Mishlei 3:4 – Chein. Bitachon & Hishtadlus.

Good morning Rabbi, Pasuk Daled, Perek Gimmel, Pasuk Daled. ומצא חן ושכל טוב בעיני אלהים ואדם. Chen is lashon chinam. Therefore, lachen kasuv always by chen metziah: im matzasi chen. Because chen is not something that a person has earned. It's something that is bestowed. It's not something that a person's just deserves, so it's a metziah. The same way when you're walking on the street and you find $100, it's not something you earned, it's not wages that an employee earned, but it's something that's found. It's a metziah: im matzasi chen. So chen means when you find favor in the sense that something which is just a something which is bestowed, something which is an act of generosity. Vesekhel tov: ושכל הוא הצלחה שיצליח דרכיך. As the pasuk says, ואז תצליח את דרכך ואז תשכיל. So sometimes, I don't think the Gra means that this is necessarily always the sense of sekhel, but sometimes contextually sekhel is associated with, as in that pasuk we just mentioned, is associated with hatzlacha. Vihineh, bishchar chesed, meaning referring back to yesterday's pasuk of חסד ואמת אל יעזבך, ובשכר חסד שהוא מתנת חינם. If you'll practice chesed, so תמצא גם כן חן שהוא מתנת חינם. It will be a midah kneged midah. ובשכר אמת יצליח דרכך. Yatzliach derachecha means in terms of that your efforts will bear fruit, so that's more of a bechinah as it were of emes in the sense that the person is investing the effort and the labor and taking the initiative. Be’einei Elokim va'adam, לפי שהחסד ואמת הם בשני עניינים, also as the Gra explained in the previous pasuk that these two aspects, these two dimensions of chesed ve'emes, a person practices in two realms: בין אדם לחבירו ובין אדם למקום כנזכר לעיל. So the midah kneged midah is

לכן אמר תמצא חן ושכל טוב גם כן בעיני אלהים ובעיני אדם.

So there would be this midah kneged midah. See, it's interesting. Meila the midah kneged midah of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is, you know, that's as the Gemara says in Sotah that כל מידותיו של הקדוש ברוך הוא is midah kneged midah. So we sort of understand how the result of the חסד ואמת אל יעזבך will be מצא חן ושכל טוב בעיני אלוהים. But the Gra says it will happen be'einei adam as well. So I don't know, one wonders, I don't remember whether we learned this Rambam together in Perush Hamishnayos in Avos or not, but on the mishnah of אף הוא ראה גולגולת אחת שצפה על פני המים and he says because you drowned others, that's why you were drowned, so the Rambam explains that במידה שאדם מודד מודדין לו is something which also happens on a very natural plane. It's not just, the Rambam doesn't see that as describing how Hakadosh Baruch Hu is acting providencially, but how things naturally develop on a natural plane. If a person, chas veshalom, engages in violence, so then that's the way people are going to relate to him. And eventually, if he's a person who perpetrates violence, he's going to turn out just on a very natural way, he's going to turn out to be a victim of violence. So I don't know, so according to the Gra, lachen you have something similar, if not the same, intimated in this pasuk by saying that the midah kneged midah of the chesed ve'emes will play out not only be'einei Elokim but be'einei adam as well. Maybe one more pasuk: בטח אל ה' בכל לבך. Trust in Hakadosh Baruch Hu with all your heart. ואל בינתך אל תשען. So Mish'enes is something that a person leans on, that supports his weight. אם יקום והתהלך על משענתו ונקה המכה in Parshas Mishpatim. It means that vehis'halech al mish'anto means that a person can support himself, he survives and recovers from the assault that the Torah is speaking of. So ואל בינתך אל תשען means don't be leaning in the sense of relying, in the sense of letting it support your weight, on binascha, on your understanding. What does that mean? Says the Gaon,

בטח אל ה' בכל לבך, היינו שיהיה לבך שלם במידת הביטחון ולא במקצת הלב.

The statement seems rather simple, but not surprisingly, coming from the Gaon, it actually contains a very profound insight. Often when we think of, speak of, experience midas habitachon, it's taki incomplete. And the only time we sort of turn to bitachon bechol leiv is when we feel powerless. There is a joke that as is the case with Jewish jokes, it's a lesson, it's an insight. That a woman's husband takes sick with a serious illness, but when he's first diagnosed, the doctors tell the couple that the diagnosis is serious, but there are treatments. So the first course of treatment doesn't succeed. The doctor says we have something else that we try. Second one. Second one doesn't succeed either and he's rachmana litzlan getting progressively more ill. Doctor says we have a third one. They try the third one and the third one doesn't succeed either. So then the wife says to the doctor, doctor, is it time to pray yet? We sort of look to midas habitachon only when we've sort of emptied our bag of tricks. Now all of this doesn't mean to the exclusion of hishtadlus, not at all. Let's continue here.

ואל בינתך אל תשען, שלא תאמר אבטח בהשם אך אני מחויב.

Now here the question is what do these next five words mean? לעשות לישועה גם על שכלי. So if you look here, there's a very very important note in the if you're using the Philip edition. He says that if you look in the other versions of the Gaon, so you don't have the word la'asos. And in light of that, it's clear that however we read this, the la'asos needs to be understood in light of that. Meaning the Gaon is not advocating and this is not a Jewish approach, not an authentic Jewish approach, is not talking about being passive, about quietism, and just saying that the Ribono shel Olam's going to take care of things. We're not we don't subscribe to the Christian Science approach in terms of refuah. We believe a person has to go out and make effort to earn. to earn his parnassah. A person has to be very proactive in all areas. So what does the Gaon then mean? Achen ani mechuyav, again let's bracket the la'asos as in the ksav yad. אכן אני מחויב להישען גם על שכלי that that's what Shlomo Hamelech is rejecting is a difference between knowing that we are obligated to be proactive and do what we can and between thinking that that in and of itself can guarantee our success and that in and of itself can guarantee results. A person has to recognize that we're mechuyav to make hishtadlus. Ultimately, whether that hishtadlus will pay off, whether it will be crowned with success, that's going to depend upon the Ribbono Shel Olam entirely, entirely. The best laid plans can not succeed. And then sometimes a long shot which was the only thing a person was in a position to do will succeed. So the ועל בינתך אל תישען, again, it's not don't, it doesn't mean don't use. Shlomo Hamelech doesn't say don't use your binah. He doesn't say don't employ your binah, don't make hishtadlus with your binah. Al tishain, don't let that support your weight. Don't think that because I'm so smart, so I'm going to analyze the market and based on that I'm going to make a killing and I'll get rich. No. You're going to be an investor, okay, so analyze the market. Think and work and try, but recognize that whether or not after making that hishtadlus which is required, recognize that Hakadosh Baruch Hu determines whether or not it's going to be crowned with success. That's why we have to be medayek in the al tishain. Again, tishain in the sense of don't let that be supporting your weight. It doesn't mean that the binah doesn't have a crucial and indispensable role to play.

ולכן אמר שאל תישען אפילו בתורת משענת לא יהיה לך שכלך אלא בטח אל השם בכל לבבך.

Okay, we'll stop here for a second. Have a very good and productive day rabosai, everyone should be well, be safe be'ezras Hashem. Thank you Rabbi. Thank you Rabbi. Thank you Rabbi. Rabbi? Yes. Yes. I'm still having a little bit of a hard time reading the Gaon. I mean, he says gam. So doesn't that imply that someone is relying on Hashem and acknowledges that Hashem plays a role in whether something will be successful, but also has some sort of hishtadlus and even that is inadequate? No, no, you're right, but I think there's a difference, but I think the crucial word is mish'enes. If the Gaon would have said that what Shlomo Hamelech is rejecting is having bitachon and thinking, doing, so then you're right, then it would be sending a very different message. But the point is mish'enes. Again, mish'enes means don't think that what a person does takeh is a partnership with the Ribbono Shel Olam, but don't think the partnership is that he's carrying 50% of the weight and I'm carrying 50% of the weight. No. The partnership between a person and Hakadosh Baruch Hu is I'm putting in all the hishtadlus, then Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the one who presses the button as to whether or not that hishtadlus turns into success. So ultimately my weight is being entirely supported by the Ribbono Shel Olam.