Transcript

Let's discuss the inyan of simcha a little bit before we go on tonight to a new topic. I just wanted to add one marei makom which I neglected to mention last week, which also serves to summarize what it is we tried to develop. Basically, we tried to explain last week that the essence of simcha, following what Rashi says in Brachos, is to be be'lev shalem. That when a person has the tranquility, the serenity of knowing that everything is as it ought to be, so then a person is be'simcha. And in turn, we tried to explain that this sense of serenity, that a person can only be convinced that things are as they ought to be if he has bitachon. So basically, simcha is an expression of bitachon. If a person has bitachon that whatever befalls him is from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, if a person has bitachon, like we saw the Magid Mishnah at the end of Hilchos Lulav, that whatever Hakadosh Baruch Hu commands is intrinsically good, is intrinsically emes, so then he will always be be'lev shalem about everything that is incumbent upon him to do and everything which befalls him and affects him. It's only with this understanding of simcha that you can understand the following quote from the Orchos Tzaddikim. The Orchos Tzaddikim writes as follows in Shaar HaSimcha: במדת השמחה תלויה מצות עשה שיצדיק כל מאורעותיו. There's a mitzvas asei, according to the Orchos Tzaddikim it's a separate mitzvas asei in the minyan hamitzvos, of tziduk hadin. Tziduk hadin, to be matzdik din shamayim, is a mitzvas asei. And this mitzvas asei is totally dependent upon middas hasimcha. Without middas hasimcha, a person cannot fulfill this mitzvas asei of tziduk hadin, shene'emar

וידעת עם לבבך כי כאשר ייסר איש את בנו השם אלוקיך מייסרך.

So ordinarily we think that the relationship is inverted. We think there's a hiyuv of tziduk hadin, number one. And then the chiddush is that the tziduk hadin, even tziduk hadin, has to be performed be'simcha. Even this mitzvah has to be performed be'simcha, that chayav adam, the Gemara in Brachos we discussed last week, of חייב אדם לברך על הרעה כשם שמברך על הטובה, that just as he's מברך על הטובה בשמחה, so too we superimpose upon this mitzvah a requirement of simcha. And the Orchos Tzaddikim says no, that's not the pshat, but adaraba, he says the mitzvah is only possible if a person is be'simcha. You can only really have a genuine tziduk hadin, to be matzdik din shamayim, an authentic tziduk hadin is only possible if a person is be'simcha. So again, that can only be understood according to the approach we were developing, that basically what simcha consists of is a sense that things are as they ought to be, and that's why that allows a person to be be'lev shalem. So then the Orchos Tzaddikim is saying very well, a person can only be matzdik din shamayim and say this is the way it should be, HaTzur Tamim Pe'alo, if he has that middah of simcha. Okay. I want to go on tonight to discuss a little bit בכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. The Rambam quotes this mishnah in Pirkei Avos, this halacha in Hilchos De'os, in perek gimmel of Hilchos De'os, halacha beis:

צריך האדם שיכוין לבו בכל מעשיו כולם לדעת השם ברוך הוא בלבד.

Everything a person does should be directed for the exclusive goal of yedias Hashem. ויהיה שבתו וקומו ודבורו הכל לעומת זה הדבר. Everything he does, when he walks, when he sleeps, when he rests, when he talks, everything should be for this. go keitzad how so כשישא ויתן או יעשה מלאכה ליטול שכר when a person goes to work to earn money לא יהיה בלבו לקבוץ ממון בלבד it should not be his intention to get rich

אלא יעשה דברים האלו כדי שימצא דברים שהגוף צריך להם מאכילה ושתייה וישיבת בית ונשיאת אשה

it should be his intention that he's earning money so that he can fill vital needs eating drinking paying rent getting married

וכן כשיאכל וישתה ויבעול לא ישים בלבו לעשות דברים האלו כדי ליהנות בלבד

but rather everything should be done for purposes of refuah that a person should be strong that a person should be able to be oved Hashem says the Rambam nimtza skipping to halacha gimmel

נמצא המהלך בדרך זו כל ימיו עובד את השם תמיד

someone who follows this path is constantly perpetually oved Hashem אפילו בשעה שנושא ונותן afilu besha'a shebo'el even when he conducts business even when he's with his wife

מפני שמחשבתו בכל כדי שימצא צרכו עד שיהא גופו שלם לעבודת השם

because his intention in everything he does is to provide a means to the end of avodas Hashem

אפילו בשעה שהוא ישן אם ישן לדעת כדי שתנוח דעתו עליו וינוח גופו כדי שלא יחלה ולא יוכל לעבוד את השם והוא חולה נמצא שינה שלו עבודה למקום ברוך הוא

even sleep can be elevated to avodas Hashem if it is done with the correct intention

על ענין זה צוו חכמים ואמרו וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים

and this is what Chazal had in mind when they said in Pirkei Avos

וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים והוא שאמר שלמה בחכמתו בכל דרכיך דעהו והוא יישר אורחותיך

so I just want to share two ha'oros the first one I'm not sure about and is the less important of the two just contextually when you read the Rambam if you read the previous halacha and you see what the context is in halacha gimmel so the Rambam introduces the concept of וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים here to help us gain proper perspective on what he's been discussing until now in Hilchos De'os until now the Rambam's been discussing how a person's always supposed to follow the middle track in all middos the derech hamemuza he's not supposed to veer to either extreme and that's true even when it comes to kina taiva and kavod a person is not supposed to lead an ascetic life that's what the Rambam concludes his discussion here at the beginning of perek gimmel of this which has preoccupied him throughout the first two perakim and into this halacha now the smichas haparshios in the Rambam suggests that if you want to understand misvara doesn't the ascetic approach really make more sense shouldn't it be that if a person wants to devote himself totally to ruchniyus totally to the Ribono Shel Olam that his life should be dominated exclusively by avodas Hashem then doesn't it really make sense that a person should veer to that extreme which the Rambam keeps cautioning us against so the Rambam's answer to that is no the premise of that question seems to assume that anything material is intrinsically not avodas Hashem and as such should be limited as drastically as possible but if you'll understand the concept of וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים that everything a person does can and should be elevated to the level of avodas Hashem so then you'll understand how my presentation of the shvil hazahav of the golden mean is totally consistent with devoting one's life to avodas Hashem and that's what the smichas haparshios in the Rambam suggests that again the perspective and understanding of how it is That a person can lead such a balanced, measured life: he eats, and he drinks, and he sleeps, and he's not an ascetic, and he doesn't walk around in sackcloth. How can it be that all of that is consistent with devoting himself exclusively to avodas Hashem? Because the answer is that the way a person devotes himself entirely to avodas Hashem is not by veering to that extreme, but rather through the medium of בכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. That's just one emphasis which emerges from the smichas haparshiyos in here in Hilchos De'os. Just parenthetically, it's important to remember, see we study Rambam differently than the Rambam intended it to be studied. The Rambam intended us to study Rambam keseder. And we usually learn the Gemara and look up the Rambam, and sometimes if you just look up the halacha which the Ein Mishpat refers you to and you don't see the previous halacha and you don't see the following halacha, which is how the Rambam intended it to be seen, so sometimes you miss what the Rambam is trying to convey. And possibly this is a good example of that. But there is something even much more important and much more fundamental within this Rambam. On the one hand, it's very simple, and yet on the other hand, very profound. If you learn through Hilchos De'os, especially perek hey of Hilchos De'os, so you'll see that some of the mishnayos in Pirkei Avos the Rambam doesn't quote as halacha which is binding on everyone, but rather says that this is the kind of conduct to be expected and which is characteristic of a talmid chacham. The Rambam begins in perek hey of Hilchos De'os:

כשם שהחכם ניכר בחכמתו ובדעותיו והוא מובדל בהם משאר העם כך צריך שיהיה ניכר במעשיו ובמאכלו ובמשקהו ובבעילתו ובעשיית צרכיו ובדיבורו ובהילוכו ובמלבושו ובכלכלת דבריו ובמשאו ובמתנו. ויהיו כל המעשים האלו נאים ומתוקנים ביותר.

So perek hey then is a description of the conduct of a talmid chacham. In this context, the Rambam tells us, he quotes many, many Gemaras and even many dinim from Pirkei Avos only in this context. For instance, the din of דן את כל האדם לכף זכות, the Rambam has here פרק ה' הלכה ז'. The talmid chacham לא יהיה צועק וצובח בשעת דיבור כבהמה וחיה but rather

מקדים שלום לכל אדם כדי שתהיה רוחו נוחה הימנו ודן את כל האדם לכף זכות

v'chulu v'chulu. So the Rambam again, and it's an interesting limud to figure out how the Rambam determined which mishnayos were intended as halacha pesuka for everyone and which belong in perek hey of כשם שהחכם ניכר במעשיו but he did so. Now what's amazing when you keep that in mind is that the Rambam quotes the mishna בכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים in perek gimmel, not in perek hey. We would have expected that if there were any mishna in Pirkei Avos which would have been relegated to perek hey, middas chasidus, something to be expected of chachamim, but not to be expected from the rest of us, so we would have certainly thought that the first candidate for that is this amazingly demanding standard of בכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. And what's most important about the Rambam's presentation of that mishna is the placement of it, that it's not in perek hey, but rather here in perek gimmel. There is nothing, nothing in the Rambam which would indicate that בכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים is only for gedolim, only for chachamim, only for the lamed-vov tzaddikim. It's for everyone. צריך האדם שיכוון לבו. Ha'adam, not hachacham. צריך האדם שיכוון לבו. It's an amazing and amazing thing. It doesn't—I don't know that it needs... need explanation but it should be correlated with something else. In Sefer Hamitzvot, in the minyan hamitzvot, in the second of the mitzvot asei, the Rambam says Mitzvah Aleph

אשר צונו בהאמנת האלוקות שנאמין שיש שם אלוה וסיבה הוא פועל לכל הנמצאים.

To believe in the existence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Mitzvah Aleph. Mitzvah Beis is היא הציווי שציוונו בהאמנת היחוד. To believe in the unity, in the oneness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. והוא שנאמין שפועל המציאות וסיבתו הראשונה אחד and that's omro

שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד. ויקראו גם כן זאת המצוה,

says the Rambam, Malchut Shamayim,

כי הם אומרים כדי לקבל עליו מלכות שמים, רוצה לומר ההודאה ביחוד והאמנתו.

So the Rambam says there's an equation here between ha'amanat hayichud and קבלת עול מלכות שמים. So let's just reflect upon that for a minute. Ha'amanat hayichud is a theological principle, the oneness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, unity of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, oneness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד. What's that got to do with קבלת עול מלכות שמים? A person can, there are many philosophers who believe this. A person could believe anochi Hashem Elokecha that Hakadosh Baruch Hu exists and a person could believe that Hashem Echad and a person could think that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is totally withdrawn from the world, rachmana litzlan, and that Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't want anything from us, doesn't is not interested, right? The famous mashal which some of the philosophers used to give of the watchmaker who makes a watch, but that's the relationship which rachmana litzlan the Ribono Shel Olam has with the world. So how does ha'amanat hayichud in any way imply קבלת עול מלכות שמים? And yet the Rambam says there's an equation between the two, that another term which is used for this mitzvah of ha'amanat hayichud is קבלת עול מלכות שמים. In our minds it's separate. There are certain theological beliefs, again, about who Hakadosh Baruch Hu is, and then there are other beliefs about well, what does he ask from us and what is our relationship with him supposed to be? And the Rambam says no, you can't distinguish between those two. They go, they're inextricably linked. So lich'ora as follows: the Rav zichrono livracha would call attention to the fact that in the beginning of Yesodei HaTorah the Rambam writes that

יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון והוא ממציא כל נמצא וכל הנמצאים משמים וארץ ומה שביניהם לא נמצאו אלא מאמיתת הימצאו.

Again, the yesod hayesodos is the belief that Hakadosh Baruch Hu, who exists eternally, is mamtzi kol nimtza. So the Rambam writes belashon hoveh. The Rambam writes in the present tense that Hakadosh Baruch Hu not himtzi kol nimtza, not that once upon a time so many thousands of years ago Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, but rather he's mamtzi kol nimtza in the present tense. המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית. Every second Hakadosh Baruch Hu wills the world to exist, and that's why it continues to exist. Not by inertia because there was ma'aseh bereishis so many thousands of years ago, but rather because המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית and that's part of the yesod hayesodos to believe that not himtzi kol nimtza but rather mamtzi kol nimtza. Now, that being the case, the fact that our belief is not only that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, but that Hakadosh Baruch Hu in present tense creates, sustains the world, so that dictates that a person cannot merely believe in the Ribono Shel Olam without feeling meshubad to him. A person cannot believe that yes, there is a Ribono Shel Olam who created the world, and because of that cosmic event, five thousand then there's so many hundred years ago the world still exists now and that's why I'm here as an indirect, indirect corollary of that, no. Hakadosh Baruch Hu sustains the world every second, which means that every breath a person takes is only because Hakadosh Baruch Hu wills it, only because Hakadosh Baruch Hu sustains him. And therefore the Rambam says you can't believe in the Ribbono Shel Olam and in Yichud Hashem without being mekabel upon yourself ol malchus shamayim because every, every breath a person takes, every breath a person takes is because Hakadosh Baruch Hu allows him to exist, Hakadosh Baruch Hu sustains him, so mameila that doesn't just translate into some theoretical belief about Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but it also has to translate very practically into a קבלת עול מלכות שמים. If that be the case and lichora that equation emerges here from the Rambam. Again, you can't believe academically, theoretically in the Ribbono Shel Olam without practically feeling totally and completely meshubad to him. So then the fact that בכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים is a universal standard is very natural. Is very natural. Again, every, every breath we take, every second we exist, it's because in that second Hakadosh Baruch Hu allows us to exist. If that's the case then every second we're meshubad to him. So how is it conceivable that the goal or the standard of בכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים shouldn't be incumbent upon each and every one of us? Now clearly, clearly this has, it's impossible to exaggerate the far-reaching implications this has for how we live our lives. But specifically, if you look for instance in the Baal HaTanya in his Hilchos Talmud Torah or if you look in the Or Sameach has a long discussion at the beginning of Hilchos Talmud Torah. So they both tell you that the Torah has different expectations from each of us when it comes to Talmud Torah. And the least common denominator is קריאת שמע שחרית וערבית. That's the least common denominator for what the Torah expects from each of us when it comes to mitzvas talmud torah. But beyond that, the Baal HaTanya says it meforash and the Or Sameach says it meforash, there's a spectrum. Depending upon, people have different abilities, people have different temperaments, and people have different sets of circumstances, all of which influence how much a person will study and how much a person can study. Now that is true and it's very important to be cognizant of that. But alongside that there should be a concomitant awareness that even if I find myself on the spectrum as someone who learns two hours a day and two hours at night, that's where I, I find myself on the spectrum again after taking into account all factors: intellectual, temperamental, financial, etc. That's where I find myself on the spectrum, it doesn't mean that all the Torah asks of me is that I devote four hours a day to my avodas Hashem whereas my chaver who finds himself on the spectrum of learning eight hours a day and six hours a night is expected to devote fourteen hours a day to avodas Hashem. No, there's no difference there. We're equally, we're held to the same standard in terms of devoting our lives exclusively to avodas Hashem, there's no difference. And the question which you confront at this stage in your life as to whether you go into rabbanus or into chinuch or whether you go into an umnus, the question is not whether you devote your life to avodas Hashem. That's not a question. בכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים is something that is a standard which we are all held to. And again, perhaps the rationale for that That is because of the equation between ha'amanas hayichud and קבלת עול מלכות שמים. Everyone has to have a constant perpetual קבלת עול מלכות שמים. Now whether, whether that perpetual קבלת עול מלכות שמים is going to be through rabbanus or through chinuch, or whether it's going to be through גדול הנהנה מיגיע כפיו, whether it's going to be through an omnus, so there of course there are differences and those differences should not be blurred. But the point is that the difference is not whether you're going to devote your life totally, wholly, and exclusively to avodas Hashem or whether it's only going to be kvi'as itim for avodas Hashem. No. Those are differences in Talmud Torah. Those are differences in what your profession's going to be in terms of how you're going to earn your parnossa. But there is no difference in that each and every one of us has to strive that everything we do should be lesheim shamayim and that every minute, not only of our waking lives but even when we're asleep the Rambam says, we're supposed to strive that that too should be lesheim shamayim. Now it's against that background that the Ba'al HaTanya and the Ohr Sameach says, well maybe my lesheim shamayim won't be that I'm learning mei'eis l'eis twenty-four hours a day, but maybe my lesheim shamayim will be as an accountant, as a lawyer, as a computer programmer. That maybe my lesheim shamayim, but it's not when I look in the mirror, if, if looking back at me, I don't see someone who's supposed to be involved full-time in Talmud Torah, that doesn't mean that I see someone who's potur from בכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. And that's something which is on the one hand simple, it's, it's a d'var Mishnah, it's, it's not more than that, but on the other hand is something very, very profound, and if we would be aware of that, I think it could transform our lives totally. Now, that's, that's all I wanted to discuss for now on בכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. Next Tuesday night is, is already Chanukah and erev ha'bechinah and then finals. So I, I think that this is going to be the last shiur until after vacation when bli neder we will continue with, with another topic.