Perek 9

Perek Kapitel Tes Rabosai. למנצח על מות לבן מזמור לדוד. The Malbim accepts the understanding, first of all, that Al Mut is two words. The Minchas Shai already reviews the difference of opinion whether it's one word or two words. The Malbim is assuming that it's two words, and Laben is the name of a rasha who had successfully destroyed many cities, many peoples until finally he was defeated by Dovid and when he was sort of preparing for a second round so then Hakadosh Baruch Hu punished him and he died. So that's the occasion of Al Mut, the kapitel is on the death of Laben. אודה ה' בכל לבי אספרה כל נפלאותיך. The Malbim hones in on the kol. Isn't that sort of the, should isn't that the norm? Shouldn't that just be presumed? If you say Odeh Hashem B'libi that it means B'chol Libi. It seems to be that Dovid Hamelech is countering a hava amina, a possibility or even a likelihood that the hoda'ah wouldn't be b'chol lev, that the sippur wouldn't be kol niflaosecha. So the Malbim here in pasuk beis, he references what the Chovos Halvavos says. Quoting חובות הלבבות שער העבודה, it's Perek Vav.

שהטעם שיקשה לאדם להודות לה' חסדו הוא מפני שבעת בואו להודות על העבר דברי פיו דברי מודה וכוונתו כוונת מבקש.

Chovos Halvavos says that it's so challenging for us to thank Hakadosh Baruch Hu wholeheartedly because even when the words are words of hoda'ah, when it's divrei piv is divrei modeh, the inner intent is really one of bakasha. When we thank Hakadosh Baruch Hu for our good health, when we thank Hakadosh Baruch Hu for our parnassah, when we thank Hakadosh Baruch Hu for other blessings, so deep down, really it's Ribono Shel Olam, please please maintain this, please please continue to send that bracha.

שבלבו יכוין מבקש שיוסיף ה' להיטיב עמו בעתיד ואם כן אין הודאתו שלמה.

So here we need to try to understand this a little bit. The, if you take a look the Rambam writes at the end of Perek Yud of Hilchos Brachos, it's inspired by a din in Maseches Brachos. Klal she-davar the Rambam writes in

פרק י הלכה כב, לעולם יצעק אדם על העתיד לבוא ויבקש רחמים ויתן הודיה על שעבר ויודה וישבח כפי כחו.

Again, Klal she-davar, לעולם יצעק אדם על העתיד לבוא ויבקש רחמים, but also ויתן הודיה על שעבר ויודה וישבח כפי כחו. So the Rambam clearly says that hoda'ah and bakasha are linked. And the linkage lich'ora, the pshat in that linkage of hoda'ah and bakashah is that neither one can really stand alone without the other. To be mevakesh without hoda'ah, so how can a person ask for more without acknowledging everything that he's received until now? So you can't really have bakashah without hoda'ah. What about hoda without bakashah? Can't you have hoda without bakashah though? There is a great Shitas Ibn Ezra:

ותהר ותלד בן ותאמר הפעם אודה את ה' על כן קרא שמו יהודה ותעמוד מלדת.

So Leah had four sons in quick succession. The fourth son is named Yehuda, and then she stops conceiving for a while. The Ibn Ezra comments: הפעם אודה את ה' כטעם הפעם הזאת. And the understanding of hapa'am is as though the pasuk says hapa'am hazos.

אודה את ה' אחר שיש לי ארבעה בנים אודה השם כי לא אחמל להיות לי עוד כעומר אודה את השם שנתן לי כל זה ויספק לי על כן עמדה מלדת.

So the Ibn Ezra says there is a cause and effect within the pasuk. It's not stam that the pasuk is narrating two separate causally unrelated events: A, that she named the son Yehuda, and B, this was the last of that series, that the series was four sons and then it stopped. No, but in her hoda'ah, so Leah indicated that she was content, that she had everything she wanted, she had everything she needed. And if a person is content, if a person feels that he has everything he needs, so the Ribbono Shel Olam doesn't send more bracha. Vata'amod miledes. An extraordinary pshat in the pasuk the Ibn Ezra brings. So for that reason, it's not only that bakashah shouldn't happen without hoda'ah, but lich'ora hoda'ah also should be linked to bakashah. It shouldn't intimate a sense of Ribbono Shel Olam: thank you, and I'll take care of, I'll handle things going forward, thank you for the past and now I'm okay, I'll steer things from here. And lich'ora that's the pshat in what the Rambam writes at the end of Perek Yud of Hilchos Brachos:

כללו של דבר לעולם יצעק אדם על העתיד לבוא ויבקש רחמים ויתן הודיה על שעבר ויודה וישבח כפי כוחו

meaning that hoda and bakashah are supposed to be tzmudos zo la'zo. So what's our Malbim talking about? Our Malbim is disagreeing with this? So maybe there's a nuance here, maybe there's a subtle distinction in this connection between hoda'ah l'she'avar and bakashah l'haba. So that connection can be forged in either of two different ways. Either it can be that a person... Thanks Hakadosh Baruch Hu, acknowledges and thanks Hakadosh Baruch Hu unqualifiedly for the past and then says ve-achshav, moving forward, I recognize that I'm as dependent as ever and therefore I'm being tzo'ek le-hosif, I'm being mevakesh le-hosif. Or again, it's a subtle but lich'ora very real distinction, or that linkage, that connection between the hoda'ah and the bakashah can sort of intimate that, ich veis, משל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say a person is behind on paying his mortgage on his house and the bank says he has a deadline of tomorrow, he has to come up with a hundred thousand dollars and someone gives him twenty-five or fifty thousand dollars. So when he'll say thank you, it's sincere, it's heartfelt, but it's clear that what he's indicating is, but you know, that really doesn't do it for me. So the hoda'ah can be linked to bakashah in a way that downplays the past berakhah, that downplays the past benefaction or not. And maybe that's what the Chovot HaLevavot and the Malbim are saying, it's not at odds with the Rambam. A person shouldn't be looking forward in the sense of, but you know, that's only what Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave me is only half a loaf. No, Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave everything. Hakadosh Baruch Hu, there's nothing incomplete about what a person has received and in that sense it should be אודה ה' בכל לבבי. But not in the sense that I think now that I'm independent, now I'm self-sufficient, no, I recognize that I have to ask al ha-ba also. Maybe that's the peshat here in the Malbim. Asaprah kol nifle'otekha. Again, in the peshuto shel mikra, the Malbim is reacting to the same, the emphasis on the kol. I'll recognize even those נפלאות הקדוש ברוך הוא which are clothed with as a camouflage of teva. I'll recognize them for what they truly are.

לא כדרך בני אדם שלא יספרו רק נסים גלויים, אבל הדברים שייראו

that appear lemo to them סיבות טבעיים יתלו בטבע ובמקרה, that they'll attribute to natural causes. אבל אנכי נפקחו עיניי, my eyes are opened, I've been sensitized לדעת שגם דרכי הטבע הם נפלאות תמים דעים. Lich'ora, the Malbim elicits this from the pasuk. But what does the lashon nifla'ot, what does it mean? I think my father zikhrono livrakhah just commented, pointed out, let's say you have in Parashat Shoftim, כי יפלא ממך דבר למשפט, right, בין דם לדם בין דין לדין. So what does כי יפלא ממך דבר למשפט mean? So Onkelos says ari itkasei, something is hidden. Right? There's an obscure point in halakhah. בין דם לדם בין דין לדין ובנגע לנגע, there's some obscure point in halakhah. So what's nifla is something that's hidden. So that's what the Malbim says: No, asaprah kol nifle'otekha meaning the nifla'ot are the miracles which are hidden where there's a facade of teva where Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't override teva but he orchestrates the miracles within teva. That's what I think my father zikhrono livrakhah added that's what we have in... and in Modim in Shmoneh Esrei. So

על נסיך שבכל יום עמנו ועל נפלאותיך וטובותיך שבכל עת.

That the nissim, there were lots of nissim, but they're not mamash bechol eis? No, there is a ma'arachah teva, there's a system of teva. But within that, the nifla'osecha is takka bechol eis. Nifla'os means hidden nissim, what's the kol nifla'os? Good, good. Meaning nifla'os also means something which is a wonder. It has both senses, right? The way oseh feleh wondrous. So it has both senses, which allows for the kol. Pasuk gimmel. אשמחה ואלצה בך אזמרה שמך עליון. So the Malbim here in the Beur HaMillos cross-references, he's explained both of these earlier that eltza means a simcha ruchanis, whereas simcha can simply connote a simcha gufanis, but eltza is always a simcha ruchanis. And that's what it means that esmecha ve'eltza bach. Says the Malbim that my simcha is not going to be just on my personal fortune, but the simcha is elevated to the level of eltza. עיקר שמחתי היא בך. It's a simcha ruchanis שע״י זה יתפרסם שמו הגדול. What's azamerah shimcha elyon? So here too the Malbim has explained earlier, back in kapitel zayin, the Malbim writes there in the Beur HaMillos that

הודאה הוא מצד הכרת הטובה והזמר הוא מצד הכרת תהלותיו מצד עצמו.

Which means as follows. Let's say משל למה הדבר דומה. Hodaya means someone comes and does you a tovah. So hodaya means you acknowledge and you thank him for that kindness, for that tovah that he did. Then la'azamer means that through that, through the recognition of that tovah, so you discover something about the person who bestowed the tovah, right? Through the tovah that he bestows, so you discover what a ba'al chesed he is, you discover what a sensitive person he is. And that's what the azamerah connotes for the Malbim. בשוב אויבי אחור יכשלו ויאבדו מפניך. It's clear that what happened wasn't bederech hateva. It happened time and time again. First it was beshuv oyvay achor, they were beaten back, and then even when they tried to come again, it was yikashlu veyovedu, which indicates very clearly that everything was happening mipanecha. Mipanecha means panecha has the sense of HaKadosh Baruch Hu's hashgachah.

מה שאח״כ יכשלו ויאבדו שנית זה לא היה דבר מקרי רק מפניך שידך עשתה זאת.

When we ask in in Bircas Kohanim, יאר ה' פניו אליך, so ha'oras panim means hashgacha, so that Hakadosh Baruch Hu again, the anthropomorphism that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should be looking at us, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should that there should be ha'oras panim, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should be looking at us with a shining countenance, refers to that personalized hashgacha. כי עשית משפטי ודיני ישבת לכסא שופט צדק. I'm not sure about the word order here according to the Malbim's pshat, but the Malbim says that the din in the Be'urei Ha'millos he explains that din sometimes has the sense of one's grievance. So כי עשית משפטי ודיני means that Hakadosh Baruch Hu you you as it were stood up for my grievance and asisah mishpati and you affected the judgment. Then the Malbim continues very very yesodistik here.

כי אחר אשר עשית משפטי ודיני שבעת בוא להילחם בי רבת ריבי ועשית משפטי להומם במלחמה מאז לא קמת מכיסא המשפט רק ישבת לכסא.

The Malbim says what's the difference between the idiom between lasheves al and lasheves le with the lamed. So lasheves al just describes where the person sat down. Right, הוא ישב על הכיסא. He he sat on the chair. He didn't sit on the bench, he sat on the chair. That's what al connotes. With the lamed, it means for an extended period. So hence, yashavta lechisei means that on the throne of judgment, on the seat of judgment, so you once you judged Lavan and his and his forces for their persecuting me, so

מאז לא קמת מכיסא המשפט רק ישבת לכסא נשארת יושב על כיסא המשפט

and you were shofet tzedek. שהגם שמתחילה לא עשית משפט לעמים אשר השמידם. Initially Hakadosh Baruch Hu hadn't judged Lavan for his unprovoked attacks on the other nations, but achar shehischalta lishofto, but once you began to judge him, so לא עמדת מכיסא המשפט, you didn't you didn't end the session of justice as it were, עד שגזרת עליו דין של כליה until you decreed destruction on him because of what he had done not only in terms of his attack on me but all the nations that he had previously previously attacked and successfully and destroyed. Apparently the mida that the Malbim is is describing for us here. Sometimes a rasha, this individual Laban can perpetrate evil, but it doesn't necessarily trigger immediate din מצדו של הקדוש ברוך הוא. Maybe the victims themselves, who in this context are victims, in other contexts are not so innocent. So agam that this rasha is acting out of his own rishus, out of his own achzariyus, but it doesn't necessarily trigger din right away. But once the din is triggered, once he then turns and attacks David Hamelech, and the din is triggered, so then agam that what caused what clinched the fact that the din should be happening now was the asisa mishpati vedini, what was his attack upon me says David Hamelech, but yashavta lchise. Once he's in the dock, so then hakodesh baruch hu then judges the rasha for everything. ישבת לכסא שופט צדק. And as part of that din גערת גוים אבדת רשע שמם מחית לעולם ועד, all those who joined forces with the rasha, so hakodesh baruch hu judges them as well. האויב תמו חרבות לנצח וערים נתשת אבד זכרם המה. A rasha can ostensibly succeed in his warfare, in his attacks. The choravos, the destruction which he wrought remains lanetzach, and the cities that he attacked is avad zichram. But the fact that ostensibly in Olam Hazeh there was success in that campaign, וה' לעולם ישב כונן למשפט כסאו. But ultimately, ultimately there is going to be a din. The question is when the din is triggered. And when the din happens, הוא ישפט תבל בצדק ידין לאומים במישרים. The Malbim goes on to say that there are three bechinos here. There's three levels in terms of hakodesh baruch hu's involvement. When the rasha attacked the le'umim, not necessarily so innocent in their own accord. So the the din is not preventive. It's ex post facto. However ויהי ה' משגב לדך משגב לעתות בצרה. If you have an innocent person, an innocent downtrodden person, as daka u'shfal ruach, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu for that person is a misgav, is a fortress, that the hashgacha is and and the din is preventive. It's not just that that justice is is done after the fact, but it's preventive. And the third and the highest level is the ויבטחו בך יודעי שמך כי לא עזבת דורשיך ה. Veyode'ei Hashem never reach that et tzarah. Veyode'ei Hashem, so there the hashgacha is so, as it were, proactive that that it's not only that the hashgacha intervenes when there's an et tzarah, when the individual is already a dach, already fallen, but it's כי לא עזבת דורשיך ה that the the hashgacha is again completely proactive in in preventing. הנה חלק בזה ג מדרגות. Hale'umim, the nations,

ישפוט משפטם וידון דינם, ועל פי זה יעניש המרגיז הארץ שהחריב עריהם.

He punishes the one who brought destruction, acting evilly. The second is

אל הדך והנדכא לא ימתין עד שיעשה עמו רע, רק יהיה לו משגב תכף ולא יניח כלל הרע עליו. שלישית ליודעי ה ולישראל אוהבי שמו לא ימתין עד שיהיה עת צרה. כי יודעי שמך הם יבטחו בך כי לא עזבת דורשיך אף עזיבה לפי שעה.

There isn't even any temporary lapse in the hashgacha,

כי הם מושגחים מאיתך תמיד עד שלא יהיה להם עת צרה כלל.

So the Malbim explains in the Be'ur Hamilot, and what we're about to mention is is without adequate explanation, without adequate elaboration, but but maybe we'll come back to it bli neder, that

יודעי שמך הוא מדרגה גדולה מאוד שמשיג שם ה בידיעה ברורה.

We're talking about someone on a very very, to be yode'a shemo is is a an exalted, an exalted madrega. Ad kedei kach that Hakadosh Baruch Hu says about the Avos,

ושמי ה לא נודעתי להם, שהיא ההנהגה הנסיית והתמידית ליודעי שמו.

What the Malbim is suggesting is that the ויבטחו בך יודעי שמך כי לא עזבת דרשיך ה׳ it is that there's a very precise correlation between the yodei shemo and the hashgacha which they then receive. The yodei shemo who are able to understand and view the world in a way that everything is attributable in a way that they understand how Hakodesh Baruch Hu's hashgacha is all-encompassing so then they merit that all-encompassing hashgacha. So there is again this very precise correlation between the madreiga of yedias Hashem and the hashgacha of ויבטחו בך יודעי שמך כי לא עזבת דרשיך ה׳ which they merit. Okay, so we'll stop here for this class.