Jewish audio on Chabad.org. Today's shiur will be in Masechet Sotah דף כ״ב, and we will start with the second line from the top of עמוד א׳. And the Gemara starts: איתמר, we learned, קרא ושנה ולא שימש תלמידי חכמים, if someone learned Mikra, learned Torah, and he learned Mishnayot, but he did not attend תלמידי חכמים, he did not serve תלמידי חכמים, he did not watch the behavior of תלמידי חכמים, רבי אלעזר אומר, רבי אלעזר says, הרי זה עם הארץ. This person is considered an am ha'aretz. In other words, all the dinim that apply to an am ha'aretz would apply to this person, too. And we find in Shas many times that there are certain dinim that apply to an am ha'aretz. Concerning טומאה וטהרה, we do not trust him concerning the dinim of טומאה וטהרה, also concerning תרומה ומעשר, we do not trust him that he took off the תרומה ומעשר, and many other dinim. So what Rabbi Elazar says is that if somebody just learned Mikra and Mishnah and did not משמש תלמידי חכמים, he is considered an am ha'aretz.

Rav Shmuel bar Nachmani אומר, Rav Shmuel bar Nachmani says, הרי זה בור, he is considered a bor, which is even worse than an am ha'aretz. Rabbi Yanai אומר, Rabbi Yanai says, הרי זה כותי, he has a din like a כותי. כותיים were those people who converted, and there is a she'eilah in Gemara whether they were real גרים, גירי צדק, they converted with the true intentions, or they were גירי אריות, since they were afraid of lions, they were in danger and that's why they converted. But whatever it is, they did not keep all the mitzvot. So many things we cannot rely on them because we know that they were not careful with it. And therefore the din is that you're not allowed to eat their bread, you're not allowed to drink their wine, the same as you're not allowed to eat the bread and drink the wine of a goy. So what he's saying here is that if a person only learns Mikra and Mishnah and was not משמש תלמידי חכמים, has the same din as a Kuti, because since he was not משמש the chachamim, so he is neither really not מקפיד on the words of the chachamim, he doesn't care about what the chachamim say, and the only reason he learned what he did learn was only to show himself as if he is a talmid chacham, but really he is not. And since he is not careful with the words of the תלמידי חכמים, therefore we cannot rely on his bread and rely on his wine, and therefore we're not allowed to eat his bread and drink his wine.

Rav Acha bar Yaakov אומר, Rav Acha bar Yaakov says, הרי זה מגוש, he is a מגוש, that means a magician. Just like a magician makes illusions, he tricks people, people think what he is doing is really true, and the truth is that it's not true, it's only an illusion. And the same is with this person, he is tricking the people. He makes himself look as if he is a talmid chacham, but since he was not משמש תלמידי חכמים, he really is not a talmid chacham. אמר Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak, Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said, מסתברא כרב אחא בר יעקב, that the sevara says like Rav Acha bar Yaakov. In other words, he seems to be saying the best pshat. דאמרי אינשי, because there is a saying that people say, רטין מגושא ולא ידע מאי אמר, that when the magician says his words to cause the magic, he doesn't know what he is saying. He only knows that when he says those words, it has the effect that the certain things happen, but he doesn't know what he is saying. And the same thing they say is, תני תנא ולא ידע מאי אמר. Someone who just learns Mishnayot, he's like a תנא, תנא means learning Mishnayot, but not being משמש תלמידי חכמים, not listening to what the chachamim say as the explanation of the Mishnah. In other words, he doesn't know the reasons behind the דינים of the Mishnah. So he also doesn't know what he is saying. So since the people say that a person who learns just Mishnayot without being משמש תלמידי חכמים is similar to the מגושא, to the magician, who also doesn't know what he is saying, so therefore it seems that Rav Acha bar Yaakov's pshat is the right pshat because it fits to the saying of what people say.

תנו רבנן, the רבנן learned, איזהו עם הארץ? Who is considered an am ha'aretz? And as we said before that an am ha'aretz is a person who was not careful with certain mitzvot, and therefore the chachamim were חושש, suspected him that he wasn't careful with טהרות, with the דינים of טומאה וטהרה, so therefore, when he touches something, we consider it טמא. They were also not careful with תרומות ומעשרות, to take off the different things you're supposed to take off from the crop and give it to the Kohen and to the Levi, etc. So the Chachamim did not trust the עמי הארצים that they took off תרומות ומעשרות. And therefore, if you buy or you take food from an am ha'aretz, you still have to take off again, and that is the דין of דמאי. Not everything do you have to take off, but there are certain parts of the מתנות כהונה ולויה that you must take off when you take food from the am ha'aretz. So he's going to explain who is considered an am ha'aretz. And he says, כל שאינו קורא קריאת שמע שחרית וערבית בברכותיה, someone someone who does not say the שמע in the morning and the evening with its proper ברכות, he is considered an עם הארץ. But if somebody does not learn, but nevertheless he knows and he leins the שמע in the morning and שמע in the evening, he is not considered an עם הארץ. דברי רבי מאיר, that is the opinion of רבי מאיר. וחכמים אומרים, and the חכמים say, כל שאינו מניח תפילין, someone who does not put on תפילין. ובן עזאי אומר, בן עזאי says, כל שאין לו ציצית בבגדו, someone who does not have ציצית in his garment. רבי יונתן בן יוסף אמר, רבי יונתן the son of יוסף said, כל שיש לו בנים ואינו מגדלם לתלמוד תורה, someone who has sons and does not raise them to learn תורה. אחרים אומרים, others say, אפילו קורא ושונה ולא שימש תלמידי חכמים, if someone even learned מקרא, learned תורה, and learned משנה, but he did not serve, did not attend תלמידי חכמים, and did not see their behavior, and did not listen to their explanations of the משנה, זהו עם הארץ, he is considered an עם הארץ. קרא ולא שנה, if he just learned מקרא and did not learn משנה at all, הרי זה בור, he is a בור, he is even worse than an עם הארץ. לא קרא ולא שנה, if he did learn not learn, not מקרא and not משנה, עליו הכתוב אומר, on this on this person the pasuk says, there's a pasuk in ירמיה ל"א it says, וזרעתי את בית ישראל ואת בית יהודה, השם says I will plant בית ישראל and בית יהודה, which means the Jewish nation, זרע אדם וזרע בהמה, seeds of human beings and seeds of a behemah. In other words, this person who did not learn anything, he is compared to a behemah. Then he continues to explain pesukim. It says in a pasuk in משלי, ירא את השם בני ומלך, he's speaking to his son so to speak, and he says, fear Hashem and fear the king, ועם שונים אל תתערב, and with שונים do not mix. Now, what does שונים mean? אמר Rabbi Yitzchak, so Rabbi Yitzchak said, אלו ששונים הלכות, that means those people that learn halachot, that learn the Mishnayot, but do not know the reasons behind the halachot, behind the Mishnayot, so do not mix with them. Because if you do not know the reason behind the Mishnah, then you will not know when to compare a din to that Mishnah and when not to compare, and it'll bring a person to פסקן wrong dinim, because he's going to compare in a false way. So the pasuk tells us do not mix with such people who only learn halachot, who only learn Mishnayot. Gemara asks, pshita, that is very simple. What other peshat could we have learned in this pasuk that you have to tell me that where it says that ועם שונים אל תתערב, it means do not mix with the people who learn halachot? That seems to be the simple peshat in the pasuk. But the Gemara says, no. מהו דתימא, I would have thought that שונים בחטא, what does it mean do not mix with the שונים? It doesn't come from the word שונים הלכות, from learning, but שונים comes from the word שני, which means doing again, repeating. And what the pasuk would mean to say is do not mix with the people who repeat their aveirot. וכדרב הונא, and this would be according to רב הונא. דאמר רב הונא, because רב הונא had said, כיון שעבר אדם עבירה ושנה בה, as soon as a person does an עבירה and then repeats it, הותרה לו, so to him it becomes as if it's permitted. In other words, now he will not be careful with it anymore, he will continue doing it, because since he repeated it a second time, it's as if he feels that you're allowed to do it. So we would think this is the peshat in the פסוק ועם שונים אל תתערב. קא משמע לן, so therefore he had to tell us, no, that the peshat in the pasuk is do not mix with those people who are שונים הלכות, who learn halachot without knowing the טעמי הלכות, the meaning and the reasons behind the halachot. Then the Gemara continues, תנא, we learned, התנאים מבלי עולם, the Tannaim, are the people from the Mishnayot, they are the ones that destroy the world. But the Gemara asks, מבלי עולם סלקא דעתך? How could you even have an hava amina, how could you think to say that the Tannaim are the ones that destroy the world? Chas v'shalom to say that Tannaim, who are the chachamim of the Mishnah, that they are the ones that destroy the world. אמר רבינא, so Ravina said, what did we mean when we said Tannaim? שמורים הלכה מתוך משנתם, that means those people who פסקן a din just from the Mishnayot. Because since you do not know the reason behind the din in the Mishnah, so you could פסקן a false din, because you will compare other cases falsely. And also, sometimes the Gemara explains that the din of the Mishnah is only a דעת יחיד, only an opinion of one person, and the halacha is not like that person. Also, we have to know according to who we pasken. Whenever there's an argument in the Mishnah, we have to know the halacha is like who. We also find that sometimes the Gemara says חסורי מחסרא והכי קתני, that the Mishnah needs an additional word, or an additional sentence to explain what the Mishnah means. But if a person does not learn Gemara, which means he does not know what the Chachamim said to explain the Mishnayot, Then he does not really know what the Mishnah is trying to tell us. So then you come to pasken false dinim, because you compare things to this case, and really if you would have known the reason, you'd know that you couldn't compare it to this case. So therefore he says that those people who pasken halachot directly from the Mishnayot, they are מבלי עולם, they destroy the world. תניא נמי הכי, we also learn in a Beraita like that: אמר רבי יהושע, רבי יהושע asked: וכי מבלי עולם הן? והלא מיישבי עולם הן! When we said that the Tannaim are the ones that destroy the world, he asked: How can you say that they destroy the world chas v'shalom? They are the ones that settle the world. שנאמר, because it says: הליכות עולם לו. Which means according to the פשוט פשט, that the ways of the world are to him. But the Gemara in Megillah and Niddah darshens: אל תקרי הליכות אלא הלכות. That the word הליכות should also be learned as the word halachot, which would mean that the one that learns halachot is הליכות עולם לו, the ways of the world are to him, which means he settles the world. He gives תוקף, he gives strength to the world. So how can we say that the Tannaim are the ones that destroy the world, when we see here that through learning halachot, which means through learning Mishnayot, so you bring the world to a תוקף, you make the world stronger, and not chas v'shalom you destroy it? אלא, the Gemara answers, the פשט is, שמורין הלכה מתוך משנתן, refers to those people who pasken a din from the Mishnah. To learn halachot, learn Mishnayot is very great, and you bring ישוב העולם. But if you פסקן a דין from the Mishnah without knowing the reasons given in the Gemara, given by the חכמים, then you destroy the world, as we explained before. It's

important to note that when we speak about the דין of an עם הארץ, Tosafot explains here that there are many levels in עם הארץ, and not concerning every level of עם הארץ would be the same דין. For instance, Tosafot says there is a certain level of an עם הארץ that we don't even trust his עדות. If he will testify in Beit Din, we will not accept his עדות. Then there is a level of an עם הארץ that we do accept his עדות, but we just would not trust him concerning תרומות ומעשרות, and concerning טהרות. Then there is another level of עם הארץ: a person who could be trusted in תרומות ומעשרות and טהרות, just that when there is a דין that certain things we must buy only from a מומחה, only from an expert, he would not be considered a מומחה, he would not be considered an expert, and we shouldn't buy it from him. But other things we do trust him. And therefore Tosafot says, we find in different places in the Gemara different descriptions for what an עם הארץ is, because the different Gemaras refer to different levels of an עם הארץ. Then we will continue in the Gemara where it goes on to explain the Mishnah. It said in the Mishnah that one of those people who is מבלה עולם, who destroys the world, is אשה פרושה וכולי, a woman who is a פרושה, which means a woman who makes herself very, very religious. And the Gemara says תנו רבנן, the Rabbanan learned:

בתולה צלנית, a girl who constantly davens, makes herself look as if she is so, so frum that she constantly davens, or אלמנה שובבית, an אלמנה, a widow who goes from neighbor to neighbor, is very friendly to all the neighbors, וקטן שלא כלו לו חדשיו, and a child that his months were not up yet, and the Gemara will explain what that means, הרי אלו מבלי עולם, these are the people who destroy the world. And the Gemara asks: איני? Is it not so? How can we say that? והאמר רבי יוחנן, didn't Rabbi Yochanan say: למדנו יראת חטא מבתולה, we were able to learn out the fear of a sin, to become a yerei Shamayim from a certain girl, וקיבול שכר מאלמנה, and we could learn out the way of receiving rewards from a certain almanah, from a certain widow. And he explains what this case was: yirat chet מבתולה, to learn out yirat chet, the fear of sin from this girl, what's the story? דרבי יוחנן שמע לה לההיא בתולה, רבי יוחנן heard this girl, דנפלה אאפה, she fell on her face, ואמרה, and she said, she was speaking to השם, and she said: רבונו של עולם, creator of the world, בראת גן עדן ובראת גיהנם, you created the גן עדן and you created the גיהנם, בראת צדיקים ובראת רשעים, you created צדיקים and you created רשעים. The צדיקים will be the ones to get the גן עדן, and the רשעים will be the ones to get the גיהנם. יהי רצון מלפניך, let it be the will in front of you, שלא יכשלו בי בני אדם, that people should not stumble over me, people should not lose their גן עדן because of me. So here we see this girl who was really afraid of aveirot, and really afraid that people should not lose their schar, not lose their Gan Eden because of her. So from her we could learn out how careful a person should be from doing an aveirah. וקיבול שכר מאלמנה, we could learn out the receiving of reward from a certain almanah, a certain widow: דההיא אלמנה, there was this widow, דהוה בי כנישתא בשבבותה, there was a shul in her neighborhood, but still, כל יומא, every day אתיא ומצליא בי מדרשא דרבי יוחנן. Every day she would come and daven in the shul, in the yeshiva of Rabbi Yochanan. אמר לה, so he said to her, בתי, my daughter, לאו בית הכנסת בשיבבותיך, isn't there a shul in your neighborhood? אמרה ליה, she said to him, רבי, my רבי, ולא שכר פסיעות יש, isn't there such a thing as reward for the steps? In other words, if I walk further to shul, I will get more reward. For every step I take extra, I will get another reward. So we see from her how a person should do things to get more reward. So how can the Gemara say before that from a betulah, a girl who daven a lot, and an almanah who is very friendly, we say we call them מכלים עולם, they are the ones that destroy the world, when רבי יוחנן said, "Look, we could learn out יראת חטא from that girl, and we could learn out קבלת שכר from that almanah." And the Gemara answers, כי קאמר, when did he say that they are מכלים עולם, they are the ones who destroy the world? כגון יוכני בת רטיבי. He means an almanah like Yochni bat Retivi. And as Rashi explains, there was this woman called Yochni bat Retivi, the daughter of Retivi, and she really was a mechashefah, she was a magician. And what she used to do was that when a woman was going to give birth, she would, through her kishuf, through her magic, cause that it should be a lot of hardships and the woman should not be able to give birth. Then she would come into the house and make herself like a whole tzadeket and ask, "Do you want me to be mitpalel, to daven for you to Hashem that he should help you?" And when they would say yes, she would go out of the house and she would remove all her kishuf, all her magic, and automatically the woman would right away give birth, and she would come back and say, "Yes, I daven to Hashem." And people would think that her tefilah was the one that helped that the woman should be able to give birth. A woman like that is what we mean that she is מכלים עולם, she is from those that destroy the world. And the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Likkutei Sichot in Parashat Chayei Sarah explains that this is the reason why she was called Yochni, because what she tried to show was that the birth that the woman gave was through a nes, that she was the one that performed a miracle through her tefilah, she caused a nes that the woman should be able to give birth. And that is the reason why she called herself Yochni, because the Gemara says in Berakhot דף נ"ז עמוד א' that הרואה הונא בחלום, נס נעשה לו. יוחנן, ניסי ניסים נעשו לו. If someone sees the word הונא in his dream, he should expect nisim, miracles to happen to him. If someone sees the word יוחנן in his dream, should expect nisei nisim, which means miracles within miracles, very great miracles. Because the word Yochanan has two נונ''ס, the word Huna has one נו''ן. And the peshat in the Gemara there is a word with a נו''ן, if you see that in your dream, that represents miracles. And therefore she called herself Yochni, a word with a נו''ן, to show that she could perform miracles. Plus, she wanted to show that she could perform miracles concerning giving birth of children, therefore she called herself Yochni because there is a pasuk that says הילדים אשר חנן אלקים את עבדך. So we see the Torah uses the word chanan concerning yeladim. So she wanted to show that she is able to perform miracles concerning the birth of children, therefore she called herself Yochni, which has both. It comes from the word chanan, and it also it has a נו''ן in it, which is a remez, a hint, for miracles. Then the Gemara continues, מאי קטן שלא כלו לו חדשיו? What did we mean when we mentioned before a child that his months were not up and he is one of those who destroy the world? What does that mean? The Gemara says, הכא תרגימו, here they interpreted it, זה תלמיד חכם המבעט ברבותיו, it's a talmid chacham who rebels against his teachers. And the reason he is called a child that his months were not up, as Rashi explains, because the Gemara says in Chagigah דף ה' that a person who rebels against his teachers will not live long, and therefore he is called a child whose months are not up, his time is not up because he will die young. Then the Gemara continues, רבא אמר, but Rava said, זה תלמיד שלא הגיע להוראה ומורה, it's a talmid who did not reach the level of having the authority to פסקן דינים, and nevertheless he פסקנס. And therefore he is considered a child whose months are not up because he is still young, he is still a talmid only without reaching the level of being able to פסקן, and that's why we say his months were not up yet, and nevertheless he פסקנס. And that's how we say he destroys the world, because he will פסקן שלא כדין, he will פסקן false. דאמר רב אבהו אמר רב הונא אמר רב, because Rav Avahu said in the name of Rav Huna in the name of רב, מאי דכתיב, what is the meaning of the pasuk that says, it's a pasuk in Mishlei ז', פסוק כ"ז, כי רבים חללים הפילה ועצומים כל הרוגיה. This refers to a זונה or to an

אשה זרה, to a strange woman, that what she causes is that רבים חללים הפילה, many dead bodies she drops, in other words she causes many people to die, ועצומים כל הרוגיה, meaning that there are many of those people that she killed. So, the Gemara דרשנ'ס what does that mean, כי רבים חללים הפילה? When the Torah says that many חללים she dropped, which means many people died because of hers, זה תלמיד חכם שלא הגיע להוראה ומורה. That refers to a תלמיד חכם who did not reach the level of being able to פסקן, and nevertheless he פסקנ'ס. And, as Rashi says, the word הפילה also comes from the word nefel. Nefel means a child who is born and does not live, like a miscarriage. So, what the פסוק says here that you could have a person who is like a child שלא כלו לו חדשיו, his months were not up yet, and he is a child that is not going to live. And that, as we said before, refers to a תלמיד חכם who is not able to פסקן, and nevertheless he פסקנ'ס. So, what the פסוק says that that could cause many people to die, it could cause a lot of damage. And then the other part of the פסוק, where it says ועצומים כל הרוגיה, that many are those that she killed, זה תלמיד חכם שהגיע להוראה, that refers to a תלמיד חכם who did reach the level and has the authority of פסקנ'ינג, ואינו מורה, and he doesn't פסקן. So, that also causes people to die, which means it causes a lot of damage because he does not פסקן the דינים that he is able to פסקן. And how do we see that this פסוק refers to that person? So, Rashi says because the word עצומים comes also from the word עוצם עיניו, closing his eyes, that means a person who is able to open his eyes, able to open his mouth, and able to פסקן, and nevertheless he closes his eyes and his mouth, and doesn't פסקן, he also causes that people should die, which means he causes a lot of damage. And then the Gemara asks: ועד כמה? Till what age? In other words, at what age can a person become an authority to פסקן דינים? So, the Gemara says: עד ארבעים שנין, up to 40 years. In other words, when you become 40 years old, that's when you're able to פסקן a דין. And the Gemara asks: איני, is that not so? והא רבה אורי, didn't Rabbah pasken? And we know that Rabbah died at the age of 40, so obviously he paskened before he was 40. So, how could you say that you only could start פסקנ'ינג דינים at the age of 40? The Gemara answers: בשוין, that this was a special case. This was when they were equal, that the greatest people of the city were not greater than him, he was equal in greatness to them. In a case like that, even though he was under 40, he was able to pasken. But if you have people who are greater than you, then if you are under 40, you are not allowed to pasken. This is the way Rashi learns the פשט in the last two lines of the Gemara. But

Tosafos learns differently. Tosafos learns when the Gemara says ועד כמה? עד ארבעים שנין, first of all, it does not mean 40 years from the person being born, which means 40 years of age, but it means 40 years from when you heard the din that you are going to pasken. And he quotes the Gemara in Avodah Zarah, where it says that when it says in the תורה ולא נתן ה' לכם לב לדעת עד היום הזה, Moshe Rabbeinu was speaking to the Yidden before he passed away, and he says: Hashem' did not give you a heart to understand up to this day. From there we learn out that it takes 40 years for a talmid to understand fully what his teacher told him. And that's why Moshe Rabbeinu said to them at the end of the 40 years that up to now Hashem' did not give you the heart to understand, but now that the 40 years are up, you're able to understand. So, we see that it doesn't have to do with the 40 years of age, but it has to do with the 40 years from when you heard the din that you are going to pasken. And the second thing, when the Gemara answers בשוין, that the reason Rabbah was able to pasken was because they were equals, and we said that Rashi learns the פשט is that when he is equal to the people, the greatest people of the town, then he is allowed to pasken even if he is under 40, Tosafos learns differently. Tosafos learns that when the Gemara answered בשוין, that wasn't the reason why Rabbah was able to pasken, but that goes back to the din that up to 40 you're not allowed to. That when are you not allowed to pasken under 40? If you are only equal to the greatest people of your town. So, since there are other people that are just as great as you and they are over 40, so they should pasken and you should not pasken. But when a person is greater than the other people of the town, then he is allowed to pasken even under 40. And that's what the Gemara answers. When the Gemara asks that, how could you tell me that you're only allowed to פסקן after 40, and when רבה פסקנ'ד? So, the Gemara answered that when we said you're not allowed to פסקן under 40 בשוין, that's only if you're equal. But Rabbah, he was greater than the greatest people of his town, and therefore he was allowed to פסקן even though he was under 40. And now we'll continue with the Gemara. The

Gemara goes back to the Mishnah to explain the last part of the Mishnah. It said in the Mishnah: ומכות פרושין וכולי, that one of those that are מכלה עולם, that destroy the world, is מכות פרושין, which means the מכות, the plagues of the פרושים. The Gemara says: תנו רבנן, the רבנן learned: שבעה פרושין הן, there are seven types of פרושים, seven types of people who want to show that they are very religious, and really they are not. And the Gemara mentions the names of the seven categories, and then the Gemara will go on to explain each one. פרוש שכמי, פרוש נקפי, פרוש קיזאי, פרוש מדוכיא, פרוש מה חובתי ואעשנה, this means he's a פרוש saying, "What is my obligation, and I will do it?" And the Gemara will explain why that is no good. פרוש מאהבה, if he is a פרוש, he's religious out of love, פרוש מיראה, if he's a פרוש out of fear. And now the Gemara will explain each one of these groups. פרוש שכמי, what does that mean? זה העושה מעשה שכם. The word שכמי comes from the word Shechem, meaning that is a person who acts like the people of Shechem. When the people of Shechem circumcised, they didn't do it לשם שמים because they wanted to fulfill the mitzvah of milah, but it was שלא לשם שמים, since the only way Shimon ve-Levi said they would allow Dinah to remain with them would be if they would circumcise themselves. So because of that, they fulfilled the mitzvah of milah, so it was not לשם שמים. So a person who does the mitzvot not לשם שמים, he is considered a פרוש שכמי. פרוש נקפי, what is a פרוש נקפי? זה המנקף את רגליו, it's the one that knocks his feet together. And as Rashi explains, it means he walks with exaggerated humility. He walks so slow, and he doesn't pick his feet up from the ground, and because of that his toes always hit rocks, and he wants to show that he is a very, very religious person, he is very humble. And that person is called a פרוש נקפי. Then we go on, פרוש קיזאי. אמר רב נחמן בר יצחק, so Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said, what is that? זה המקיז דם לכתלים, a person who draws blood for the walls. And as Rashi explains, what does that mean? That he makes himself as if he doesn't want to look at women, so he walks with closed eyes and he bangs into the walls and it bleeds onto the walls. And really, he is not sincere in what he is doing, and therefore he is called a פרוש קיזאי. פרוש מדוכיא, what is a פרוש מדוכיא? אמר רבה בר שילא, so Rabbah bar Sheila said, דמשפע כי מדוכיא, that he walks bent over like the head of a pestle, which is made like a hammer, and he wants to show that he is very religious and he's bent over, he makes himself very humble, but really he is not sincere about it. Then the Gemara continues, פרוש מה חובתי ואעשנה, he's a פרוש constantly saying, "What is my obligation and let me do it?" So the Gemara asks, הא מעליותא היא, isn't isn't this a מעליותא, isn't this good? Why do we consider this also one of those who is מבלי עולם, who destroys the world? אלא, so the Gemara says, but the pshat must be דאמר, he says, מה חובתי תו ואעשנה, what else is my obligation, let me do it? In other words, he claims that he already fulfilled completely all his obligation, and what else can I do now? So a person like that is a very big baal gaavah, and therefore he is one of those who is מבלי עולם. Then the Gemara continues that there are other two, פרוש מאהבה, פרוש מיראה, the one that's religious because of love, and the one that's פרוש, he's very religious because of fear. And as Rashi explains, it means that he loves the reward for the mitzvot, or he fears the punishment he will get for doing aveirot, but they don't do it because they love Hashem' or they fear Hashem', it is because they want the reward and are afraid of the punishment.

אמרו ליה אביי ורבא לתנא, אביי and Rava said to the Tanna, to the one that was teaching this Mishnah, they said to him, לא תיתני פרוש מאהבה פרוש מיראה, do not teach, do not learn also these two amongst those who destroy the world. These two should be omitted. Why? דאמר רב יהודה אמר רב, because Rav Yehuda said in the name of רב, לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצות אפילו שלא לשמה, a person should always involve himself in learning Torah and doing mitzvot, even if it's not lishmah, which means not for the sake of the Torah and the mitzvot themselves, but for his personal benefits, because שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה, because from doing it shelo lishmah, first doing it not for its own sake, he will eventually reach that he will start doing it for its own sake. So therefore, you cannot say that if someone does the mitzvot and does not do aveirot because he wants the reward and he is afraid of the punishment, not because he loves Hashem' or has fear of Hashem', that those are the people who destroy the world. Because Rav Yehuda amar Rav said that a person, if he cannot reach the level of doing the מצות לשמה, should still continue doing it shelo lishmah. So how can we say that people like that destroy the world? And therefore Abaye veRava said to him, you should take it out from the Mishnah. אמר רב נחמן בר יצחק, Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said, דמטמרא מטמרא, ודמגליא מגליא, what is hidden is hidden, and what is revealed is revealed. that we human beings could only see what is revealed. We do not know what goes on in someone's heart. We do not know if someone is a hypocrite or not. When he does mitzvot and he acts as if he's a צדיק, we do not know what is in his heart, whether he is really a צדיק or not. But בית דינא רבא, the great בית דין, which refers to the heavenly court, לאיפרע, they will punish מהני דחפו גונדי, from those that cover themselves in their cloak. Those people who are not תוכו כברו, who are not inside, inward, as they are outside, and they are hypocrites, so the בית דין של מעלה will punish them. In other words, you could hide from human beings, but you cannot hide anything from the בית דין של מעלה. Then the Gemara continues,

אמר ליה ינאי מלכא לדביתיה, Yanai the king said to his wife, and as Rashi explains, that the פרושים, the חכמים, the very religious people, hated Yanai because he killed many of the חכמים, and also he himself turned into a צדוקי, as the Gemara says in Kiddushin דף ס''ו. So before he passed away, his wife was afraid that they shouldn't cause her children to give up the מלוכה, to give up the kingship. So she said to him that he should ask them that they should not harm her. So he said to her, אל תתייראי מן הפרושין, do not be afraid of the פרושים, of the very religious people who are really religious, because they will not harm you. Since they are great people, they will not repay you with bad even though I did bad to them. And also, ולא ממי שאינן פרושין, do not be afraid of those people who are openly not פרושים, openly not very religious, because they were his friends, so there's nothing to be afraid of them. אלא מן הצבועין, you should be afraid of the hypocrites, of those people שדומין לפרושין, that they seem to be like פרושים, they try to imitate the פרושים, שמעשיהן כמעשה זמרי ומבקשין שכר כפנחס. They do and act like Zimri and want reward like Pinchas. Like we find in Chumash, that Zimri was the one that did an aveirah with the Midianite Kozbi bas Tzur. Pinchas was the one that killed them, and because of that Hashem' stopped the plague and rewarded Pinchas. So these people, quietly, hiddenly, they act like Zimri, they do the aveirot, but they want reward like Pinchas, they want people to honor them like Pinchas. So from people like that, Yannai said to his wife, you have to be afraid. You don't know what they're up to, what they're able to do to you. Concerning the seven categories of פרושים that we mentioned before, who are amongst those who are מבלי עולם, who destroy the world, so the Gemara gave their names, and gave an explanation to each one of them.

Tosafot quotes from Yerushalmi a different explanation to the seven categories of פרושים. The first one, which is פרוש שכמי, so the Yerushalmi says that שכמי comes from the word שכם, which means shoulder. And פרוש שכמי means that they are very religious, and they carry their religion on their shoulders, which means they try to show off that they are very religious, so everyone should see, just like when you carry a package on your shoulder. And that's why these are from the מבלי עולם, they destroy the world. The second one, פרוש נקפי, according to the Yerushalmi, comes from the word אקיף, which means wait, that's a person who says, wait for me a moment, I have another mitzvah to do. So again, he's trying to show off that he does the mitzvot. פרוש קיזאי, according to the Yerushalmi means, קיזאי means to calculate, it's a פרוש who calculates. In other words, he does a mitzvah and does an aveirah, he thinks that one will outweigh the other. So if he does an aveirah, and afterwards he does a mitzvah, he thinks that the mitzvah will cover up on the aveirah that he did. The next one is, as by us the girsa, פרוש מדוכיא, but in the Yerushalmi the girsa, פרוש מנכייא, which נכייא comes from the word deduction, so he says, whatever I have, I will deduct a little bit of it for a mitzvah. Even though I only have a small amount of money, I will still take off from it in order to do a mitzvah. And this is another way of showing off that he does mitzvot. The other one is פרוש that מה חובתי ואעשנה, so the Yerushalmi says again, that he says, tell me what עבירות I did so I should be able to do teshuvah for it, I should be able to do a mitzvah against it. And concerning the last two, פרוש יראה and פרוש אהבה, it seems from the Yerushalmi that these two are good. פרוש יראה, the Yerushalmi says, was like Iyov, and פרוש אהבה was like Avraham Avinu. And it says the best level is the level of Avraham Avinu, because Avraham Avinu is called אברהם אוהבי, Avraham who is my lover, who loved Hashem' and did the mitzvot just because he loved Hashem'. Concerning the כלל the Gemara gave, that לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות אפילו שלא לשמה, שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה, so

Tosafot here explains that not all kinds of shelo lishmah is acceptable. Tosafot here quotes from different places where we say that a person should not learn shelo lishmah. For instance, the Gemara says in Ta'anit: כל העוסק בתורה שלא לשמה נעשית לו סם המוות. If someone learns Torah shelo lishmah, not for its sake, it becomes for him as poison. The Gemara says in Berachot: כל העוסק בתורה שלא לשמה, נוח לו שלא נברא. It's better as if he wouldn't have been created. So this seems to be a contradiction with our Gemara where it says a person should learn Torah shelo lishmah. And therefore, Tosafot says that not all kinds of shelo lishmah are acceptable. When we say in our Gemara that a person should learn Torah shelo lishmah, here shelo lishmah means he doesn't do it for the sake of Hashem, he does it because he wants the reward. In other words, he does it because it's a mitzvah, but the reason he wants to do the mitzvah of Hashem is because he knows he will gain by that mitzvah. But he is doing it as a mitzvah of Hashem. But when the Gemara over there says that a person should not learn Torah shelo lishmah, that's if he is learning Torah not in order to do the mitzvot. He is learning Torah because he wants to learn Torah, and he keeps in mind that he will still not keep the mitzvot. A person like that should better not learn Torah, because he is doing it for the opposite reason why he should learn Torah. As the Gemara says there, דתכלית חכמה תשובה ומעשים טובים. The תכלית of chochmah, the learning Torah, is to do teshuvah, to do good deeds. But if he learns Torah not intending to do the mitzvot, then on this person we say, better that he shouldn't have learned. This is a difference that Tosafot makes here. Tosafot in Berakhot makes a different difference. Tosafot there says that there is a person who learns Torah in order that he should get כבוד. That's shelo lishmah. Since he wants to be called Rav, he wants to be called a talmid chacham, he wants to get honor, therefore he learns Torah. So there we say that let him learn Torah for that reason, shelo lishmah, because eventually he will get to lishmah. When we say that it's better he shouldn't learn shelo lishmah, that's if he learns לקנתר חבירו. The reason he learns is because he wants to show his friends that he knows better, he wants to argue with them, he wants to use the Torah for a bad reason. In a case like that we say that better he shouldn't have learned Torah. And the truth is we can even go a step further, that even when you don't learn for an opposite reason, you're learning it just shelo lishmah because you want to gain by the learning of Torah for your own personal benefits, there is also a difference when you're allowed to do it and when you're not allowed to do it. As it's explained in detail in the Kuntres Acharon of Hilchot Talmud Torah from the Alter Rebbe, from the Baal HaTanya in his Hilchot Talmud Torah, and there he explains that when a person learns Torah in order to receive reward, which is not for an opposite reason, but it is shelo lishmah, there are also two categories. If a person learns because he wants to get the reward Hashem will give him, being that he knows that Hashem rewards a person for learning Torah, therefore he learns Torah to get the reward, that is also called shelo lishmah, because you should really be learning Torah because it's a mitzvah, not because you're going to get reward. But nevertheless, here we say that a person should nevertheless learn Torah, because לעולם יעסוק בתורה שלא לשמה, because שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. But if a person learns Torah not because of the reward Hashem will give him for learning Torah, but he's learning Torah to use that Torah to make a parnasa, a livelihood from that Torah, in other words, he himself is going to take a reward, a benefit from his learning Torah, here we say a person should not do that. A person should not learn Torah for that sake, because this already enters the category where we say that a person should not make it for a קרדום לחפור בה. It says in Pirkei Avot that a person should not אל תעשה התורה לא להתגדל בה ולא קרדום לחפור בה. He shouldn't make the Torah a crown to become great with it, or a shovel to cut with it, to dig with it. In other words, do not use the Torah for your own parnasa. So even though it's shelo lishmah, and by shelo lishmah we say a person could learn Torah shelo lishmah, but if it's a shelo lishmah that he wants people should give him, or he wants to take himself, but not the shelo lishmah of Hashem giving him his reward, that is something a person shouldn't do. But nevertheless he says there that מי שאין לו יראת שמים ללמוד לשמה, if someone doesn't have enough יראת שמים to learn תורה לשמה, אלא להתגדל או להתפרנס, the only way he's able to learn is if that will give him the feeling that he will become big, he will take greatness for himself, or he will use the Torah for parnasa, which we said before a person shouldn't do, still, if a person has no יראת שמים to be any better than that, he says

מוטב שיעסוק בתורה שלא לשמה משיתבטל ויפרוש. It's better at least let him learn shelo lishmah, let him learn for that reason, better than not learning Torah at all. But if he learns Torah for an opposite kavana, he learns as Tosafot says לקנתר, in order to argue with his friends, Or he learns not with the intention of doing the mitzvot, there we say better he shouldn't learn. And as the Gemara says, that if you learn תורה שלא לשמה, נעשה לו סם המות, it becomes like poison, and also that נוח לו שלא נברא, it's better if he wouldn't have been created, because here, not only is he learning shelo lishmah, not for its right sake, but he's learning for an opposite reason, a reason which is against the Torah itself. Since we are discussing this maamar Chazal of לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות שלא לשמה, שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה, let's go a little bit deeper into it. What is really the reason why a person should learn Torah even if it's shelo lishmah? So the Gemara, b'pashtut, gives the reason, because even though now it is shelo lishmah, eventually he is going to get to lishmah. And as the Rambam explains in הלכות תשובה פרק י׳ הלכה ב׳, and more in detail in his Perush Hamishnayot in Masechet Sanhedrin, in the hakdamah to Perek Chelek, that this is the order of a person's avodat Hashem. We cannot expect a person to reach the level of lishmah right away. He must go by step by step. First you are in the level of shelo lishmah, you do the מצוות שלא לשמה, and then eventually you're able to reach the level of lishmah. And as he gives the mashal there of a child, that you can't expect the child to learn Torah just because there is a mitzvah to learn Torah. So first thing you do is you promise the child candies, and then when he gets older you promise the child a pair of shoes, when he gets older you promise the child money, then you promise the child kavod, and then eventually he will reach to the level that he will understand that you have to learn Torah just because there is a mitzvah of learning Torah. And the same is with every person: you can't expect a person to reach the level of lishmah right away. You must go through stages. First you are on the level of shelo lishmah, then eventually you get to the level of lishmah. But in חסידישע ספרים it's explained that when the Gemara says שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה, the peshat is not only mitoch shelo lishmah, through the shelo lishmah, because he will do shelo lishmah, then he will get to lishmah, but what they explain is that mitoch shelo lishmah, the toch, the inside, the penimiyut, the inner part of the shelo lishmah, really is lishmah. That even though you think you are doing it shelo lishmah, but this is just a superficial feeling. The true thing is is that while you are doing it shelo lishmah, essentially it is lishmah. And they quote the Rambam at the end of the second פרק in Hilchot Gerushin.

There the Rambam speaks about a get, that if על פי הלכה a person must divorce his wife, so the din is כופין אותו עד שיאמר רוצה אני, that the beit din would force until he says, "I want." And the Rambam asks the kashya, don't we know that you're only able to divorce your wife b'ratzon, willingly? If a person is forced to divorce his wife, the get is not a get. So how can we say here that the beit din is able to force the person to divorce his wife? And the Rambam says that be'emet every Yid has the ratzon, wants to do all the mitzvot, and wants to להתרחק מן העבירות, wants to stay away from aveirot. Every Yid, even those people that say that they don't want to do the mitzvot, essentially they do want to do the mitzvot. It is only that יצרו הוא שתקפו, the yetzer hara is the one that overpowered the person, and is forcing the person to go against his own true will. When the beit din forces the person to give the get, what they're really doing is they're forcing off the force of the yetzer hara. And what happens, what is revealed? The true ratzon of the Yid, the true will of the Yid, which is to do the mitzvot. And since על פי דין, על פי תורה he must divorce his wife, so really he wants to divorce his wife, even if he says he doesn't want, because when he says he doesn't want, it's only his yetzer hara that's forcing him to say that. And the beit din takes off that force through their force, and what comes out is his true will, which is the will to do all the mitzvot. In other words, that even though superficially a Yid would say he does not want to do the mitzvah, in essence he wants to do the mitzvah. And the same applies here too, that even when a Yid learns Torah or does מצוות שלא לשמה, he thinks it's shelo lishmah because his yetzer hara is forcing him to do it shelo lishmah, but essentially, since he wants to do all the mitzvot and stay away from the aveirot, he wants to do what Hashem wants, and since Hashem wants him to learn lishmah, essentially he also wants to learn lishmah. So that's the peshat in the גמרא, מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה, that the תוך of the shelo lishmah is really the lishmah, the inside, the inner part, the essence of the shelo lishmah, even though it's by him shelo lishmah, really it is lishmah. Really he wants to learn because there is a mitzvah to learn Torah, and there is a ציווי of Hashem, a commandment of Hashem to do all the mitzvot. באמת they go even a step further, because according to the pshat we have just said, the words מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה, that the תוך of the shelo lishmah is really lishmah, it really really mean that the תוך of a yid, the inside, the פנימיות, the inner part of a yid, is to do everything lishmah. But the לשון in the Gemara is mitoch shelo lishmah, that the תוך, the inner part of the shelo lishmah itself, is lishmah.

How is that? The shelo lishmah, which means that let's say he learns Torah in order to make a living. He learns Torah so Hashem will give him money, give him health, give him parnasah, etc. How is the inner part of the shelo lishmah itself lishmah? What it should have said is that the inner part of the yid is not shelo lishmah, but lishmah, because essentially a yid wants to do the right thing. But the לשון of the Gemara seems to be saying that the inner part of the shelo lishmah itself, of his intentions which are shelo lishmah, those intentions themselves are really lishmah. Now how is that? So the Chassidishe seforim go on to explain that in the shelo lishmah itself there is a possibility to say that the inner part of it is lishmah. The shelo lishmah, for instance, means that he is doing it because he wants health. He knows Hashem will give him a reward, he will have health, he will have money, etc. The reason why a person should want to have health, or want to have money, or want to have all his other physical needs, can be for two reasons. A person can want it because his body needs it. He wants to be healthy because his body needs health. He needs money because his body needs money. He needs food because his body needs food. Then there is another reason. The highest level of a Yid is when he realizes that why should he want to have all his physical needs? Because that will enable him to serve Hashem. As the Rambam says in Hilchos De'os that היות הגוף בריא ושלם מדרכי השם הוא, that for a person to be healthy is from the ways of Hashem, that's how you serve Hashem. If a person is not healthy, he cannot serve Hashem. He cannot learn Torah, he cannot do mitzvot, he is sick. So why does he need health? He should be able to serve Hashem. Why does he need food? He should be able to be healthy and serve Hashem, he should be able to fulfill the mitzvah of making a berachah, fulfill the mitzvah of bentshing. Why does he need money? He should be able to buy a nice pair of tefillin, he should be able to pay tuition and give his children a good Jewish education, he should be able to give a lot of tzedakah, etc. So when you look at gashmiyut, at all your physical needs, because that is a means of serving Hashem, really this is lishmah. If a person would learn Torah knowing that Hashem would give him his reward, and that would enable him to do the mitzvot, enable him to serve Hashem, this is a level of lishmah. And more than that, there is a possibility for a person to want a reward for learning Torah so other people should also learn Torah. He wants people to see that when you learn Torah, you get rewarded, because many people will not learn Torah if they did not get a reward. So he wants to get the reward so people will see that learning Torah brings a reward, so they will learn Torah, too. In other words, he wants the reward because that will bring a Kiddush Hashem. So the shelo lishmah itself, which is doing the mitzvot and learning Torah for the sake of getting a reward, that itself could be a lishmah. So that is the pshat, they say, in the מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה, that the תוך, the inner part of the shelo lishmah itself is lishmah. Since the תוך of every Yid, the inner part of every Yid, the essence of every Yid, wants to do the right thing, and the right thing is that even when you want a reward, the reward should be also for the sake of serving Hashem, then the shelo lishmah itself should be lishmah. So that is what the Gemara says, that a person should learn Torah and do מצוות שלא לשמה, שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה, because the תוך, the inner part of the shelo lishmah, really is lishmah. And since a Yid wants to do the right thing, so even when he has the shelo lishmah, the shelo lishmah itself essentially is lishmah. And that's why Hashem wants Yidden to learn Torah and do mitzvot even if it's shelo lishmah, because b'emet, the shelo lishmah itself is lishmah. And even though the person does not feel that, when he learns Torah shelo lishmah, he feels really shelo lishmah, he does it for the sake of reward, not realizing that a reward really in itself is a way of serving Hashem. But nevertheless, his neshamah, the essence of the Yid which is a neshamah, really feels that. And they

quote a pshat of the Baal Shem Tov and a pasuk in Tehillim קז ה, where it says רעבים גם צמאים נפשם בהם תתעטף, that those that are hungry and those that are thirsty, their nefesh is involved in it. And the Baal Shem Tov said that when a person is thirsty and when a person is hungry, he thinks that his body is involved. The reason he is hungry and thirsty because his body needs the food and his body needs the drink. But in truth, since when you eat and you drink, you're able to serve Hashem, so his neshamah really wants the food, really wants the drink in order to serve Hashem. So he might think superficially that he wants the food and the drink because that's a physical need of his body. The truth is essentially it's his neshamah that is involved. here that wants to serve Hashem through the food and the drink. And that's what the pasuk means, רעבים גם צמאים, when you're hungry and thirsty, נפשם בהם תתעטף, the nefesh is the one that's involved here, the neshamah is involved, not only the body. It's only a superficial thing that the body feels that it wants food and drink. B'emet it's the neshamah that wants to serve Hashem through the food and the drink. And a similar thing is here, too, that when a person does a mitzvah shelo lishmah for the sake of reward, really what's in that reward is the truly lishmah, which is that the reward itself is in order to serve Hashem, which is the real lishmah. And that's why a person should learn even if it is shelo lishmah, a person should do mitzvot even if it's shelo lishmah, because the toch of the shelo lishmah is lishmah.

Based on that, they also answer a famous question. It says in פסוק פרשת לך לך ט״ו א׳ that Hashem said to Avraham, ״אל תירא אברם אנכי מגן לך שכרך הרבה מאד.״ Avraham, do not be afraid, I will protect you, your reward is very great. And Rashi explains that Avraham Avinu was afraid that since Hashem did many miracles to him, He killed those מלכים that he had a war with, etc., so he thought, ״שמא קבלתי שכר על כל צדקותי,״ maybe I received my reward for all my צדקות? Hashem said to him, ״Do not be afraid.״ You're afraid, ״אתה דואג על קבול שכרך,״ you're afraid about your reward? Don't worry, ״שכרך הרבה מאד,״ your sachar, your reward is very great. So the mefarshim ask a kashya: how can we say that Avraham Avinu was worried about his reward? Avraham definitely did everything lishmah. And as a matter of fact, the Rambam, when he wants to give an example of somebody who reached the highest level of lishmah, as the Rambam calls it in Hilchot Teshuvah that we mentioned before, פרק י׳ הלכה ב׳, and in Perush Hamishnayot in Perek Chelek, he calls it עובד מאהבה, someone who serves Hashem out of love of Hashem, so he says that is the level of אברהם, אברהם אוהבי. So how can Rashi say that Avraham Avinu was afraid maybe he won't get reward, when Avraham did not do his צדקות in order to get reward? But based on what we said before, that is answered, too. We said before that it's a possibility for a person to do mitzvot and learn Torah in order to get reward, and nevertheless, that should be considered lishmah if he is not interested in the reward for his personal benefit, but he wants his reward to bring a kiddush Hashem, or he wants his reward in order to be able to continue and serve Hashem even more. And that's what Avraham Avinu was worried about: that maybe he got his reward already, so now it'll be harder for him to serve Hashem because he will not have his reward, or the kiddush Hashem that he thought his reward would bring will not bring, and that's what he was worried about. And that's why Hashem said to him to not worry about it, ״שכרך הרבה מאד,״ your sechar is very great, in other words, you will get your reward, and you will be able to continue to serve Me as you did before, and there will be a kiddush Hashem through your actions. This also answers the kashya of the Alshich that asks that when Hashem told אברהם אבינו, ״לך לך מארצך,״ that he should leave his land, and He promised him because of that, ״ואגדלה שמך,״ I will make you famous. So he asks a kashya: Avraham Avinu, who did everything not for reward, but lishmah, was he worried about his fame? Did he do things so people should recognize his greatness? But the answer is that Avraham Avinu wanted to become famous, but not because of a selfish reason. He wanted to become famous so people will see that a person that does the will of Hashem becomes famous, that people will see that when a person does the will of Hashem, he gets all that reward. So really he wanted the reward of becoming famous as a form of his serving Hashem, as a form of kiddush Hashem, that people should see what happens to a person who does the right thing. And really all this is based on what the Rambam says in the beginning of פרק ט׳ in Hilchot Teshuvah. The Rambam there explains that all the promises of the Torah, that if a person will learn Torah and do mitzvot, Hashem will give him all the physical needs, is not really a reward. He says the peshat is that Hashem promised that if a person does everything right, Hashem will give him all his physical needs so he should be able to continue and serve Him without any obstacles in his way. In other words, all these physical needs are only a means of being able to continue to serve Hashem. So even though it seems in one way as a shelo lishmah, but in essence it is lishmah because it is not for a selfish reason, but for a reason of avodat Hashem itself, a reason of serving Hashem itself. And therefore, a person should do mitzvot and learn Torah shelo lishmah, because the toch of shelo lishmah is really lishmah.