Avos Perek 4:16-19

The mishna of Rabbi Yaakov omer. Rabbi Yaakov omer: העולם הזה דומה לפרוזדור lifnei or bifnei העולם הבא. התקן עצמך בפרוזדור כדי שתכנס לטרקלין. And Rashi, I mean the Rambam: traklin haheichal, the palace, and uprozdor hamavoi, the entryway. והמשל ברור והכוונה ידועה sheba-olam hazeh נרכשות המעלות שבהן יזכה האדם לחיי העולם הבא. That in Olam Hazeh those qualities and those virtues can be attained through which a person merits Olam Haba. וזה אינו אלא דרך ומעבר לההוא. So what did the Rambam add with those last six words? So משל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say you're giving advice, I don't know, you work in academic advisement and you're giving advice to an incoming college student. So you tell him that you know that your professional options that you'll have, the professional options that will be available to you a few years down the road and for that matter for the rest of your career are really going to be determined by how well you do in college, by what courses you take, what your GPA is, etcetera. Okay, that's whatever, I don't know the job market well enough, let's assume for illustration's sake that that's 100 percent true. Now that advice, that sage advice doesn't imply that the only thing to do in college is to be focused on one's courses and grades. No, it clearly identifies the importance and the significance of the courses and grades, but it doesn't imply that they have some exclusive right or demand on your time. It's just a way of saying, look, no matter what else is going on and no matter what else you do, don't let it distract you from this, this has to be accomplished. Does that preclude extracurriculars? No, but it's just saying don't let the extracurriculars impinge upon this. If the Rambam would tell us sheba-olam hazeh נרכשות המעלות שבהן יזכה אדם לחיי העולם הבא, so that's the analog to the advice that academic advisement is giving to the incoming student. And again, in that context of the academic advice, correctly the advice is not intended to preclude a person pursuing extracurriculars. We're not talking about the context of YU giving an analogy from a secular college, that's why we're not talking about learning. But when the Rambam adds וזה אינו אלא דרך ומעבר לההוא, he's explaining to us that Rabbi Yaakov's metaphor is intended to say something more far-reaching. The prozdor serves no other purpose. It's not that the prozdor is also or even first and foremost the access point to the traklin, it's rather that's all it is. It doesn't have any meaning or significance or function beyond that. And that's why the Rambam says, not only שבעולם הזה נחשב המעבר שיכנס אדם לטרקלין, but then he says vezeh eino ela, and that's all it is. That's all it is. וזה אינו אלא דרך ומעבר לההוא. What's the next mishna? Hu hayah omer yafeh, Hu, Rabbi Yaakov. yafeh sha'ah achat יפה שעה אחת בתשובה ומעשים טובים בעולם הזה. I don't know, we'll read it with the גרסא מכל חיי העולם הבא. I don't understand the גרסא כחיי העולם הבא. So let's read it with the גרסא מכל חיי העולם הבא. And

ויפה שעה אחת של קורת רוח בעולם הזה מכל חיי העולם הבא.

What does the Rambam write?

כבר בארנו בפרק עשירי של סנהדרין שאין לאחר המות שלמות ולא תוספת ואינו אדם משיג שלמות ומוסיף מעלה אלא בעולם הזה ועל זה רומז שלמה באמרו כי אין מעשה וחשבון ודעת וחכמה בשאול אשר אתה הולך שמה אלא באותו מצב שעזב האדם בו הוא נשאר לעולם.

So just to understand what this Rambam is saying, and you know, sometimes to understand what something means, we need to understand what it's not saying as well. And to understand what it's not saying, so if you look for instance in perek chet of hilchos teshuvah, so in perek chet of hilchos teshuvah halacha bet, if you have a Rambam, take a look rabosai. So the Rambam ka-yadua famously says, העולם הבא אין בו גוף וגויה. It's not a corporeal existence. It's not a physical existence. The word corpus means body. אלא נפשות הצדיקים בלבד בלא גוף. kemalakhei hashareis. It's an existence similar to an angelic existence. הואיל ואין בו גויות, if there's no body,

אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה ולא דבר מכל הדברים שהגופות בני אדם צריכים להן בעולם הזה.

So then mimmela everything which caters to physicality doesn't exist either.

ולא יארע בו דבר מכל הדברים שמאורעים לגופות בעולם הזה,

and what's more, experiences which are a function of physicality also don't happen, don't exist. kegon yeshivah vaamidah, right, a person's seichel, a person's soul doesn't sit down and stand up. A person's soul doesn't take a nap.

ועצב ושחוק וכיוצא בהן. כך אמרו חכמים הראשונים העולם הבא אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה ולא תשמיש אלא צדיקים יושבים ועטרותיהם בראשיהם ונהנים מזיו השכינה.

So here just parenthetically. So the Rambam quotes this ma'amar Chazal. It's in Berachos yud-zayin. This ma'amar Chazal, so the Rambam quotes this as a rayah to his conception of olam ha-ba that there are no bodies in olam ha-ba. If there were bodies, then there would have to be achilah and shetiyah, etc. The Yad Ramah is massig on the Rambam. The Yad Ramah defends the view that olam ha-ba, albeit a different type of existence than that of olam ha-zeh, but does represent guf veneshamah reunited and says on the contrary, this ma'amar Chazal contradicts the Rambam. If there's no guf, then you don't need to say that אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה ולא תשמיש, etc. Just say bekitzur, there's no guf, and then farshteit zich. If it's hard to put on a suit in the morning if you don't have a body, you know? It's a little bit of an impossible feat. And if you don't have a mouth and you don't have a stomach, a person doesn't eat either. So he says on the contrary, the arichus points to the fact... That there is a guf. And אף על פי כן, despite the fact that there is a guf, is אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה וכולו. It's not a good kasha. Not a good kasha. So what does the Rambam do with that? How do you farentfer for the Rambam? So l'chora is as follows. Let's say, let's say you're a gabbai tzedaka and you come to a community and you're trying to raise money for aniyim. Okay. So there are two gabbai tzedaka representing two tzedakos. One gabbai gets up and says rabbosai, there is x number of people beneath the poverty line in the communities that we try to service. We need money, please give generously. The other guy gets up and his drasha is, I went to visit some of the families that we try to help and I'd like to share with you what I see. I went to one family and I came in and there's a three-year-old crying because there wasn't enough food for him to have breakfast this morning. And there's an eight-year-old who even though it's ten o'clock in the morning is still in bed because his clothing wore out and they don't have money to buy new clothing so the only way he can stay warm or have a little bit of dignity and be covered up is to stay under the covers. And the description continues. So who gave the shorter drasha? Right? If you're timing it, the stopwatch. So the first one he said, I'm collecting for people who are below the poverty line. We know what below the poverty line. Below the poverty line means that there's food scarcity rachmana litzlan. Sometimes it means there's homelessness rachmana litzlan. So he said it. He said it bekitzer. What does he have to elaborate? He took ten seconds of our time, he made the appeal. And the second one was ma'arich. He tells a story after story after story. But it's clear who makes the point more effectively? The second one made the point more effectively. It's all fine and good to be logical, but you want to make a point effectively. So sometimes fleshing out the details of what it means to be below the poverty line and painting a picture with words of what it means to be below the poverty line is much more effective than just stating the fact. Ein hachi nami, the Rambam's comeback to the Ra'avad would be, yeah, Chazal could have said ein bo guf. But in terms of driving home the point of just how totally other the whole existence of Olam HaBa is, so it's the difference between saying there are families below the poverty line or to say that there are children who are crying because they're hungry and who can't get dressed in the morning because they don't have clothing. The more effective drasha, it's taka a longer drasha, but the more effective drasha is the second drasha. So Olam HaBa, Chazal want to impress upon us that it's a totally other existence. There is no, it has nothing in common with chayei Olam HaZeh. So you can say ein bo guf, or you can say אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה וכולו וכולו. That's pshat l'chora in the Rambam. Okay. Right. כך הוא מוכח מן הראשונה, we read that already. Harei nitbar lekha says the Rambam שאין שם גוף לפי שאין שם אכילה ושתיה. Ay, what is this that they say she-tzaddikim yoshvim? So what does it mean that tzaddikim quote "are sitting" unquote? Al derech achida. No, it's a metaphor.

כלומר נפשות הצדיקים שם מצויים שם בלא עמל ובלא יגיעה.

If a person is... effort. If a person wants to have a, if a person wants to be effortless, so you sit in an easy chair and you put your feet up. So that's what Nafshos hatzadikim, that's what the moshal, the chida of yeshiva represents, that נפשות הצדיקים מצויים שם בלא עמל ולא יגיעה. There's no exertion. וכן זה שאמרו עטרותיהם בראשיהם, what does it mean that their crowns are on their heads? Their wreaths are on their head, klomar deia sheyadu. The knowledge that they, that they acquired,

שבגללה זכו לחיי העולם הבא מצויה עמהן והיא העטרה שלהן.

That's what's being depicted metaphorically as a crown,

כענין שאמר שלמה בעטרה שעטרה לו אמו. והרי הוא אומר ושמחת עולם על ראשם. ואין השמחה גוף שכדי שתנוח על הראש,

so obviously rosh is being used metaphorically here. Kach ha’atarah, so just as it's clear that rosh is being employed metaphorically, so too the atarah, which is, which is being depicted as al harosh.

כך העטרה שאמרו חכמים כאן היא הדעה. ומה זה ומה הוא זה,

this is the part of the halacha which ties in with our Rambam in Perek Vav of Shmoneh Perakim,

ומהו זה שאמרו ונהנים מזיו השכינה שיודעים ומשיגים מאמיתת הקדוש ברוך הוא מה שאינם יודעים והם בגוף האפל השפל.

So the v’nehenim miziv ha’Shechina again, literally they’re basking, they’re enjoying the radiance of the Shechina. So what is, what is that metaphorically depicting? Says the Rambam that even Moshe Rabbeinu, he discussed this earlier in Perek Beis of Yisodei haTorah, that even Moshe Rabbeinu, the bechir ha’min ha’enoshi, kol zman that he was in Olam Hazeh and existed in this hybrid form of guf v’neshama, so there's a certain cap on yedi’as Hashem. There's a certain ceiling that that hybrid existence imposes. Even Moshe Rabbeinu, even Moshe Rabbeinu, and obviously therefore everyone else. And in Olam Haba, that cap, that ceiling is removed, and then the person is able to have hasagos of Hakadosh Baruch Hu which are impossible in Olam Hazeh. So what was our Rambam in Perek Vav of Shmoneh Perakim talking about? What does it mean that le'achar hamaves there's no shleimus without tosefes? So the answer is as follows. Let's sort of imagine that a person can depict the shleimus he achieves, again, which is obviously measured by the shleimus that he's capable of, on a scale of one to ten. Let's say ten will represent the highest. So what the Rambam is saying is that a person's score on that one to ten scale, the score will be determined in Olam Hazeh. Now, what the Rambam isn't saying is that and whatever a person knows in Olam Hazeh is all he's going to know in Olam Haba. Olam Haba is just a chazarah on everything a person learned in Olam Hazeh. No, what the Rambam is saying is that what a seven represents in Olam Hazeh, let's say a person attains a seven of what ten represents for him, he accomplished a seven, so what seven then, seven translates in Olam Haba to more than the person had in Olam Hazeh. But the point is, he can't get to an eight. He can't get to a nine. On the level of seven, he'll have greater hasagos, greater understanding in Olam Haba than he had in Olam Hazeh. And in that sense, there is tosefes in Olam Haba. But the point is, there's no tosefes on shleimus on that scale of one to ten. He'll get the extra that's given, that the cap for someone who's a seven in Olam Hazeh, that cap is lifted in Olam Haba and he'll get whatever that allows for, but he'll never move to the eight. Ulefichach, says the Rambam, let's read a little more b'ezrat Hashem.

ולפיכך ראוי להשתדל בתקופת הזמן הקצרה הזאת ולא לבזבזו אלא בקניית דעת בלבד לפי שהפסדו גדול כי אין לו תמורה ולא תקנה.

There's no replacement for time, no replacement for time. Physical objects can be replaced, other things can be replaced, time can't be replaced.

וכיון שהכירו אנשי המעלה בכך לא ראו לבלותו אלא בלימוד והוספת חכמה והרויחו את כל זמנם על פי האמת.

Right, al pi ha'emes, they salvaged and took advantage of every moment of life.

ולא בזבזו ממנו בענייני הגשמיות אלא זמן קצר ביותר בדבר שאי אפשר זולתו.

They did devote time to the mundane as much as was needed but not more. They didn't neglect the physical, they didn't neglect the mundane. They gave Caesar his due, right? V'acheirim, but others make a mistake, rachmana litzlan, חמק מהם כולו בדברים הגשמיים בלבד. They spend their whole life on physical comfort and indulgence. ויצאו ממנו ויצאו ממנו מעולם הזה כמו שנכנסו. In terms of chochma, they leave the way they entered. כל עמת שבא כן ילך. And whereas they thought that they were making the most of life and enjoying life, ha'emes hi, הפסידו כולו הפסד לנצח, rachmana litzlan. והמון העם בכללותו מהפכים את האמת בנידון הזה. People, unfortunately, the masses have a totally, totally inverted picture. ואומרים על הסיעה הראשונה, those who didn't indulge, they say hefsidu es ha'olam, that they lost out on life. V'al hasia hashniya, those who lived an indulgent life, hirvichu es ha'olam. Ah, they chapt arein! והדבר הוא בהפך כמו שטענו, but the emes is the exact opposite. And v'hahamon am, so the Rambam says,

קורא אני עליהם את המקרא הזה הוי שמים חושך לאור ואור לחושך.

They think darkness is light, they think light is darkness. V'oy l'mafsidim be'emes. והעניין הזה hu she'asa Shlomo yesod b'Koheles b'shavcho revach ha'olam u'vignuso hefseido. This is what Shlomo Hamelech is talking about throughout Sefer Koheles.

ואמר בביאור שאין רווח ולא יכולת אחר המוות בדבר שאבד לכאן,

as in the pasuk the Rambam quoted earlier,

כי אין מעשה וחשבון ודעת וחכמה בשאול. ואם התבוננת באותו ספר התבוננות הזאת תתבאר לך האמת.

Says, I'm giving you a code, the Rambam says, to pshat in Sefer Koheles. This is a gvaldig Mussar shmooze, mamash a gvaldig Mussar shmooze. The question is this, rabosai. The Rambam gives a gvaldig Mussar shmooze, Rabbi Yaakov gives a gvaldig Mussar shmooze, but they seem to be two totally different Mussar shmoozes. What does it say in the mishna? Rabbi Yaakov gives a shmooze about יפה שעה אחת בתשובה ומעשים טובים. Didn't say anything about learning. Didn't say anything about learning. He saw someone who hasn't done teshuva, he saw someone, he doesn't do any chesed, maybe is rachmana litzlan mezalzel b'acher mitsvos. So he gives a Mussar shmooze:

יפה שעה אחת בתשובה ומעשים טובים בעולם הזה מכל חיי העולם הבא.

The Rambam walks into the Beis Medrash and sees us bateling, or maybe he walks into the Beis Medrash at nine o'clock and sees that we're not there, and the Rambam gives a gvaldig Mussar shmooze about hasmada. So they're both beautiful Mussar shmoozes and they're both worth hearing, they're both things to internalize, but they're two different Mussar shmoozes. So what's the Rambam's Mussar shmooze got to do with Rabbi Yaakov's Mussar shmooze? repeat the question in a in a very pointed form, so juxtapose the following two sentences.

ר' יעקב הוא היה אומר יפה שעה אחת בתשובה ומעשים טובים בעולם הזה מכל חיי העולם הבא.

Juxtapose that to the Rambam's

ולפיכך ראוי להשתדל בתקופת הזמן הקצרה הזאת ולא להבזבזה אלא בקניית דעת בלבד.

It's a pele. And the emes is what's more of a pele, I don't know if it's more of a pele, equally peledik, is naniach we just had this segment of the Rambam and we didn't even know what mishna he was commenting on. So all we could do is just sort of read it and and just understand what the Rambam is saying but not necessarily be able to appreciate the parshanus shebo. So the Rambam quotes על זה רומז שלמה באמרו. What does Shlomo HaMelech say?

כי אין מעשה וחשבון ודעת וחכמה בשאול אשר אתה הולך שם.

Shlomo HaMelech is talking about much more lichora, that's what it seems like, than the Rambam is talking about. Then the Ram quotes that pasuk says aha, that's exactly what I'm telling you, kniyas da'as. But that's not exactly what he's telling us. Shlomo HaMelech said something which is which is much broader. Somewhere what it was, maybe was last year, you'll take a look in the hakdama l'perush hamishnayos. You have a similar problem there in the Rambam in hakdama l'perush hamishnayos. And lichora the the key to understanding the Rambam just minei ubei internally as well as his parshanus on the mishna... the Gemara in Berachos daf yud zayin. If you take a look here in י"ז עמוד א', Margla b'pumei d'Rava. It's around six lines after they branch out to the right. Margla b'pumei d'Rava. Moshe, you have it? You see it? I'm sorry, d'Rava, not d'Reb Mayer. Margla b'pumei d'Rava. It's a little bit below that, I think it's below Reb Mayer. Sorry, my bad. No problem. I'll deduct 20% from this week's salary, okay? Margla b'pumei d'Rava, תכלית חכמה תשובה ומעשים טובים. Noch amol, Margla b'pumei d'Rava. Again, margla means something which was ragil b'fiv. It's something that was so central and so important that that Rava would always would regularly repeat, reinforce. תכלית חכמה תשובה ומעשים טובים. K'midumei that that the translation here for tachlis should be culmination or fullest expression, ultimate expression. And it's klar that this maimar, again, what seems like the Rambam giving one shmuz and Reb Yaakov giving another shmuz, this maimar is is the bridge. It's one and the same shmuz. And lichora what what underlies this here is a conception of knowledge. We, I mean, we live in a, no chiddush in this, we live in a very secular world. We live in a very secular environment with secular categories, secular conceptions. And within that secularism, there's a very sharp divide. And the delineation between sort of cognitive, intellectual, knowledge is what you know and action is what you do. Now maybe, maybe a person can be open to charges of hypocrisy if if his actions don't match his knowledge, but he still knows it. He still maybe the biggest professor of philosophy in the most elite university in the world. He he may not, you know, you know, he may not be voted professor of the year by his students, but but that doesn't impugn his knowledge. Because we have this sharp divide. Knowledge is sort of something in the cognitive realm and action is in its realm. And okay, so ein hachi nami, if if there's any sort of sensitivity, so we do look for correlation, but but we don't define action as a measure of knowledge, as an indicator of knowledge. As a, you know, knowledge is what's, what's the inspector's name? You know, that's, those are your gray cells, right? Your gray cells have the, have have that knowledge, and action is action. The metzius with with which the Rambam operates is that yes, it is possible to have knowledge, let's call that knowledge with a lowercase k, of that variety, but knowledge with a capital K, real knowledge, ultimate knowledge, the knowledge that a person is supposed to cultivate is is a state of being. It's not just sort of cognition, but but the person's knowledge defines who and what he is. It's sort of saying that that the equivalent of knowledge is not is not having a book on the shelf but that knowledge being alive in the person. Now what determines which level of knowledge a person has? It depends whether or not the knowledge results and expresses itself, manifests itself in chochmah u'maasim tovim. תכלית חכמה תשובה ומעשים טובים. Knowledge, if a person wants to know, well, well have I attained knowledge with a lowercase k, which is something cognitive, something intellectual, compartmentalized? Or have I attained knowledge with a capital K, something which is existential, ontological, something which is is being? So then bazos nibachein whether or not it finds its ultimate expression in chochmah u'maasim tovim. And mameila al pi rov,

על פי מרגלא בפומי דרבנן, דתכלית חכמה תשובה ומעשים טובים,

the Rambam's shmuess and Rabbi Yaakov's shmuess is the same shmuess. And what the Rambam is explaining to us is that Rabbi Yaakov is not talking about, there is a bechinah, the same way there's knowledge with lowercase k and uppercase k, there's also maasim tovim with a lowercase mem and an uppercase mem. There's maasim tovim which, I don't really have the chochmah, but someone told me, you know, if if you see an old lady, you know, it's it's a good thing to help her across the street. And then there's maasim tovim with an uppercase mem where it's based on מה הוא חנון אף אתה היה חנון. And a person glimpses that from from Hakadosh Baruch Hu's hanhaga of the world. מה הוא חנון ורחום אף אתה היה רחום. That's that's maasim tovim with an uppercase mem. So says the Rambam. The maisim tovim with an uppercase mem, that’s the ultimate expression of das, and that’s what what Rav Yaakov is telling us that that’s what life is devoted to. So is he talking about chochma or is he talking about maisim tovim? That’s like saying if I’m holding a coin, am I holding one side of the coin in my hand or am I holding the other side of the coin? No, they’re two sides of a coin. It’s not a question. If I’m holding the coin, I’m holding the coin. It’s not a question of if I’m holding the coin, am I, am I holding the head side or am I holding the tail side? No, it’s two sides of a coin. I said I’m holding the coin. So it means I’m, I’m, I’m holding both.

רב שמעון בן אלעזר אומר אל תרצה את חברך בשעת כעסו ואל תנחמנו בשעה שמתו מוטל לפניו ואל תשאלהו בשעת נדרו ואל תשתדל לראותו בשעת קלקלתו.

What does the Rambam say? Zeh barur.

והם דברי מוסר ותיקון החברה ומציאת שעת כושר לדברים במקומם המועיל.

Meaning the Rambam is saying that אל תרצה את חברך בשעת כעסו is not, is not intended to be presenting a din such as al tochal neveila. Al tochal neveila is a lav. אל תרצה את חברך בשעת כעסו is explaining and, and illustrating and giving guidance in terms of derech eretz, in terms of, of how a person conducts himself wisely and sensitively. Sometimes it’s, it’s very painful when one sees it. Sometimes one sees or hears examples where this, again, combination of sensitivity and insight are sorely lacking. It’s not only to know what to say, it’s to know when to say. It’s not only to know what to do, a person has to know when to do. I was once present, it was a sort of a virtual gathering, so I was present virtually for a gathering for a zechus for a certain choleh. His matzav at the time was very, very chamur. And basically, I mean, there was still room for a miracle, but derech hateva it was still a ness, still would have been a ness. we were advocating for. And then afterwards some person who didn't understand who meant well but didn't understand this Mishnah, if he had learned it or what didn't or hadn't learned the Mishnah. Starts again, he meant well. That's often, that's often if not always the case in these when people say the right thing at the wrong time. No, you just have to tell yourself you're going to get better and you just have to be positive vechulu vechulu vechulu. Okay, so those are nice sound bites and and they're there are contexts and occasions when they're not sound bites and and they're actually good advice and in good words of chizuk. And there are times when they're absolutely ludicrous and out of place. There are certainly illnesses and stages of illnesses which have nothing to do with which a person cannot will away. People cannot will away terminal illness. It's not a question of oh just just be positive tell yourself you're gonna get better you're gonna get better. Hevel havalim in some contexts. Hevel havalim in some contexts. And in other contexts it's avadah true. In other contexts it's emes laamito. Ruach ish yechalkelayhu. And in other contexts it's hevel havalim. It's not only what a person says and what a person does it's when he says it and and when he does it. You know, you know, the there's a Yiddish joke that it's a little bit of not not necessarily as sharp and intuitive as as one would want someone to be. So this older child comes home I don't know maybe ich veis I don't know you can make him whatever age you want. Teens whatever, whatever age you want. Comes home and and says to his mother, oh you know there was a was a Monday morning, oh you know there was a Bar Mitzvah in shul this morning. And and the Bar Mitzvah boy had an aliyah and and the father said Baruch she-petarani and and you know there was a crowd there and people were gathered. So mother says, oh wonderful did you go over and say Mazal Tov? He said no. You're supposed to go over to people and be mishtatef and and say Mazal Tov. Okay, so he hears. So comes home the next day tells his mother, you know on on the way home from from shul this morning you know I saw a levayah. And and they were walking behind the aron. And and the family was there and lots of other people. But I did what you taught me, I went over and I wished them Mazal Tov and a sach nachas but I did what you told me. So the father says, Gevald, Gevald. You're supposed to go over and you wait and and then eventually you say Hamakon Yenacheim Eschem. So he listens. Then comes home the next day says to his mother guess what. Says in the chatzer of the of the shul there was a wedding today. Yeah the chosson and the kallah and it was so so lebdig. I did what you taught me I went over to the chosson and I said to him המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים. It's not only what a person says it's when a person says it, right? It's not only what a person does it's it's when when a person when a person when a person does it. מציאה שעשה כשעתו דברים במקומם המועיל. The timing has to, the timing has to be right, the timing has to be appropriate. At the very least it's ineffective and often it's counterproductive. But even if it's only going to be ineffective, it's not that's that's. It’s not the the sensitivity and and the level of sensitivity and and wisdom that that a person should have. Shmuel HaKatan omer

בנפול אויבך אל תשמח ובכשלו אל יגל לבך פן יראה ה' ורע בעיניו והשיב מעליו אפו.

What does the Rambam say? אף על פי ששלמה הוא שאמר פסוק זה, this is a pasuk in Mishlei. מכל מקום החכם הזה, meaning Shmuel HaKatan, היה מוכיח במוסר הזה ומזהיר מן העבירה הזאת. But אף על פי כן, why is that worthy of being recorded in in Pirkei Avos? So l'chora the Rambam means, Rabbeinu Yonah actually says this explicitly. But l'chora it’s in between the words, in between the lines in the Rambam as well, is that we can learn from the pasuk in Mishlei again this yesod and and this code of behavior of בנפול אויבך אל תשמח. A person shouldn’t rejoice in a selfish way because his his enemies are vanquished. He can rejoice if the if it’s rejoicing l'shem shamayim, but if it’s for himself, so then בנפול אויבך אל תשמח. So we know that from from Shlomo HaMelech. What on our own we don’t know from Shlomo HaMelech, but we do know from Shmuel HaKatan is how susceptible we are, how prone we are to doing exactly that. From the fact that Shmuel HaKatan used to regularly quote that pasuk in Mishlei meant that that it was something that that he was trying to impress upon his talmidim, something that they need to be on guard against. Because it’s something that we are naturally, or a part of us, a side of us is naturally prone or susceptible to doing. And that’s what Shmuel HaKatan is is giving us insight into what Shlomo HaMelech is saying. Shlomo HaMelech, sometimes there can be, we can be told that that something is is wrong, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that that there’s a strong yetzer hara to do it. Doesn’t mean that that this has to, that this is something which is really supposed to be towards the very top of our radar screen in terms of what we’re guarding against and and the major focus of our tikkun hamiddot. And Shmuel HaKatan by by reviewing constantly, by singling out this pasuk is is positioning this for us in terms of our to-do list in in terms of our tikkun hamiddot. Okay, we’ll stop here. Everyone should have a gut productive Erev Shabbos, Gut Shabbos, everyone should be well, be safe, im yirtzeh Hashem. Thank you, Avi. Good job. Avi, could I ask a question? Yeah, please. I was just wondering from what what you explained in the Rambam in mishna tes-zayin about olam hazeh being exclusively for olam haba and sort of having no other value, how does that fit with the idea of

אל תהיו כעבדים המשמשים את הרב על מנת לקבל פרס אלא היו כעבדים המשמשים את הרב שלא על מנת לקבל פרס?

Doesn’t that sort of indicate that in the kiyum hamitzvah itself there’s a value even were there not to be s'char or olam haba which is a more intense version of the yedias Hashem? No, so so that’s that’s an excellent question. You know they tell the story about the Vilna Gaon, one one year there was a scarcity of esrogim in Eastern Europe and and they just couldn’t find an esrog. Finally they found one person who had an esrog, so shlichim went and he said you know we’re here on behalf of of the Gaon, you know can you please sell us the esrog? And he said no, I want it. And then finally, finally he agreed if the Gaon would promise him his s'char in olam haba for the mitzvah, so then then he’d sell the the esrog. And the Gaon obviously was maskim right away to that to that deal. They tell a similar story about the Baal Shem Tov that the Baal Shem Tov once gave a bracha to a couple that they should have a child even though that they were naturally physically incapable of having children. So the Gaon heard a bas kol saying that that as a punishment for giving a bracha which was going to cause Maaseh Bereishis to be overturned, he was losing his Olam Haba. So the Baal Shem Tov hears such a bas kol. So the Baal Shem Tov says, he says kol yomai he says nitzta'arti if I'd ever be able to be oved lishma. He says now baruch Hashem I'll be able to be oved lishma because I don't have this yetzer hara about thinking about Olam Haba anymore. I know that that's off the table, baruch Hashem mikan ulehaba I can just be oved Hashem lishma. And he has another bas kol telling him that bizchus that, his Olam Haba was restored. So your question is an excellent question. I think that the answer is that Rabbi Yaakov is not lemaaseh practically what a person will do, whether he approaches it from Antigonus Ish Socho's advice, or whether he approaches it from Rabbi Yaakov's advice, is the exact same thing. The exact same thing. The way a person maximizes his Olam Haba is by doing everything, by learning as much Torah as he can, by doing as many mitzvos umaasim tovim as he can, and that's the same way a person expresses avodah lishma. So practically the two paths don't diverge. The difference is that Rabbi Yaakov is saying it on a level that we can all relate to. Antigonus Ish Socho, so the Rambam says that gedolei hachachamim hayu they would tell their talmidim something like linvonei talmideihem. How many people can relate to what Antigonus Ish Socho is saying? How many people can relate? Avada that's true, but if you want to get everyone focused so then you're going to give them Rabbi Yaakov, you're going to say it the way Rabbi Yaakov said it rather than Antigonus Ish Socho because lemaaseh it 100% converges in two levels. Not only does it converge practically, but it also converges in the sense that what Hakadosh Baruch Hu told us to do, that we should do lishma, He told us to do, the tov lanu mefarshim say le'Olam Haba, lechayosenu kayom hazeh. So on that level it's also converging. Ein hachinami our kavanah, halevai we should be zocheh to that, should not be for Olam Haba. Our kavanah is avodas Hashem lishma. Why did Rabbi Yaakov say the way he did and is the way he said it true? So again not only is it true in terms of מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה sense, which is also true and also converges practically 100%, but it's true in a much deeper sense that mitzidenu it should be avodah lishma. But what's Ribbono Shel Olam's kavanah as it were? So the Torah says, וצדקה תהיה לנו כי נשמור לעשות and

ויצונו ה' אלקינו לעשות את כל החוקים האלה לטוב לנו כל הימים לחיותנו כיום הזה.

It means le'Olam Haba. So it is true in the most fundamental and profound sense. That's why I thought once that that was the pshat in the machlokes in the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah and elsewhere has a machlokes Amora'im whether mitzvos leihanos nitnu or מצוות לאו ליהנות ניתנו. So let's say if you're muda hana'ah, you walk into shul and punkt turns out the baal tokeiah is someone you took a neder never to have hana'ah from him. You're muda hana'ah from the baal tokeiah. So is it considered hana'ah for you to hear his tekiyos and thereby be yotzei mitzvah shelcha? That's a machlokes Amora'im whether mitzvos leihanos nitnu or מצוות לאו ליהנות ניתנו. We pasken מצוות לאו ליהנות ניתנו. Rashi says לעול על צואריהם ניתנו. So what do you mean מצוות לאו ליהנות ניתנו? It's a pasuk,

ויצונו ה' לעשות את כל החוקים האלה לטוב לנו כל הימים לחיותנו כיום הזה.

Hakadosh Baruch Hu commanded us the mitzvos for our benefit. So lechoreh the answer is there's more than one answer possible, but one of the answers possible is that from our. So what does Rashi mean לא לעול צוואריהם ניתנו? It's not לא לעול צוואריהם ניתנו. It's לטוב לנו כל הימים, not stam an ol. When you put the ol on the shor, it's not to make it better for the shor, it's to make it better—you're not thinking about the shor when you put the ol on the shor necessarily. So the answer is no, there are two perspectives: one is our perspective and the other, kaveyachol, is Ribono Shel Olam's perspective. Our perspective is supposed to be that it's לא לעול צווארינו ניתנו. We're not looking to cash in. Ribono Shel Olam's perspective is clearly different, is ויצונו השם לטוב לנו לחיותנו כהיום הזה. So from our perspective מצוות לאו ליהנות ניתנו. From Ribono Shel Olam's perspective mitzvos l'henos nitnu. So which should be koveya the halacha? That's maybe... that's maybe one, but either way that's l'chora the answer to the question. Thank you Rebbi.