Part of the series: Divrei Hashkafa by Rav Mayer Twersky
Transcript
AI-generated transcript. May contain errors.
Hi good morning Rav Hutner. I apologize for the delay. So Michtav Resh-Tes.
אורח טוב מהו אומר כל מה שטרח בעל הבית לא טרח אלא בשבילי.
Ve-didi
דברים אלו מתפשטים גם הם על התחום של המזון הרוחני
u-be-hetem le-chach ani soveir
כי אורח טוב מהו אומר כל מה שטרח המחבר לא טרח אלא בשבילי. מכיוון שזוהי דעתי ורציתי להביע לו
todasi על כל הטרחה המרובה שטרח בשבילי. הנני בזה להזכיר devarav shel ha-Maharal be-sifro Gur Aryeh
על פירוש רש"י על הפסוק ואלוקים טרם ה' אלוקים על הארץ כי אדם אין
and that ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu didn't cause rain to fall initially until Adam HaRishon had been created. Perush Rashi לא היה מי שיכיר טובתם של גשמים. ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu waited until Adam HaRishon would be created and would be able to be makir tova in in the geshamim. והוסף על זה המהר"ל she-mikan muchach שאסור לעשות טובה לכפוי טובה. And that's an amazing comment of the Maharal. Rav Hutner quotes it again here. Apparently this Maharal was I don't know shagra bepiv in Michtav Resh-Yud-Beis and the Maharal quotes it again. I don't know this one in Resh-Tes is not dated so I don't know I don't know if it was shagra bepiv maybe there was a thirty years gap between the two letters. But I don't know when you read the letters they're back to back. So in Resh-Yud-Beis he writes that המהר"ל מפראג בספרו גור אריה על התורה pasak le-halacha she interesting right? Rav Hutner refers to it as a psak ha-halacha not not simply as a comment in parshanus שאסור לעשות טובה לכפוי טובה. You're not allowed to do a tova for someone who's an ingrate. Wow so what's pshat in that Maharal? I don't know but lich-ora the Maharal is not referring to the chiyuvim that a person has. Now let's say there's an oni who's rachmana litzlan takeh a genuine oni rachmana litzlan and deserving of tzedaka and he asks he asks a person for tzedaka. But what if his his middas as such that he's not going to be makir tova to the person who's giving him the tzedaka? So the pshat is the Maharal doesn't not talking about that case that's not it's a tova in one sense but in another sense it's a chiyuv that a person has. So the chiyuv that a person has is independent of of what the other person's response or reaction is going to be. I don't know if if parents measured what they did for their children by whether or not the children were going to be makir tova so I don't know whether parents would would do what they're supposed to do because again אלו מצוות הבן על האב. Again using that in a broader term than then it appears in Kiddushin there's a chiyuv. So mistama without the Maharal is talking about something where where the context is such that there isn't a chiyuv to do it. Ribono shel olam wasn't mechuyav to provide geshamim for for Adam HaRishon he wasn't mechuyav to create Adam HaRishon he wasn't mechuyav to provide geshamim for Adam HaRishon. Something where there's no context of chiyuv so then the Maharal has this gevaldige chiddush but where there's any context of chiddush it doesn't apply. Lich-ora that's the pshat. Maybe let's let's go back to to Michtav Resh-Yud that we were going to take a look at also. Higi-asni shmua
כי בלבו של מעלת כבודו מקננת טינה על שלא השתתפתי אישית בשמחת הכלולות של בנו היקר יחיו.
A friend a colleague I'm not sure who who he's writing to that Rav Hutner didn't go to the wedding. Apparently this the person he's writing to married off a child and and the relationship was such that it seems that that Rav Hutner should have gone under normal circumstances but didn't go.
אף על פי שאין בידי לדון את השמועה בדין והוודאי
I obviously don't know for sure whether that report is true bechul ofan. I was trying to, I was working on a shalom bayis issue.
הטיפול בעניין זה דרש ממני למנוע עצמי מפגישה עם אדם אחר שכן הפגישה עם אותו אדם הייתה מכרחת אותי לדבר בנושא זה בזמן שרק השתיקה הייתה מוליכה למטרה.
So for purposes of bringing about the shalom bayis, I needed to avoid encountering a certain person, ואיש זה נוכח בשמחת החתונה. Vehineh amadti bechofzi. In my haste, I said,
כי מסתמא אהיה נידון לכף זכות כמבואר בפוסקים הלכות קיום המצוות בצדק תשפוט עמיתך.
The Gemara in Shavuos says that one pshat in betzedek tishpot amisecha is to be dan lechaf zechus. It's not stama drash. The Rambam quotes it in Sefer Hamitzvos. When the Rambam quotes the מצווה בצדק תשפוט עמיתך in Sefer Hamitzvos, he says this part of the mitzvah is to be dan lechaf zechus. אמנם משגה גדול שגיתי בזה. But I made a big mistake,
כי לאמיתו של דבר היה עלי לבוא בכתיבתי זו לפני החתונה. חטאה זו גרמה לי שמכתבי זה יהיה דינו כשטר מאוחר שאף על פי שמועיל מכאן ולהבא מכל מקום אין בו תיקון למפרע.
So this is an important sensitivity that this letter highlights, which is, it's true that we absolutely have a chiyuv to be dan lechaf zechus. That's when we're sort of on the outside looking in. But when we're the actor, we're not supposed to act in a way and do something which we realize is questionable, which we realize is open to misunderstanding and misinterpretation and assume and rely on the other person being dan lechaf zechus. No, if I see someone else doing something, so I have a chiyuv to be dan him lechaf zechus. But I'm not supposed to be banking on that in terms of how I act. And again, as in this case, so if I know this person feels very close and would be understandably hurt if I don't show up at the simcha, so then agam that yes, if I don't come he has a chiyuv to be dan lechaf zechus, but I'm not supposed to be relying on that chiyuv lechatchila as it were. It's an appropriate double standard, right? That as, again, as the outside party looking in on someone else and judging someone else, I should be dan lechaf zechus, but as the person who's going to be looked upon and who's going to be judged, so I'm not supposed to rely on that. If there's something I'm doing which is open to either positive or negative interpretation, so I should preemptively explain so there's no chance of the misinterpretation. It's an important, very important sensitivity. Okay, I apologize again for the delay, rabosai. Have a good productive day. Be well, be safe. Kol tuv.