Chovos Halevavos 5

So we’ve been studying the Akdam in Chovos HaLevavos where Rabbeinu Bachya is sketching the background of what prompted him to write the Chovos HaLevavos. In a word, what Rabbeinu Bachya says is that he realized that there was no systematic sefer on Chovos HaLevavos. And he walks us through the process in terms of dismissing false reasons for that fact. So first he explains to us that in fact there are not only Chovos HaEvarim but there are Chovos HaLevavos as well. And again says that there are Chovos HaLevavos, again, is something that we know from all three sources of wisdom: from sechel, from Torah Shebiksav, from Torah Sheba'al Peh. Then he says, perhaps, and in the Kappah edition, this is on page chaf-alef, bli neder, I think beginning next week I’ll switch to using the Ibn Tibbon translation, that way I hope it’ll be easier for everyone to have a copy of the Chovos HaLevavos in front of them on Thursday as we learn. It’ll be easier to do it in a more thorough fashion. Then he says that perhaps the reason there's no chibur has ever been devoted to Chovos HaLevavos is maybe it's not always halacha l'maaseh. Maybe it's like Kodshim, maybe it's like Zeraim, which is not halacha l'maaseh. So he says that's clearly also not the case. And here he anticipates what we're familiar with from somewhat later from the Sefer HaChinuch, because the Chayei Adam and the Mishnah Berurah both quoted at the outset, remez Rabbeinu Bachya says it here. My father zecher l'vracha once commented, he said sometimes people ta'ana that when you study Chovos HaLevavos there are no chiddushim. So he said there are two answers to that. He says one answer is because so much of what we're used to comes from Chovos HaLevavos, but we already know it from later sources, so when you go back to the Chovos HaLevavos. So you don't realize how what a yesodosdika sefer it is. And this is a perfect example, right? That there are mitzvos tmidiyos and that the Chovos Halevavos are mitzvos tmidiyos, mitzvos which are constantly binding, where a person every moment can and therefore should be mikayem them. So again, so that's no chidush in that, right? We know that from the Sefer Hachinuch, but in the times of the Chovos Halevavos they didn't know it from the Sefer Hachinuch. And the second thing he commented was is that there are many chidushim which people just miss and people don't notice in the Chovos Halevavos. But this certainly is, I don't know, maybe this is both, but it's certainly the first class as well. So the Rabbeinu Bachya writes as follows. He says

אמרתי שמא סוג זה מן המצות אינו חובה עלינו בכל זמן ובכל מקום.

Maybe this class of mitzvos isn't always binding? כמו השמיטה והיובל בתורת הקרבנות, like shmitta and yovel, and the law of korbanos, שאינם חובה עלינו בכל זמן ובכל מקום. However,

כאשר עיינתי בהם ראיתי שהם חובה עלינו תמיד כל ימי חיינו אין הפסק בהם ואין לנו אמתלא להפטר מהם.

Says no, the Chovos Halevavos are mitzvos tmidiyos. And be'emes he then goes on to list right of the six famous mitzvos tmidiyos that the Chayei Adam and the Mishnah Berurah quote from the Sefer Hachinuch, basically you find at least five of them identified here in the Chovos Halevavos. The Mishnah Berurah and the Chayei Adam quote the mitzvos of Anochi Hashem Elokecha, belief in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, שמע ישראל ה' אלהינו ה' אחד that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is one, the converse lo sa'aseh of לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני, not not to believe in any other any other force, Ahava veYirah four and five and finally lo sasuru acharei levavchem. Lo sasuru acharei levavchem. And basically the maybe even all six, Rabbeinu Bachya more or less enumerates them right here.

ואין לנו אמתלא להפטר מהם כגון חיוב ייחוד ה' בלב וחיוב המשמעת לו במצפון היראה ממנו ואהבתו הביטחון אליו וההסתמסרות לרצונו כמו שאמר בטחו בו בכל עת.

And then

סילוק הקנאה והנטירה מלבינו והפרישות מן המותרות בעולם המטרידים מעבודת ה' יתהדר ויתרומם. הרי כל אלה חובה עלינו בכל זמן ובכל מקום חיוב תמידי רצוף,

a constant uninterrupted obligation. בשעות וברגעים ובכל מצב, in every at every moment in every set of circumstances. See the notion of mitzvos tmidiyos is one again when we hear it, when we think about it, so it's pretty easy to grasp intellectually. But emotionally I think sometimes we have difficulty with it and it's somewhat alien to us. And the reason for that is that right in American culture, so there's a concept of free time. There's a concept of free time. And basically what that means, it reflects, that phrase reflects a whole hashkafos olam. And the hashkafos olam which it reflects is that people have obligations. Okay, you have obligations, you have a job, okay? There's certain there are certain requirements, there are certain standards you have to uphold, you have to, if you, what do they call it, you punch your time card. So you have to, or ich veis a lawyer, an accountant has to bill so many hours a week, right? And you know that if the partner sees that you're not billing forty, fifty hours a week, so then when it comes time for a review, so then you're going to be of tzoros. So there's a person has obligations, and then beyond that is one's own free time. One's own free time. And that's and the American dream is to try to increase as much as possible. Unconsciously, we sort of transpose that. We sort of transpose that and think that even, even in Torah lehavdil, again, we unconsciously transpose that, that, well, we have certain obligations, maybe there are certain basic sedarim that we're supposed to maintain. And beyond that is my free time. Now, I guess in a certain sense that's true in the sense that during a specific seder, a person is meshubad to his chavrusah, a person is meshubad to a certain seder halimud, be it the limud of the yeshiva, or whatever, whatever context the person finds himself in. And I guess in outside of the set sedarim, so then he, he has, he has time for other things. He does have time for other things. So in that sense, it is, it is somewhat true. But certainly not in the sense that we feel it, right? In the sense that we feel it of, well, now I have free time, which means free time means time that you don't have to answer for. It means time that you don't have to produce because you only have to produce during those times of day when you have a shibud. But other times is my, is my free time. And in that sense, so there is no room for such a hashkafa within our hashkafa olam. Within our hashkafa olam, what the mitzvos temidiyos represent is that a person is always meshubad. A person is always meshubad. Now, what does that mean? Does that mean that a person can't relax? No, it doesn't mean that at all. It doesn't mean that at all, but it means that that too is part of the equation of maximizing his time. That in order for a person to learn to the best of his ability, in order for him to be as productive as possible, so he has to make an honest cheshbon hanefesh: how much sleep do I need? How much relaxation do I need? How much exercise do I need? But it's not, it's not the pshat that it's, well, it's my free time. And if the seder is 9 to 3 and beyond that is my free time. No, the idea of mitzvos temidiyos is that the Ribbono shel Olam says that we have to make the most of every moment. Rabbeinu Bachya says, one pasuk, בטחו בו בכל עת. We have to make the most of every moment. And in that sense, there's no free time. In that sense, there's no free time. But isn't this, isn't this kind of onerous, right? Isn't this kind of onerous, never to be, never to be off duty? So again, that often is our gut reaction when we hear such an idea presented. How can it be that there's no such thing as free time? So the answer is that if a person strives to create a kesher with Torah, if a person strives to cultivate an appreciation for avodas Hashem, a person spends time reflecting on the tremendous beracha which Torah and mitzvos are and the complete void and shallowness that exists without it, so then the fact that a person is called upon every moment, every moment to use his time to the best is not a burden, it's the biggest beracha in the world. And these two go hand in hand. Ein hachi nami, it's impossible to live up to this challenge which Rabbeinu Bachya here is laying down for us of mitzvos temidiyos, unless a person has the understanding and appreciation for Torah, for mitzvos, which will energize him. Those two have to go hand in hand. But when a person has that understanding, he has that appreciation, so then it's like Chazal darshan in the pasuk in Kohelet—where is it? In Kohelet—of אוהב כסף לא ישבע כסף. So Chazal say, an אוהב מצוות לא ישבע מצוות. Because when you have love for something, so then it's not onerous. It's not onerous. The fact that a person has so many mitzvos, but if you have love, there's no such thing as ever being satiated, no such thing as ever. But it's important to realize that a person shouldn't be deterred. It's only normal and natural that in the beginning of one's path in avodas Hashem, where the bond, the kesher, is not as deep, is not as strong, it hasn't been nurtured that long, so then there will be times when a person experiences the demands of Torah as a tircha. That certainly will be times, but not because they're intrinsically so, but again, only because to experience Torah not as a tircha, so a person has to, again, a person has to be invested in Torah. A person has to have, has to have cultivated a connection, a kesher to Torah, and it's that kesher to Torah and that appreciation, and that appreciation for what it means to be able to study devar Hashem, what it means to be able to be mekadesh every, every act we do because we have a Shulchan Aruch which dictates to us what to do in every, in every type of situation. So when a person develops that, so then, then he moves beyond the stage of tircha. But initially there is. The Rambam in a different context, I don't think we mentioned, we've mentioned this Rambam in the past, at the end of Perek Aleph in Hilchos Deos acknowledges this. The Rambam says, when a person is trying to cultivate the midos habeinoniyos, so the Rambam says that כיצד ירגיל אדם עצמו בדעות אלו עד שייקבעו בו. How does a person successfully place himself on the path of the midos habeinoniyos?

יעשה וישנה וישלש במעשים שעושה על פי הדעות האמצעיות ויחזור בהם תמיד עד שיהיו מעשיהן קלים עליו ולא יהיה בהם טורח עליו וייקבעו הדעות בנפשו.

So the Rambam says the fact that a person will experience only the sweetness of Torah without any sense of tircha, without any, any sense of of it being onerous, so that, that comes later. But at the outset, yeah, a person does have to push himself, even when there is a sense of, even when there is some sense of tircha. But even that has to be done, it has to be done gradually. It can't be done, just to clarify, not to be misunderstood. So when we say that, that when a person is younger, so often there will be times or periods when a person does experience tircha because he doesn't have the ahava, he doesn't have the drive to match, to match the the demands of mitzvos temidiyos. But even that, it has to be done very gradually. If a person experiences only tircha and doesn't experience any of the sweetness of learning, of doing mitzvos, it means he's pushing himself too hard. It means that he's not doing things gradually and enough. And there always has to be סימן זה יהא מסור בידכם. There always should be a sense of 'Yeah, I'm pushing, but I'm also enjoying.' 'Yes, on the one hand, yeah, I am straining, it's not coming easy, but I'm also enjoying it, I'm also enjoying it.' When the v'harev na, when the enjoyment is totally pushed to the side, so then what that usually indicates is that a person is pushing himself too hard. Too hard. He's trying to come to move himself too fast without the necessary gradualism. And משל למה הדבר דומה right, if you want to stretch a material and you want to stretch it to its maximum, so if you tease it, right, slowly and you try to stretch it out slowly, you'll be able to stretch it to its maximum. If you take it right away and you just pull it, so then it's prone to rip. It's likely to rip. But you do it slowly, you do it gradually, so then it can reach its maximum. A bit further down in this same paragraph where Rabbeinu Bachya is talking about the mitzvos temidiyos, Rabbeinu Bachya says that אין שום מטריד מהן. The only thing which can interfere with our pursuit and our study of and our dedication to Chovos HaLevavos is אהבת העולם הזה ואי ידיעתנו את ה' יתברך ויתעלה. Rabbeinu Bachya says, he mentions two factors, but it seems clear from the pasuk which he quotes as well that the two go hand in hand. Rabbeinu Bachya says the only thing which can derail us in terms of again our focus and our being mis'amek in Chovos HaLevavos is ahavas olam hazeh. And what goes hand in hand with that is i yedi'aseinu, not knowing Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And then he goes on to quote the pasuk from Yeshayahu והיה כנור ונבל תוף וחליל ויין משתיהם. That there they're always going to parties and they're always partying and drinking wine with all kinds of musical instrumentation, and as a result ואל פעל ה' לא יביטו ומעשה ידיו לא ראו. And they don't stop to reflect on Hakadosh Baruch Hu's handiwork and they don't even notice the works of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. A love of olam hazeh which Rabbeinu Bachya means in the sense of a love of pleasure, of comfort, of ta'anugei olam hazeh, of gashmiyus is antithetical to a life of avodas Hashem. Is antithetical to a life of avodas Hashem. And it seems quite clear again that in this sentence what Rabbeinu Bachya means is not that these are two separate factors, no, but the pasuk also combines them, is that the ahavas olam hazeh, again if that's what a person wants, if that's what a person is oriented towards, that's what he seeks, so then it results inevitably in אי ידיעתנו את ה' that a person won't have a yedias Hashem. If it's ve-yayin mishteihem, if that's if a person's always partying, looking to have fun, seeking pleasure, so then inevitably, inevitably ואל פעל ה' לא יביטו ומעשה ידיו לא ראו. This is also a very, very big problem in our society, in frum society, and with all sociological terms one can't single out one segment of frum society as opposed to another. There's a lot of ahavas olam hazeh in our society, a lot of pursuit of mosaros, a desire to live an indulgent lifestyle. And even if one inherits the resources to sustain such a lifestyle, which most people don't and therefore it becomes a terrible drain on their time, but even if in theory one were to inherit the resources to support such a lifestyle, so Rabbeinu Bachya says that ahavas ha'olam hazeh, the comforts, the pleasures of olam hazeh, of material things, is antithetical to yedi'aseinu es Hashem. A person has to be focused. A person has to be focused. What is a person focused on? If a person's focused on ta'anugim, so Chazal say אין אדם מת וחצי תאוותו בידו. It's not just well, so it's gonna for two years I'll be distracted, for four years I'll be distracted. אין אדם מת וחצי תאוותו בידו. That would be bad enough, but it's open-ended, it's open-ended. ואל אחת כמה וכמה when it's compounded by the fact that for so many people the רדיפה אחרי מותרות עולם הזה also forces them to work much harder and much longer hours than they would otherwise work. It's absolutely true that Yahadus has a work ethic and it's absolutely true, as we've discussed in other occasions, that we don't compartmentalize life. It's not that when you're learning you're involved in avodas Hashem and when a person is seeking parnassa that he's not involved in avodas Hashem. That's not at all the case. But to artificially up the bar and say that parnassa has to sustain an indulgent lifestyle, so then that's not part of Yahadus's work ethic. The work ethic is for what Yahadus considers a dignified parnassa, not for what, not for our inflated Western standards. People are too nispoyel from wealth. They're too nispoyel from wealthy people and they're too nispoyel from wealth. If you have a wealthy person who uses it to be a ba'al tzedakah, he's a big ba'al tzedakah and a big ba'al chesed because he has the resources to do it, so that we should be nispoyel from, absolutely. But stam, stam in our society, we're very nispoyel just from the fact of wealth. The fact that a person is very rich. אל תירא כי יעשיר איש כי ירבה כבוד ביתו. On the next page, Rabbeinu Bachya says, well given that the Chovos HaLevavos are mitzvos temidiyos and that's no reason for them to be neglected in terms of a special chibur explaining to people what they are, how to fulfill Chovos HaLevavos, so he says maybe, maybe there's very little to discuss and that's why it doesn't warrant a sefer. He says that's certainly not the case to understand bitachon, ahava, yiras Hashem, all these things require limud. These aren't simplistic concepts; they require limud. And then he has a criticism of what he considers a misplaced emphasis within learning and that Chovos HaLevavos are unduly neglected. Now in that context, he has a very, very radical statement, very radical statement. He writes as follows, describes a person again who's neglecting Chovos HaLevavos, that he's נעלם מלעיין ביסודי דתו וצירי תורתו. And he ignores and pays no attention and doesn't study again the fundamentals of Torah. for which there's no justification of remaining ignorant. And then he says ולא תיתכן לו שום מצוה בלי ידיעתן ועשייתן, which is a very, very strong statement. He says that it's not only if a person neglects

וידעת היום והשבת אל לבבך כי השם הוא האלקים בשמים ממעל ועל הארץ מתחת,

it's not just that he's neglecting that mitzvah. He says without that, everything else is worthless also. Without that, all the chovos ha'eivarim are also undercut. ולא תיתכן לו שום מצוה בלי ידיעתן ועשייתן. If a person doesn't have כגון ידיעת בירור יחוד השם, if a person doesn't understand the way he should, and what that means is a major, major machlokes between Rabbeinu Bachya and others which we'll discuss bli neder in future weeks. But if a person doesn't understand adequately the way he should, yichud Hashem, what it means שמע ישראל השם אלקינו השם אחד, so that's something which undercuts and undermines all mitzvos. Because all mitzvos, a person does the mitzvos before Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So a person has to know and understand these yesodos hadas and otherwise, again, not only is it that these areas are being neglected, but everything is being undermined. Everything is being neglected. Kafach in the footnote refers to a similar statement that the Rambam makes in the Moreh Nevuchim. You have it in Mishneh Torah also, this emphasis within the Rambam, just to mention a few places, but just to mention one such place, the Rambam in perek tes of Hilchos Teshuva explains why we yearn for yemos hamashiach. And in general, why the Torah, what the significance of the fact is that the Torah promises us tranquil conditions in Im Bechukosai Telechu, ואת מצותי תשמרו ועשיתם אתם. So the Torah promises all kinds of materialistic rewards,

ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם ונתנה הארץ יבולה ועץ השדה יתן פריו,

right, והשיג לכם דיש את בציר ואכלתם לחמכם לשובע. All so what's the significance of this? This isn't the, this isn't the ultimate s'char obviously. The ultimate s'char is in Olam Haba. So the Rambam explains because these conditions are necessary. Because if a person is afflicted by hunger, if a person is constantly fleeing for his life because of milchama, so he's not gonna be, he's not gonna have the yishuv hadas to do what? So the Rambam says

שהקדוש ברוך הוא ישפיע לנו כל הטובות המחזיקות את ידינו לעשות התורה

that Hakadosh Baruch Hu will bestow upon us all the support system which we need in order to fulfill Torah,

כגון שובע ושלום וריבוי כסף וזהב כדי שלא נעסוק כל ימינו בדברים שהגוף צריך להם אלא

says the Rambam

נשב פנויים ללמוד בחכמה ולעשות המצוה כדי שנזכה לחיי העולם הבא.

And you'll read throughout this halacha, the Rambam constantly couples those two together. It's the lilmod bechochma, lilmod Torah together with the la'asos hamitzvah. That the asiyas hamitzvos have to be accompanied by again an understanding, an understanding of yesodos ha'emunah. A similar emphasis to what Rabbeinu Bachya has here as well. Rabbeinu Bachya is somewhat ma'arich on this theme of the neglect of Chovos Halevavos, the neglect of studying yesodos hadas, yesodos ha'emunah, and he recounts... a couple of anecdotes. Doesn't tell us who the anecdotes are of. And he says that one of the Chachamim was asked a rather abstruse question

והשיב השואל לו אתה השואל על מה שלא יזיקהו אי ידיעתו.

You're asking something very abstruse. It's not really conceptually important. It's not likely to ever be practical.

האם ידעת היטב כל מה שאתה חייב לדעת מן המצוות ואשר אינך רשאי להתעלם מהן עד שנתפנית להפליג בעיון בשאלות הנדירות וקושיותיהן אשר לא תחוס בידיעתן מה לו בדתך ואמונתך ולא תתקן בהן מגרע שבמידותיך הנפשיות.

So you're neglecting again studying Yesodos HaEmuna, you're neglecting Tikkun HaMiddos. Aval ani, says this anonymous Chacham,

הריני נשבע שקיבלתי על עצמי לעיין במה ששייך לי עצמי מחובת דתי זה שלושים וחמש שנים.

Says for thirty-five years already I've been me'ayen in Chovos HaLevavos. We're going to stop by two thirty of the length. For thirty-five years I've been me'ayen in Chovos HaLevavos. Then he goes on and says ve'amar acher, another one of the Chachamim said that limadeti tikkun hama'asim to do things with a purity of motive. Esrim v'chamesh shanim. I've been working on that for twenty-five years. So clearly, what's the point? That Rabbeinu Bachaye says that don't be misled into thinking, again, that there's no amkus to bitachon, that there's no amkus to ahavas Hashem, to yiras Hashem, to the study of these concepts. No, the study of these concepts also has a tremendous amkus and therefore it requires protracted effort and concerted effort. It's not something, okay, well, I'll be me'ayen once just to know what they are. No, it's omek mini yam, says Rabbeinu Bachaye. That's what he's illustrating with I've been preoccupied with studying Yesodos HaDas for thirty-five years. I've been working on Tikkun HaMiddos for twenty-five years. It's not something which a person paters up kala'achar yad. Then, on the top of the next page, Rabbeinu Bachaye has a very fascinating statement. He quotes a pasuk in Mishlei. He says

וזה כעין מאמר החכם מים עמוקים עצה בלב איש ואיש תבונה ידלנה.

Wise counsel, eitza, can be compared to mayim amukim, deep waters within a person, ve'ish tevuna yedlenah, and an understanding person will reach down deep to draw the water. Alright, so the same way if you have water in a very deep well, he says the water is there, a person who's understanding will make it his business to make the effort to draw that water up. And he says the same is true for our understanding and our chochma in terms of Chovos HaLevavos. Klomar shehamada, the knowledge, atzur is contained ומעותד בטבע כל אדם ובכוח בינתו. That we all have a capacity for understanding, again, all the inyanim of Chovos HaLevavos, even again, those as difficult as with which he discusses here in the Chovos HaLevavos. כמים האצורים במעמקי האדמה, just like water which is found, right, when you have a spring which is deep inside the earth. Vehamevin hamaskil, a discerning person, ישתדל לחקור על מה שיש בכוחו ובינתו. matzpuno min hamada. A discerning person will will make the effort to discover what he is capable to understand עד שיגיע אליו ויגלהו until he will reveal that that well of wisdom veyishav meatzmo and he'll be able to draw from that well כמו שמחפשים אחר המים the same way you go digging for wells shebe'umkei ha'adamah which are deep in the earth. So there are a couple of very very interesting points here. The first is that Rabbeinu Bechaya and the same is certainly true for the Rambam in his emphasis also on the importance of knowing yesodei hadat, the yesodos va'avei emuna, very demanding. Very demanding. Rabbeinu Bechaya says whatever we can know and understand on our own so we have to. We have to know it. We have to understand it. Very demanding. But that high standard is matched by a very high opinion which Rabbeinu Bechaya and the Rambam have of each and every one of us, of the average Jew. And what Rabbeinu Bechaya here is saying is that we have that capacity. Again the demand again to be meayein and to be mitameik in Chovot Halevavot is is a strong one. Is a difficult one. But Rabbeinu Bechaya says but we have that. We have that innate capacity. We have that innate capacity to be able to understand. It's only a question again of with the mashal to to drilling for water or for for oil whatever the case is that sometimes it's it's deep. It's hidden very deep but we have that capacity and it's interesting he describes it as being innate. Describes it as being innate that that a person with the correct guidance, with the correct hadracha has this innate capacity to understand to understand yesodos ha'emuna and it's only if a person doesn't set himself to the task that he won't be able to do it. Now Rabbeinu Bechaya seems to be speaking exclusively in intellectual terms that that we have this this innate affinity in in intellectual terms. Others describe that that same innate affinity that same that there is an innate attraction to Torah to Hakadosh Baruch Hu not only in intellectual terms. The Baal HaTanya talks about an ahava tiviyis which which a Jew has. A Jew has. And you see it, you see it bechush sometimes. Let's say in in some of the yeshivas where where they where they engage in kiruv so there are different approaches. So in Ohr Somayach if I'm not mistaken so when someone comes in they sit him down and they begin learning Gemara with him. They don't they don't they don't discuss chveis religion and science. They sit him down they start learning Gemara. And and something which is in in natural terms right in secular natural terms totally inexplicable and it works and they have tremendous tremendous hatzlacha. They sit down an assimilated Jew who who barely reads Hebrew if if that much. They sit him down with a Gemara Kiddushin and they start telling him ha'ish mikadesh. And and for reasons which again in in natural terms just defy understanding and and people respond. People respond. The only explanation is again that this innate natural affinity it's not only true intellectually. It's just true in terms of a person's whole mahut that the neshama which which a Jew has that neshama is attuned to Torah. That neshama is attuned to Torah and as long as we allow ourselves to be exposed as long as we're not too preoccupied with ahavat olam hazeh as long as we're not too distracted but we just let ourselves be exposed so then that becomes aroused within us and it's not only true again intellectually it's true experientially. The neshama is attuned. neshama is attuned to Torah. neshama is attuned to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Alright, maybe we'll stop there for now.