Philosophical Perfection:
Discussions on Succah 49b (July 2025)
Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim
True Recognition of God
Rava taught: “What is the meaning of that which is written: “How beautiful are your steps in sandals, O prince’s daughter” (Song of Songs 7:2)? How beautiful are the steps of the Jewish people at the time when they ascend to Jerusalem for the Festivals. “O prince’s daughter”; this is referring to the daughter of Abraham our Patriarch, who was called prince (“nadiv”), as it is stated: “The princes of the peoples are gathered, the people of the God of Abraham” (Psalms 47:10). The verse calls the Jewish people the people of the God of Abraham and not the God of Isaac and Jacob. Why are the Jewish people associated specifically with Abraham, rather than referring to the three Patriarchs? The verse is referring to Abraham who was first of the converts” (Abraham—not Isaac or Jacob—converted from idolatry to monotheism).
All Jewish males must ascend 3 times yearly to the Temple to appear before God. This parallels Abraham who discovered God:
Three times a year—on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on the Feast of Weeks, and on the Feast of Booths—all your males shall appear before your God in the place He will choose (Deut. 16:16).
In Song of Songs, King Solomon praises Abraham’s descendants who “take steps” to approach God in Temple. We approach God, and no other. Rashi explains the word “prince”—nadiv—to also mean “giving” or generous. Rashi says (Succah 49b) Abraham had 2 generosities: one was recognizing God, and one was to convert. What is the distinction? One can recognize God but still maintain false notions of other deities or powers. However, that is not a true recognition of God. A true recognition of God must exclude any other cause for the existence and operation of the universe. This means one who recognizes God rejects all other forces. And when one rejects all other forces, he has converted from his former polytheism to monotheism. Therefore, Abraham was not only dedicated to God, but he extricated himself from all false beliefs, and converted. That is the true meaning of conversion, where one abandons all false ideas and accepts God alone.
Abraham’s generosity was to himself: he gave himself the true purpose in life through 1) recognizing God alone and 2) by converting to live by that reality. Abraham was generous to himself by following reality.
Modesty in Torah Study and Mitzvahs
In the school of Rav Anan it was taught: “What is the meaning of that which is written: ‘The hidden of your thighs’ (Song of Songs 7:2)? Why are matters of Torah likened to a thigh? It is to tell you that just as the thigh is always concealed, covered by clothes, so too, matters of Torah are optimal when recited in private and not in public.’” (Succah 49b)
Rashi says, “Honor to Torah is to learn/teach privately, not in the city’s center or in the [public] marketplace.” We derive that man has the inclination to use even Torah to satisfy his ego, that is why one would parade his Torah activities in public. But this is not what the blessing teaches us: “To learn for the sake of learning itself” (Morning Prayers). Learning “lishma” refers to one who learns for the sole motivation of interest in God’s wisdom. In this case, no audience or applause is necessary. In fact, his learning is qualitatively greater when uninterrupted by others.
This gemara teaches that man who is motivated by ego is not motivated by truth, and he will use even his Torah studies to gain peer approval. And if something opposes his ego, he will abstain, even Torah and mitzvos. Talmud Brachos 63a teaches if there are other people teaching Torah in your city—certainly if they are greater than you—you should not teach Torah (Rabbi Israel Chait). This source is aware of the ego motivation to use the greatest mitzvah of Torah study or teaching, for self aggrandizement.
Man has no choice but to start life with instincts alone. His ego is powerful. But if he dedicates himself to study, he can eventually abandon ego drives like our greatest leaders whose traits included self-deprecation, as their view of God obscured their own self importance. King David said, “I am a worm.” Abraham said, “I am dust and ashes,” And Moses and Aaron said, “We are nothing.” Rabbi Chait explained, David was the lowest of the 4, as he viewed him self as an animate creature, although the lowest of creatures, yet still animate. Abraham was on a higher level as he did not view himself as animated, but he still viewed himself as something, even dust and ashes. And Moses and Aaron were the highest level as they said they were “nothing.”
The Talmud continues:
And this is what Rabbi Elazar said: “What is the meaning of that which is written: ‘It has been told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord does require of you; only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God’ (Micah 6:8)? “To do justly”; this is justice. “To love mercy”; this is acts of kindness. “To walk humbly with your God”; this is referring to taking the indigent dead out for burial and accompanying a poor bride to her wedding canopy, both of which must be performed without fanfare. And are these matters not inferred a fortiori? If, with regard to matters that tend to be conducted in public as the multitudes participate in funerals and weddings, the Torah says “Walk humbly,” then in matters that tend to be conducted in private, e.g., giving charity and studying Torah, all the more so should they be conducted privately.
The Talmud makes a case of the weaker argument to the stronger, “If A is true, certainly B is true” (a fortiori argument). As commands that typically are performed publicly should be handled as privately as possible, certainly private matters like giving charity and studying Torah should not be publicized.
This continues the previous theme of studying/teaching privately without fanfare. Here, commands too must be handled as modestly as possible.
There is a great danger in religious life. In other areas, when a person wants to do something wrong, like a starving crook who has to justify robbing a bank to feed himself, he does rob the bank, but he recognizes he did something wrong. He is fortunate that he still retains some conscience, some sense of guilt to hopefully straighten his ways in the near future. But there is one area where a person can act incorrectly with no sense of guilt whatsoever. That is in religious matters. We see that the Crusades and Hitler, may his name be obliterated, felt they were doing God’s work and therefore had no remorse about murdering. The Talmud discusses the Rabbis’ attempt to restrain the instincts. They gave an allegory: “The instincts appeared as a fiery lion, exiting from the temple’s Holy of Holies.” Meaning, the strongest instincts (depicted as a fiery lion) have their source in religious matters (the temple’s holiest location). When a person feels that he is acting religiously as God wants, there is no guilt, even when perpetrating the greatest atrocities. So Hitler and the Crusades had no guilt whatsoever. And although not nearly as bad, it is still wrong for a person to use his Torah study or his performance of mitzvah as a means for self-aggrandizement. There is a great danger that one will feel justified in parading his religious activities, as his conscience has been obscured by his ego. If the ego can justify a religious act, it will not hesitate to perform it with great fanfare. But a person who understands the purpose of mitzvah, performs it because he agrees with God's will that such commands should be carried out for the good of oneself, of others, or for God’s fame, and not for gaining public acclaim. The good is the performance of the command, and not personal greatness. Therefore the righteous person studies Torah, and performs commandments as modestly as possible.
“And the man Moses was exceedingly more humble than all men on the face of Earth” (Num. 12:3).
Beneficiaries of Charity
Rabbi Elazar said: “One who performs acts of charity is greater than one who sacrifices all types of offerings, as it is stated: ‘To perform charity and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than an offering’ (Proverbs 21:3), including all types of offerings.”
God prefers one gives charity as opposed to offering sacrifices. For one might think bringing God sacrifice outweighs relating to man through charity. However, one must reject this false notion that he is giving anything to God, as King David said, “But all is from You, and it is Your gift that we have given to You” (1 Chronicles 29:14). All belongs to God already. But in charity, there is a beneficiary, and in this, charity surpasses sacrifice which has no beneficiary.
Optimal Goodness
And Rabbi Elazar said: “Acts of kindness, assisting someone in need, are greater than charity, as it is stated: ‘Plant to yourselves according to charity, and reap according to kindness’ (Hosea 10:12). This means: If a person plants, it is uncertain whether he will eat or whether he will not eat, (nothing may grow-Rashi). However, if a person reaps, he certainly eats. (In this verse, charity is likened to planting, while acts of kindness are likened to reaping.)
Giving charity does not ensure the poor man will spend it properly, just like planting doesn’t ensure growth. But like harvesting, an act of kindness certainly is performed, independent from how the poor man receives it. The lesson is to optimize goodness to others by ensuring the greatest good is performed. Kindness is akin to reaping: in both, a good is “harvested.”
Charity: Not Simply about Money
And Rabbi Elazar said: “The reward for charity is paid (from Heaven) only in accordance with the kindness included therein, as it is stated: ‘Sow to yourselves according to charity, and reap according to kindness.’”
This second interpretation of this verse teaches that the second half modifies the first; reaping reward from charity depends on the level of kindness employed in the charity. Some might think, “My charitable act per se is the obligation, so by giving money alone I assume I fulfill giving charity.” But this is false, as the objective of charity is to restore the poor man’s dignity through commiserating and sympathy, and other acts of kindness in addition to your financial support. That is the halacha. “The reward for charity is paid only in accordance with the kindness included therein.” Thus, giving charity in a begrudging or callous manner forfeits one’s fulfillment.
Corrected Attitudes about Charity
The Sages taught that acts of kindness are superior to charity in three respects:
1) Charity can be performed only with one’s money, while acts of kindness can be performed both with his body and with his money.
2) Charity is given to the poor, while acts of kindness are performed both for the poor and for the rich.
3) Charity is given to the living, while acts of kindness are performed both for the living and for the dead.
1) Not just with money: One must truly value helping others, expressed by fulfill more opportunities to help others, not limited by money. Furthermore, sometimes money isn’t all one needs, or he may not need money at all, but could use our friendship or our attention. The lesson is that kindness can help others in more ways than money, and we should wish to help in more ways.
2) The rich needs kindness too: Man errs thinking a rich man is never in need of kindness, that wealth alone secures complete happiness, or one may resent one wealthier than he and not seek to help him. But these are all false attitudes, and Torah demands we show kindness regardless of one’s status relative to us. Kindness does not depend on us or our relative status to others. Kindness is based solely on the need of others.
3) Reciprocation: People have a difficulty doing good, if that good cannot be returned. Therefore we are taught to perform good even for the dead, from those who don;t know we helped them, and who cannot reciprocate our kindness.