Mesilat Yesharim / Path of the Just
by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato zt'l
Chapter 2 - The Trait of Watchfulness
with select commentaries
copyright 2018 dafyomireview.com
Abbreviations used in this translation:
SR - Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna (1890–1969) (from hebrewbooks.org/41769)
ER - Rabbi Avraham Erlinger (from hebrewbooks.org/52042) (with author's permission)
SP - Rabbi Yosef Spinner (from hebrewbooks.org/51471) (with author's permission)
CS - Rabbi Moshe Chaim Shalenger (with author's permission)
MB - Mesilas Yesharim im Biruim (with author's permission)
NE - Netiv Eliezer by Rabbi Eliezer Lopian (with author's permission)
NH - Nefesh HaMesilah (with author's permission)
OG - Oros Genuzim by Rabbi Dovid Tzvi Hoffman (with author's permission) download
SO - Shaarei Orah, Vaadim by Rabbi Avigdor Miller (excerpts with book author's permission)
LS - Leket Sichot Mussar by Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Sher (1875–1952) (Vol.2, Kuntras Mesilat Yesharim, with permission of Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva (R.Shmuel Zacks), Bnei Brak. download hebrew original)
- Min - (level 1) for basic commentaries as relating to the plain meaning (Pshat).
- Med - (level 2) elaborates more into the theme.
- Max - (level 3) deeper in, including mystical excerpts from the Orot Genuzim commentary (Sod).
- Max+ - (level 4) more commentaries for those familiar with the text.
Suggestion: Read once without commentaries (or min). Then a second time with.
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*** CHAPTER 2 - THE TRAIT OF WATCHFULNESS ***פרק 2 - בביאור מדת הזהירות
The idea of watchfulness is for one to be cautious of his deeds and matters, namely, contemplating and watching over his deeds and ways whether they are good or evil; not abandoning his soul to the danger of destruction, G-d forbid, and not walking through the course of habit like a blind man in darkness.
Reason certainly obligates this. For after a person has knowledge and reason to save himself and escape from the destruction of his soul, how is it conceivable that he would willingly blind his eyes from saving himself?!
There is certainly no debasement and foolishness worse than this. One who does this is lower than beasts and wild animals whose nature it is to protect themselves, escaping and fleeing from whatever seems harmful to them.
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הנה ענין הזהירות הוא שיהיה האדם נזהר במעשיו ובעניניו, כלומר, מתבונן ומפקח על מעשיו ודרכיו, הטובים הם אם לא, לבלתי עזוב נפשו לסכנת האבדון חס וחלילה ולא ילך במהלך הרגלו כעור באפלה.
והנה זה דבר שהשכל יחייבהו ודאי. כי אחרי שיש לאדם דעה והשכל להציל את עצמו ולברוח מאבדון נשמתו, איך יתכן שירצה להעלים עיניו מהצלתו
אין לך פחיתות והוללות רע מזה ודאי. והעושה כן הנה הוא פחות מהבהמות ומהחיות אשר בטבעם לשמור את עצמם ועל כן יברחו וינוסו מכל מה שיראה להם היותו מזיק להם
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CS - "danger of destruction" - the attainment of "Watchfulness" depends on recognizing clearly that without it a man is in extremely great danger as explained in the previous chapter (and chapter 13).
Shaarei Orah V.1, pg.252 - Watchfulness is recognizing the great responsibility in all of one's actions. The word "watchfulness" (Zehirut) is from the word "Zohar" - shining light. Thus, to be watchful is to shine light on all one's deeds. For one who is not watchful walks in darkness, the darkness of habit. The mind of one who learns torah becomes illuminated, and thus since his mind has light, he has the power to see and he becomes watchful.
OG - "after a person has knowledge and reason" - in the Vikuach he says:
"after a man toils in Torah and tries to grasp its matters and teachings, behold, what will awaken in his soul is the matter of "watchfulness". This is what the sages said "Torah brings to watchfulness". For after the ways of G-d truly imprint in him, and his eyes are opened to see what he did not see before this, the severity of the service of G-d and its importance, which was unimportant in his eyes before this [i.e. without Torah study, it was not so important in his eyes to be meticulous in keeping every mitzva]. Reason will then obligate him to investigate in matters of his soul and he will not "abandon himself to danger.."
MB - "contemplating.." - this is already the root of the matter - to be contemplating, not to proceed out of habit, without thought. For one who is contemplating has already escaped the complete dominion of the evil inclination as he writes later: "he knows that if they were to put their ways to heart even the slightest bit..." In truth all of Watchfulness is built on the foundations clarified in the previous chapter, namely, that there is a specific purpose [to everything] and a specific path to reach it.
"not walking through the course of habit.." - this is a description of the opposite of Watchfulness.
OG - (Kabalistic) There is a more fundamental reason why Torah brings a man to watchfulness as the Ramchal explains in his other works. Let us explain.
We mentioned already that Torah rouses a person to clinging to G-d. When a person studies Torah, immediately, there arises in the sefira of Malchut lights of "kabalat ol malchut shamayim" (accepting the yoke of the kingdom of heaven). Since the Malchut of our world, the world of Asiya, is the final sefira, it is incapable of being mashpia (transmitting) its lights further down. It then is mashpia its lights upwards, through the sefirot all the way to the Ein Sof, blessed be He. Then in the merit of the lights which reached there due to a man's clinging to Talmud Torah, the Ein Sof is immediately mashpia below, to the sefirot, powerful lights of chesed (kindness) designated for the sefira of Yesod which is just above the sefira of Malchut. Yesod as its name implies - its lights are the foundations of the world. It is mashpia on the servant of G-d to bring out to potential the trait of "cleanliness", the peak of the first gate of righteousness (before levels of extra piety).. But since cleanliness is a high level, it cannot bring it out to actuality in the meantime. Only after one attains the traits of "watchfulness" and "zeal". Therefore, the sefira of Yesod transmits the extra light it received from the Ein Sof to the sefira of Hod just above it. These lights of chesed cause a man to feel a powerful urge and strong emuna (faith) that makes him now capable of strengthening himself in the trait of "watchfulness" which is connected to the sefira of Hod...
Netzach and Hod transmit the hanhaga (guidance) to the Hashgacha (providence). Likewise it is explained in the tikunei zohar that Netzach and Hod correspond to the right and left legs of a man. This is to teach us that these sefirot along with the sefira of Yesod which corresponds to the Brit Kodesh, are the foundations that a man stands on (for without them, the servant of G-d cannot advance). On them also stands the whole world. For the sefira of Yesod according to the tikunei zohar is the "siyuma d'guf ot brit kodesh" (the end (trunk) of the body, the holy brit).
It is proper to add here regarding Yosef HaTzadik who made this sefira a chariot (merkava) to the Kavod H' (honor of G-d). For he overcame his evil inclination, and was not drawn to his master Potiphar's wife. Likewise no hashpaa (influence) of the tuma (spiritual contamination) of Egypt clinged to him. The sefira of yesod is the foundation of G-d's hanhaga (guidance) of the world. From here comes the trait of watchfulness which is the foundation of the building of the service of G-d. "Watchfulness" is powerful yira shamayim (fear of G-d) - to guard oneself from all that is forbidden.
If so, we have merited to understand that Hod which now received lights of chesed from the Ein Sof in the merit of a man's Talmud Torah - this is the deeper reason why Torah brings to "watchfulness". Here you see, dear reader, how the servant of G-d ascends up the ladder of the service of G-d. It is not just through thinking on the order of the path, but rather primarily through the secret of the sefirot which insure one's progress. For this is the power granted to them from the blessed Creator in order to clear a path and enlighten anyone who wishes to ascend the path... And after the Holy One blessed be He conducts the world through these sefirot, and they have a special order, primarily, chesed, din, rachamim, therefore the Ramchal cleared the path to illuminate our eyes, how to ascend level by level in our journey to draw close and cling to the Holy One blessed be He. (see Daas Tevunos 165-167, and Kinas H-shem pg.82-84).
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One who walks along in his world without contemplating whether his ways are good or evil is similar to a blind man walking on the bank of a river. His danger is certainly very great and his calamity is more likely than his escape. For negligence in guarding oneself from danger due to natural blindness and negligence due to willful blindness, namely shutting one's eyes by choice and desire is one and the same (both result in falling into evil and destruction - CS).
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וההולך בעולמו בלי התבוננות אם טובה דרכו או רעה, הנה הוא כסומא ההולך על שפת הנהר אשר סכנתו ודאי עצומה ורעתו קרובה מהצלתו. כי אולם חסרון השמירה מפני העורון הטבעי או מפני העורון הרצוני דהיינו סתימת העינים בבחירה וחפץ, אחד הוא.
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MB - "a blind man walking on the bank of a river" - as he wrote in chapter 1: "all matters of this world, whether for the good or for the bad, are trials for a man".
"his danger is certainly very great" - the damage he will receive if he falls is great. this is: "for the fruits of the commandments is the true perfection and the eternal preciousness of which there is nothing more precious" (ch.1).
"his calamity is more likely than his escape" - if he does not look, the chance of falling is very high and most likely it will actually happen. see the "Way of G-d" (1-4:2) "the physical is first in him..."
SP - "whether his ways are good or evil... his danger is certainly very great" - to stumble in his deeds, i.e. lack of investigating one's "ways" leads to stumbling in "deeds".
NH - "walking on the edge of a river" - there is a distinction between physical watchfulness and spiritual watchfulness. Physical watchfulness is where a person is watchful of physical dangers, namely, that no physical harm befall him. Spiritual watchfulness is for one to be watchful of spiritual dangers. In truth though, there is much similarity between them in terms of how one is watchful. When a man walks on a path which has many physical perils, namely, it is full of rocks, pits, thorns, spines, etc., the way for one to be watchful is to look down on the path. One does not proceed while looking upwards. In other words, one of the primary ways to be watchful from physical dangers is to employ one's physical eyes.
But for spiritual watchfulness, in order to detect the dangers lurking in ambush on a man's spiritual path, one's physical eyes are not enough. For man's spiritual path is his deeds and ways. To detect the spiritual dangers, a man must employ his spiritual eyes, namely, the eyes of the intellect. Only if one thinks, contemplates, and checks his deeds and ways - only then will he detect the spiritual dangers and guard from them.
Translator: - one must be careful in the spiritual journey to not be like the astronomer who gazing out with his telescope on distant stars and galaxies, fails to see the pit under his feet before him. So too, the beginning of the spiritual journey is not leaping to high spiritual states, but rather to turn away from nearby evil.
Ohr l'Tzion pg.115 - a man has a faculty of thought which he can employ to think on every detail. If he does not use it, G-d forbid, he is like the animals who do all their deeds without any thought.. the Ramchal writes in the Mesilat Yesharim ch.3 that a man needs to contemplate his deeds. For some things are sweet but not beneficial. On the contrary, they damage him. Likewise, some things are not sweet at all but they are tremendously beneficial.
Therefore, when one examines his deeds whether or not they are good, he should not examine the thing itself, but rather - whether its final outcome (tachlit) is truly good. For sometimes, even a good deed has some points which are not good..
It is the way of the Yetzer (evil inclination) to exchange a mitzvah for a sin and vice versa. Thus, when one does a deed without thought, he is liable to err... Sometimes, a person goes to redeem a person held captive by flesh and blood or held captive by the Yetzer Hara (kiruv), to return them to their Father in Heaven, and he spends much time in this. But it causes him a great loss of time in his torah study and mitzvah performance. Even this needs judgment (shikul da'at). For although this is Chesed (kindness), but perhaps he needs to first redeem himself from the Yetzer Hara.. (see there for more).
Jeremiah would bemoan on the evil of his contemporaries' affliction with the disease of this trait. They would turn a blind eye to their deeds, not putting heart to consider what they were doing, whether to do or refrain from doing it.
Regarding them he said: "no man regrets of his evil, saying, What have I done? Each one running to his own course, as the horse rushes into the battle." (Jer. 8:6)
The explanation is that they would pursue and go by the momentum of habit and conduct, without leaving themselves time to consider their deeds and ways. Thus they fell into evil without even seeing it.
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והנה ירמיהו היה מתאונן על רוע בני דורו מפני היותם נגועים בנגע המדה הזאת, שהיו מעלימים עיניהם ממעשיהם בלי שישימו לב לראות מה הם: הלהעשות אם להעזב?
ואמר עליהם (ירמיה ח): אין איש נחם על רעתו לאמר וגו' כלה שב במרוצתם כסוס שוטף במלחמה.
והיינו, שהיו רודפים והולכים במרוצת הרגלם ודרכיהם מבלי שיניחו זמן לעצמם לדקדק על המעשים והדרכים, ונמצא שהם נופלים ברעה בלי ראות אותה.
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MB - "by the momentum (running) of habit and conduct" - the actions done out of habit are like running which comes swiftly and automatically without previous thought.
"and conduct - besides habit in deeds, there is habit in his ways, that he continues on the path he went until now without thought.
In truth, this is one of the cunning strategies of the evil inclination, to constantly burden people's hearts with his service so as to leave them no room to look and consider which road they are taking.
For he knows that if they were to put their ways to heart even the slightest bit, certainly they would immediately begin to feel regret for their deeds. The remorse would go and intensify within them until they would abandon the sin completely.
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ואולם הנה זאת באמת אחת מתחבולות היצר הרע וערמתו להכביד עבודתו בתמידות על לבות בני האדם עד שלא ישאר להם ריוח להתבונן ולהסתכל באיזה דרך הם הולכים.
כי יודע הוא שאלולי היו שמים לבם כמעט קט על דרכיהם, ודאי שמיד היו מתחילים להנחם ממעשיהם, והיתה החרטה הולכת ומתגברת בהם עד שהיו עוזבים החטא לגמרי.
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CS - Rabeinu is referring here to the spiritual evil inclination, the Sitra Achra, which intends to cause a man to stumble. (see Igeres HaMussar).. not the "natural" evil inclination of physical desires and love of temporal pleasures.
MB - "one of the strategies.." - the hebrew word "strategy" (Tachbulot) refers to a deep strategy, (which comes from understanding the matter) on how to defeat one's opponent (Rashi on Mishlei 11:14, and Vilna Gaon there 1:5, and Malbim there 20:18). The term "one of the strategies" is because a warrior always comes with many strategies. As the Malbim writes (Mishlei 24:6): "in a war, one plan is not enough. For the enemy also has a plan. One must have a plan which is connected to many other plans back to back, namely, that one has a counter plan against all plans the enemy employs". So too for the Yetzer who comes from all methods, and this is but one of them.
MB - "with his service" - this is not just matters of lust or bad character traits but even for [excessive] matters of one's livelihood or any other service which is not actually service of G-d as Rabeinu explains in "the Way of G-d" (1-4:3) and in Derech Etz Chaim.
"to constantly burden people's hearts with his service" - "constantly" - this is all of his success (that which he burdens him until he has no room). It is awesome to think just how much a man can be immersed in thoughts of the yetzer till he does not give attention to anything else whatsoever.
"so as to leave them no room to look and consider which road they are taking" - not only does he not think but he does not even look to consider.
"which road they are taking" - since they don't even think on which path they are walking, automatically they also don't think on their particular deeds. For one judges his deeds only by how they are leading him along in his ways.
SR - "one of the cunning strategies of the evil inclination" - as Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair ordered the path of the service of G-d from the general to the particulars. It's beginning is Torah, for Torah is the general matter which encompasses all of the service of G-d. Afterwards, "Watchfulness" which encompasses all the deeds, and so on. So too, the Yetzer Hara girds all his powers to make a man idle from Torah in quantity and even more in quality so that the Torah study does not move him to action. So too, he tries with all his strategies and cunning to prevent a man from contemplating his ways. For "Watchfulness" encompasses everything. Therefore, he aims all his arrows towards it. Likewise for the entire path - the more it encompasses, the more the evil inclination is strong.
SR - "so as to leave them no room to look and consider.." - just like the duty to contemplate is all-encompassing and primary, so too, the main way of the yetzer is to prevent this contemplation. This is the greatest of all the wars against the yetzer hara.
Shaarei Ohr 16 - "with his service" - the pious one did not explain what is the matter of the Yetzer weighing his "service" on people's hearts. This includes 2 matters:
One, labor and preoccupation with worldly matters, what is necessary to obtain one's livelihood and beyond to the seeking of what is superfluous. For a man is absorbed in this distraction with all his heart and soul - to accumulate and gather (more than his needs), to increase money and possessions. There is no end to his labor. For this desire has no end and no measure. On this our sages said "no man dies without having realized half of his desires. He who has 100 desires 200" (Kohelet Rabba 1:34).
The second: is man's distraction with his yetzer as our sages said in Yomah 35: "I was handsome and distracted by my yetzer". For there is nothing that distracts a man and confuses him like the distraction of the yetzer which incites him to pursue the Hevel (worthless), [to go] after his heart's desire and after the appearance of his eye. To go wherever the wind of his lust and base traits carry him.
From these two, namely, distraction of worldly occupation and distraction of the yetzer, man is smitten with blindness and confusion of the mind (timhon levav). He is as one in a kaf hakela (thrown by a sling), his head spinning and mind dizzy. His eyes are blocked from seeing and his heart inevitably stumbles. This is the weighing of the labor of the yetzer which the pious one refers to.
Now, since all of the toil, cunning, and strategy of the yetzer is to instill deep slumber on a person and to prevent him from opening his mind's eyes, lest he know good and evil and awakens to escape from the prison. For he applies constantly the weight of his labor till he has no room to contemplate and consider his ways as the pious one writes here.
From here it is evident that the study of mussar is like a painful thorn in the eyes of the yetzer. For through this, his entire strategy will foil and his cunning will collapse. For behold the entire fruit of the study of mussar is the ways of making a spiritual accounting on the accounting of the world and contemplation in fear of G-d, blessed be He. And what more if a man also puts to heart to fix a daily time to study books of mussar and yira (fear).
For then the guardian will toil for nothing, he who guards people, preventing them from entering the path to the tree of life. For when a man's soul is roused with fear of G-d, and he contemplates his ways, the entire net will be destroyed and the prison will crumble rendering the path open before him, to escape and run for his life, to flee like a deer from the hand [of the hunter], to regret his evil ways and repent to G-d, blessed be He. For perforce it is self understood that the evil inclination will come out fighting against the study of mussar with great strength and a mighty arm. He will not refrain from utilizing all means at his disposal to turn a man's heart back from the study of mussar and yira, whether through deceptive arguments or other ways prepared before him, to block its path and to obstruct its ways with obstacles so that man's foot not tread it.
(Translator: see also Chovot Halevavot Gate 5 at length. Essential reading on the tricks and snares of the yetzer.)
Alei Shur v.2 shaar 2, ch.20 - "with his service" - the evil inclination is a power [driving a person] to continuously increase lust and enjoyment (yetzer hara hu hakoach lehosif tamid taava v'taanug) . The beginning of saving oneself from it is to learn to be happy with your portion... thus the first step in the service must be to rise above this heaviness..
Translator - in our times, a new service of the evil inclination has sprung up with the internet. Studies have discovered that people who feel down and lonely tend to surf aimlessly online, especially to social media sites. The study also found that wasting time on these sites leads to increased feelings of loneliness. Thus, it creates a vicious cycle where the person tries to escape his feelings of loneliness, etc. by surfing the internet and this itself leads to more of such feelings. The result is internet addiction. The scope of this is huge. A recent article claimed that 70 percent of parents in the USA admit being addicted to their phones and spending more time with their phones than with their children. Even when they take their kids to the park, the kid plays by himself and the parent is stuck to his or her phone like a robot.
ER - "completely" - how great is the power of this contemplation that Rabeinu trusts that it will certainly immediately affect a person! And not only will he stop his momentum but he will regret his deeds, i.e. he will hold fast to the way of teshuva (repentance) and even rectify the past.
NH - "certainly" - this piece contains a tremendous chidush (idea): contemplating one's deeds and ways is an assured and certain advice to overcome the Yetzer. The Ramchal writes that the Yetzer knows that if a man were to contemplate a bit on his deeds and ways, immediately, he would begin to regret his evil deeds and his regret would intensify until he would renounce the sin completely. Thus little by little, contemplating one's deeds brings to abandoning the sin. At first, the contemplation leads to regret. Afterwards,when he continues to contemplate, the regret intensifies. If he continues to contemplate further, the regret continues to intensify until he abandons the sin completely.
NH - another chidush: the evil inclination knows all this. He knows the tremendous power of the contemplation, and that if a person were to contemplate his ways, he would certainly regret more and more till he would abandon the sin completely. Therefore he uses a powerful strategy against man, namely, he causes man to be so preoccupied with various matters that man always feels he has no time to stop and consider his ways.
Translator - furthermore, a person feels it is a waste of time. For it is human nature to not see one's own faults and to justify whatever one does.
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This is similar to the wicked Pharaoh's advice saying "intensify the men's labor.." (Ex. 5:9). His intention was to leave them no time whatsoever to oppose him or plot against him. He strove to confound their hearts of all reflection by means of the constant, incessant labor.
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והרי זו מעין עצת פרעה הרשע שאמר (שמות ה): תכבד העבודה על האנשים וגו', שהיה מתכוין שלא להניח להם ריוח כלל לבלתי יתנו לב או ישימו עצה נגדו, אלא היה משתדל להפריע לבם מכל התבוננות בכח התמדת העבודה הבלתי מפסקת.
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ER - behold "ze l'umat ze asah Elokim" (G-d has made one opposite to the other). Hence, the greatest weapon against the evil inclination.. is to cling so much to the service of G-d, incessantly, until we have no time, leisure, or desire to look at or think about anything evil. King David said: "how I love Your Torah, it is my talk all day long" (Ps.119:97)... Later in (ch.19) Rabeinu defines the trait of clinging to G-d as to have one's heart clinging to G-d to such a degree that he no longer turns or is concerned with anything else.
MB - in the slavery of Pharaoh, he had control only on their physical bodies. Therefore his plan was to work them with physical labor without any interruption whatsoever. For through this, he also caused that their minds become devoid of thought. Unilke the Yetzer who has the power to occupy also his heart. Therefore the evil inclination succeeds even without incessant physical labor.
This is precisely the ploy employed by the evil inclination on human beings. For he is a skilled warrior, expert in the art of cunning. It is impossible to escape from him without great wisdom and far-reaching vision. This is what the prophet screamed out "give heed to your ways!" (Chagai 1:7).
And as Shlomo in his wisdom said: "Give not sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. Save yourself as a deer from the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.." (Prov. 6:4).
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כן היא עצת היצר הרע ממש על בני האדם, כי איש מלחמה הוא ומלמד בערמימות, ואי אפשר למלט ממנו אלא בחכמה רבה והשקפה גדולה. הוא מה שהנביא צווח ואומר (חגי א): שימו לבבכם על דרכיכם.
ושלמה אמר בחכמתו (משלי ו'): אל תתן שנה לעיניך ותנומה לעפעפיך, הנצל כצבי מיד וגו'.
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CS - "skilled warrior, expert in cunning" - "warrior" to confront a man with strength and power to overpower him such as injecting powerful anger or strong lust.
"cunning" - with enticements and traps. such as to convince him of the benefits of his evil ways. The verse in proverbs refers to these two. The "hunter" wants to capture the deer by sheer might whereas the "fowler" comes with hidden traps and cunning.
MB - "this is precisely the ploy employed by the evil inclination" - even though he already said earlier "this is one of the strategies of the yetzer". It seems he is coming to emphasize the point that people are not used to thinking like this. Rather, people think the Yetzer comes only sometimes, at a time of temptation to sin, and then one must wage war a bit. Thus after he described to us the incessant labor Pharaoh used, he emphasizes again that this is exactly the technique used by the evil inclination, literally, no less.
"he is a skilled warrior" - he is a mighty warrior who wages war. This is his essence. To wage constant war against those who do the will of G-d, blessed be He.
"expert in the art of cunning" - he is not limited to head on warfare at the time of deed. Rather he also knows how to come circumvently already before the deed so that we don't detect this at all.
Darchei Mussar 199 - "as a bird from the hand of the fowler" - it is the way of the yetzer sometimes to let a person do a small mitzva in order to bring him afterwards to a big sin which is many times greater than the mitzva. This is similar to bird hunters who leave pieces of food inside a trap. This is not with intent to benefit the birds, but rather to give them a bit of food in order to obtain a great profit. This too is the way of the yetzer who gives man a bit of mitzvot and through this, he falls in the trap of sin. The mussar masters gave an analogy of a king who called one of his noblemen and commanded him and exhorted him to never take off his shirt in public under any circumstances. After some time, he met a man in the marketplace who said in front of everyone there that he is a hunchback and has a big lump on his back.
The nobleman denied this and countered that he is not a hunchback. The man bet with him: "I will pay you 100 thousand silver coins if you are not a hunchback, and if you are, you will pay me 100 thousand silver coins". The nobleman agreed and took off his shirt to prove that he is not a hunchback and profited 100 thousand coins. When he returned to the king and told him he profited 100 thousand silver coins, the king yelled at him: "you idiot! I told you to never take off your shirt in public because I bet with that man one million gold coins that you would never take off your shirt in public. That man was clever. He gave you 100 thousand silver coins to gain one million coins.
so too, the yetzer lets people do mitzvot to gain a bit and afterwards traps him into many sins thus gaining a great profit... Therefore, a man must be exceedingly watchful of the evil inclinations and its tricks. The only advice to save oneself is what our sages, of blessed memory, commanded us "come let us enter into an accounting of the world..."
And our sages of blessed memory said "whoever scrutinizes his ways in this world merits to see the salvation of the Holy One, blessed be He".
And it is obvious that even if one is watchful over himself, it is not within his power to save himself without the help of the holy One blessed be He. For the evil inclination is enormously powerful as scripture says: "the wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him, G-d will not forsake him to his power" (Ps. 37:32).
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וחכמינו ז"ל אמרו (מועד קטן ה): כל השם ארחותיו בעולם הזה, זוכה ורואה בישועתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא.
ופשוט הוא שאפילו אם יפקח האדם על עצמו, אין בכחו לינצל אלולי הקדוש ברוך הוא עוזרו, כי היצר הרע תקיף מאד, וכמאמר הכתוב (תהלים לז): צופה רשע לצדיק ומבקש להמיתו, ה' לא יעזבנו וגו'.
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Ohr Yahel vol.3 Korach - "it is not within his power" - i.e. no one can defeat the evil inclination through natural means. Man requires special help from G-d outside the natural order, i.e. through the miraculous. For without miracles from G-d, it is impossible to escape from under his hand, even for the greatest man. This is the power of the corporeal earthiness of man's nature!
If a man is watchful over himself, then the holy One blessed be He helps him and he will be saved from the evil inclination.
But if he is not watchful over himself, the Holy One, blessed be He, will certainly not watch over him. For if he gives no heed to himself, who should give heed to him? This is as our Sages of blessed memory have said: "it is forbidden to pity anyone who has no knowledge" (Berachot 33a), and this is the meaning of what they said: "if I am not for myself, who will be for me?" (Avot 1:14).
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אך אם האדם מפקח על עצמו, אז הקדוש ברוך הוא עוזרו וניצול מן היצר הרע.
אבל אם אינו מפקח הוא על עצמו, ודאי שהקדוש ברוך הוא לא יפקח עליו. כי אם הוא אינו חס, מי יחוס עליו. והוא כענין מה שאמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה (ברכות לג): כל מי שאין בו דעה אסור לרחם עליו. והוא מה שאמרו (אבות ג): אם אין אני לי מי לי.
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MB - "seeks to slay him" - he is not satisfied with a slight fall. Rather he comes to destroy a man completely.
CS - "G-d will certainly not watch over him" - for the duty of free will is on man. If he chooses good, like G-d's will, he merits divine help... But if he chooses evil, on him the sages said: "one who comes to defile himself is given an opening" (Shabbat 104a).
"it is forbidden to pity anyone who has no knowledge" - i.e. through his own free will and desire chooses to not conduct himself according to the knowledge of what is right.
MB - "will certainly not watch over him" - it is implied in his words that this is obvious logic to him. And that which he brings afterwards the words of the talmud is merely a comparison not a proof. What is this logic? And what is the logic of the Talmud? We will answer with what Rabeinu wrote in chapter 1 (this is explained more in "the Way of G-d" and "Daat Tevunot"). The purpose of the world was to give room for man to be the owner of his good. For anything given to man without his having worked for it is not a true good (it is an embarrassment for him). Thus it is understood why G-d does not help unless he already chose to do and did all he can in his power despite that he does not have the ability to finish the deed. It seems from Rabeinu's words that this is also the explanation in the Talmud there (and likewise the Maharsha in Sanhedrin 92 explains it thus), that we are talking about someone who has understanding, only that he doesn't use it. If so, the state he reaches is his true state and it is not a benefit for him if one takes him out of this by force. (this needs further explanation but it is not the place to elaborate).
NH - "enormously powerful" - the intent of these words is not that a man has the power to save himself from the Yetzer Hara. For the Yetzer Hara is "enormously powerful". Rather, the intent is that if a man watches over himself, then the Holy One, blessed be He, helps him and thus he will be saved from the Yetzer.
There is another point here which shows just how important it is for one to set aside time to consider his deeds. The Ramchal writes that the opposite is also "certain". Namely, just like for he who watches over himself certainly the Holy One, blessed be He, will help him and he will be saved from the Yetzer, so too for the opposite. He who does not contemplate his deeds and does not watch over himself, "certainly", the Holy One, blessed be He, will not watch over him... This teaches how crucial it is for a man to watch over his deeds...
Thinking on the deeds is not an extra virtue. Rather, there is no other way whatsoever to save oneself from the traps of the Yetzer, and he who wants to grow and do the will of his Maker is obligated to dedicate time to these thoughts. Thus, each person needs to seriously consider how to do this. One of the ways to do this more pleasantly is to tell over to G-d what happened during the day, and while doing this, when he finds he did improper things, he should regret and ask for forgiveness and think how to not repeat it and ask for help from G-d.
OG - "ways" - in this short chapter, the author uses the words "way" (derech), "walking" (holech), "way (of life)" (orach) eleven times. It is known that the Vilna Gaon said there is not a single extra word in the Mesilas Yesharim until the end of "cleanliness". If so, it seems the central message in clarifying the trait of watchfulness, is to fundamentally put to heart which "derech" (way) the servant of G-d needs to tread in order to arrive at the great purpose of clinging to G-d. And even after one has chosen the correct path according to the Torah, he is under duty to employ watchfulness to not stray from the path he chose. The evil inclination awaits in ambush, day and night, to steer him from the path of the just. Therefore, the servant of G-d is under duty to examine his ways, perhaps he will suddenly find himself in the wrong path. Hence he called the book "the Path of the Just" for the Just realize that "walking" in the correct path and being meticulous in not straying from it - this is the essence of the service of G-d.
Various Additions
Chayei Mussar 2:94 (in the name of Rabbi Simcha Zissel of Kelm) - "as the horse rushes into the battle" - the wise man said "there is no scattering like the scattering of the soul (pizur hanefesh), and no tranquility like tranquility of the soul (menuchat hanefesh). It was not for nothing that the ancients said "Noach found favor (chen) in G-d's eyes..", rather this was because he was a man of tranquility (menucha). We must clarify how the trait of tranquility includes all perfection... Scattering of the soul is the greatest destruction and rampantness, and the ultimate despair and grief. "entirely running to his own course, as the horse rushes into the battle", and nothing will be left in his hand... thus one must train himself and pray for tranquility of soul (menuchat hanefesh)...
Ohr Yechezkel 4:265 - in order to attain the trait of tranquility, one must toil and strain to train himself. Those who seek good for their souls and want to acquire this trait and uproot the trait of impulsiveness and haste (behilut and chipazon), there are several ways and strategies to train oneself in this. First, one must habituate himself to not do any action without intent and thought beforehand. For without special training in these areas, all of one's deeds are done without any thinking whatsoever. Likewise, one must habituate himself during prayer to have intent in the meaning of the words and to strive to not mix in outside thoughts, not even good thoughts. Through this, by habituating himself, slowly ,slowly to pay attention to what his mouth says, he will attain control over his thoughts Then his deeds will be with tranquility and calmness, with mental concentration and he will uproot from himself the trait of impulsiveness (behilut).
Ohr yechezkel 3:51 - the habits and natures which a person is immersed in and which occupy his heart prevent him from the state of tranquility and from contemplation. These habits and natures are the lusts of this world, "jealousy, lust, and honor remove a person from the world" (Avot 4:21). These traits occupy the whole course (mehalech) of his life and they are what prevent him from the thought of aligning his deeds with his understanding. Behold, when a man has an opportunity for some worldly business venture, he immediately immerses himself in it with all his might and spirit. But for spiritual matters, even if he hears uplifting words, nevertheless, he will not contemplate them nor look deeper into them for this world has conquered his heart.
Ohr Yechezkel 3:272 - behold we sometimes contemplate a bit on our ways and each of us sometimes learns mussar with contemplation, but nevertheless, the words do not affect us to abandon the sin completely. For when we pause from the study of mussar, immediately we return to our bad ways. This is difficult for behold the Luzzato says that with a bit of contemplation one will abandon the sin. Hence, it seems that when a person's state is that he aspires to attain of this world, and he imagines it is his forever, then even when he puts his ways to heart, it will not help him. For the confusion and lack of tranquility will distract him endlessly. All the words of the Ramchal are for when he is not immersed in the confusion. Then the thought and contemplation will help. Thus we are on a lower level than what the pious Luzzato intended on.
Leket Sichot Mussar - behold we see many people learning Torah and this does not bring them to Watchfulness. What is the reason? It seems the reason is because only "Torah Lishma" (for its own sake) leads to watchfulness, as in Pirkei Avot: "Rabbi Meir would say: Whoever studies Torah for it's own sake merits many things.. The Torah makes him righteous (Tzadik), pious (Chasid), just (Yashar) and faithful"... However, if a person is already on the level of learning Torah lishma then he is already a tzadik and chasid, so what else is lacking in him?... Thus certainly the learning of Torah lishma comes gradually... (see hebrew)
(Translator: nevertheless, even without pure motives, torah study will bring one to some degree of watchfulness and save a person from much as Rabeinu says explicitly in chapter 5: "But if he toils in the Torah, when he sees its ways, commandments, and warnings, behold, on its own, eventually a renewal will awaken within him which will bring him to the good path...")
Leket Sichot Mussar 356 - if we contemplate the matter, we will see that one cannot acquire the trait of Watchfulness without the trait of Zeal. For the author defines Watchfulness as "contemplating and watching over his deeds and ways", namely, to contemplate in one's mind always, at all times, and at the fixed time of solitude, "what is the true path according to the Torah that man must walk upon" (ch.3). Behold, these things are completely and entirely "zeal" - to contemplate and watch over one's deeds, during action and during non-action, i.e. the three divisions of watchfulness: (1) to contemplate the Torah in order to know the path to go and the action to do, (2) to contemplate on all of one's deeds during action and during non-action to ascertain whether it is in line with the way of the Torah, (3) to contemplate from what should he distance and what has traces of the forbidden.
Thus tremendous zeal is needed for the trait of Watchfulness, without interruption (hesech daat) and without any laxness. If so, what is the trait of zeal? For zeal precedes watchfulness by one step. Indeed, this is what Rashi writes explaining the trait of Watchfulness (on the Beraitha of Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair, Avodah Zara 20b):
(Rashi Avodah Zara 20b on "watchfulness"): "when an opportunity to sin comes to his hand, he is watchful and guards from stumbling. This is what was said in Chulin 107b: 'is it not that he is watchful and does not touch? No, he is zealous first and retracts his hand from the outset'".
Rashi likewise comments there (in Chulin 107b): "he is zealous and guards himself first before this so that the opportunity to sin does not come to his hand. This is what was said in Avodah Zara 20b: 'watchfulness brings to zeal'" end quote.
Thus we learn explicitly that zeal is the core of Watchfulness and of its essence, and Torah brings to the zeal which precedes watchfulness.. And in Sifri: "Torah brings to fear, fear brings to guarding (shemira), and guarding brings to action".
These are the same words as Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair. Fear is Watchfulness. The fear leads to action, namely, guarding, which is zeal in mussar and contemplation, which is the true watchfulness, and they [both] bring to deed. (see Hebrew for better understanding)
Translator: the type of zeal preceding watchfulness comes from internalizing the lessons of chapter 1 as we learned earlier:
Kovetz Sichot 1:141 - "no other purpose than to draw closer to G-d" - this purpose must stand before a person's eyes always and it should be the essence and motive of every act and deed. Whatever I do must be examined with one single calculation (cheshbon): "does this draw me closer to the Creator or the opposite?" If this distances me, I am obligated to flee from it as from fire. If the opposite, all of my strength and desires needs to be employed towards pursuing and seeking the means which draw me close to G-d, blessed be He. If a person uses this approach in all the ways of his life and lives by its light - he will free himself from the life of vanity and will tread the path of truth towards the goal and purpose of life.
Kochvei Ohr 2: if a man were capable of emptying his mind and heart from all the thoughts which distract him and delve deeply in his mind on thoughts of his beginning and end, the day of judgment and accounting, reward and punishment, then one would not need any study from any book. Rather, he could sit alone and silently toil in matters of fear or the like, and this would be enough for him. But since man does not rule over his spirit and cannot drive out the multitude of thoughts of the vanities of this world which fill his heart, and all the more so, if one is entangled in the thickness of business dealings. Therefore, there is no other advice than to fix times for learning books of mussar and to verbally repeat to oneself the sayings of our sages which ignite the heart to fear of G-d and His service. Then, he will be able to interrupt his mind from all the distracting thoughts for the saying it awakens the intent.
LS - in order for a man to demonstrate to himself that he is indeed blind and he walks in his world with willful blindness, he must begin to grasp a bit on the edge of the trait of Watchfulness, which is contemplation. When he just barely begins to contemplate, he will already realize his dire condition. Behold, his eyes will already be opened to see that he does not know all that he needs to know nor feels all that he needs to feel, and that his status in all matters of the service of G-d is as a blind man in need of healing to restore his vision. Thus contemplation leads to further contemplation. It brings him to the category of a "seeing person", with a brighter vision, clearer and more penetrating.
(see original Hebrew here for better understanding)
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