Mishlei 1:2: Chochmo and/vs. Mussar

Hi, good morning, good Sabbath. I apologize for the delay. Pasuk Beis: לדעת חכמה ומוסר להבין אמרי בינה. Lada'as says the Gaon, inyan hasefer hu, following up on what the Gaon presented in Pasuk Aleph, that to be able to have an overview of a sefer, of anything, so one needs four basic pieces of information. One needs to know what the chomer is, what the material is, what the substance is. That's Mishlei. One needs to know who the poel is, who the agent is, in the case of a sefer that means who the author is. Then the third of the four basic facts that a person needs to know is the tzurah, the essential defining quality. So what's the essential defining quality of, it consists of meshalim, but you can have all different kinds of meshalim. Meshalim can be, can be characterized differently. So inyan hasefer hu: לדעת חכמה ומוסר להבין אמרי בינה. That's the essential defining quality of what the parables of sefer Mishlei are. What does lada'as chochmah mean? שלא יפול ברשת היצר הרע אשר הוא פורש לרגליו. Right? The yetzer hara, again, translated more or less literally, spreads a trap, a net to ensnare a person. And chochmah allows the person to avoid being ensnared in that trap of the yetzer hara. ובשלא יתפתה בפיתויו פן יפתה לבבכם. That a person shouldn't be persuaded, a person shouldn't be seduced by the yetzer hara. And this understanding, what does that mean? How does the yetzer hara lay a trap? What does it mean that the yetzer hara lays a trap? So the way the yetzer hara functions is that we allow ourselves to perceive something as being good, as being desirable, when in reality it's not that, when in reality it's bad and undesirable. Right? The prototype of the yetzer hara is the nachash hakadmoni with Chavah. And the way he sets that trap, the way he spreads that like a fishnet to ensnare Chavah, is to get her, is to first affect her perception. Right? How does Chavah end up sinning? First is

ותרא האשה כי טוב העץ למאכל וכי תאוה היא לעינים ונחמד העץ להשכיל.

The cheit begins with a perception, misperception. When she sees, instead of seeing the etz as being something with, as a poison because Hakadosh Baruch Hu said not to eat from it, so the yetzer hara has the effect on the person that the person perceives something, misperceives something. And that's what allows for the cheit to happen. That's what facilitates the cheit. The actual cheit is often step two. Step one in the process is that misperception, that mischaracterization. And and the chochma is not to fall prey to that potential misperception. That's the chochma. So for instance, it's probably the case that many alcoholics the first step rachmana litzlan down that path was that they I don't know they they they were going through a difficult period. And and they were they were subjected to a lot of a lot of stress. So they reasoned seemingly cogently and and even responsibly, I'll take one drink because a drink helps you relax. And that way I won't be I'll be able to function better and I'll interact with my family better because when I when I feel too when I'm stressed up, so I I tend to snap at people. But obviously that's an example of of a reshas d'raglav. It's an example of how we can misperceive something. Now let's say a person is I don't know enters whatever field and now is now applying for for a job. And this one job which has more controlled hours, it's much more conducive to the proper kind of work-life balance. But it's also not so the remuneration is not so great. It's definitely acceptable, but not so great. And the other one the remuneration is is much greater, but as is usually the case, you know, the demands are much greater as well. So the person tells himself, you know, I want to make sure that I'll never ever have to that I should be able to give a lot of tzedaka. I have you know tzorchei amcha merubim I want to be able to give a lot of tzedaka, not just some tzedaka. And a person can easily again misperceive what that choice is. And the chochma is to discern. This idea that chochma is sometimes used to describe the faculty of discernment or distinguishing is basically in Chazal. If you take a look in the Gemara Brachos on lamed gimmel. So the Mishnah says that we say הבדלה אתה חוננתנו מוצאי שבת in the bracha of Chonein HaDa'at. So the Gemara says the Gemara explains Amar Rav Yosef why do we position Atah Chonantanu why do we integrate it into the bracha of Chonein HaDa'at? So Rav Yosef says אמר רב יוסף מתוך שהיא חכמה קבעוה בברכת חכמה. Atah Chonantanu heyos that that represents chochma, it's an exercise in chochma so ממילא קבעוה בברכת חכמה. What's the chochma? No, the chochma is to know how to distinguish and discern between kodesh v'chol. Havdala, discernment, differentiation, to see what something to see the difference between the two options. So that the Gemara describes as chochma. And that's exactly how the Gra is interpreting this the word here in the pasuk, that that's what the chochma means, that ability that when there's a reshas, when there's a trap, to recognize that the first drink to relax is the first step on the way rachmana litzlan to a drinking problem. And to recognize that sometimes Sometimes what appears and maybe to a degree genuinely is a desire to give more tzedakah can also, that also we can be misperceiving that and that also can be something that's sucking a person in to a very unhealthy work-life balance. Mussar, what's mussar? So the translation of mussar, right, you have it in Chumash, in Parshas Eikev,

וידעת עם לבבך כי כאשר ייסר איש את בנו השם אלקיך מייסרך.

So what we generally colloquially use the word mussar, I guess we talk about a mussar shmuze, we talk about divrei mussar, which is not incorrect, but it's important to understand that mussar really means chastisement. It means to chastise. It can mean Hashem Elokecha m'yasreka, it can mean, again, mussar is related to yisurim. It can mean physical chastisement, it can also mean verbal, verbal chastisement. Hence the usage of mussar shmuze, but it doesn't mean, it means chastisement and the colloquial usage is sort of an application related to the way we have the term yisurim.

אם יצרו מתגבר עליו ייסר את עצמו וישברהו כמו שנאמר לאמור לאסורים צאו ולאשר בחושך היגלו והיינו אותם שכבר ביד יצרם והם אסורים תחת ידו וגבר עליהם יצרם מאוד יצאו על ידי המוסר.

So the mussar is necessary when we weren't successful at the stage of the lada'as chochmah and we did become ensnared, entangled, such as allowing ourselves to develop a bad habit. So then that requires mussar in the sense that it requires a pushback. Chochmah is preemptive. Chochmah is preemptive, again, in the examples where we gave, is not to take the drink, is to know which of the two job offers is really the correct option for a person, is the correct path. But then the mussar is what happens if the chochmah was lacking and I did develop that habit. I did take the first drink followed by the second drink followed by the third drink. So then it requires the mussar, again, to chastise, which again related to lashon yisurim of beating, meaning it requires a practical pushback. If a person, there's one set of measures to stay out of jail, but it's a different set of measures if a person needs to break out of jail. Again, so the jail is the mashal, say, for the bad habit, for the bad middah that we allowed ourselves to develop. It's basically, again, a similar parallel to the yesod the Rambam has in the beginning of in Hilchos De'os. And then in perek beis the Rambam says however he says if a person finds himself having developed a bad habit, having a bad middah, the way to correct it is to temporarily go to the other extreme. The measures that work preventatively and preemptively aren't going to necessarily work therapeutically and to repair and correctively. And that's what what the mussar represents. V'osom shehem bachoshech right continuing to taitsch that posuk in Yeshayahu

שלא ראו אור ואינם מכירים פיתוייו על ידי התורה יגלו להם ויכירו פיתוייו.

Right? So again Leimor l'asurim tze'u to those who are imprisoned so break out, break out from that from from the the prison of of the middah raah. La'asher bachoshech those who are in darkness higalu they should be revelation, that there should be there should be light. What is that refer to? So says the Gaon v'osom shehem bachoshech what does that mean?

שלא ראו אור ואינם מכירים פיתוייו על ידי התורה יגלו להם ויכירו פיתוייו.

So I'm not sure I'm not sure about this next point but kim'duma there's something very fascinating here. Initially the one appeals to chochmah to differentiate, to recognize what's a yetzer hatov, what's a yetzer hara. The Gaon is saying that ואותם שאינם מכירים פיתוייו and and that's how a person right in we're supposed to avoid shelo yispateh bifisuyov of the yetzer hara. If a person didn't recognize that, so then על ידי התורה יגלו להם. So what was the chochmah? The chochmah was something other than Torah? So apparently what the Gaon is saying is that the emes is when it comes to middos, there's a tremendous amount that a person can basically know intuitively. Even without seeing what what the din is in the Rambam in Hilchos Deos, a person intuitively with natural chochmah can differentiate as as needed between what's a yetzer hatov or what's a yetzer hara. If the person for whatever reason lacks that natural chochmah, that natural intuition, so then על ידי התורה יגלו להם. So then it will be that the Torah will will clarify and and matters for the person and guide the person, על ידי התורה יגלו להם ויכירו פיתוייו. There's a tremendous amount that and again this is basically what Chazal in other contexts refer to as mishpatim, there's a tremendous amount that a person naturally, intuitively can know. If he doesn't figure it out naturally, intuitively, so then it will it's also it's also reinforced in in the Torah. And and when it comes again to the to avoiding the reshes, that netting of the yetzer hara, so the first line of defense is a person's natural chochmah, the second line of defense is על ידי התורה יגלו להם ויכירו פיתוייו. Okay. So we'll start here. So בלי נדר אם ירצה השם, I think today's Thursday, right? So we'll continue with Avos, בלי נדר אם ירצה השם at around 11:30. Okay rabosai, everyone should have a good productive morning. Be well, be safe.