Today we will discuss an Emunah thought related to Tu BeShvat, based on thoughts from two pesukim in Mishleh (chapter 12), with commentary from the Malbim.
Pasuk ג says,
לֹא יִכּוֹן אָדָם בְּרֶשַׁע וְשֹׁרֶשׁ צַדִּיקִים בַּל יִמּוֹט
A man will not be established through wickedness,
and the root of the righteous will not falter.
In Mishleh, Shlomo HaMelech contrasts the Rasha with the Sadik constantly, with various nuances. Malbim points out that when it comes to the Rasha/wicked person, it says he won’t have base, but the Sadik’s root will last forever. What is the difference between a base and a root?
He explains that a base is not connected to anything. It just holds the object that is placed upon it. But a root is entrenched in the ground. The wicked don’t have a root. At the maximum, they have a base, where they might be scaffolded and lifted upon, but they don’t have a root. Why? He bases the answer on a Tu Bshvat principle- which is אדם עץ השדה
Man is compared to a tree. He says that man is an upside down tree
שהאדם דומה כעץ הפוך
He is an upside down tree, which is rooted in the heavens. That’s why, as we’ve said in the past, if you look at yourself in a mirror, your head is your root and trunk. Then you branch out with your arms and legs, like an upside down tree, rooted in the heavens, the way we’re supposed to be. We are supposed to be rooted in the world of intellect. That is supposed to influence everything we do. The Sadik is connected. The Rasha, on the other hand, is disconnected. He may have a base in this world, but it’s not connected- it’s temporary. That base will eventually falter. The Sadik is rooted, and therefore although sometimes a branch or two might fall off, he remains rooted.
The Malbim continues with pasuk ז:
הָפוֹךְ רְשָׁעִים וְאֵינָם וּבֵית צַדִּיקִים יַעֲמֹד
The wicked are flipped upside down and are no longer, and the house of the righteous will stand
He says that the Rasha looks like he’s rooted. He looks like he’s there forever. But when the time comes that Hashem decides his time is over, he flips upside down. Like taking a tree, pulling it out of the down and flipping it over. He says this is measure for measure, because the rasha lived an upside down life. Instead of being rooted in the heavens, he was rooted down here on earth, and therefore he is flipped upside down. But the Sadik, even with a temporary lapse, will fall and get up again. If he falls, it’s only a branch; he remains rooted and connected, with his emunah and bitachon. It’s only a temporary lapse.
So man is a tree. This seems like it has a very sad ending for the wicked. . Take the Rasha and flip him upside down and he’s done.
Many years ago on a trip to Eretz Yisrael, I visited a rabbi, the son of Rav Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz, one of the gedolim of Bnei Barak.
The rabbi’s wife was involved in kiruv, bringing people closer to religion.
She once hosted a Shabbaton for seminary girls, and their irreligious parents.
Some were excited by what they heard, and others were almost aggressive in their reaction to what was going on.
One parent in particular, was very argumentative, but at the same time, was watching what was happening. Toward the end, he asked if he could speak. They were concerned- what would this anti, aggressive person say?
He stood up and said, “My generation was anti-religion. We took the tree of religion and pulled it out of the ground. We were so angry at religion, that not only did we pull it out of the ground, but we turned it upside down and stuck the whole tree in the ground. We thought that religion was over forever. But we didn’t realize that when we turned the tree upside down, all the fruits had seeds inside of them, and so new trees started to come up out of the ground.”
He said that even when the Jewish people look like they are turned upside down, it’s really just preparation for future growth.
That’s a beautiful thought. Man is like a tree, and therefore, even in the most desperate situations, where it looks like it’s all over and the tree is upside down, just wait- it will come back and blossom again. Hashem says,
“There will never be someone who’s pushed off totally.” People will come back, or their children or grandchildren will come back.
There’s a plan.
Of course, we don’t want to wait for the tree to be turned upside down. Let’s be right side up from the beginning. Let’s do it correctly. The human tree is supposed to be rooted in the heavens, and we are supposed to be connected to Hashem.
If we are rooted in the heavens, then we are in a good position.
The Gemarah in Masechet Kiddushin says: Sadikim, in this world, are like a tree that’s rooted in the right place, even if a few branches might be in the wrong place.
When the Sadik suffers a little in this world, it’s like a branch or two falling off.
But he’s still rooted. The Rasha is the opposite. He’s totally rooted in the wrong place, even if he has a little in a right place.
Let us take the lesson of the tree, and be the human tree who is connected to Hashem with emunah and bitachon. And let us view life’s downs as a temporary pruning of the branches, but not as an uprooting of the tree.
Have a wonderful day and a wonderful Tu Beshvat.