Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, Texas. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.

My dear friends, we resume with day number 128 in the middle of page 728 in the gate of flattery in the Orchah Siddiqui, in the ways of the righteous, in the Treasure for Life edition. Hasheni, so what is the second aspect of flattery? HaChonof HaMeshabeach Rosha B'fnei B'nei Adam is someone, the flatterer, who praises the evildoer in the presence of others.
V'ahafar pi, one second, v'fanov or sh'lo b'fanov, whether it is in front of the actual evildoer or if it's not in front of the evildoer, but you talk about them in public. V'ahafar pi sh'lo yatzdik oso almas of harayim, even though you're not necessarily justifying his evil deeds, el yom or b'stam, he's a good guy, I know he's a good guy, you're not talking about that he was just indicted, you're not just talking, by the way, it doesn't mean that they're guilty, right?
We don't, we assume that they're innocent till they're proven guilty. But it's interesting in the Torah, in the Mishnah particularly, it says that a judge should consider both parties as guilty until the judge, only the judge, should consider them both guilty until one is innocent. Why? Because you shouldn't curry favor with either side. As the judge, if you think that they're both innocent and one of them is your friend, perhaps, you can't curry any favor, you cannot show any favor, if he's guilty, then he's guilty.
You have to look at them. It's interesting how the Mishnah sort of disagrees with how we do it in the United States. But still, regardless, we have to, in our mind, ishtovu, so you're saying, no, no, no, he's a good guy. I'm not talking about that incident, I'm not talking about that incident, al zeh nemar ozvei Torah y'halolu rasha, for those who forsake Torah, praise the wicked. And it's a weakness. Someone who doesn't have Torah doesn't understand, perhaps, what goodness is.
Ki zeh ha-meshabeach lulei she'azaves ha-Torah lo hilel le'zeh she'over ole'o v'al dvore'o. For if this person had not forsaken the Torah, this flatterer would not praise one who transgressed it and its words, meaning referring to the Torah. Gam ki lo yeshabeach es ha-rasha, elei yam letz alev b'fnei b'nei adam. So even if you don't praise the wicked person, but you commend him before others and you say, halo, hu asa tova, zos, he did this good thing, he did that good thing, have pity on him.
Ki ha-shomim svurim, mi she'oseh kach hu ra me'od, he says, don't try to do that. Why? Because if they just hear that, they're going to say, oh, he's really a righteous fellow. Av yitnu lo kavod, and they're going to give him honor. V'yesh mechsholim gdolim b'chavod, b'chavod ha-reshoyim. And when people give honor to those who are wicked, they get into a lot of trouble. There's a lot of traps that you can fall into. Ki kish yesh kavod la-chachamim ha-tsadikim ve-hey melyonim, az kol ha-am yishmul ha-atsasam.
Ve'od she'achirim yikanu b'maseyim ha-tovim ve-yosifu lekach. He says there are many stumbling blocks in the honoring of the wicked. If you know someone is wicked, be very careful about praising them. Be very careful about honoring them. For when the sages and the righteous are honored, and they are the exalted ones, then all the people heed their counsel. Others envy their good deeds and thus learn from them. Ve'yosifu lekach, ve'tir be'adas. And then their knowledge will grow, mitoch sholol ishma, bol ishma.
And by doing so not for the sake of heaven, will come for one to do it for altruistic purposes. Ve'od yesh har be'bniyodam ber'osam ha-dara torah. So too, moreover, there are many people who, when they see the glory of the Torah, will come to recognize its greatness and develop a desire for it. And they will study it for the sake of Hashem. With a whole heart. So ve'od yesh tam tov b'chvod ha-chachamim ha-tsadikim, ki sod, one second. So what he's saying is, he's contrasting here.
If you give praise to those who are doing evil things, then it's going to lose value to the honor and respect that people have to those who are indeed righteous. But when you honor the righteous, then people look up to them and people accept and heed their word and their guidance. Ki sod nefesh ha-adam hu liyos bo'avodaso ve'yiroso ve'toroso shol ha-kodesh boruchu va'avur zeh bor ha-kodesh boruchu kol ha-olam. He says that the foundation of one's soul is that it should bear the service of Hashem
and Hashem's Torah, and His Torah. For which reason He created the world, Hashem created the world for what? For us to serve Him, through His Torah. We have a Torah which is the manual, the guide, of how to serve Hashem. Nimtzo ha-mechabed ha-tsadikim, someone who honors the righteous, hu ma'amid hu mekayim kavanas ha-kodesh boruchu ve'briyat ha-olam. Such a person who does give honor, proper honor, to those who are indeed righteous, establishes Hashem's intent in the creation of the universe.
Hu bo'zeh le'tam et chokham li rei shemayim, be'zeh yevat tal kavanas ha-kodesh boruchu ve'hu ke'mi she'amar ein avod ha-sabor ha-ikar. He says that someone who despises the Torah scholars and those who fear heaven, is nullifying Hashem's desire, Hashem's intent in this world, because he is not showing proper honor to what Hashem considers honorable. So what we want to do is become aligned with Hashem's values. Ein avod ha-sabor ha-ikar, and then what you're going to be saying by going against what Hashem
calls good, is that you're saying that serving Hashem is not my primary goal. Talkein yechabdu ovdei ha-kodesh boruchu, eschach mea tora l'chvod ha-kodesh boruchu, lehudia ki avodah so levado hi ikar. What you're doing, the proper thing for us to do is to honor and respect those who study Torah and those who are our sages, to honor them, to make it known that Hashem's service alone is primary. But in honoring the wicked, there is a desecration of Torah and divine service.
Avo b'kibud harishoyim yechashchil ha-tora v'avodah, v'zo avira ha-mechaleh min nefesh ve'al basar. Someone who praises the wicked is a terrible, it's a terrible transgression that consumes the soul and the flesh, everything. Ve'od rabim mim shachim achreim, ve'osim kima aseim, ve'afilu im enom, osim kima aseim, mekablim pur'onus k'yotze b'hem, v'k'yotze bozeh, amar oylo rasha oylo shecheno. So he's saying there's another part here, is that you're welcoming evil to your surrounding. You're welcoming evil to your surrounding.
So now, what the Talmud says, that woe to the wicked one and woe to his neighbor, you're allowing, you're allowing the influence of wickedness into your life. Ve'od b'chvod harishoyim mushpal kvod hatzadikim. When you honor the wicked, you're removing the space of honoring the righteous. Ve'en kvod latzadikim elo le'achah hashfalas harishoyim. When do we have honor for the righteous? When you remove the evil. It's very interesting that we're learning this right at a time where we see two really,
really, really evil regimes on the brink of collapse. You have Venezuela, the Maduro regime, and you have Iran, which is on the brink of falling apart. And we mentioned this before class yesterday, that perhaps this is the part of the preparation of the coming of Mashiach. Because it says that the forces of evil, of wickedness, are going to dissipate and fall apart. So imagine if we're living in that time, and I believe we are living in that time where
we're seeing in front of our eyes these evil regimes just collapsing, falling apart. Why do I mean by evil? People have their freedoms being taken away from them. This is evil. When someone can't do what they want to do in their service of God, and they have dictatorships that are limiting their ability to succeed and to thrive, it's a terrible thing. So if we were to go out today and say, oh, what are you talking about? Maduro's a great guy. The Ayatollah, great guy, right?
What you're doing is you're giving a platform to the wicked. Yizor shola yisaper tova meirishoyim, im lo yasgir games haro'o sholohim. Be very careful, he warns, the author. The author warns to be very careful of praising the wicked if you don't also mention their wickedness. It means you can, for the purposes of teaching, what you can do is you can talk about the flaws of the wicked, and you want to just also show that you can find everybody's got a spark of goodness within them.
Everyone's got some goodness within them. That's the hope, that they even burned a little spark of goodness that was left. She'nemar v'sheim rishoyim yirkav, as the verse states, may the name of the wicked rot. V'ksiv tova s'sadikim ish'ovel. And additionally, it says in Proverbs, the abomination of the righteous is the man of wrong. V'imeinu rotzol yisaper risho, gam tova shola yisaper, if you're not willing to say his wicked deeds, if you're not willing to enumerate those, then definitely don't get involved
in praising, you know, don't make any praises of someone who's wicked if you're not willing to also balance it out with the truth of their wickedness. So this concludes day number 128.

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