376. Ra'aya Meheimna (the Faithful Shepherd). More was said in this first section. The Faithful Shepherd said, Did not the sages teach about it: The spleen laughs, and this is "the laughter of the fool" (Kohelet 7:6)? For this reason the sages of the Mishnah taught: Woe to him who is successful (lit. 'to whom time laughs'), FOR HE RECEIVES HIS REWARD DURING HIS LIFETIME. And Kohelet said: "Anger is better than laughter" (Ibid.). THE MEANING OF THIS IS: The anger of the liver, which is the gall, the whiplash of the Holy One, blessed be He, is a whip with which to beat the righteous in this world with bad illnesses and plagues. AND THIS IS BETTER than the laughter with which the spleen, WHICH IS LILIT, laughs at us, with the dirt of this world, and better than temporary laughter with wealth. FOR THEY RECEIVE IN THIS WORLD THE REWARD OF THE GOOD DEEDS THAT THEY DID, SO THAT THEY SHOULD UTTERLY PERISH FROM THE WORLD TO COME, WHILE THE RIGHTEOUS RECEIVE THE PUNISHMENT FOR THE SINS THEY HAVE COMMITTED IN THIS WORLD SO THAT THEY WILL INHERIT THE WORLD TO COME. moreover, venom of the spleen is crawling in the dust, and is stronger than the venom of the gall.

377. And since the mixed multitude are the leaven in the dough, NAMELY THEY INTERMINGLED WITH YISRAEL AS LEAVEN IN THE DOUGH and the nations of the world are like chaff, the mixed multitude delay Yisrael in exile more than do the idol worshipping nations. As the sages taught: what prevents us? The leaven in the dough. For THE MIXED MULTITUDE stick to Yisrael as does the leaven to the dough, but the nations of the world are no more than "like the chaff which the wind drives away" (Tehilim 1:4).