Mishlei 2:13 – Derech Yosher, Middah Beinonis

Pasuk Yud Gimmel:

העוזבים ארחות יושר ללכת בדרכי חשך. העוזבים ארחות יושר כבר ידעת שאורח ונתיב קטן וצר.

So the Gra has already explained that Orach means a path, a footpath, something which is small and narrow. And where Tzadikim tread is described as an Orach כי בהם הולכים מעט that the Tzadikim are few. לכן כתיב אצלם ארחות כמו שנאמר באורח צדיקים. And therefore again it's described as a path, as a footpath. ומחמת שדרך היושר הוא דרך הממוצע. So that explains the Lashon of Orach. Now the Gra is commenting on the Lashon Rabim of Orchos.

ומחמת שהוא דרך היושר הוא דרך הממוצע ויש בו הרבה דרכים לכן כתיב ארחות יושר.

So the Gra says that Yosher connotes the Derech Hamemutza. In this he's following the Rambam. If you take a look in פרק א מהלכות דעות הלכה ד. So the Rambam writes

הדרך הישרה היא מדה הבינונית שבכל דעה ודעה מכל הדעות שיש לו לאדם והיא הדעה שהיא רחוקה משני הקצוות ריחוק שווה ואינה קרובה לא לזו ולא לזו.

The Derech Hayesharah is the Midah Beinonit, exactly what we have here in the Gra that דרך היושר הוא דרך הממוצע. The Rambam repeats this again at the end of Halacha Hei:

ומצווים אנו ללכת בדרכים אלו הבינוניים והם הדרכים הטובים והישרים.

So how does Yosher, how does Yosher connote the Derech Hamemutza? So perhaps with the following imagery. Let's say you're in a rowboat or canoe and you want to go straight. So if there will be a force coming from the right, from your right which is not counterbalanced, it's going to push you to the left. If there will be a force coming from your left hand side which is not counterbalanced, you'll go to the right. So to go straight means that a person is not being pulled in the direction or influenced by the direction of either extreme. And perhaps that's how Yesharah or Yosher expresses the Derech Hamemutza. Now so says the Gra:

ומחמת שדרך היושר הוא דרך הממוצע ויש בו הרבה דרכים לכן כתיב ארחות יושר.

So what does that phrase mean that the Derech Hamemutza יש בו הרבה דרכים? No, it's one Derech, it's one Derech the Midah Beinonit. So could be, there are different ways to try to decipher this phrase in the Gra. Could be that simply that in every Midah there's a Derech Hamemutza, right? As again the Rambam we were just reading had

הדרך הישרה היא מדה הבינונית שבכל דעה ודעה מכל הדעות שיש לו לאדם.

So in every spectrum a person is supposed to go on the Derech Hayesharah whether it's on the spectrum of the examples the Gra gives in terms of a person's attitude. to towards money, whether it's a person's attitude and and the approach to food and to eating, whether it's in an a person's emotional life, whether it's in terms of how a person what we discussed last week in in the Avos in in the Avos shiur in in terms of how a person interacts with others. So there is a derech hamimutza in each spectrum so mimeila the derech hamimutza is drachim or orchos yosher. So that then would be one havana here in in what the Gaon has has in mind. Could also be I don't know it's the phrase is very very terse. So it's it's hard to say with any with any certitude. Could be he has something else in mind also. The first example the Rambam gives of the mida beinonis is very very instructive. Keitzad. Again reading here in

פרק א' הלכה ד'. לא יהיה בעל חמה נוח לכעוס ולא כמת שאינו מרגיש אלא בינוני.

So the Rambam says one extreme is a person who's quick to anger. Everything everything lights his fuse. The other another extreme is a person who's totally apathetic to everything to anything and everything. So what should the beinoni be? So again we would have we anticipate the end of the sentence is well if the baal cheima who's noach lichoos call him a 10 and the מי שכמת ואינו מרגיש the person who's totally apathetic call him a zero so we would have thought the beinoni is a five. He reacts he's not apathetic but on the other hand he doesn't he doesn't explode. But the Rambam doesn't say that. The Rambam says

לא יכעוס אלא בינוני לא יכעוס אלא על דבר גדול שראוי לכעוס עליו כדי שלא יעשה כיוצא בו פעם אחרת.

So this is fascinating rabbosai because the Rambam here is describing the mida beinonis not not as again a not not again as as the five on a scale of zero to ten but the mida beinonis is that the person is very very selective and moderate in when he gets angry. But in theory again I in פרק ב' הלכה ג' which is a different story but in theory the person does get angry. It's just that the anger is reserved for a דבר גדול שראוי לכעוס עליו and even then the anger is very is is directed with a with a productive intent שלא יעשה כיוצא בו פעם אחרת. So you see that the pshat in the mida beinonis for the Rambam is not the pshat that a person has within him neither the capacity of this extreme nor that extreme but he only has the middle. It's rather that he has the capacity for both extremes but neither of them rule over him neither one dominates him. He's able to control both. He's able to control both extremes. Now what does that control result in? So 99.99 percent of the time it results again in the same thing as though he only had the capacity for a five within him. But really the pshat in the mida beinonis is that the way a person is misracheik richuk shaveh from the two extremes is that neither one rules over him neither one dominates him. He's able to control both. He's able to control both extremes. Now what does that control result in? So 99.99 percent of the time it results again in the same thing as though he only had the capacity for a five within him. But really the pshat is he has the capacity for the ten and for the zero. And that's why there are times when it's it's consistent with a mida beinonis. So on Yom Kippur we fast. So that's not a midah beinonis to fast on any regular basis. In Gimmel Aleph the Rambam quotes from the Gemara in Ta'anis that

ובכלל זה אלו שמתענין תמיד אינו בדרך טובה ואסרו חכמים שיהא אדם מסגף עצמו בתענית,

the Rambam quotes it from the Gemara in Ta'anis. So to fast is is an extreme. It's an extreme if that and and it's a violation of the midah beinonis when when that rules over a person, when that dominates. When the person selectively exercises that when it's appropriate, so then that's totally consistent with a midah beinonis. In light of in light of what you see from the Rambam, it could be another pshat in the Gaon, when the Gaon says that הדרך הממוצעת יש בה הרבה דרכים, maybe that's what it means. Maybe that's what it means that when the person is charting the middle path, it's really not a compromise between the two but it's expressing a combination of the two. And in that sense what seems to be a single derech is really drachim harbe. I know, maybe that's what the Gaon means as well. I mean the idea l'chora is certainly here in the Rambam, maybe it's here in the Gaon as well. לכן כתיב אורחות יושר ללכת בדרכי חושך. Again, this pasuk is describing going back to the lehatzilcha, pasuk yud beis, how Torah saves again in pasuk yud beis מדרך איש רע מדבר תהפוכות. And then pasuk yud gimmel continues that the lehatzilcha is from

העוזבים אורחות יושר ללכת בדרכי חושך. אבל דרכי הרשעים הם רחבים.

Again, orchas is narrow, a derech is wide. כי רבים דרכו בהם because many many tread there. Shebahem noach laleches. It's easy, right? If a person doesn't want to resist the yetzer hara, so that's where he ends up. Shebahem noach laleches וברשעים יש גם כן כמה מינים. לכן אומר bedarchei choshech. People have their their weaknesses, their flaws will express themselves in in multiple and varied ways, hence the darchei choshech. Okay, so we'll stop here bli neder im yirtzeh Hashem. We'll resume around 12:30 on kuf tes vav. Kol tuv rabosai and a very productive morning, be well, be safe b'ezras Hashem.