Sotah - Daf 41
- The king’s kriah at Hakheil, and the incident of flattering King Agrippas
The next Mishnah describes the mitzvah of Hakheil. The day after the first day of Succos following Shemittah, they built a wooden platform in the Azarah on which the king would sit. The sefer Torah was passed to the king, who would stand to receive it, but read it sitting. King Agrippas read while standing, and the Sages praised his conduct. The Gemara will explain that although the king cannot forego his honor, he can for the honor of a mitzvah. When Agrippas reached the passuk, "לא תוכל לתת עליך איש נכרי" – You shall not place a foreigner over you to be king, זלגו עיניו דמעות – his eyes flowed with tears (because as a descendant of the slave, Herod, he was disqualified from being king). They said to him: אל תתירא אגריפס אחינו אתה אחינו אתה – “Do not fear, Agrippas! You are our brother! You are our brother!” The Gemara says that they deserved destruction for this flattery of Agrippas. The Mishnah concludes by detailing the passages which the king reads, and the berachos he recites thereafter.
- Flattering the wicked in this world
Rebbe Yehudah of the West darshened: מותר להחניף לרשעים בעולם הזה – It is permitted to flatter the wicked in this world, because it says regarding the times of Moshiach: לא יקרא עוד לנבל נדיב ולכילי לא יאמר שוע – A vulgar person will no longer be called generous, and about a lustful person it will not be said that he is noble. This implies that nowadays this is permitted. Reish Lakish gave a source from Yaakov’s statement to Eisav: כראות פני אלהים ותרצני – “[I have seen your face,] which is like seeing the face of an angel, and you were appeased by me.” We see, then, that Yaakov flattered Eisav.
This interpretation disagrees with Rebbe Levi’s, who said a parable illustrating Yaakov’s intent: לאדם שזימן את חבירו והכיר בו שמבקש להורגו – It is comparable to someone who invited his fellow, and [the guest] discerned that [the host] sought to kill him. אמר לו טעם תבשיל זה שאני טועם כתבשיל שטעמתי בבית המלך – So he said to [the host], “The taste of this dish that I am tasting is like the dish which I tasted in the king’s palace.” אמר ידע ליה מלכא – [The host] said to himself, “The king knows him!” מיסתפי ולא קטיל ליה – He became afraid and did not kill him. Yaakov, too, was not attempting to flatter Eisav, but to hint to him that he was accustomed to seeing angels.
- The evils of flattery
Rebbe Elazar made several statements about a person who possesses the trait of flattery: כל אדם שיש בו חנופה מביא אף לעולם – Anyone who has in him the trait of flattery brings anger to the world, as it says: "וחנפי לב ישימו אף" – And those with flattering hearts bring on anger. ולא עוד אלא שאין תפלתו נשמעת – And not only this, but his prayer is not heeded, as it says there: "לא ישועו כי אסרם" – they will not cry out to Hashem when He afflicts them. He also said about those possessing the trait of flattery: אפילו עוברין שבמעי אמן מקללין אותו – Even fetuses in their mothers’ wombs curse him, and: נופל בגיהנם – He falls into Gehinnom. He added: כל המחניף לחבירו סוף נופל בידו – One who flatters his fellow ultimately falls into his hand. He concluded that even if he does not fall into his hand, he will fall into his son’s hand, or at least the hand of his son’s son, as we find that Yirmiyah, who flattered the false prophet Chananyah, fell into the hands of Chananyah’s grandson.
