“Praiseworthy is he who imparts wisdom to the needy; on the day of evil God will save him from harm.” (Psalm 41:2)

It is [brought in the Talmud]: There is no poverty other than in daat (Nedarim 41a) . This calls for compassion, because there is nothing more [in want of] compassion than this.

Now, this poverty applies in both a broad and a particular way. Its broad application is to a person whose worship of God is without wisdom. Someone who has mastered wisdom must teach him wisdom. Its particular application is to the person himself, who at times lacks all wisdom. This is called “constricted consciousness.” He must then see to acquire wisdom and increase his efforts so that he attains “expanded consciousness.” When he attains expanded consciousness, all the harsh judgments are mitigated, and so he evokes lovingkindness and compassion.

This is the teaching of our Sages, of blessed memory: Great is dae’ah, for it was positioned between two Divine Names, as it is said (1 Samuel 2:3): “for the El (Omnipotent One) of dae’ot is YHVH (God)” (Berakhot 33a).

The explanation is: When a person attains expanded consciousness, compassion and lovingkindness are awakened for him from the two Divine Names. El is lovingkindness, as in (Psalms 52:3), “the lovingkindness of El is throughout the day.” And YHVH is compassion, as in (Psalms 119:156), “Your compassion is abundant, O YHVH .”

2. This is the explanation of the [opening] verse: {“Praiseworthy is he who maskil (imparts wisdom) to the needy; on the day of evil YHVH will save him from harm.”} **Praiseworthy is he who maSKiL to the needy—**That is, when he is in a state of constricted consciousness and develops his SeKheL (wisdom) to expanded consciousness.

Then, **on the day of evil YHVH will save him from harm—**all the harsh judgments are mitigated.

And if he cannot attain expanded consciousness on his own, the solution is for him to teach others wisdom. As a result, he too will awaken to expanded consciousness.