המצוות ובאהבת האל שציוה בהן. It's a natural, organic response, corollary and expression. It's not something that a person can generate in response to a chiyuv. So says the Rambam: אף על פי שכל המועדות מצוה לשמוח בהן. On all the yamim tovim bigvulan, it's a mitzvah lismo'ach. You can highlight the chiyuv. You can highlight the chiyuv. We're all capable of that. A person doesn't have to be a ba'al madreiga. Doesn't have to be a ba'al madreiga. Mitzvah lismo'ach, highlight the chiyuv. B'mikdash, naturally, organically, היתה שם שמחה יתירה. What's the pasuk telling you? The pasuk is telling you that all year long these gedolei chachmei Yisrael וראשי ישיבות והסנהדרין והחסידים והזקנים ואנשי מעשה, so they channeled ahavat Hashem into their Torah, into their mitzvot. Comes the pasuk and says: ושמחתם לפני ה' אלהיכם שבעת ימים. That on Succot in Mikdash channel that ahava, channel it into expressing the ahava, into expressing the simcha lifnei Hashem. Imagine, imagine the year is, I don't know, 1775, and one is spending Yom Tov in Vilna. And you manage to go for hakafot to the Vilna Gaon's kloiz. And one witnesses, I think the Ma'aseh Rav has a description, you know, it sounds similar to the description of David HaMelech that the Rambam quotes here, of the intensity and, again, the boundless joy that radiated from the Gaon. So undoubtedly for those אשרי עין ראתה כל אלה, undoubtedly it was an awesome sight, but also it had to Have had an effect on people. It had to have been uplifting. It had to have been inspiring that people there had to have felt we too have to apply ourselves if only to get some shemetz of what we see in in before us in in the gaon's simchas hatorah in in simcha bashem. כל העם הנשים והאנשים כולם באים לראות ולשמוע. The mitzvas simcha in mikdash for that elite who could who who was such ohavei Hashem that they could naturally organically authentically kol kulam immerse themselves and express simcha bashem so they were merakdim mesapkim. Those the rest kol ha'am so their cheilek in the mitzvah was to draw the inspiration from that. And just there's there's more to say but but just one final one final he'ara again about this במקדש היתה שם שמחה יתירה. It's it's something that a person can't just respond to chiyuv it it has to flow naturally organically. The posuk that that the Rambam quotes in halacha tes vav

שהשמחה שישמח אדם בעשיית המצוות ובאהבת האל שציווה בהן עבודה גדולה היא וכל המונע עצמו משמחה זו ראוי להיפרע ממנו שנאמר תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלהיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב.

Pele vefela! Why isn't there a posuk in chumash like in tehillim עבדו את ה' בשמחה? The whole emphasis on simcha emerges from the Torah's indictment when we're not oved besimcha. Imagine there's no posuk of va'achalta matzos it's just a posuk of you didn't eat matzah. It's it's a funny thing, huh? No but hein hein hadevarim because the simcha can't be generated in response to a chiyuv. It can be released, it can be channeled when we're told that this is the occasion to to do it, but it can't be generated in response to the chiyuv and that's what the Torah hints at here by not saying it in the in the in the positive. עבדו את ה' בשמחה.