Re'eh: Can a Mitzvah Bring to Bad Middos? The Insight of the Chofetz Chaim

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Rabbi Daniel Glatstein’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

Okay, good morning everyone. We're continuing Sefer Chofetz Chaim al ha-Torah. Parshas Re'eh. Smite the residents of that city, and he will give you mercy. And he will have mercy on you, and he will increase you. Yedu'a k'hergel ha-noseh teva, it is known habit creates nature. Im adam mistagel la'asos toyva v'chesed, if a person is accustomed to do good and kindness, hu notei'a b'libo midas ha-chesed, he plants in his heart the middah of chesed. V'chein edin b'chol midos ha-toyvos v'ha-ra'os, the same thing would apply in all good middos and all bad middos. So, what's the Chofetz Chaim getting at? Kan yored ha-Torah l'soif inyan, here the Torah is descending to the depth of the matter. K'im ha-adam yistagel b'mitzva halazu, if a person accustoms himself with this mitzvah, la'harog u'l'hako'is b'cherev es anshei ha-ir ha-nidachas, to murder the residents of the ir ha-nidachas, im amnam m'kayem hu b'zeh mitzvas Hashem, although he albeit he's m'kayem the mitzvah, aval has sakanah g'dolah, the danger is very great. She'hu hafech tiv'o l'hiyos shofech dam. His nature will be transformed to desire to spill blood. Ki acharei she'yikayem es ha-mitzvos ha-zeh shel hakeh sakes yoshvei ha-ir ha-zeh, after you fulfill the mitzvah of killing out the residents of the city, b'chozeh lo yehefech tiv'o l'hiyos achzari. It will not change your personality. Al lo venasan l'rachamim, Instead, Hashem will give you mercy. Hashem Hashem will be mashlim the until you revert back to your original personality. Basically, the Hafetz Chaim is saying simple interpretation of the pasuk. The problem is by fulfilling that mitzvah, it's going to cause you to become an achzari. So, therefore, the Torah promises that it will fulfilling this mitzvah

Jump to a moment

1. 0:01Okay, good morning everyone. We're continuing Sefer Chofetz Chaim al ha-Torah. Parshas Re'eh. Smite the residents…
2. 0:31la'asos toyva v'chesed, if a person is accustomed to do good and kindness, hu notei'a b'libo…
3. 1:02depth of the matter. K'im ha-adam yistagel b'mitzva halazu, if a person accustoms himself with this…
4. 2:05Hashem will be mashlim the until you revert back to your original personality. Basically, the Hafetz…
5. 2:35won't change your nature. No, Hashem will be memalei your chesronin that Hashem will engender within…
6. 3:36the way it gets a foothold in a person is when a person eats on Yom…
7. 4:09So, I would have said, "That's true, only by the case of ir hanidachas." But, that…
8. 4:40l'maaseh, it's more specific to the case of ir hanidachas. I don't know if it's across…
9. 5:42Hashem. Ki yikneh kinyan b'nafshoi l'iyos az, afilu sh'lo l'iyos makom avodah sh'yei." >> So here…
10. 6:12by the case of there's no choice. The mission is you got to kill the person.…

Every second of this shiur plays inside Lehallel — a filtered YouTube library of Torah, music and shiurim. No ads, no comments, no autoplay.