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Torah From Zion
Preferring Evil to Good
Evil for the sake of evil
Tehillim [Psalms], Dovid Hamelech [King David] stated about Doeg the Edomite:
“You loved evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking righteousness” (52:5). The Midrash [explanations of the Torah by the Sages of Israel] (Shocheir Tov 52:6) states that Dovid is referring to Doeg’s divulging to Shaul Hamelech [King Saul] that Achimelech ben Achitov gave Dovid provisions and a sword, and inquired of the Urim VTumim [Lights and Completions; the method instituted by HaShem in the Torah for questions to be asked and and clear answers to be received from HaShem, in connection with the Kohein Gadol’s (High Priest’s) attainment of Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit; i.e., the Divine Presence resting upon him)] on Dovid’s behalf. This incited Shaul’s anger against Dovid, and he ordered Doeg to kill all the inhabitants of Nov, a city of kohanim [priests]. Doeg did this, and afterwards, Shaul was punished.
“You loved evil more than good,” Dovid said of Doeg, meaning you preferred Shaul’s detriment more than your own benefit. Had he not accepted your lashon hara [evil speech], he wouldn’t have been punished. Doeg gained nothing from revealing to Shaul Dovid’s actions against Achimelech.
“There are people who lie and flatter those who support them, but you, Doeg, are you dependent on anybody? You are a Torah sage, a powerful, wealthy man, and head of the Sanhedrin [the Supreme Court of Israel]. Why did you do this? You didn’t need to curry favor with Shaul; you simply ‘loved evil!'”
In Parshas Korach [the portion of the Torah named Korach] as well, the wife of On ben Pelet saved her husband from the machlokes [dispute] of Korach, explaining that he had nothing to gain—either Moshe [Moses] will win, or Korach will win; you will get nothing out of this.
Only, if her claim was so logical, what motivated all those who continued to side with Korach against Moshe? What did they get out of it?
Evidently, they too “preferred evil to good.”
Doeg—three layers of evil
The verse begins: “Why do you pride yourself with evil, mighty warrior? The kindness of Hashem [God] is all day long” (v. 3). The Midrash states that Dovid is commenting on the depths of Doeg’s sin, identifying three distinct components, first asking:
1. Doeg, why didn’t you come to my rescue? Did you think you were being heroic? If a man sees another man standing by a pit and pushes him in, or sees him on the roof of a building and pushes him off, does that make him a “mighty warrior?” No! Who is truly mighty? A man who sees another man about to fall into a pit and takes hold of him so that he does not fall! Or, if he saw someone fall into a pit and hurried to take him out! You, Doeg, saw that Shaul was against me, and you went ahead and made matters worse.
2. The Midrash continues, “the kindness of Hashem is all day long.” Dovid now asks: Doeg, why did you insinuate that Achimelech had done something wrong? Do you think that if I had not received bread from Achimelech, no other Jew in the world would have helped me? Jews do chessed [acts of kindness] all the time, to all people!
Dovid arrived in Nov famished, and Achimelech gave him food. This did not incriminate him; giving a starving man food is not the basis for suspecting him of conspiring against Shaul. Anyone with the minimal amount of mercy would have done the same thing. Doeg, what do you have against Achimelech?
3. The third level: Doeg, you’re a man who engages in the chessed of Hashem all day, meaning you toil in Torah. It states (Mishlei / Proverbs 31:26), “the Torah of chessed is on her tongue.” Your lashon hara is an undoing of all the chessed of Torah that you engage in all the time. How could you do such a thing?
Or, “the chessed of Hashem is all day long” means that one who engages in Torah literally does chessed with the world. When he analyzes and resolves difficulties, with this he brings the light of the Torah to the world. But you, Doeg, who learned this Torah of chessed and could have brought great light to the world, engaged in lashon hara instead! That’s the very opposite of chessed!
Silence and speech
The Chofetz Chaim [Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan] lists numerous middos [character traits] that one must assess when making a cheshbon nefesh [self-accounting], and one of them is “silence.” The Chofetz Chaim explains that silence does not mean keeping one’s mouth closed, nor does “speech” mean opening one’s mouth to talk. The definition of speech is carefully chosen words that are intended for a specific purpose, and silence means any form of speech that lacks purpose.
Igeres HaRamban [The Letter of the Ramban, Nachmanides] states: “Think about what you will say before you let the words out of your mouth.” The Ramban is not just recommending a worthy practice. Speech is defined by the thought that goes into it, before the words are said, as the Rambam writes (on Pirkei Avos / “Ethics” of the Fathers 1:16) that speech is divided into six parts, and “the third part is loathsome speech, from which a man gains nothing… like most conversations of the masses, [who chat] about what happened, how a certain king behaves in his palace, why so-and-so died, or how someone else got rich. This is what the chachamim [sages] call sicha beteila [idle chatter], and people of stature make sure to shun such speech, as it states of Rav, the talmid [student] of Rabbi Chiya, that he ‘never spoke sicha beteila in his life.’ Rather, speech must have a purpose, particularly for a talmid chacham [a student of the Sages, i.e., Torah scholar].
When Doeg spoke, he didn’t just toss out words randomly without thought, as happens to many of us, when words slip out and we regret them later. Doeg thought out carefully what he would say, and what he said to Shaul had a very clear intent, as Chazal [the Sages] say, that “Doeg’s words were like a sharpened blade.”
We can ask, though: What was so sharp about Doeg’s statement? All he said was: “Dovid came to the house of Achimelech.”
The answer is, it depends on how you say it. It depends on your tone of voice and whatever else you do to “put a spin” on your words. When Doeg said that Dovid had come to Achimelech, his words had a built-in conclusion—Dovid came to Achimelech to bring him into a conspiracy against you, Shaul!
Doeg knew that Achimelech’s welcoming of Dovid was nothing more than a simple act of hachnasas orchim [hospitality], something that would not upset Shaul—even if the recipient of Achimelech’s hospitality was someone that Shaul wanted to kill. Rather, the fact that Achimelech gave Dovid to eat as per the Urim VTumim (as explained there)—this was a demonstration that Dovid was the mashiach Hashem [HaShem’s anointed]. This spin on Achimelech’s actions aroused Shaul’s jealousy, and all this was sparked by what seems like a few innocuous words. This is what Chazal mean by comparing Doeg’s words to a “sharpened blade,” so sharp that even a seemingly “gentle” touch draws blood.
Rav Yitzchak Sher explains along similar lines the sages’ statement that the talmidim [students] of Rabbi Akiva “did not behave with honor toward each other.” Since there was jealousy between them, the result was that they hurt each other. When one of them offered a bit of rebuke to another, even if the words were said respectfully and politely, since the inner motivation was jealousy, this turned the words into a sharpened blade. The real intent was to lower one’s fellowman’s stature, not to help him improve.
We see from this how much a person must keep away from jealousy, and if we look honestly at ourselves, we will discern that we too can be guilty of “sharp,” damaging statements. Let’s say one of the talmidim goes away from yeshiva for an extended period and then he comes back. How is he received? If the one who welcomes him is jealous of him, he may express himself in the warmest of terms: Wow, you’re back! It’s so nice to see you! How are you, my friend? It’s been so long…
Very nice words on the outside, but since they stem from jealousy, they penetrate the talmid like a lethal sting, pulling him down. This is the “sharpened blade.” When someone really cares about the returning talmid, he can say the exact same words and they will help him and build him. He’ll feel good that people care about him and missed him while he was away. The only difference is what was felt as the words were being said.
A way to test ourselves
How can we know whether our actions stem from a positive or negative motivation? There are two ways:
1. When you say something about someone else, do you feel good about it? Do you feel good afterward, too?
2. Rav Yerucham Levovitz would speak about “general rules.” Would you take what you did or said and decree that this is the way everyone must speak or act? Should this be taught to others? Or, even though I did something, I wouldn’t necessarily want everyone to do it, too. I wouldn’t make it into a general rule for life.
Doeg surely thought that Shaul was right and that Dovid was wrong. Still, he knew that all Achimelech had done was give Dovid some food, which anyone with a minimum of compassion would have done. Achimelech had no intentions of joining up with Dovid against Shaul. Doeg certainly would not have taken his lashon hara against Achimelech and used it as a model for all of Klal Yisrael [the Jewish people] to follow, as a general rule. Why, then, did he slander Achimelech? Because he “preferred evil over good, falsehood from speaking righteousness.” Instead of speaking righteously, as expected of a talmid chacham, who should want to do good in the world, he spoke maliciously. There was evidently an imperfection in his personality—he preferred evil to good.
Torah has the power to actualize
Dovid Hamelech goes on to say: “The righteous will see and be awed, but they will laugh at him” (v. 8).
What does this mean? That tzaddikim [righteous people] will see and fear, and yet laugh, too?
Tzaddikim will see that even though Doeg was wise, wealthy, and powerful, and even though he had many merits of righteousness to his name, none of this helps if among his character traits is a preference of evil over good. Therefore, they’ll laugh that all of Doeg’s virtues didn’t help him in practice.
The Vilna Gaon [Rabbi Eiliyahu of Vilna] writes (Even Sheleimah 1:19) that one who learns Torah without working on correcting his character traits will not only fail to merit Torah, but worse still, his Torah will make his bad character traits even worse. The Gra [Vilna Gaon] explains this on the verse יִטּוּב חָפֵץ נַפְשִׁי [My soul delights in goodness], that the words of Torah are like rain, which helps whatever is planted in a man’s heart to sprout forth. If his heart is good, good things will sprout, but if his heart is full of evil, evil will sprout forth, chalila [G-d forbid]. As it states, tzaddikim go in the ways of Torah, whereas the evil will stumble in those same ways.
When soil is full of weeds, even if you’ll fertilize the soil, water it, and add nutrients, it will surely produce weeds. So, too, if a man is full of anger, jealousy, vanity, and the like, Torah study on its own, without efforts to improve himself through mussar [ethical teachings], is like fertilizing a weedy, thorny soil. Only weeds and thorns will result.
After the Midrash relates what Dovid said about Doeg, it concludes: “And let not the strong man glorify himself with his strength, and not the rich man glorify himself with his wealth. For only with this may one glorify himself: contemplating and knowing Me” (Yirmiyahu / Jeremiah 9:22–23).
Meaning, Doeg the Edomite teaches us how critical it is to work on our traits of character. Doeg was a talmid chacham, and had many wonderful qualities, but this did not help him because he “preferred evil to good.” Ultimately, the Torah simply developed and empowered this bad trait within him.
The Midrash then adds that Dovid, by contrast: “administered justice and kindness to all his people” (1 Divrei Hayamim / Chronicles 18:14), and “Dovid was successful in all his ways” (1 Shmuel / Samuel] 18:14).
We should look at Doeg as an example of how we do not want to act. Everyone should assess himself to see if he is not “preferring evil to good.”
Unfortunately, we hear at times of differences of opinion between great Torah figures. Even though the dispute has nothing to do with you or me, people sometimes take sides. They end up slighting the honor of talmidei chachamim, even though they stand nothing to gain from this.
This reminds us of Korach, who assembled a group of followers, even though they all knew that only one person would end up the leader, and that person would not be them. They knew that they had nothing to gain from backing Korach. Still, they “preferred evil to good.”
Excerpted with permission from Imrei Mordechai, Vol. 2, A Collection of Inspirational Insights from the “Mussar Shmoozes” of HaGaon Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein Ztzvk”l, The Imrei Mordechai Institute, Diaspora Yeshiva Toras Yisrael, Mount Zion, Jerusalem, Kislev 5779.
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