Q:
In light of what you said that gaining daas is our most important function in this world and leads to happiness, what is the explanation of the verse in Koheles (1:18), כי ברב חכמה רב כעס – that when there’s a great amount of wisdom, there’s a great amount of vexation, ויסיף דעת יוסיף מכאוב – and the more knowledge you have, the more pain you have?
A:
That’s a good question. Doesn’t that seem to be a contradiction to the thesis that we have to strive to gain more da’as?
And the answer is, it depends what kind of da’as. When people become aware of the great truths, then they gain more happiness. There’s no question, איזהו עשיר השמח בחלקו. The more knowledge you understand about the goodness of life, the more you become happy in this world. No question about it. The real wealthy man is not the man who has money. The man who knows how to enjoy what he has, he sits home at nighttime, he’s not interested in entertainment. Because he has daas, he’s not looking for thrills—he’s happy that he’s healthy, that he has a roof over his head and a warm house. And that man is really enjoying it. That’s a great thing. He’s an ashir; איזהו עשיר – the one who learns to enjoy a warm house.
You didn’t think about that, did you? There are children, runaways of drunken fathers who drove them out in the streets—boys and girls—and they’re sleeping in cardboard boxes in Manhattan. A pity on them. It’s cold. They’re freezing. They’d love to have a nice warm house.
And you have a warm house and running water too in your house; cold and hot running water. You have bathrooms in your house. You have everything.
And here, someone is sitting and he’s worrying about where he could go out for some entertainment. Oh, that person didn’t understand anything. He has no daas; he’s a poor man. An ashir is a man who knows what he has.
Of course if he’s rich enough to take out a sefer and learn Torah, even better; he’s a bigger ashir. השמח בחלקו – He’s happy with the Torah. The Torah is really an enjoyment. After a while, you get to love learning Torah. The Torah is one of the great joys of life. And therefore, there’s no question that יוסף דעת יוסף שמחה – the more daas you have, the more happiness you’ll have.
But there’s a kind of da’as that you’re not supposed to get. Knowing things that are not your business to know. You’re sticking your nose into affairs that are not for you to know. And therefore, יוסף מכאב – you’re looking for trouble.
Adam HaRishon was looking for da’as that he didn’t have to look for: דעת טוב ורע – He wanted to know the experience of choosing between tov and ra. To be just good alone, he understood how important it is, but he wanted to know how is it possible to be tempted and still overcome the temptation? How is it possible to have a yetzer hara? That was something new to him, yetzer hara. And he wanted to know what it looks like.
Aah, you want to know what it looks like? You’re looking for trouble. לדעת טוב ורע. And Hashem says, “Don’t look for that kind of a da’as.” What was the result? יוסף מכאב. He added only troubles to himself. He was driven out.
And therefore, that kind of chochmah, when people study things that are not good for them—let’s say, he’ll spend time reading things in the newspapers, unimportant things. So now he added vexation into his emotions. He’s thinking about things that make no difference to him.
Or let’s say people who go to places and look at things; they go to travel and look at out-of-the-way places. What do you need it for? You’re looking for trouble. You’ll bring back some tropical diseases when you come home. יוסף דעת – You’re looking for knowledge that it’s not important to know. You want to see what’s doing in the South Sea? You see travel pictures—a man is standing on the beach, around him are females all around him, admiring females, and so now he wants to go there and see what it looks like. When he comes back, he has all kind of tropical diseases; tropical fleas have bitten him and inoculated him with all kinds of sicknesses, יוסף דעת יוסף מכאב. He’ll come back with diseases.
Let him stay home. America is healthier than any other place. In America there are more laws and regulations about things that keep people healthier than any other country in the world.
(January 1990)
