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The Faltering Tzaddik of Mishlei 10:30

1/4/2019

4 Comments

 
Many people are familiar with the proverb 24:16 that states: “A tzaddik will fall seven times and rise”—implying that in order to reach such a righteous level, you must endure several falls…AND recover from those falls.
 
Yet there is another similar verse in Mishlei/Proverbs 10:30:
ל  צַדִּיק, לְעוֹלָם בַּל-יִמּוֹט; וּרְשָׁעִים, לֹא יִשְׁכְּנוּ-אָרֶץ
"The righteous will not falter forever and the evil will not dwell quietly in the land."
​The word yimot can be translated as “falter” or some kind of weakening, including a fall or a collapse. Malbim describes it as “absence of strength” or “slackening.”  
 
Rashi says about the tzaddik in this verse:
​“When he falters, his faltering is not an eternal falter because he will fall and rise.”

Notice Rashi doesn't say “if.” He says “when.” And again, the defining characteristic of the tzaddik is that when he falls, he gets back up.
 
A tzaddik (or potential tzaddik) doesn’t stay down.
 
Metzudat David says:
​“Even if he falters, he will never die because he will return and rise.”

​(In contrast, Metzudat David also notes that any peaceful dwelling for the wicked is only temporary. In other words, a tzaddik's fall and a rasha's stability are both temporary states.)

Malbim explains that
“...the weakening [hitmotetut] comes for a reason — meaning, by means of weakness of the legs or a sloping ground. And the tzaddik, even if he should slacken because he didn’t stand upon a good situation, nonetheless, he will not slacken forever because a tzaddik will fall seven times and rise.”

However, you translate yamot/hitmotetut and all its conjugations (the root word being מּט), King Shlomo comes to tell us that a tzaddik can encounter a situation in which he’s knocked off balance.

Perhaps his own legs have given out from under him. Or perhaps he finds himself standing on a steep incline.
 
By the way, it’s interesting to note the Malbim’s language: He doesn’t say that the tzaddik finds himself on a slope because he was dropped there; the implication is that the tzaddik chose the wrong place to stand.

How did the tzaddik get on the sloping incline in the first place? It seems that he put himself there—whether by mistake (he didn’t realize the ground wasn’t straight there) or perhaps he thought he could handle the incline.
 
Either way, the tzaddik finds himself in a place where he literally cannot stand straight, whether because of the ground or his own legs. He physically cannot walk normally.
 
He weakens. He falters. He falls. He collapses.
 
Nonetheless, he gets back up on his feet. Again.
 
The Vilna Gaon comments:
​“That is to say that even if the tzaddik falters sometimes before the rasha, but it is temporary and not forever as stated: 'A tzaddik will fall seven times and rise'…but if the rasha’im begin to fall, they will not dwell further in the land and will not continue to rise. Furthermore, even if now they dwell quietly in the land, they shall not dwell quietly forever.”

​And there you have the key difference between a tzaddik and a rasha:
 
A tzaddik gets up after he falls.
 

A rasha does not. A rasha stays down.
 
Everyone falls at times. Everyone slackens and falters.
 
You can even crash and burn.
 
Maybe it’s your fault.
 
Then again, maybe it’s the fault of your legs or of the ground you’ve chosen to stand on.
 
Regardless, what is your response to your vanishing strength, to your faltering and falling?
 
Do you stay down?
 
Or do you pick yourself up — yet again?
 
That’s the defining difference between a rasha and a tzaddik.
 
How do you respond to your falls and your falters?
Picture
Sometimes, a tzaddik needs to do this. And then do it again. And again. And yet again.....

Note: Malbim defines shikun (שיכון) as a temporary settlement while yishuv (ישוב) is a permanent settlement.
4 Comments
Mr. Cohen link
2/4/2019 05:34:34

<b>Vilna <i>Gaon</i>, <i>Biur HaGra</i> commentary
on <i>Mishlei</i>, chapter 11, verse 9:</b>

“…most heretics have pleasant personalities, which
allow them to deceive people, and destroy them…”

===================================
<b>Vilna <i>Gaon</i>, <i>Biur HaGra</i> commentary
on <i>Mishlei</i>, chapter 11, verse 11:</b>

“When G*D blesses the upright [<i>yesharim</i>], meaning the righteous people who are also intelligent, then the city is elevated, because they lead the nation on the correct path [literally, straight path], and the city is soon elevated.”

===================================
<b>Vilna <i>Gaon</i>, <i>Biur HaGra</i> commentary
on <i>Mishlei</i>, chapter 11, verse 12:</b>

“For a man of great understanding, it is not enough to avoid speaking against his fellow [who has done him no wrong]. Additionally, when he hears a person speaking against his fellow, he silences that person.”

Reply
Myrtle Rising
2/4/2019 10:12:56

Thanks for this, Mr.Cohen. The first is particularly eye-opening.

Reply
Mr. Cohen link
2/4/2019 17:59:52

Vilna Gaon, Biur HaGra comment on Mishlei, chapter 11, verse 19:

Whoever helps those who perform
righteousness is also worthy of life.

Whoever helps those who perform
evil is also worthy of death.

===================================
Vilna Gaon, Biur HaGra comment on Mishlei, chapter 11, verse 25:

“Whoever feeds other people [especially the poor]
will receive a blessing that causes him to feel
satisfied with his food, in addition to wealth.”

===================================
Vilna Gaon, Biur HaGra comment on Mishlei, chapter 11, verse 27:

Whoever runs after opportunities to benefit people,
is like a person who seeks favor from Him [G_D],
and through this, a good blessing will come on him.

************************************************
PLEASE HELP SUE THE TERRORISTS IN COURT:
************************************************

www.IsraelLawCenter.org

www.TheLawFareProject.org

************************************************
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!************************************************

Reply
Myrtle Rising
2/4/2019 19:03:35

Thank you very much for these sources of inspiration & chizuk, Mr. Cohen.

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