Avos 1:18 – Definition of Shalom. Extent of Emmes.

The last mishna,

רבן שמעון בן גמליאל אומר על שלושה דברים העולם עומד על הדין ועל האמת ועל השלום

shene'emar אמת ומשפט שלום שפטו בשעריכם. The Rambam says: hadin הוא הנהגת המדינה ביושר וכבר ביארנו בפרק ד meaning of Shmone Perakim

שהאמת הוא המעלות השכליות והשלום הוא מעלות המידות וכשימצאו אלו השלושה יהיה המציאות בשלמות האפשר לו בלא ספק.

So the Rambam has an extraordinary pshat raya to what that Shalom refers at times, not exclusively certainly and not always, but at times Shalom refers to again one's person's character, character perfection, moral perfection, השלום הוא מעלות המידות. Where did the Rambam say it? So the Rambam says something hafla v'faleh as he cross references in פרק ד שמונה פרקים. The Rambam says we don't find too many shaylos which were when shaylos come up so the Chachamim pasken shaylos. When the Psukim in Zechariah when they asked Zechariah what they should be doing with Tzom Harvi’i, Tzom Hachamishi, etc. now that the second Beis Hamikdash has been rebuilt, so Zechariah Hanavi says I'll ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu the shayla. Pele! Meila if Moshe Rabbeinu doesn't know so then he has to ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu because that means that there's nothing in Torah to answer it. So I don't know what what do you do with those who are tamei and the seventh day of the tumah was Erev Pesach and they need to do Pesach Sheini or something to be makriv because at night they ought to be tahor they'll be able to eat. But here I don't know first of all you wouldn't have thought that the shayla is such a big shayla even. I don't know. You're gonna ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu a shayla so some things must have been a shayla in dinim mforashos. And here's the shayla of I don't know fasting four days. So what's at stake in this whatever it is that's at stake in this shayla you see that it's דבר עומד ברומו של עולם. Whatever whatever's at stake in the shayla. Then when Zechariah communicates the answer he says כה אמר ה' צבאות again I'm reading here in פרק ד שמונה פרקים as the Rambam quotes

כה אמר ה' צבאות לאמור משפט אמת שפטו וחסד ורחמים עשו איש את אחיו ואלמנה ויתום גר ועני אל תעשוקו ורעת איש את אחיו אל תחשבו בלבבכם

ve'amar acharkach

כה אמר ה' צבאות צום הרביעי וצום החמישי וצום השביעי וצום העשירי יהיו לבית יהודה לששון ולשמחה ולמועדים טובים והאמת והשלום אהבו.

But what do the last three words have to do with again the shayla was do we fast also be-Tammuz do we fast Tisha B'Av whatever it was they fasted after Churban Bayis Rishon do we fast in Tammuz do we fast Tish B'Av Tzom Gedaliah Asara B'Teves? So Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives the answer and then veha'emes vehashalom ehavu. Always timely, always a timely exhortation, but l'ma'aseh, what's it got to do with? So the Rambam says like this. The Rambam says why is it such a big deal whether you fast or not to fast? Because the Rambam says again vehalachta bidrachav is that the person is supposed to go the derech habeinonit. And fasting gratuitously is not consistent with that midat habeinonit. Okay, the Torah tells us to fast on Yom Kippur. Okay, so the Torah wants us as it were to go to an extreme on Yom Kippur, the same way as the Torah tells us to enjoy the seudos more on Yom Tov. The Torah sort of tells us to go to the other extreme. But fasting, what's at stake here in fasting is the correct application of midat habeinonit. And this is something which you see from the fact that Zechariah thinks that this is deserving of his bringing the shayla to the Ribbono Shel Olam. You see just how incredibly central and fundamental this is. Okay, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu is answering about the fasting. You know what did he answer during Bayis Sheni? So that's a machlokes rishonim. Most rishonim understand that during Bayis Sheni he was telling them not to fast. The Rambam says they used to fast Bayis Sheni on Tisha B'Av because Bayis Sheni wasn't the equivalent of Bayis Rishon vechulu. But then ha'emes vehashalom ohavu. So the Rambam says here

ודע שהאמת הם המעלות השכליות מפני שהן אמתיות לא ישתנו כמו שזכרנו והשלום הם מעלות המדות.

Why do you refer to maylos hamidos as shalom? Because a corollary, if everyone has good midos, there will always be shalom אשר בהן יהיה השלום בעולם. So according to the Rambam, now you understand what the connection is. ha'emes vehashalom ohavu means when you have the correct guidance as to when to fast, when not to fast, so now you'll be able to again not only persist in your commitment to emes which are maylos sichliyos, but you'll be able to persist in your commitment to and adherence to shalom which are maylos hamidos. You understand the flow of the pasuk. It's such an extraordinary, extraordinary pshat. So that's what the Rambam is referencing here when he says על האמת ועל השלום, the emes are the maylos sichliyos again intellectual perfection or obviously as close to that as one gets and moral perfection as close to that as one gets. So here the Rambam explains again the reason why or how it is that the term shalom refers to this is because you're only going to have discord if the midos are off

אשר בהם והשלום הם מעלות המדות שבהן יהיה השלום בעולם.

L'ma'aseh just sort of me'ein ha'inyan here ba'oso inyan you have this broader use of the term shalom. The Rambam concludes Hilchos Chanukah. Haya lefanav, last halacha in Hilchos Chanukah:

היה לפניו נר ביתו ונר חנוכה או נר ביתו וקידוש היום. נר ביתו קודם משום שלום ביתו.

Right, when in the dark, so it's more conducive to friction. One person trips over another person's shoe, what'd you leave your shoe there for, whatever. So to have light fosters shalom bayis שהרי השם נמחק לעשות שלום בין איש לאשתו. Right, then the Rambam says... says Gadol HaShalom שכל התורה ניתנה לעשות שלום בעולם. All of Torah is to promote Shalom as it is written דרכיה דרכי נעם וכל נתיבותיה שלום. All the pathways of Torah, they all head, they all converge, they're all pathways leading to Shalom. So I think the Nosei Kelim already quote that this idea that כל התורה ניתנה לעשות שלום based on on the posuk of v'chol Nesivoseha Shalom is a Gemara in Gittin. This isn't the Rambam's original idea. The Gemara says that Kohen Korei Rishon, the Mishna, excuse me, the Mishna says that Kohen Korei Rishon, Kohen gets the first Aliyah mipnei darkei Shalom. So the Gemara says what do you mean mipnei darkei Shalom? It's d'Oraisa, v'kiddashto. That that the Kohen should be ראשון לכל דבר שבקדושה. So the Gemara suggests an answer, it's d'Oraisa mipnei darkei Shalom. אמר ליה אביי לרב יוסף מפני דרכי שלום? D'Oraisa hi. אמר ליה דאורייתא מפני דרכי שלום. Saying it's d'Oraisa and saying it's darkei Shalom is no contradiction. It's d'Oraisa and it's darkei Shalom. So Abaye pushes back and says

וכל התורה כולה נמי מפני דרכי שלום היא, דכתיב דרכיה דרכי נעם וכל נתיבותיה שלום.

So then you can say that about everything. So clearly the Mishna means something else. So Abaye goes on to answer. But this is the Rambam's Gemara in nun-tes amud beis in Gittin. Question is again, so the question's on the Gemara, it's not what maybe the question's on the posuk. The Rambam's just quoting the posuk, the Gemara. What does it mean that that all mitzvos are la'asos shalom ba'olam? Everything, that there should be peace in the world. That there should be peace. Peace is a good thing. But all mitzvos are are for peace? Okay, so maybe kol sometimes should be understood based on a rubo k'kulo. But even that, I don't know. If we were to go through, I don't know, psukim in Chumash or go through minyan hamitzvos, whatever, however we'll try to measure this, I don't know, would we even get that rov mitzvos haTorah, rov parshiyos haTorah are focused on on promoting Shalom? So the so going back to the inyan before about what the status was of the תעניות בימי בית שני and and in general, so the Gemara in Rosh Hashana yud-ches says that amar Rav Papa, hachi ka'amar. This is the pshat in the posuk in Zechariah: בזמן שיש שלום יהיו לששון ולשמחה. If there's Shalom, so then the ארבע תעניות הימים טובים. Yesh gezeiras hamalchus. If on the other hand, what's the beis, or or yesh shmad. If yesh gezeiras hamalchus, yesh shmad, whatever the girsa is, so then they're mandatory ta'aniyos. If ein Shalom, ein gezeiras hamalchus, then they're optional. They're optional ta'aniyos. What does it mean that something is an optional ta'anis? Okay, so you could say it's not a yom tov because where a yom tov would be assur. But again, but then just say, you know, it's it's not a yom tov. What does what's the chalos of an optional ta'anis? So the chalos of an optional ta'anis, again, and the Rambam would tell us is because ordinarily a person shouldn't be fasting. But but if you have a chalos that something's an optional ta'anis, so then then that's not the case. What does it mean that tefillas arvis is reshus? You can always davven a nedava anyway. So what does it mean that tefillas arvis is reshus? No, standardly, you have to be mechadesh bo davar. But over here, where there's a chalos that it was niskena as reshus, so then it's the mitzvah is there without the without the justification, without the need of chiddush davar. what it means to have a chalos of רוצה מתפלל רוצה אינו מתפלל. Again, so that's the the distinction the Gemara has, that Yesh Shalom, Yom Tovim, the other end of the spectrum, acharonus, של יש גזירת המלכות, to fast, in between, so they're optional. So l'maise, what does that mean they did during Bayis Sheini? So most Rishonim say that during Bayis Sheini was Yesh Shalom, right? We had a Beis HaMikdash and you know for the Rambam says, you know, the 200 plus years, you know, that the Chashmonaim ruled, you know, things were alright until the end, you know, things were, that was a long period of prosperity of serenity, things were good. And nevertheless the Rambam says that b'yimei Bayis Sheini it was אין שלום אין גזירת המלכות and in fact they used to fast. That the way to classify that tkufa in history was that b'yimei Bayis Sheini, the second Beis HaMikdash is standing, and the Rambam says that's אין שלום אין גזירת המלכות. Ein Gezeras Hamalkus I understand, we were sovereign. Again, not the entire time of Bayis Sheini, but half the time of Bayis Sheini or so. But what do you mean that it's, that it's Ein Shalom? So if I recall correctly the Bach says, you see that for the Rambam Shalom doesn't only mean peace, Shalom means when related to the word shleimus, that sometimes Shalom means something which is broader and more encompassing than peace, that everything is the way it should be, על צד היותר טוב, that things are mushlamim, על צד היותר טוב. And Bayis Sheini was not that way, the differences which the braisa in Yoma tells us between Bayis Rishon and and Bayis Sheini, even in the Beis HaMikdash, the fact that most Jews were still in Chutz La'Aretz, things were not על צד היותר טוב, things were not mushlamim b'yimei Bayis Sheini. Was it gezeras hamalkus? No, it wasn't gezeras hamalkus, but it was ein shalom also. So you see that Shalom again doesn't only narrowly translate as peace, but Shalom means again lashon shleimus, על צד היותר טוב, that a metzius which is mushlemes, where there is, where there is shleimus. So the peshat is that in Halacha Yud Daled we're segueing from one meaning of Shalom to the broader meaning of Shalom. Shalom beiso takka means Shalom, it means that things should be peaceful and harmonious. It takka means Shalom when we're talking about Shalom beiso in the beginning of Halacha Yud Daled. Then when we're segueing to Gadol Hashalom, so Shalom in the sense of peaceful and harmonious is a subset. Okay, so that means that things are על צד היותר טוב in yachasei bnei adam, in or at least you know domestically in in this home. And then what Shalom means more broadly and more encompassing is that things are על צד היותר שלם in every respect, in every respect, and that's what Gadol Hashalom means, and that's what Gadol Hashalom means. Okay, so just again the Rambam justifies the peshat of Shalom in our Mishna and going back to the pasuk in Zecharia as meaning ma'alos hamidos because again the corollary or a corollary of that is Shalom in the sense of peace. Functionally Shalom means something more than just peace, it means the ma'alos hamidos, that's what it means in our Mishna. And elsewhere in the Rambam so Shalom is even broader than that, it's not only ma'alos hamidos but it's Gadol Hashalom, it's what the pasuk of v'chol nesivoseha shalom means. Alright, and b'ketzer Bayis Rishon after Bayis Rishon and Bayis Sheini. Yeah, b'ketzer Bayis Rishon after like Yerovam ben Nevat and all of like the like the when malchus was split. Yeah, when the malchus was split there's a lot like kind of not so good kings. How could that be considered Shalom? Well it didn't have to be, there was no, I mean these days weren't red letter days yet, right? All these days became red letter days because of the process of Churban Bayis Rishon, but not not from like the not already. Meaning when you're asking, the Mishnah says in Ta'anis חמישה דברים אירעו את אבותינו בתשעה באב and one is שנגזר על אבותינו שלא יכנסו לארץ. So did they already start fasting Tisha B'av at that point? Right. Presumably the answer is no. If the answer is no, then why is it relevant to mention חמישה דברים אירעו את אבותינו if let's say that one is not mechayiv in Ta'anis? I guess either of two answers. One answer is be'emes lo baka that it was a yom hamuchan le-puranus and therefore the churbanos happened, so then once there is a Ta'anis, so then the Ta'anis encompasses, the Ta'anis encompasses. The other, perhaps is as follows: The Rav used to say, again assumed based on ma'amarim, used to say as follows: That if not for the cheit of the meraglim and the gezeirah against the dor hamidbar, had Moshe Rabbeinu entered Eretz Yisrael, so then Moshe Rabbeinu would have been the Melech HaMashiach and built the Beis HaMikdash and it never would have been charev. V'hagam that Moshe Rabbeinu, as psukim say, is ne'enash for Mei Meriva, but the psukim also say in Devarim,

גם בי התאנף השם בגללכם לאמר גם אתה לא תבא שם.

So the Malbim already comments on this. That the pasuk there, Moshe Rabbeinu attributes the gezeirah against his entering Eretz Yisrael to the dor hamidbar. To the fact that because of the dor hamidbar wasn't going to enter because of the meraglim. So how does that fit with parshas Chukas of יען לא האמנתם בי להקדישני? So I don't remember whether all of this the Rav is quoting from the Malbim or he was adding, I'd have to check, but both together, whatever, explain that be'emes the gezeirah on the dor hamidbar, hagam that Moshe Rabbeinu wasn't at all complicit obviously in the cheit hameraglim and the lack of emunah in ויבכו העם בלילה ההוא. But the same way the Rambam, or not the same way, this is it, the way the Rambam says in פרק ג הלכות תשובה, there's a din for yechidim but there's also a din for collective units. There's a din for medinah, there's a din for the world. Right? And the same way a yachid is נידון לפי רוב זכויותיו וחובותיו, so too the entity of the medinah or the entity of the world is also nidon that way. So over here the dor was being nidon and Moshe Rabbeinu, because he was part of the dor, is included in that gezeirah. Ella mai, had Moshe Rabbeinu been לגמרי לגמרי מנותק מכל העם, so that would have set him apart that he doesn't belong to the generation and the dor hamidbar wouldn't m'chalet on him. The very minute Moshe Rabbeinu got caught jaywalking, so then he's not entirely... we don't know... the Or HaChayim HaKadosh catalogs tens of psatim what Moshe Rabbeinu's cheit was, it was sufficiently subtle that we're not sure what it was. But whatever, Moshe Rabbeinu got caught jaywalking, right? As it were. So once he has that blemish, so then he belongs to the generation. He belongs to the generation, so גם בי התאנף השם בגללכם לאמר. So kumt ois that the reason it's Tisha B'av as we hear, that the reason it's Tisha B'av is because nigzar al avoseinu. The reason it's Tisha B'av for kol hadoros is because נגזר על אבותינו שלא יכנסו לארץ. Because had Moshe Rabbeinu entered Eretz Yisrael, there would be no Tisha B'Av. Moshe Rabbeinu didn't enter Eretz Yisrael because nigzar al avosenu. So it's not stam, you know, another shreckliche thing happened on Tisha B'Av. No, it relates to Churban. And then also what are the other two again? So the five devarim of Tisha B'Av is nigzar al avosenu and then the two Churbanos. What are the other two that fill out the five? Is

נלכדה עיר גדולה וביתר שמה והיו בה אלפים ורבבות מישראל והיה להם מלך גדול ודימו כל ישראל וגדולי החכמים שהוא המלך המשיח.

Right? In Hilchos Melachim, the Rambam identifies Rabbi Akiva amongst them thought that Bar Kochva, Ben Koziba, was potentially going to be the Melech HaMashiach. ונהרג ונפל ביד גויים. He, the one who was thought perhaps to be the Melech HaMashiach, ונהרג ונפל ביד גויים ונהרגו כולם והייתה צרה גדולה kemo Churban HaMikdash. So nistama the pshat in kemo Churban HaMikdash is not simply to impress upon us the magnitude of the tragedy, the magnitude of the calamity, but again to say that it's mamash me'inyana deyoma. That Tisha B'Av is Churban. But here the devastation was so great, it was a devastation that was a type of Churban. It equaled it. It equaled a Churban. And then the fifth of the chamisha devarim is

ובו ביום המוכן לפורענות חרש טורנוסרופוס הרשע ממלכי אדום את ההיכל ואת סביביו לקיים ציון שדה תיחרש.

The Rambam quotes the pasuk that again the ultimate sacrilege happened to the Makom HaMikdash. Again, not only is the Beis HaMikdash destroyed, then it's plowed over as though it were stam a field. Meaning that that was sort of the ultimate realization of and expression of Churban, the fact that it happens. So in light of the way he teitches numbers four and five of the chamisha devarim, so that, you know, is a siyuah to the way we're explaining the first of the chamisha devarim. Rabbeinu Yonah here, and I think we've looked at this Rabbeinu Yonah on emes in our mishna here, says

שיש לנו לאחוז בדרכי התשובה שהוא אמת ותורתו אמת והולך בדרכי הקדוש ברוך הוא אמת גם כן ילך באותו הדרך שנאמר והלכת בדרכיו. ואמרו חז"ל שאפילו סיפור דברים בעלמא אין לו לאדם לשקר כההוא עובדא דברי דרב. אמר ליה מה לה אמך אמר ליה אנהו דאפיכתא לה אמר ליה היינו דאמרי אינשי דנפיק מינך טעמא יאלפך ואתה תעביד משום לימדו לשונם דבר שקר כי האדם המרגיל לשונו לדבר שקר בדבר שאין בו לא הפסד ולא תועלת גם כי יבוא לדבר דבר של עיקר לא יוכל לומר האמת כי פיהו המדבר וההרגל שליט עליו.

So basically when you read Rabbeinu Yonah, Rabbeinu Yonah says there are two mechayvim why a person has to be scrupulously honest. One is that it's midarko of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is emes and therefore the mitzvah of vehalachta bidrachav is mechayiv that a person has to be emes. And that's why there are no, again, leaving aside darkei shalom vechulu, but there's no difference between a little lie and a big lie, a white lie and... Whatever color, whatever color you pull out, a white lie, a green lie, a black lie, doesn't make a difference. No, Hakadosh Baruch Hu's midah is emes. Hakadosh Baruch Hu's midah is emes. So that's mechayiv a person to be emesdik. I think maybe we mentioned once, according to this it's very good when the Gemara in Yevamos says, at first the Gemara says מותר לשנות מפני השלום. And then the Gemara says מצוה לשנות מפני השלום. And ultimately the Gemara quotes a pasuk that Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to Avraham Avinu,

למה זה צחקה שרה לאמר האף אמנם אלד ואני זקנתי.

So Hakadosh Baruch Hu was meshaneh, that Sarah had said Va'adoni zaken. And when Hakadosh Baruch Hu repeats it to Avraham Avinu, he says Va'ani zakanti. So you see that meshanim mipnei hashalom. So על פי רבינו יונה, the pshat in that stage of the Gemara is to have an exception to the chiyuv of always being emesdik, so you have to have a makor for that exception by Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Because if the mechayev is vehalachta bidrachav, so then the exception should be rooted in vehalachta bidrachav also. And that's the pshat. No, you see you have to be emesdik, but hu hadin vehata'am. You see that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is meshaneh mipnei hashalom, Va'ani zakanti. So that's one mechayev. The other mechayev is from the Gemara in Yevamos is למדו לשונם דבר שקר. Again the Gemara there tells a story that Rav's wife was a contrarian. So she'd ask him what he wanted and she'd always serve the opposite. "You want milchigs tonight?" "Sure." So she'd serve meat. "You want fleishigs tonight?" "Sure." So she'd serve a pizza. So one day Rav gets what he wanted and he's kind of shocked. And his son explains to him, "No, it's because I told her the opposite. You said fleishigs so I told her milchigs, so that's how you got the fleishigs." So Rav tells him, you know, it's a good chochmah, you know, he tells him that's very sharp, but you shouldn't do it. Why? Because למדו לשונם דבר שקר. What does למדו לשונם דבר שקר mean? That a person becomes habituated to doing things. That whatever a person does, even if in a certain context it is objectively in that narrow context inconsequential, or maybe in that context it's even seemingly a good idea, as it was what Rav's son, but no, if a person gets into the habit of not being scrupulously honest, of not being straight, so then even when it's very consequential, hahergel sholeit alav. You can't turn midos on and off. If a person is not consistently devoted to emes, he won't successfully uphold emes when you would think that oh, objectively here the consequences of less than emes are so great, you have to be emesdik. No, if in discussing whether you're going to have pizza or you're going to have steak for supper tonight, if a person is not emesdik in that context, so then hahergel sholeit alav. This yesod of hahergel sholeit alav is a big yesod of the, you know, later, of the Mussar movement. Of, you know, certain schools of Mussar, the emphasis on seder and things like that, even in milei d'alma. Even in milei d'alma, because a person can't turn midos on and off. It has lots and lots of implications, this idea. Okay, stop there.