Sha’ar 2:12: Context Drives Interpretation and Requirements

Hi, good morning Rabosai. I hope everyone's well. Continuing here in Os Yud Beis.

עוד אמר שלמה עליו השלום אור עיניים ישמח לב שמועה טובה תדשן עצם. אוזן שומעת תוכחת חיים בקרב חכמים תלין. ויש לכל חכם לב לדעת כי לא יתכן שחבר שלמה עליו השלום דברים בטלים כאלה חנם בתוך דברי המוסר ויראת השם.

This is an important yesod. It's a yesod which really is embodied in halachos and is a guiding principle in parshanos. The halacha is in terms of being dan l'kaf zechus that if you have a person who's a beinoni. He's a beinoni either because he's unknown to us, we don't really know him, or he's known to us and he sort of has a mixed record. So then when the person does something ambiguous, so there's a mitzvah to be dan l'kaf zechus. Let's say that person does something which isn't ambiguous. It seems quite clear, pretty clear that what he did was inappropriate. So there is no chiyuv me'ikar hadin to be dan l'kaf zechus. Doesn't mean it's muttar to talk about it. It yitachen that it's still going to be an issur lashon hara or rechiluss to talk about it, but there's no mitzvah to dan l'kaf zechus. There's a middas chassidus to try to reserve judgment. But on the other hand, if you have someone who's known for good reason to be a very, very big tzaddik and he does something which on the surface appears very, very inappropriate, so then there's a mitzvah to be dan l'kaf zechus. He was involved in a case of sakkanos nefashos on Shabbos. That's why we saw this person doing what otherwise would constitute chillul Shabbos. At the other end of the spectrum, if you have someone who's a known rasha and we see him doing something which on the surface seems to be good, so here on the contrary, we're supposed to assume that he has some kind of ulterior motive for what he's doing. So who the person is provides a context on what they do. Which is why a friend told me a beautiful story once, we were talking about this theme, told me a beautiful story that illustrates it how who the person is provides context. So I had given the mashal as follows. That let's say you're learning a Yerushalmi and it's a shvere Yerushalmi. Ich veis, so you'll go over to Rav Schechter and ask him what pshat in the Yerushalmi is. And he'll tell you, I don't know. So what does he mean I don't know? Yeah, it seems like it contradicts three Bavlis, two Yerushalmis, a Tosefta. Mistama, that's what the I don't know means. Let's say you'll go over to a first grader, he's in kita aleph, pre-1a, pre-1a, and you ask him what pshat in the Yerushalmi and you ask him what pshat? He tells you, I don't know. What does he mean? He probably means I'm only up to os vav in the aleph-beis and there's some squiggles here that I don't really recognize yet, so I don't know pshat. So they both say the same words I don't know. But to understand the I don't know differently is not only veering away from pshat but it is is warranted and demanded by pshat. So who the person is provides a context on what he's saying. The story I heard was as follows, that someone once came over to Rav Hirschprung, zecher tzadik livracha, and asked him a kasha. And Rav Hirschprung answered, I don't know. And it was evident on the person's face that he was very pleased that his difficulty had stumped Rav Hirschprung. When this person walked away, so Rav Hirschprung said to one of his bnei bayis who was with him, he says, he thinks that his I don't know and my I don't know are the same. So that's what Rabbeinu Yonah here is telling us. He says,

יש לך חכם לב לדעת כי לא יתכן שחיבר שלמה עליו השלום דברים בטלים כאלו חנם בתוך דברי המוסר ויראת השם בשכבר העיד עליו הכתוב ויחכם מכל האדם.

So it isn't the case Rachmana litzlan that Shlomo Hamelech's reputation is exaggerated. Sometimes a person or people can have an exaggerated reputation and then it doesn't provide a context, it doesn't provide an assumption that what they're saying must be deep and profound. But obviously with Shlomo Hamelech, that can't be the case, that isn't the case, I mean Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the one who vouches for Shlomo Hamelech, vayechkam mikol ha'adam. So by Shlomo Hamelech, there is absolute basis, as absolute as can possibly be, basis for that assumption, for that presumption, so mimaila it has to be that he's not stam talking about, oh you'll you know, it's enjoyable to go outside and look at nice scenery. אכן זה פשר הדבר, says Rabbeinu Yonah, מאור עיניים ישמח לב, עין אבר נכבד מאוד. The eye is a very special organ. Why? כי בו יראו המאורות המשמחים את הלב, because look what it affords us, look at the opportunity it affords us. However, as great as an organ as the eye is, nichbad mimenu ha'ozen. Why?

כי ישמעו בו שמועה טובה המדשנת את העצם שאין בה ההרגשה ולא יודשן במאור עיניים בלתי בתענוגיה.

This kind of to refresh, to energize, ledashen es ha'etzem, so the eye through visual experiences is not able to accomplish that, it's only the ear with its auditory experiences.

וכן אמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה כי האוזן נכבדת מכל איבר.

You see this reflected in Chazal also, that the chush hashmiah is even more significant and is even a greater gift from Hakadosh Baruch Hu than chush hare'iyah.

כי האוזן נכבדת מכל איבר, שמי שסימא את עין חברו נותן לו דמי עינו.

If a person chovel bechavero, Rachmana litzlan, and blinds him, so you sell the person, you make a shuma as though the person were eved nimkar bashuk, what the devaluation was as a result of the person being blinded, ונותן לו דמי עינו, and pay the compensation. Cherisho, נותן לו דמי כולו. There the devaluation is complete. Whatever he would have been worth before the injury, you pay him that total amount. Helen Keller was once asked, you see the sensitivity and the gadlus of Chazal. Helen Keller was once asked if she could have one of the senses restored to her, so which one would she want? So I think we probably would have expected But deafness is an even greater disability because deafness cuts a person off from the world. Blindness doesn't, for all the difficulty and vulnerability that that lack of sight creates, but it doesn't cut the person off from the world. The person is not cut off from the world. Deafness rachmana litzlan cuts a person off from the world. Chazal knew knew the secret that that charshus was was a a greater a greater injury rachmana litzlan than than than blindness.

והנה האדם חייב להודות להשם יתברך באיבריו ויצריו כולם כי לעבודתו נוצרו כמו שכתוב כל פועל השם למענהו.

Every organ that we have can and is supposed to be harnessed for avodas Hashem.

אף כי באיברים הנכבדים טובה עצומה וכבוד והדר עיטרו בהם ומפני מה שיצא בהם נתחייב לעבוד בהם את יוצרו.

Certainly, the more important, the more precious the organ is, the bigger the bracha of that organ is to us, so then the greater is the chiyuv to use and apply that bracha for avodas Hashem.

והעונש הגדול יאשם מאוד אם יפריעם ממעשה מצוותיו ועבודה לא יעבוד בהם ולא כגמול עליהם השיב.

This is a a theme which we've had recurring here throughout the Sha'ar Hasheni. Bracha, opportunity is one side of the coin and the other side of the coin is responsibility. The two always go hand in hand. When Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives us bracha, so along with bracha comes responsibility. On the other hand, Hakadosh Baruch Hu never imposes responsibility without first giving us the bracha that positions us, that allows us to live up to that responsibility. It's a two-sided coin. One side of the coin is bracha, opportunity, and the other side of the coin is the responsibility. Same too here, the the gift of sight, the extraordinary, extraordinary gift of sight, the even more extraordinary gift of hearing is is an incalculable bracha. The other side of the coin is, but that's a mechayev. There's a responsibility to use, to harness these gifts, to capitalize on these gifts in avodas Hashem.

כי השם היטיב עמו בחושים הנכבדים טובה עצומה וכבוד והדר עיטרו בהם. על כן,

that's why Shlomo Hamelech, when Shlomo Hamelech is talking about, oh, with your eyes you can go outside and you can look around and you can soak in the scenery and with your ears you can hear good news that that refreshes a person. So what's that got to do with divrei mussar? What's that got to do with giving us hadracha in avodas Hashem and yiras Hashem?

על כן הקדים להזכיר אחת ממעלות האוזן בעבור היותה גדול חובת עבודתו.

Because the greater the bracha of of the gift of hearing, so the greater the mechayev is.

וביאר אחרי כן כי תהיה עבודת האוזן בשמוע אל התוכחות.

So how then do we use, apply the gift of hearing in avodas Hashem? So Shlomo Hamelech says and this Rabbeinu Yonah. is explaining to us is the flow of the pesukim is to use the gift of hearing bishma' el hatochechas. To listen, and the listening being a prelude to accepting appropriate tochacha.

אוזן שומעת תוכחת חיים בקרב חכמים תלין. פירש ראוי לשכון בין החכמים אחר שיקבל תוכחתם.

An ear that's poised to hear and accept appropriate life-bearing words of tochacha, so that ear should find its place amongst chachamim who can and will be the source of that tochachas chaim. And rabboseinu this yesod that כל פעל ה' למענהו, that whatever brachos a person is given, whatever bracha HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives a person, a person should harness them in his avodas Hashem is something which is sort of true generically in the sense that there are some brachos which are more generic brachos. Again, the chush hareiya, the chush hashmi'a is something that baruch Hashem the overwhelming majority of us all share in those brachos. But then every yachid has his individual brachos. Every yachid has his individual kochos hanefesh. Every yachid has his own constellation of circumstances and opportunities in his life. And it's a yesod that we need to apply in an individualized fashion as well to take advantage, full advantage of our brachos in avodas Hashem. And our rabboseinu zichrono livracha: נפל אדם מן הגג ונשברו אבריו. A person rachmana litzlan would fall off the roof and break limbs, צריך רטייה ותחבושת על כל אבר מאבריו ועצם מעצמיו. So you're going to have to treat and bandage each limb individually. There's no sort of quick fix, there's no panacea. However,

החוטא שחטא בכל אבריו ונחשב כאילו רפסה מכה באבריו כולם מכף רגליו ועד קדקודו.

But a sinner who has sinned and it's as if he too spiritually is afflicted from head to toe, shene'emar

מכף רגל ועד ראש אין בו מתום. והנה הקדוש ברוך הוא מרפא כל אבריו ברטייה אחת.

There is a panacea. There's one, one solution. There's only one therapy that needs to be administered. He doesn't need physical therapy for his knee and for his ankle and hip replacement rachmana litzlan. There is one therapy, vehi shemi'as ha'ozen, shene'emar הטו אזנכם ולכו אלי שמעו ותחי נפשכם. Okay, we'll stop here for now. בלי נדר אם ירצה ה', we'll continue with the Thursday limmud at around 11:30 בלי נדר אם ירצה ה'. Everyone should have a good, productive morning. Be well, be safe be'ezras Hashem.