Just a bit with some of the points in the Haqdama specifically and more general sense. Let's take a look at perek... perek bet here in Sha'ar Avodat Hashem. Hachelek, or maybe, bet chelek mecholqi hahe'ara. The need for the Torah to arouse us to Avodat Hashem even though the reason which Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the Sechel which Hakadosh Baruch Hu implanted within us also tells us that we're Chayavim in Avodat Hashem. So nevertheless we need the Torah as well. כיוון שההערה הנטועה בשכל, again, the arousal to Avodat Hashem which is rooted in our Sechel, Necheleshet is weakened MiSheloshah Ofanim in three fashions, three ways. יש צורך לחזקו בהערה התוריית with the arousal from the Torah. Asher lisheloshet haofanim... HaEchad, the first one, לפי שהאדם מורכב מדברים חלוקים. Man is a composite creature. הטבעים המתגברים זה על זה ve'atzamim negdiyim vehem nefesh vegufo. That his body and soul are really at odds in terms of inclination, in terms of natural tendencies. לפיכך נטע הבורא יתעלה בנפשו, Hakadosh Baruch Hu implanted within us Midos vekochos shebahem yishtaqeq ledevarim that he should desire things שכאשר ישתמש בהם האדם when a person will use them yispatch bahem gufo, his body will be developed ויתחזק בבניין העולם הזה ויישאר המין האנושי כמו שהוא ואף על פי שפרטי נפשותיו תם.
We have a Neti'ah towards material things because we inhabit a physical world and Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants the world to be perpetuated. והמידה הזו היא התאווה להנאות הגופניות. And this trait is the desire we have for physical pleasure. והיא כוללת כל מיני בעלי החיים המתפתחים. והרכיב עוד הבורא יתעלה בנפש האדם,
Hakadosh Baruch Hu integrated within our Nefesh Midos vekochos capacities שבהם ישתוקק לדברים שכאשר ישתמש בהם ימאס עניין העולם וההישארות בעולם הזה
that a person rejects material things veyachpots lehipared mimeno and he wants to separate himself from everything material. וזו היא ההכרה הנכונה. This is really the correct recognition. וכיוון שההנאות הגופניות since physical pleasures קודמות בנפש האדם מנעוריו a person is aware of physical need and physical pleasure from the moment he's born והרגלו בהן חזק מראשית עניינו and he's habituated to these from the beginning of his life vegidulo bahen amits and as he grows his tie to that is very strong. לפיכך גברה מידת התאווה על שאר מידותיו, consequently the physical dimension becomes stronger than the spiritual inclination. וגברה גם על השכל שהוא באופי האדם מתחילתו and it even overpowers the Sechel, vetitmeseh einav, it blinds him והשחיתות סימני תכונותיו הנעלות. Lefikhakh, consequently. Lefichach, consequently, הוצרך האדם לדברים מחוצה לו, a person needs things from an external source כדי שיתקומם בהם נגד מדתו המגונה, that he should be able to stand up and overcome the mida hamguna והיא התאוה אל ההנאות הבהמיות, his desire for physical pleasures. Veyichaye bahem and he should revive והוא שיחיה סימני מדתו הנעלה והוא השכל, and he should revive the sechel. ואותן הדברים הם הודעות התורה אשר הנחה בהם השם יתברך ועבודתו על ידי שלוחיו ונביאיו עליהם השלום.
And these things which seek to remedy the problem are the mitzvos of the Torah. This is a very interesting perspective which Rabbeinu Bachya suggests here. Very often a person has a sense and people who misunderstand Torah, this is their perception of Torah. The Torah is very onerous. Torah places a big burden on us. We're constantly being bombarded with do this, do this, do this, abstain from this, abstain from that. Constant, constant bombardment. Too much of an ol, too much of a burden, too much of a yoke. And the truth is that we experience Torah that way sometimes. We really do sometimes have that notion. We don't want to learn, we don't want to get up in the morning, we want to battel, we want to waste time. So what's pshat? That Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted to, Rachmana litzlan, wants to torment us? So the answer Rabbeinu Bachya says is as follows. משל למה הדבר דומה. Person injures himself. He tears a cartilage in his knee. So he undergoes surgery and because of the injury and because of the surgery, so his knee has been very weakened. So he goes to the doctor and the doctor post-op treatment, he recommends very, very trying and taxing physical therapy. Day in, day out, he undergoes physical therapy and it's painful. It doesn't come easy. It doesn't come easy. So here too, if you would, if a Martian would drop in from Mars, so he would say that the doctor is subjecting him to needless pain and clearly would have a very distorted sense of what's going on. What's our perspective on it? Our perspective on it is that the natural state of affairs has been distorted and disrupted, that the natural equilibrium has been lost. And because of that, because of that, a person has to go through a temporary period of convalescence where he returns things to a normal, natural state. And that doesn't, that seems normal and natural and we understand that, we understand that. So Rabbeinu Bachya says the same is true for Torah. Torah, when a person observes Torah, when a person lives Torah, so when a person is in his natural state, in his ideal natural state, where the equilibrium and the relationship between the physical inclinations a person has and his spiritual ones, when that, when that balance is a proper one, so Torah isn't burdensome. when he gets up to walk, it comes very easily and it comes very naturally. When a person's knee has been injured, so then the walking comes with tremendous pain. And the physical therapy is very painful. Ella mai, so we should know that the more painful and the more burdensome and the more onerous we find Torah, so we should translate that into to that degree the equilibrium within us has been lost, and to that degree the relationship between guf and nefesh, between the physical and the spiritual dimension, that that relationship has been distorted. That's what it means in the רבי חנינא בן עקשיא which everyone knows, רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכות את ישראל לפיכך הרבה להם תורה ומצוות.
So we on the outside think punkt farkert, the less he has a zechut. But the teretz is no, the teretz is either way it's a zechut. If you find it difficult, so it's an indication that you need it, you need it to regain the proper balance and regain the proper equilibrium. And if you have the proper equilibrium, so you don't find it difficult, you don't find it onerous. The ever the second and the third reasons are also of the same same stripe, again explaining why it is that the physical inclinations gain the upper hand and why it's necessary for Torah to return us to the proper balance. Perek gimmel. הגדרת העבודה וביאור חלקיה ומעלת כל חלק מחלקיה. Definition of avodat Hashem. פירוש הגדרת העבודה כניעת המוטב לו למטיב הטוב ולגמול על טובתו כפי יכולתו.
So avodat Hashem means submission to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. הכניעה נחלקת לשני חלקים. Submission to two different forms of submission can be identified. And here's the famous distinction with which we're all familiar, but I think Rabbeinu Bachya is really the one who developed it. האחד כניעת פחד וייחול וכפיה והכרח. We submit out of fear, out of anticipation for schar, and because we're forced into it, out of coercion. השני כניעת חוב וראוי לו מתוך רוממות וגדולה למי שנכנעים לו.
Where we sense on our own that because of the romemut, because of the exaltedness and the greatness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu that we should submit ourselves to Him. In other words, yirat ha’onesh and yirat haromemut. אשר לחלק הראשון היא הכניעה להשם אשר תהיה על ידי ההערה הנקנית אשר הזכרנו. כי חיובה בדרך הגמול והעונש בעולם הזה ובעולם הבא.
Again, that has to be superimposed externally. That's what we need the Torah to come and to cajole us, to encourage us, to threaten us, to motivate us. Aval hachelek hasheini, when we have reached, as we discussed the past couple of weeks, when we've reached a later stage, היא הכניעה הבאה על ידי ההערה הנטועה בשכל. When of our own accord We are aroused to avodas Hashem, to submit ourselves to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Ushtei hakniot meshubachot, both are praiseworthy, מובילות על שביל המפלט בעולם המנוחה, both lead to olam haba, אלא שאחת מהם סיבה לשנית ומעלה לעבור בו אליה והיא הארת התורה.
The yiras ha'onesh is supposed to be a preliminary and a prelude to yiras haromemus, and that we've already discussed. הכניעה הבאה על ידי הארת השכל בדרך הלימודים בראיות yosei karov la'hashem and v'yosei ratzuy v'chashuv b'sheva panim for seven reasons when a person attains the madreiga of yiras haromemus, this is preferable to yiras ha'onesh. Ha'echad, reason number one: כי משמעת הבאה על ידי הארת התורה, when a person is motivated and when a person acts exclusively out of yiras ha'onesh, אפשר שיהיה לב האדם בו שלם להשם לבדו. Could it be that a person will be acting solely, he's only concerned with Hakadosh Baruch Hu? ואפשר שתהיה מטרתו בו להראות בעיני בני אדם כדי שישבחוהו על כך,
or it could be that his goal is that people should praise him v'yichabdahu biglalo and they should respect him for it. כי יסודו בנוי על היראה והתוחלת. Because since yiras ha'onesh appeals again to self-interest and appeals to what's best for your welfare, so then it invites other elements of shelo lishma as well. אבל המשמעת הבאה על ידי הארת השכל, by definition it means that a person's kavana is entirely lishma. ולא יתערב בו ההראות, he's not interested in being seen by anyone, ולא שום פגם מצד ההתפארות בו. He's not interested in self-glorification לפי שאינה מבוססת על תוחלת ויראה because it's not based on any self-interest. אלא היא תוצאה של ידיעה והתבוננות במשך חיו החיוב לבורא מן המשמעת,
but rather it comes from his own understanding and recognition that a person should submit himself to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It's interesting, earlier Rabbeinu Bachya, be'emes, when you stop and think about it, it's really explicit in Chazal, but I don't think we really do stop and think about it. Earlier in the hakdama on the lishma, so Rabbeinu Bachya offers a very interesting perspective. In the hakdama Rabbeinu Bachya writes, he describes different disciplines of knowledge and says that the ultimate of course is Torah and says that לימודה כדי להשיג בו תועליות העולם אסורה. To study Torah for advancement in this world is prohibited. That's absolutely asur. That's asur, כמו שאמרו קדמונינו עליהם השלום, תניא לאהבה את ה' אלהיך לשמוע בקולו ולדבקה בו שלא יאמר אדם אקרא כדי שיקראוני חכם אשנה כדי שיקראוני רבי אשנה כדי שאהיה זקן ויושב בישיבה אלא למוד מאהבה וסוף הכבוד לבוא.
A person is not supposed to study again, he's not supposed to learn Torah because he wants to have any benefit from it. ואמרו עשה דברים לשם פועלם ודבר בהם לשמם אל תעשם עטרה להתגדל בהם.
Don't make them a crown to glorify yourself ולא קרדום לחפור בהם. ואמרו אשרי איש ירא את ה' במצותיו חפץ מאד אמרו אלעזר במצותיו ולא בשכר מצותיו.
K'ditan אל תהיו כעבדים המשמשים את הרב על מנת לקבל פרס אלא הוו כעבדים המשמשים את הרב שלא על מנת לקבל פרס ויהי מורא שמים עליכם.
So it's interesting, so you could have understood, so Rabbeinu Bachya says that all these cases that shelo lishma, not only does it fall short of the ideal, but be'emes, it's really asur. It's really asur to engage in Torah shelo lishma is really asur. שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. So vos taitch, it's meforash in that famous maamar of the Gemara that we all know, that you need you really need a matir for shelo lishmah, to engage in Torah u'mitzvos shelo lishmah. So we usually think יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות שלא לשמה because it's better than not doing it. No, so Chazal tell us be'emes the only reason it's permitted, the matir of shelo lishmah is because שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה because ultimately you'll reach lishmah. Ultimately you'll reach lishmah. But otherwise shelo lishmah really really would have been assur because it's a sacrilege to take Torah u'mitzvos and to have any ulterior motive in Torah u'mitzvos is really a sacrilege and really is assur and we should have been required to abstain, l'olam, so that's the chiddush of לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.
Ofan hasheni, Rabbeinu Bachya continues, the second area in which we see the superiority of yiras haromemus to yiras ha-onesh, שהמשמעת הבאה ידי הארת התורה לא תושג אם אחרי החיוב בגמול והפחד בעונש. ואשר תהיה על ידי הארת השכל אינה באה אלא מתוך נדיבות הנפש ורצונה להשקיע את כל הכוחות במשמעת השם לשמו אחרי ידיעה והתבוננות. כי אין הנפש משתנדבת במה שיש לה אלא אחרי שיתברר לה שהתמורה מכריעה אותו והוא רצון השם אותו.
Rabbeinu Bachya says if a person is motivated by yiras ha-onesh, so a person will do what he has to do. When a person acts out of a sense of obligation, out of a sense of coercion, he'll do what he has to do, but he won't do any more than that. He'll do what he has to do, but no more than that. When a person acts out of an inner conviction that it's right, out of yiras haromemus that he should submit himself to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so then a person will act bechol koachov, bechol koachov, with all of his energies. On a different occasion we once explained that lichora this is the pshat, you find already in the Rishonim identify that there are many examples when we have l'chatchilah u'bedieved, even d'oraisa. Not only do you find it in dinim d'rabbanan, where it might be some kind of pshara between various shitos, but you find it in dinim d'oraisa, you find in dinim d'oraisa you find l'chatchilah u'bedieved within mitzvos. So what's the pshat? What's the pshat? So the pshat is as follows, that in every mitzvah so there are two levels. There's a level of obligation, of what you have to do, but there's also a level of opportunity, that the mitzvah gives you an opportunity to come closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So what bedieved means is that this is contained in the mitzvah only on the level of obligation. On the level of obligation, so if you're layning קריאת שמע ולא דקדק, so in terms of the level of obligation, so you fulfilled your obligation. However in terms of the level of opportunity, in terms of mitzvos not only as an obligation, but mitzvos as an opportunity to come closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so then sometimes the Torah says that there are added elements to the mitzvah on the level of opportunity. So clearly, again, the ideal as Rabbeinu Bachya explains is that the mitzvos should be viewed as opportunity, not only as obligation which is superimposed upon us, but as opportunity. The fifth is what we've discussed again, that the yiras ha-onesh is again supposed to be only a preliminary. Ha-ofen ha-chamishi, let's see. שמצות התורה מספרן מוגבל מוגדר והם תרי"ג מצות. The mitzvos of the Torah are limited, finite, 613. המצות השכליות כמעט שאין להם סוף לפי שבכל יום מוסיף האדם בהן ידיעה ובכל יום שמוסיף הכרה והבנה לטובת השם עליו ועוצם יכולתו וממשלתו יוסיף כניעה לו ושפלות לפניו.
At the end of this fifth area, so he says, וכבר אמר על מקצת אותם שלבם שלם עם השם שהיו עובדים כל ימיהם בתשובה.
Or עוברים כל ימיהם בתשובה. They would pass all their days doing teshuva. לפי שהיו מחדשים בכל יום תשובה לפני השם מחמת תוספת הכרתם את רוממות השם בכל יום ועם מלוי חובת המושמעות לפניו לשעבר כמו שאמר החסיד עליו השלום יום ליום יביע אומר ולילה ללילה יחוה דעת ואמר פלגי מים ירדו עיני על לא שמרו תורתך.
So what does Rabbeinu Bachya mean here? So at first, the formulation at first is a little misleading. He says that when a person is oveid Ha-shem just out of yiras ha-onesh, so his avoda is going to be very limited, very finite. But a person is oveid Ha-shem again, more out of yiras ha-romemus, mitoch ha-sechel, as opposed to because the Torah imposed upon him, but rather because the sechel Ha-kadosh Baruch Hu gave us, with that sechel we recognize it. So then a person's avoda becomes infinite. He never exhausts the possibilities of avoda. Not that the number of mitzvos increase, but rather that the observance of the mitzvos becomes intensified. Every time that a person is motivated by yiras ha-onesh, so again, so a person is motivated by yiras ha-onesh, so if he abstained from the mitzva, from the aveira, okay, so there's nothing to intensify, there's no room for growth. If a person observed the mitzva, okay, so I observed the mitzva and I'll get my s'char. There's no room for intensifying, there's no room for further growth. When a person is motivated by yiras ha-romemus, so that, in keeping with the fact that in truth Ha-kadosh Baruch Hu is infinite, so that a person never exhausts. On the contrary, the more a person becomes aware and the more a person is attuned to who Ha-kadosh Baruch Hu is, what it means to live in his presence, so then every day his ideas of what it means to have yiras shamayim change. Yiras ha-onesh doesn't change. There's one definition for yiras ha-onesh. Yiras ha-onesh is, if you go against what Ha-kadosh Baruch Hu said, so we're gonna have to give a din ve-cheshbon, there's gonna be an accounting for it. So that doesn't change, that doesn't change. So a person can master that. A person's yiras ha-onesh can be complete. A person can attain a complete yiras ha-onesh. מה שאין כן יראת הרוממות, by definition, by definition, as long as a person lives, so he can constantly intensify it infinitely, his yiras ha-romemus, his appreciation for Ha-kadosh Baruch Hu. That's what the Rabbeinu Bachya says, that some חסידים ואנשי מעשה, their whole life they were doing teshuva because with every day, when every day passed, they realized they. At first the person thinks that it's lilmod lishma if you don't need someone standing over you to tell you to learn. So that's a person's perception of lishma. Presently the madrega he's on, so he doesn't he's not motivated enough without some kind of incentive he doesn't learn. So what's his notion of lishma? His notion of lishma is even without someone else giving me an incentive, so I'll learn. His yiras shamayim is because he's afraid he's going to be punished. So what's his notion of yiras haromemus? Is it that you have that you fear Hakadosh Baruch Hu even without being afraid of being punished? Then a person attains a higher madrega. A person attains a higher madrega. So he no longer learns only when given incentive. So now having achieved a higher madrega, so a person can also understand better what lishma means. And he realizes the fact that I'm not learning because someone's forcing me to learn doesn't mean that I'm learning lishma. Doesn't mean that I've already exhausted the lishma aspect of learning. A person no longer is motivated purely by yiras onesh. Now he realizes is that what yiras haromemus doesn't just mean that you're not afraid of punishment, that that's what has to motivate you, but yiras haromemus means to to realize the uniqueness and infinitude of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So as a person grows, so too does his understanding of what lishma means. And when a person is on the lowest madrega, so all he can see is one step higher above him. He can see one step higher. He can see the next rung. But he doesn't he can't see any of the higher rungs. So as a person goes up each rung on the ladder, so he first glimpses what a higher level of lishma means. So why it says in seforim what's the pshat, the medayek in לעולם יעסוק אדם תורה מצוות שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה?
So again the literal translation is that whenever you find yourself in a case of she'lo lishma you should do it. But it's a strange lashon. What do you mean l'olam? No, it shouldn't be l'olam. It should be a temporary stage. לעולם יעסוק אדם תורה מצוות שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.
You should do it at one stage in your life so that you can reach a stage of lishma. So it says no. לעולם יעסוק אדם תורה מצוות שלא לשמה. Your whole life you're going to be oisek she'lo lishma. Your whole life לעולם יעסוק אדם תורה מצוות שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.
So you you achieved, you reached the next rung on the ladder. You reached the next rung on the ladder. Your yiras shamayim was she'lo lishma. Through that yiras so that purified you, so you went one rung higher on the ladder. So now vaiter לעולם יעסוק אדם תורה מצוות שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה
because now you glimpse one rung higher on the ladder. And it's that way k'seder throughout a person's life. And the Melech says המשמש בו להטהר בלבד אין אדם בטוח בעצמו שלא ישקע בו כי כח התאוה טמון ארב לו וצופה לזמני ההתעלמות ממנו.
As long as the person is again only motivated by yiras ha-onesh, so if he's distracted from that, if he's distracted from the from the ultimate din ve-heshbon, so then it would be easy to induce him to go against the Torah, to go against the ratzon Hashem. However, once a person once a person is motivated internally from an inner conviction that he wants to be oved Hashem, so then he can't be distracted and mi-meila his his submission and his observance of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's mitzvos becomes guaranteed. ולפיכך נעשית המשמעת הזו מצידו בטוחה ממשגה. It becomes guaranteed, it's foolproof. ובעליה שמורה מן החטא and they are safe from sin, כמו שאמר הכתוב לא יאונה לצדיק כל און. So kol aven doesn't mean any kind of doesn't mean he's not going to lose money, it doesn't mean a real aven. It means that he'll never he'll never be choteh. Similarly the they say so how does this how do you reconcile this with כל גדול מחברו יצרו גדול הימנו? This contrast between the person who's being oved out of yiras ha-onesh, it's a constant struggle and if you can distract him from the yiras ha-onesh so right away you'll be able to induce him to cheit. Ma she-ein ken a person where it's an inner conviction out of yiras ha-romemus so then a person who's the yira is a part of him, so it's he's guaranteed that he'll never stray. So they say from the Gra also that the klal of כל גדול מחברו יצרו גדול הימנו means bi-tchilas ha-avoda. It means at the outset of our avodas Hashem so then the more the more you've accomplished and the more involved you are in Torah but there's still a strong element of yiras ha-onesh so then yitzo gadol heimenu because there's more to resist. There's more to resist. If you learn an hour a day in the beis medrash so you're not going against the grain so much. If you learn six, eight hours, so כל גדול מחברו יצרו גדול הימנו. However, once you come to a further stage where through your struggle through your struggle more and more has been internalized, more and more has been internalized, so then this doesn't hold true anymore. Then כל גדול מחברו יצרו גדול הימנו doesn't apply anymore. Okay, we'll continue tomorrow.