Derech Beinonis: The Need for Balance

The Rambam begins Perek Aleph of Hilchot De'ot by illustrating the extreme ends of the spectrum for various midot. יש שהוא בעל תאוה ולא תשבע נפשו מהלוך בתאותו. There's a type of an individual who's thoroughly a ba'al taiva, that לא תשבע נפשו מהלוך בתאותו. He can never satisfy that hedonistic impulse. At the other end of the spectrum, at the opposite end of the spectrum,

יש שהוא טהור גוף ביותר ולא יתאוה אפילו לדברים מעוטים שהגוף צריך להן.

He's so removed from gashmius that he doesn't even want what's vital and necessary.

יש בעל נפש רחבה שלא תשבע נפשו מכל ממון העולם,

ke'inyan shene'emar אוהב כסף לא ישבע כסף. Someone whose appetite for wealth is so great that it's insatiable.

ויש מקצר שדיו אפילו דבר מועט שלא יספיק לו ולא ירדוף להשיג כל צרכו.

And then at the other end of the spectrum there's someone who's so disinterested in money that he doesn't even want what's needed. The Rambam then continues,

יש שהוא מסגף עצמו ברעב וקובץ על ידו ואינו אוכל פרוטה משלו אלא בצער גדול.

There's a type who's so stingy that he afflicts himself by denying himself proper nutrition because he doesn't want to spend the few pennies that are required. ויש שהוא מאבד כל ממונו בידו לדעתו, etc. The Rambam then says in Halacha Gimel, he tells us that

שני הקצוות הרחוקות זו מזו שבכל דעה ודעה אינן דרך טובה.

The extremes are not the derech tova ואין ראוי לו לאדם ללכת בהן. And a person should not be charting a path at either end, at either extreme of the spectrum. Halacha Dalet, the Rambam continues, הדרך הישרה היא מדה בינונית שבכל דעה ודעה. What's yashar? Yashar, I don't know, in some contexts obviously we translate yashar as straight, but that clearly doesn't capture the full sense of the word. Maybe straight and upright, morally upright. The upright, correct path שבכל דעה ודעה מכל הדעות שיש לאדם. With regard to all de'ot, again famously in Perek Bet the Rambam does make two exceptions, היא הדעה שהיא רחוקה. The middle path which is equidistant from both extremes is the Derech HaYashara. That's how the Rambam initially and the Rambam says Lefichach because this is the case because the Derech HaYashara is the Middah Habeinonit צוו חכמים שיהא אדם שם דעותיו תמיד Chazal say that a person should be constantly, constantly, tamid, should be assessing his, his character traits, Umisha'er osam and evaluating them, Umichavein osam and directing them, steering them בדרך הממוצעת כדי שיהא שלם. So this is a as it were a complete, compelling presentation identifying what the Derech HaYashara is, quoting Chazal's mandate for constant cheshbon hanefesh in this area. Later at the end of Halacha Hei, the Rambam begins to shift the presentation.

ומצווים אנו ללכת בדרכים אלו הבינוניים והם הדרכים הטובים והישרים שנאמר והלכת בדרכיו.

Here for the first time we discover that the drachim habeinoniyim are darkei Hashem. Initially the Rambam presents it as the Derech HaYashara and even here he repeats הם הדרכים הטובים והישרים but now he segues and also frames them as the darkei Hashem. And then the Rambam basically confirms this reading that there are two parallel or not parallel two two independent depictions, two lines of presentation that have converged. There's a line of presentation of a derech habeinonit which is a mechayev keshe'leatzmo even before we discover that it's the derech Hashem. And then there's the darkei Hashem and these two lines converge.

ולפי שהשמות האלו שנקרא בהן היוצר הן הדרך הבינונית שאנו חייבים ללכת בה נקראת דרך זו דרך ה'.

Since the derech habeinonit is also the derech Hashem so mimeila derech habeinonit is known as the derech Hashem. Something very remarkable here. Again, initially the Rambam presents the middah beinonit as a derech hayashara. Again, what's morally correct, upright. Subsequently the Rambam tells us that the darkei Hashem are also the derech habeinonit. Lichora as follows. Re-reading here in Halacha Gimmel the Rambam says again when talking about both extremes, each of the two extremes, each of the two extremes. extremes so the Rambam says

שני קצוות הרחוקות זו מזו שבכל דעה ודעה אינן דרך טובה,

they're not the derech tova, ואין ראוי לו לאדם ללכת בהן ולא ללמדן לעצמו. Rambam says it's not ra'uy for a person to follow either of the extremes. What do you mean ain ra'uy? It's against a mitzvah. Later in the perek the Rambam's going to identify that it's a mitzvas asei d'oraisa to go to follow the derech habeinonis which clearly, clearly translates that if the person veers away from that derech it's a bittul hamitzva, passt to do, not just something which is a good idea, not just something which is noble, it's something which is a chiyuv. So what do you mean ain ra'uy? So the answer is that sometimes the Rambam employs the term ra'uy in the sense of a chiyuv which emerges mitzad hasechel vehasevara, a chiyuv which is מוכרח ומוכרח מתוך השכל, mitoch hasvara, what in other contexts the Rambam describes as hadas notla lahem, what Chazal refer to as אלמלא לא ניתנה תורה, even if Torah hadn't been given, היינו למדים צניעות מחתול וגזל מנמלה, tenets of morality, certain fundamental hanhagos that a person can know mitzad hasechel vehasevara with which Hakadosh Baruch Hu granted us. And ra'uy in the Rambam you find similar use, just to give one other example, in פרק א מהלכות עבודה זרה the Rambam describes how Avraham Avinu recognized and taught that it's ain ra'uy to be oved avoda zara and that it's only and that it's ra'uy to exclusively be oved Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Clearly, clearly we're not talking about midas chasidus, we're not talking about something which is, all things being equal, it's a good idea and it's something which is becoming. We're talking about something which is at the core of yichud Hashem. So ra'uy means that it's מוכרח ומוכרח מתוך הסברא. Additionally, it's also a pasuk in Chumash. So we know the chiyuv of the mida beinonis to strike the balance, we know that chiyuv הן מצד השכל והסברא, הן מצד גזירת הכתוב, hein mitzad hapasuk. And that's what accounts for, that's what underlies these two seemingly different lines of presentation that initially the Rambam is just depicting, again if you don't have a Rambam in front of you now rabosai go afterwards please take a look osios machkimos umei-iros. Initially the Rambam describes, defines the derech hayeshora, the mida habeinonis as a derech hayeshora. Even without the mitzvah which emphasizes that they're darkei Hashem. Kumt ois what emerges rabosai is something remarkable. The mida habeinonis is absolutely crucial on one level mitzad shehu adam. A person, the same way we know that physical health requires balance and if there's a chemical imbalance in the body it can create all kinds of havoc. and medical problems and issues and illnesses rachmana litzlan, so the same is true in terms of one's emotional health, in terms of one's spiritual health. The teva ha'adam is such that adam was created as a as a beriah that has to be a beriah me'uzenet, balanced. And emet, the Rambam says is mefurash. If you take a look in Shemonah Perakim, this this dimension of the midat ha'beinonit, that it's just purely, not purely, but but that also on the human level it's it's something which just mitzad mitzad the the physical, psychological, religious, spiritual reality of who of what a person is, mitzad the physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual reality of who of what a person is, a person needs to follow the derech ha'beinonit. After describing extreme behavior, giving illustrations of extreme behavior, the Rambam says, again, this is in שמונה פרקים פרק ד, the Rambam writes: Vezos hatorah hatmimah, the complete perfect Torah, complete perfect Torah, right, those two are are sides of a coin, right, shleimut and and tmimut.

וזאת התורה התמימה המשלימה אותנו כמו שהעיד עליה יודע תורת השם תמימה לא צותה כלום מזה.

The Torah never commanded any of these types of unbalanced behaviors. The Torah never commanded anything of imbalance, אלא רצתה שיהיה האדם טבעי. Listen to this phrase rabotai. The Hamachon hama'or and and להבדיל בין החיים והחיים Rav Kapach, they both have the identical translation here: sheyehe ha'adam tiv'i. The natural state in which a person is supposed to be is in a state of balance. When there's imbalance, there's something unnatural and and what's unnatural in this context and many, many contexts is unhealthy. Again, be it physically, be it psychologically, emotionally, religiously. אלא רצתה שיהיה האדם טבעי הולך בדרך הממוצעת. So clearly on one level, on the level of the michayev of ra'ui, the michayev is mitzad shehu adam. That's what the tiv'iyut, tiv'iyut ha'adam is michayevet. Me'idach gisa, without looking into who, what the beriah of adam is, if we just look at the darkei Hashem with the with the the tzivuy of halachta bidrachav, so that also points to the identical derech ha'beinonit. Two different lines of presentation, two different perspectives, two different vantage points which converge, which are totally congruent. A little bit of the pshat in that is that the darkei Hashem that we're able to glimpse. We have no perspective on Hakadosh Baruch Hu himself, on Hakadosh Baruch Hu outside of, beyond the briya, we have no tefisa in that realm. Our whole tefisa is Hakadosh Baruch Hu in creating teva, in creating us, and in his hanhagah with us. The Rambam writes that the

י"ג מידות הרחמים הם המעשים היוצאים מלפניו יתעלה באשר להוות בני האדם לידי מציאותם והנהגתם.

That the Darkei Hashem in creating teva and in His providence, so then little wonder that these two are identical, that what tiviyos ha-adam is mechayeves mi-chad gisa and what the Darkei Hashem in creating teva and in our spheres mi-idach gisa, little wonder that those two converge and that they're one and the same. The recognition, the understanding, which the Rambam clearly thinks is crucial to recognize both of these levels and both of these mechaivim of the mitsvos, הן מצד טבעיות האדם, הן מצד דרכי השם, accounts for a phenomenon which comes about inevitably. And the peshat, pesher hadavar is known to us because of the Rambam's presentation here. The fundamental fundamental yesod, he's commenting on the Mechilta that Rashi quotes at the beginning of Aseres HaDibros, וידבר אלקים את כל הדברים האלה לאמר, the Mechilta says אין אלקים אלא דיין. And the Rav explains, again, this is not a, hopefully the idea is his, the presentation is being integrated into our context. We know that Chazal talk about that there are mishpatim, mishpatim that, again, we would have known on our own even if they hadn't been pesukim in the Torah. They are also pesukim in the Torah, but we would have known even if they hadn't been pesukim. Gezel, shefichas damim, vechulu. And then there are chukim, which we wouldn't have known if they hadn't been pesukim in the Torah. Says the Rav, there's a fundamental difference which runs deeper than just that description. What we would have known even had they not been pesukim in the Torah are the same way there's natural physical law, there's natural moral law. In the physical realm, what would be a person breaks And to demonstrate his independence he's going to walk out, he's going to open a tenth-story window on the tenth floor and he's going to step out the window. So are the consequences only going to be in Olam Haba for his act of rebellion? No, the consequences are immediate because if a person defies the natural scheme in Olam Hazeh, the consequences are not only le'asid lavo when he gives his din vecheshbon. If a person puts on kilayim, there are no immediate consequences. He's not going to get a rash necessarily because he's wearing tzemer upishtim yachdav. Lav davka. Could be the whole thing is just going to be a din vecheshbon le'asid lavo. But what's part of the natural, the same way what's part of natural physical law there are immediate consequences, there are immediate consequences in Olam Hazeh also. Our society began disintegrating fifty plus years ago when it began to not only challenge chukim but when it challenged all the natural morality it caused the disintegration of society. The fact that there are so many children growing up not with two parents and I'm not referring to divorce who never knew, who never knew their father. The total chaos ad kedei kach that people don't acknowledge simple biological realities about gender. All that is because when mishpatim like natural physical law, if one defies natural physical law there are consequences in Olam Hazeh, if one defies natural moral law there are consequences in Olam Hazeh. And just look into today's world with all its let's euphemistically say problems and one sees the truth of this profound insight. And this perspective is relevant also to the מידות בין אדם לחברו. When we don't stick to that path, the consequences are not only le'asid lavo, the consequences are in the here and now. We pay a price. When there's imbalance, when there's imbalance, imbalance in any and every of the middos, the toll that it takes is not only some future but present indiscernible, it's present and discernible. The stakes are not always the same but the pattern is. Because it's just רצון התורה רצונו רצונו שיהא אדם טבעי. Holech bederech hamemtzois. If a person denies tivios ha'adam and doesn't give the body what it needs, he's going to get sick. He's going to get sick. If a person denies tivios ha'adam, the balance that has to be struck and maintained in any area, the consequences are all already going to be evident in the here and now. A good Shabbos raboisai, everyone should be well, be safe, b'ezras Hashem.