Rav Yehuda Lowy, the Maharal MiPrague
The Maharal’s unique insights and novel chiddushim in Jewish thought and philosophy are often interwoven among explanations of the pesukim in Tanach and the statements and teachings of Chazal.
Often, the same topics and themes are touched upon in several works. The Maharal himself cross references his own sefarim, citing and referring to other places where he has touched upon the topic at hand before or spoken about in greater length and detail. As it is beyond the scope of our work here to properly cite and cover even a portion of the Maharal’s vast encyclopedic treasure trove of sefarim, we give you just a taste of what this is like.
Please enjoy the following excursion among three of the Maharal’s works: Nesivos Olam (arrangement based on Mishlei), Derech HaChaim on Pirkei Avos, and Gur Aryeh on Chumash with Rashi’s commentary.
LEV TOV – A GOOD HEART
It says in Mishlei (22:11), “He who loves the purity of heart; his lips are gracious, the King [Hashem] is his friend.”
Whoever has a good heart is beloved above and below . . . I have already elaborated on this [in Derech HaChaim on Pirkei Avos 2:13-14]: “I prefer the idea of Elazar ben Arach, for his idea includes all of yours.” He says there that whoever has a good heart includes all manner of wholeness and completeness..."
Whoever possesses the attribute of a good heart is worthy of the Divine Spirit of ruach hakodesh, as it says (Midrash Tanchuma, Shemos 4:14): “When he [Aharon] sees you [Moshe], he will rejoice in his heart.” Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai says that whoever’s heart is happy and gladdened at his brother’s greatness is worthy of donning the Urim V’Tumim (which bestow ruach hakodesh). It is only proper that ruach hakodesh is bestowed upon those who are wholehearted, because the heart sees using ruach hakodesh. None other than Aharon HaKohen merited to have the Urim V’Tumim and ruach hakodesh because he was wholehearted and possessed a good heart – lev tov. . .
This attribute of lev tov refers to a person who desires the best for his fellow and friend; even if he sees in his friend something that appears to be evil, he judges him favorably – dan lekaf zechus . . .
This is similar to what we wrote [Derech HaChaim on Pirkei Avos], that an evil heart contains all evil things, and the result of this attribute is hatred of other creatures. A good-hearted person loves all creatures, desires their good and judges them favorably, while an evil-hearted person hates all creatures as we explained earlier [in Derech HaChaim] regarding the mishnah (Avos 2:16): “An evil eye, the evil inclination and hatred of all creatures drive a person from this world.” (Nesivos Olam: Nesiv Lev Tov)
As it says in Pirkei Avos (2:13-14): “I prefer the idea of Elazar ben Arach to yours, for his idea includes all of yours.” Rav Elazar ben Arach said [that the best path for a person to attach himself to is] a good heart, because when a person possesses a good heart, all good things are contained within it, and he acts with loving kindness towards others . . . People who look towards the future worry about what it will bring and if the outcome will cause them a loss. This doubt prevents them from doing good, whereas a goodhearted person does not hold back from doing chessed even if he will lose out and suffer some loss . . . This is the essence of a person who possesses a good heart: he does good for others even when he loses out . . . He is whole and complete both spiritually and physically.
The heart is the source and root of a living being; its location in the center of the body is proof of this. Whenever an object is located in the center, it is always the root for everything else. Therefore, the heart’s location at the center of the body signifies that it is the root and source of the person’s totality . . . When the heart is good all is good (Derech HaChaim).
The mishnah says, “An evil eye, the evil inclination and hatred of all creatures drive out a person from this world,” (Avos 2:16). This is only true if his heart is so evil that he hates other creatures . . . These three things are said to drive a person out from this world because when Hashem created His world, He wrote Ki Tov – it was good – for each and every thing that He created. These three things are the opposite of what Hashem created in His world, and therefore these three things drive a person out from this world. Just as the good found in all creatures is what gives existence to the world, so do these three things drive us out from the world. We have already explained this idea in Gur Aryeh on Parshas Vayeishev (Derech HaChaim).
The pasuk says (Bereishis 37:2): “And Yosef would bring evil reports of them to his father.” Rashi comments there that “every evil that he saw and observed in his brothers – the sons of Leah – he would tell his father.” There are three things in man that are explicitly named evil as mentioned above: “the evil inclination . . . the evil eye . . . and an evil heart.” . . . Because Yosef was a completely righteous tzaddik, he was the only one singled out from among the tribes to be called Yosef HaTzaddik. Because it says, “Say to the tzaddik ki tov,” and a true tzaddik is completely good, Yosef distanced himself from all things evil. His brothers were not on the same level of righteousness as he, and so he suspected them of evil doing . . . because the “evil inclination” for immoral behavior is the strongest urge and passion of them all . . . They showed an “evil eye” when they teased the children of the maidservants (Bilhah and Zilpah) because they wanted to feel superior to them . . . The third aspect, an “evil heart,” . . . was inferred when they were suspected of consuming ever min ha’chai – a limb torn from a live animal – because of the cruelty inherent in such an act.
Regarding these three things, Chazal tell us (Avos 2:16): “Rabbi Yehoshua says an evil eye, the evil inclination and hatred of all creatures drive out a person from this world.” These three are named evil because of the hatred towards others they comprise. He who hates other creatures is called evil-hearted, because hatred is based in the heart. It drives a person from this world because, when Hashem created the world, He declared each stage was good, and when something tends towards evil it is inclined towards leaving this world. . . Therefore an evil eye, an evil inclination and an evil heart drive a person out from this world. The existence of the world is good and its absence is evil, therefore whatever has evil tendencies will eventually vanish (Gur Aryeh Vayeishev).
