Mishlei 1:7-8: Ingredients Needed for Spiritual Success

Good morning. I hope everyone's well. I apologize for the delay. We were towards the end of the Perush HaGra here on Pasuk Chet of שמע בני מוסר אביך ואל תטוש תורת אמך. So we saw that the Gra suggests two different Peshatim. First he gives Peshat in the Pasuk שמע בני מוסר אביך ואל תטוש תורת אמך on its own, meaning if you take this Pasuk self-contained. And the Gra says that on that level Musar Avicha represents, symbolizes Torah Shebi-ktav, Torat Imecha represents, symbolizes Torah Sheba-al Peh. And then he says, but the Pasuk should also be understood not just on its own, it should also be understood in tandem with the previous Pasuk. And on that level, so then from that vantage point Musar Avicha, the Musar Avicha and the Torat Imecha signify not Torah Shebi-ktav and Torah Sheba-al Peh, but rather the יראת ה' ראשית דעת represents Torah in the sense of Talmud Torah, whereas the Musar Avicha and Torat Imecha respectively represent Mitzvat Aseh and Mitzvat Lo Ta'aseh. So we suggested that yitachen one indication that this Pasuk even on the level of Peshat means different things. Here the Netziv in his Perush al haTorah has a very important Yesod. He says that we know that there are different levels on which Torah should be understood. Let's say we, not necessarily that we know what this means, but we're all familiar with Pardes, פשט רמז דרוש וסוד that the same Pasuk means one thing on a level of Peshat, another thing on a level of Remez, another thing on a level of Drush. Drush, what we colloquially call the Drush, and it means yet another thing on the level of Sod. The Netziv says, but especially in Sefer Devarim, Pesukim have multiple meanings on the level of Peshat. And the Netziv is as a matter of fact suggested that's what the name Mishneh Torah reflects. The name Mishneh Torah, Mishneh as in double, Mishneh lechem, lechem mishneh, that it means double the amount, that here even on the level of Peshat the Netziv says there are Pesukim which on the level of Peshat have multiple meanings, they have double meanings. So for instance, to see an example of that in the beginning of Parshat Re'eh, the Bracha uKlala refer to the Bracha uKlala of which were pronounced in הר גריזים והר עיבל or does it mean no, the Bracha uKlala of in general of the way of life of listening to Torah and obeying Torah and Mitzvot as opposed to Rachmana Litzlan the alternative. So the Netziv says just neither Peshat alone is adequate. And just on the level of Peshat that it contains there's double meaning. So we suggested that there's something similar over here. Because there always has to be a reason for why something is expressed in a Mashal and not expressed directly. So it can be, it can be expressed in a Mashal because it's Sitrei Torah. It can be expressed in a Mashal because the concept is something which will be elucidated by being presented in a Mashal and therefore we'll grasp it more fully or we'll grasp it better than if it were just stated directly. But to give, to instruct someone that if you want to lehavin imrei bina so that means studying a combination of Torah Shebi-ktav and Torah Sheba-al Peh. So if anything that's said more effectively, more efficiently without the Mashal. So why, why the Mashal? So we said that one of the things that a Mashal allows for is it's a way since something can symbolize or represent more than one thing simultaneously, it's a way of compressing multiple meanings into a single sentence. And hence, the Gaon says, it must be that this passuk has multiple meanings. It's interesting to note in that context, raboisai, you know that if, in Parshas Vayechi, if one learns Chumash with Unkelos, so Rashi points out that Unkelos, and this is not the norm in Unkelos in the rest of the Targum in Chumash, but that Unkelos gives multiple pshatim for phrases. Rashi says when you learn through Unkelos, it's clear that he's giving more than one, than one understanding. And it's obviously not coincidental that we encounter that phenomenon, the Netziv's Mishneh Torah as it were, in Unkelos, davka by Birkas Yaakov, which again is expressed poetically, right? I mean, Yaakov Avinu is not, right, he's not saying that Yehuda is a lion literally, obviously, so it's poetic language, it's meshalim, it's metaphors, it's parables, and davka there Unkelos gives multiple pshatim. Okay, v'heim neged, so nochamol, so the Gaon says, u'v'chlalus, so just reviewing, u'v'chlalus, him midway through passuk ches in the Gaon, ובכללות אלו שני הפסוקים הם, again, understanding these two psukim as a unit rather than each passuk individually, so ובכללות אלו שני הפסוקים הם Torah u'mitzvos, aseh v'lo saseh, v'hainu reishis daas, right, the previous passuk of יראת השם ראשית דעת, hi haTorah, u'shma gomer, meaning שמע בני מוסר אביך u'mitzvos aseh, v'al titosh, אל תטוש תורת אמך hu lo saseh. Why does the sort of the father, the mussar avicha, symbolize, represent mitzvos aseh, whereas the toras imecha symbolizes, represents mitzvos lo saseh? So whenever you have such a passuk, so the passuk is speaking in terms of a typology. In the real world, these types are supposed to be combined and blended. You know, in the real world, whatever zachar represents, whatever nekeiva represents, so a person is supposed to have both. And so too in the real world in terms of parenting, so whatever we're about to talk about here in terms of typology of an em, in the real world, so the av is supposed to have elements of the em and the em is supposed to have elements of the av, but in terms of speaking in typological categories, speaking in typological categories, so what it means in terms of corresponding to the world is that the father generally is associated with a certain bechinah of being strict, so he makes demands. Makes demands, do this, do this. Demands generally are proactive, proactive. The mother is looking out for the welfare of the child, so she's always saying, you know, be careful, be careful not to do this, be careful not to go outside without your coat, and be careful not to stay up too late v'chulu v'chulu. And the father is the one who's making demands. In that sense, as a typology, so the father represents mitzvos aseh, the mother represents mitzvos lo saseh. The other reason on another level, right? Both of these levels exist. So on another level, the father represents the mitzvos aseh, the mother So there, there's basically no difference. Mah she-ken when it comes to Mitzvos Aseh, so where we have the Klal of מצוות עשה שהזמן גרמא, so Mitzvos Aseh we identify more with the Zechorim and hence in terms of parenting with the father, Mah she-ken hayos that here there's no difference, so we therefore by default as it were identify the Mitzvos lo sa'asseh with the with the mother. Then the Gaon concludes ve-heim again now saying peshat with these two pesukim as a unit as opposed to two discrete units, והם נגד שלושה שותפין שבאדם: Ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu, av ve-ima, right? So Chazal say famously that in the Gemara Kiddushin that gimmel shutfin ba-adam. So lich'ora the this correlation that the Gaon is pointing out, whenever you say there's a correlation, well at least in this context, so the correlation is not just, well, you know, there's the peshat in the correlation over here is as follows: that as it were each of the shutfin ba-adam is contributing to Adam something that he needs to fulfill his obligation, his chovaso ba-olamo. And I don't know you can have the shutfin in a business, so lav davka that each one is contributing something that's necessary for the business. No, they want to have a chelek in the in the profits of the business, so I put some money into the business. But lav davka that there's some kind of correlation between my investment and and the way the business functions and what the business is able to accomplish and the way the business is able to market its its product. Here lich'ora what the Gaon means in this correlation of והם כנגד ג' שותפין באדם is that the peshat in gimmel shutfin ba-adam, the omek ha-peshat is that each one is providing an indispensable element that a person needs to use, needs to draw upon le-malos chovaso ba-olamo. So specifically Torah, Talmud Torah is כנגד הקדוש ברוך הוא's as it were chelek in the shutfus. A person learns Torah, a person learns Torah with the sechel that Ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu gave him. Above and beyond anything and everything else, what's most central, again, we need rebbeim, we need chaverusas, we need talmidim, we need, we need, we need, but all of that is to help us apply and and use and take advantage of of the sechel of the אתה חונן לאדם דעת ומלמד לאנוש בינה. And Ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu's contribution and above and beyond every other area in life, siyata d'shmaya is unique within the the realm of of Talmud Torah. גל עיני ואביטה נפלאות מתורתך, right? The Rambam writes in the yud-gimmel ikkarim that a person is supposed to be mevakesh that Ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu should let him understand those chelkei ha-Torah which are especially especially cryptic, which which strike us as being especially obscure. So Ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu's chelek in the shutfus is is k'neged the Talmud Torah. The father's chelek in the shutfus, again, the father representing the Mitzvos Aseh, the mother the Mitzvos lo sa'asseh, their chelek in the shutfus is that with all the sechel that a person has, so it's almost impossible, it's almost impossible. for a person to be autonomous. A person needs again a person needs the chinuch the hadracha the mussar that he gets from his parents. Ay, don't we see that there are people who even without the blessing of growing up in a home of Torah and mitzvos so that they become? Okay, that's because somewhere along the line they meet someone who's acting in loco parentis, who's acting in the role of the father and providing the chinuch and the massora and the hadracha, who's acting in the role of the mother in terms of providing the chinuch the massora the hadracha. And that's what it means כנגד שלושה שותפין שבאדם is that each of them is contributing what we need in order for to function in these three areas of Talmud Torah mitzvos ase mitzvos lo saase. The sechel the capacity the ability to learn Torah the chinuch the massora the mussar the hadracha to fulfill mitzvos ase mitzvos lo saase. I was wondering I don't know whether this is the case the Gaon I don't see anywhere where the Gaon is meramez but whether על פי דרכו של הגאון whether I mean the simple pshat in mussar again as we commented is milashon

וידעת עם לבבך כי כאשר ייסר איש את בנו כן ה' אלהיך מיסרך.

It means chastising chastising. But I wonder especially in line with the כנגד שלושה שותפין שבאדם if על פי דרכו של הגאון maybe again if the Gaon is not saying it if it's not bal tosif to wonder about the following. You know in the piyut that we say Shabbos HaGadol from Rav Yosef Tov-Elem Ba'alei HaTosfos quoted right in our Pesachim in אלהי רוחות לכל בשר. So the opening stanza is אלהי רוחות לכל בשר chok l'amo masar and here is the next phrase the one that we want to look at for a moment v'hizhiram bichsav mussar v'hizhiram bichsav mussar מ ו ס ר לבדוק חמץ כל ארבעה עשר. So what's ksav mussar? Is this a mussar sefer about being bodek chametz all arba'a asar? So my father zichrono livracha said that lichora the explanation of that phrase v'hizhiram bichsav mussar is מן כתב שהוא נמסר to us. It's lashon masora it's not lashon mussar in the sense of related to כאשר ייסר איש את בנו related to the meaning of chastisement but rather mussar related to masora related to something which is a tradition which is transmitted v'hizhiram bichsav mussar. One wonders if that's not a level of meaning here again according to what we're talking about in the Gaon but in general if that's not a level of meaning here in the pasuk as well that mussar avicha again not only milashon mussar as related to yisurin yeyaser but mussar as related to v'hizhiram bichsav mussar. Okay so we'll stop here for now bli neder tomorrow morning we'll continue with the next pasuk. Okay so we'll hopefully bli neder im yirtzeh Hashem be resume around 12:30 with Kol Shoah everyone should have a good productive morning be well be safe kol tuv. Thank you Rebbe. Thank you Rebbe. Rebbe I'll ask a question. Sure. The last idea that we were saying about the mitzvos ase and mitzvos lo saase being keneged like the av and em does that not kind of provide in its own right a reason why av and em would be like a mashal that teaches more significance? Why they would be a mashal of what? Meaning like we were saying that that just saying that mitzvos ase and lo saase just being represented in av and em isn't like teaching anything. isn't helping us like gain any insight through the mashal and therefore like we said that we said that about the first peshat of Torah she-bi-khtav and Torah she-be'al peh. Again this is already once we've come to this second peshat we've already explained why there's a mashal, right? Okay, and I guess like also I was kind of just wondering if the pasuk is if the mashal is teaching like two different things and that's why it chose to represent these two things in a mashal like why does the pasuk have an interest in doing that? Is it just to like save words? It's it's that also but but it's not only that. It's that also in in the sense that it's a reflection of the you know of the greatness of Torah you know that that you know that there's so many layers of meaning in one pasuk so it's certainly a reflection of of greatness that that that's the case but likhora it also let's say in this context it's also very instructive for the following reason because it it drives home and reflects a point you know more importantly reflects and and that's why you find it k'seder it reflects a point that this is true in so many contexts that things are meaningful individually they have one one dimension of meaning and then as part of a certain broader and larger whole then they take on added significance. So let's say learning Masechet Pesachim. Learning Masechet Pesachim is meaningful ke'she'al atzmo. It doesn't have to be placed in any broader context. It's such an important limud and and the halacha l'ma'aseh ve-khulu. But it's also certainly true that that in terms of the ultimately having a panoramic understanding of Torah and and knowing Shas that it's significant as that also. It would be wrong to say that it's only significant in its own right. It would be wrong to say that it's only significant as a helek of Shas. It's significant in both senses. So so that reality which is present in so many different contexts is also one which is reflected in the pesukim. שמע בני מוסר אביך ואל תטוש תורת אמך is is a pasuk which has something to teach us on its own but it's also a pasuk that has something to teach us as part of as part of a larger unit.