Mishlei 3:16-17 – Lishma vs. Lo Lishma w.r.t. Reward & Safety
Right – learn lishma; left – not lishma. Ramban: part of middah k’neged middah is that the reward for mitzvos will be correspond to motivations, i.e. olam hazeh or olam habba.Rambam (Hil. Teshuva 8:4) – “noam Hashem” is one name
Mishlei 3:15 – Value and Necessity of Torah
Torah is the most valuable and most necessary thing. Why bother with a comparison to diamonds, etc.? Ideally such a mashal adds nothing, but in our non-ideal states it does help.
Mishlei 3:13-14 – Chochmo vs. Tevuna
Chochmo, what comes via mesorah, is a metzia. Tevuna – understanding the chochmo via work – is bringing out the latent potential of the chochmo.Why is it depicted that for tevuna it MUST be through his work, as opposed to
Mishlei 3:12: Tochacha from Love
Mitzvah of tochacha is to love, and be concerned about, the sinner and help him return to the proper way, and should be delivered as such. Corporal punishment is bad in this generation.
Balance, Shavuos
Toras Hashem temima – demands living a balanced life (see Rambam.) Even when we have the correct ingredients for a recipe, we have to have the correct amount of each.Have to balance physical and spiritual – enough physical but not
Mishlei 3:11 – Accepting Yissurin & Tochacha
Accept yisruin with love, as they were sent. We don’t control anything besides our own bechira, but we are in control of how to process and relate to that which happens. When we see / receive tochacha from others that
Mishlei 3:8-9: Teshuva, Yira, Tzedaka
Cheit is spiritual sickness, teshuva is a refuah. Rambam – we get reward for not doing an aveira per se. Maharal – reward only comes for the tza’ar invovled. Gr”a – every time we withhold from doing an aveira, we
Mishlei 3:7-8 – Indispensability of Mitzvos, Yiras Shomayim
Don’t think that miztvos are a dispensable means to an end if one thinks he has another way to reach the means; additionally, none of us ever fully understand the complete reason anyway. Antidote to yetzer hara is yiras Shomayim
Lag B’Omer 5781 Tragedy
L’Shem Shomayim
Ahavas Hashem b’chol levavecha, b’chol nafshecha, u’b’chol meodecha, would be impossible without kol ma’asecha yihiyu l’shem shomayim, b’chol d’rachecha da’eihu. With it, however, we can serve Hashem 24×7.Kol ma’asecha yihiyu l’shem shomayim is a necessary compliment to v’holachta b’derachav; without