Mishlei 1:23: Psychological & Emotional Momentum

Good morning rabosai, pasuk chaf-gimmel.

תשובו לתוכחתי הנה אביעה לכם רוחי אודיעה דברי אתכם. נגד שלושה הנזכרים לעיל,

the three types who neglect Talmud Torah, אמר לכל אחד בפרטו. Neged hamispattim b'yitzram לילך אחר תאוות עולם הזה. Those who are drawn, captivated by the allure of Olam Hazeh and its ta'avos. So to that type of individual Shlomo Hamelech says, tashuvu l'tochachti, שרפואתם לשבר תאוותם ביצרם, to break that ta'avah, b'divrei tochacha u'mussar, u'mimmela tishaber ta'avasam. U'k'mo she'omru chazal, אם לאו יזכור לו יום המיתה. Right? The Gemara says that לעולם ירגיז אדם יצר הטוב על יצר הרע. A person should always marshal the forces of his yetzer hatov to overcome the yetzer hara. If he's successful, good. If not, ya'asok b'Torah. If he's successful, im nitzcho, again good. If not, yikra krias shema, and if not, יזכיר לו יום המיתה. So on the simple level the יזכיר לו יום המיתה is something which is very sobering. On a slightly deeper level, lechora, the pshat is in light of what we discussed yesterday, that the source of the yetzer hara is this, this very common natural illusory experience that a person has, that a person feels as though he's going to live forever. And therefore that's what prompts the person to focus on Olam Hazeh for its own sake, on the gashmiyus for its own sake. And the pushback to that is that the person just has to puncture that illusion and through that gain perspective. Well why do Chazal, when Chazal give these sort of four lines of defense against the yetzer hara? So first they say ירגיז אדם יצר הטוב, then they say ya'asok b'Torah, then yikra krias shema, and only finally if the other approaches were not successful, then יזכיר לו יום המיתה. Because the answer is that ideally a person is supposed to be very much aware of yom hamisa but not focused on yom hamisa. A person should be aware of yom hamisa in the sense of the perspective that it provides on life, the yakrus hazman that a person, the preciousness of time that a person can only appreciate in light of the fact that time is limited. So a person is supposed to have an awareness, but he's not supposed to be focused on yom hamisa. A person is supposed to be b'simcha, a person is supposed to be learning b'simcha, a person is supposed to be davening, a person is supposed to be m'kayem mitzvos b'simcha. So the ideal balance is that there's an awareness, right? There's an awareness, an awareness which gives perspective and which gives direction in life. At times it may be necessary for, you know, when that awareness apparently is not present or not what it should be, so then it should become, at least temporarily, a focus. הנה אביעה לכם רוחי. So the second part of the pasuk is

נגד בעלי לצון ויושבי קרנות שאין להם תאוות עולם הזה.

They're not spurning or neglecting Talmud Torah because of the ta'avas olam hazeh, but rather

אלא הלצון חמדה להם. כי רוחם לנחה ולשטה עד שידבר דברי לצון.

No, they just want to talk devarim beteilim. ומזה להם נחת רוח. And that's where they get enjoyment.

והטעם מפני שבכל דבר שאדם עושה נותן לו כוח ממרום. והוא מסייע אותו לעשות עוד דברים כאלה.

So very much in the vein of בדרך שאדם רוצה לילך בה מוליכין אותו. When a person involves himself with something, so then he naturally develops an appetite for it. With eating comes the appetite.

כל דבר שאדם עושה נותן לו רוח ממרום והוא מסייע אותו לעשות עוד דברים כאלה.

A person develops a what he experiences as a natural desire. It's not natural in the sense that it's congenital, that it's inbred. But the person experiences a natural desire to continue doing what he's doing.

וזה רוח אינו נח ושוקט עד שעושה עוד דברים כאלה והוא נהנה מהם ומזה יש לו נחת רוח.

So a person creates a psychological emotional momentum with whatever he does, הן בדבר מצוה או בדבר עבירה. Ve-zehu, that's the pshat when Chazal say in Avot, מצוה גוררת מצוה ועבירה גוררת עבירה, that there's again this momentum. We associate addiction only with certain areas. Ich veis, we know of being addicted to alcohol, being addicted to drugs, being addicted to gambling. So we sort of limit that disease of addiction to certain areas. But the Gaon says that basically a person can become addicted to whatever he does. That whatever a person does, he then develops a natural desire to continue with. Ve-zeh ha-ruach,

וכל דבר עבירה שהיא גדולה גם הרוח הבאה ממנה היא גדולה ומתאווה עוד יותר לעבירה וכן בדבר מצוה גדולה בא רוח ממקום קודש מאוד ומתאווה מאוד למצוה ונהנה מאוד מחמת זה ממצוות.

So the degree of, again, of that addiction is determined by the level, the degree of the mitzvah or the rachmana litzlan, the aveirah.

וידוע שהמצוה הגדולה מכל המצוות היא לימוד התורה תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם

u-lehaypech ha-Yerushalmi says that

ביטול תורה ממילא הוא כנגד כולם גם כן דברים בטלים וליצנות שהם היפוך התורה. ולכן יש הנאה מדברים בטלים וליצנות יותר מכל העבירות אף שאין בזה עולם הזה.

Even though there's no olam ha-zeh in the sense of, you know, physical hana'ah as there is for achilah ve-chulu. But this metaphysical dynamic, again, it's a metaphysical dynamic but it translates psychologically, emotionally, of בדרך שאדם רוצה לילך מוליכין אותו, that the person develops a desire, again, to the point of, again, not addiction in the sense of insurmountable, but addiction in the sense of that it becomes a very real, a very real force.

וההנאה היא מחמת שהיא היפוך התורה והיא עבירה גדולה ורוח נובעת.

So the person who's gotten used to talking devarim beteilim, that he has within him that very strong ruach that keeps pushing him to feed that desire that he created within himself.

הנה אביעה לכם רוחי ואז תהיה לכם על ידי רוח הקודש הנאה גדולה כמעיין הנובע ובודאי תהיה הנאה יותר גדולה מזה כי תורה כנגד כולם והנאת רוח הקודש גדולה מרוח הטומאה מפני שזו היא הנאה אמיתית.

So if a person, sometimes, ideally, a person should do what's right naturally, a person should so train himself and habituate himself that he does what's right naturally. But very often in life we find ourselves in a situation where we're not holding on that madregah for whatever reason, and then a person needs to push himself to do what's right. He needs to make that concerted effort to push himself to do what's right. So that's what the Gaon is explaining here, that if a person finds himself more nitpas to the ruach for divrei letzut, he has to make this concerted effort to expose himself to divrei Torah. And that exposure to divrei Torah awakens within him, implants within him a countervailing ruach. And the ruach which is ultimately stronger, because ruach of kedushah is always going to be stronger, the biggest ruach of kedushah is going to be stronger than the biggest ruach of tumah. Odia d'varai eschem is neged the kat hashlishis, שהם הכסילים אשר ישנאו התוכחה, and their deficiency is chesron havanah as we saw yesterday. And to them he says, odia d'varai eschem and tiru mesikusah vetavah. You gave up the fight prematurely. So come, I'll give you a taste of the, I'll help you to that understanding of Torah, and then you'll see what if a person persists, what awaits him at the end of struggling to understand a pasuk, to understand a Mishnah, to understand a Gemara. Okay, maybe we'll stop here for now. B'li neder im yirtzeh Hashem we'll resume at 11:30 with Avos. Okay, have a good productive morning everyone, should be well, be safe. Thank you Rabbi, thanks Rabbi. Can I ask a question? Yes please. I was, it's sort of tangentially related, but since the Gaon mentioned תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם and he says that means that it's the greatest of the mitzvos, I'm just wondering how do we understand that knowing that Chazal say that about other mitzvos as well, like I think tzitzis is k'neged kulam, so I think the lashon there is shkulah, right? Not k'neged kulam. It's sort of the difference between when you say something is k'ilu etc., or when you say that something actually is. So by Talmud Torah the statements are it actually is. וכל חפצים לא ישוו בה and וכל חפציך לא ישוו בה. And so you have statements not on some equivalence, not that on some level, whereas by other mitzvos you have that latter type of statement. Thank you.