Mishlei 2:21 – Yesharim and Temimim

Good morning Rabosai. Pasuk chaf aleph. כי ישרים ישכנו ארץ ותמימים יותרו בה. Those who are yesharim will reside on the land. Those who are tmimim will remain there.

ישרים הם בעלי שכל חכמים ובעלי תחבולות. והדרך כאשר יצאו למלחמה בוררים בעלי שכל חכמים ובעלי תחבולות למלחמה.

So yesharim are people who are insightful, who can strategize. Velachen yishkenu aretz,

כלומר אף על פי שיצאו למלחמה ויהיו מכל מקום יהיו חוזרים וישכנו בארץ.

I don't know whether the Gra sees this mashma'us independently in yishkenu or if it's just the contrast to the yivasru, but certainly given that contrast to yivasru which implies that there's no displacement, that there's just an ongoing steady continuous presence, so the yesharim meaning yishkenu that they will come back and reside there. By contrast, again the Gra is about to explain what the metaphoric milchama is. U'tmimim, but first the second half of the pasuk. הם הולכים מההולכים בדרך תמימים ואינם בעלי שכל. Again, that it's not intended in the pejorative way that it seems at first if you take a look on the note here, meaning they're not strategists. ואין דרכם שיצאו למלחמה לכן אמר יותרו בה. V'hinu, here, I don't know, we'll read it together. I don't have a grasp on this.

והיינו הישרים הם העובדים את השם בשכל ולפי דעתם ומידותיהם. אף על פי שהם יצאו מדרך הממוצע,

at times they will incline to an extreme. They'll veer from the mitsuah, from that middle path. כי כן צריך האדם because that is really an appropriate and proper course of action כאשר רוצה לשבור אותה טבע ומידה. If a person sees himself at one extreme, the only way to overcome that and correct that mida is

אי אפשר לשבור אלא בהרחקה עד הקצה האחרון שבאותה מידה וטבע.

However, אין זו דרך טובה להיות בקצה האחרון, but to remain at the opposite extreme is not right either.

לכן אמר ישכנו ארץ שאחר כך כאשר הורגלו בהם יחזרו לממוצע כמו שכתב הרמב"ם בהלכות דעות.

Right, the Rambam at Perek Beis of Hilchos De'os describes how if a person finds himself off-center in one direction, the way to correct that is temporarily to head in the direction of the opposite extreme. U'tmimim of the second half of the pasuk,

הם העובדים את השם בתמימות ואין יודע לעשות רע ואינם סומכים על שכלם כלל הם הולכים תמיד בדרך הממוצע כפי שכתוב בתורה הם יותרו בה.

They remain there in the sense again that their presence there is continuous שלא יצאו כלל מן הממוצע. So what needs just to be understood here is that again as the Gra himself just presented earlier to be yotze min hamitsuah as a temporary measure is correct. Correct. So it's obviously not something laudable to say that the temimim never do that if that's something which at times is supposed to be done. So how do we understand this half of the pasuk? Unless the Gaon means that the temimim, meaning from the earliest youth, that that temimus expressed itself in such a fashion that they were always bederech hamitzva and because of that they have no need for this corrective measure. If that is what pshat the Gaon is, and lich-ora, I don't know, it seems to be much-rach here, because otherwise it's not laudable that the temimim never intentionally veer from the derech hamitzva. If that were the case, then it would be an interesting contrast. If you look at the beginning of Hilchos Deos, so the Rambam begins as follows: דעות הרבה יש לכל אחד ואחד מבני אדם. There are many different character traits, many different dispositions, and we all have these dispositions. There's no such thing as... וזו משונה מזו ורחוקה ממנה ביותר. And the different character types, the different dispositions, are very far apart from each other. So for instance,

יש אדם שהוא בעל חמה כועס תמיד ויש אדם שדעתו מיושבת עליו ואינו כועס כלל ואם כעס יכעס כעס מעט בכמה שנים.

Some are so excitable, so irritable that they're constantly becoming angry, and others are so unfeeling as to the point of being apathetic.

יש אדם שהוא גבה לב ביותר ויש שהוא שפל רוח עד מאוד. יש שהוא בעל תאווה לא תשבע נפשו מהלוך בתאוותו.

On the other hand,

יש שהוא טהור גוף ביותר. יש בעל נפש רחבה שלא תשבע נפשו מכל ממון העולם כעניין שנאמר אוהב כסף לא ישבע כסף ויש מקצר שדיו אפילו דבר מועט שלא יספיק לו כלל ולא ירדוף להשיג כל צורכו. ויש שהוא מסגף עצמו ברעב וקובץ על ידו ואינו אוכל פרוטה משלו אלא בצער גדול.

The person is so stingy that he's stingy even with himself.

ויש שהוא מאבד כל ממונו בידו לדעתו. ועל דרכים אלו שאר כל הדעות כגון מהולל ואונן וכילי ושוע ואכזרי ורחמן ורך לבב ואמיץ לבב וכל כיוצא בהן.

So the Rambam is describing sort of the natural types. Ultimately the Rambam tells us of course in halacha dalet that הדרך הישרה היא מידה בינונית שבכל דעה ודעה. So Rav Yaakov Moshe Harlap has a very interesting he-ara. He says when the Rambam is describing initially in halacha aleph the different types, why doesn't he also describe the people who get angry all the time? There are people who are apathetic, and then there are some people who naturally strike the right balance. When the Rambam talks about that there are people who are a big baal taiva, they're basically hedonistic, and other people are ascetic, why doesn't the Rambam say and then there are people who strike the right balance? So Rav Yaakov Moshe Harlap says the mash-ma-us of the Rambam is that no one is born centered, no one is born right on target. Everyone needs to be mesaken his midos. Okay, in which direction and to what degree? So then we all differ. We all differ. I mean there's two directions but there's an endless number of degrees. So we all differ. Ad kan devarav of Rav Yaakov Moshe Harlap. Lich-ora, I don't know, the mash-ma-us in the Gaon here in terms of his description of this type of temimim seems to be different, because if that's true, so then there's no real room for someone who's tamim in the way that the Gaon is describing and defining that he's never yotze... mideirach hamemutza, because we all need to be yotze mideirach hamemutza. Some of us are, are too inclined to anger, and because of that we need to work on temporarily, at least, capping what would otherwise be a normal level of emotional reaction. Some of us are, are overly generous, and because of that need to temporarily have a really, really harsh discipline in terms of spending money, and some of us are the opposite. So then everyone needs to be yotze min hametzu'a according to this he'or of רב יעקב משה חרלפ in the Rambam. And yet from the Gaon it's mashma, I don't know, unless there's a, there's a different and more correct understanding of the second half of the pasuk. Okay, so we'll stop here and בלי נדר אם ירצה השם at 12:30 in the tent of Avrohom. Have a very good, productive morning, rabbosai, and be well, be safe, be'ezras hashem.