Of Chodesh Elul in general and certainly these final minutes before we begin Slichot is a time for cheshbon hanefesh, a time for introspection, a time to ask big, penetrating, searching questions about life, about the direction of our lives, about how we spend our time because ultimately time is life. The question which I'd like to explore together tonight in terms of avodas Hashem, ultimately the question we want to pose to ourselves is are we ovdei Hashem in the fullest sense of the term. Are we ovdei Hashem according to the Torah's conception of what avodas Hashem entails. Clearly before we can attempt to answer that question, we have to clarify what avodas Hashem means for the Torah. כי לי בני ישראל עבדים עבדי הם אשר הוצאתי אותם מארץ מצרים אני השם אלוקיכם.
The Torah tells us at the end of Parshas Behar, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says Bnei Yisrael are my avadim, they are avadim to me, I was the one who took them out of the land of Mitzrayim, Ani Hashem Elokeichem. Hence the term avodas Hashem. We're avadim, servants, slaves to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. To begin to understand what that entails, let's just very very briefly mention a sugya in Rosh Hashanah. Masechet Rosh Hashanah discusses the following question. A person can accept upon himself a vow not to derive benefit. The same way a person can take a vow that I will not derive benefit, he could say I won't derive benefit from this table, a person can accept upon himself such a vow vis-a-vis another person. Reuven can say that I hereby accept upon myself a neder not to derive any benefit from Shimon. And then he becomes what the halacha calls, the Gemara calls, muda hana'ah from Shimon. Shimon will invite him to dinner, but Reuven is bound by the power of his neder, by the power of his vow that he can't accept that invitation. He's not allowed to derive any benefit from Shimon. But then the Gemara poses the following question. Let's say Reuven comes to shul on Rosh Hashanah and Shimon is the baal tokeia. Reuven has accepted upon himself a neder not to derive any benefit from Shimon. He comes to shul, lo and behold, none other than Shimon is the baal tokeia. Is he allowed to be yotzei, be allowed to fulfill the mitzvah listening to Shimon's tekias shofar? There's a machlokes about this point in the Gemara. Rava is of the opinion, which is how we pasken, that מצוות לאו ליהנות ניתנו. That in fact Reuven can fulfill the mitzvah listening to Shimon's tekias shofar and that doesn't violate his vow, because מצוות לאו ליהנות ניתנו. Performing, literally, fulfilling mitzvos is not something that we classify as a benefit. It is a dissenting opinion in the Gemara which says no, that in fact the fulfillment of a mitzvah does constitute a hana'ah, should be classified and understood as deriving benefit. We'll come back I hope before we finish tonight to understand what the point of contention is here in the Gemara. Rashi says what does Rava mean מצוות לאו ליהנות ניתנו. Rashi gives us a very stark definition. He says that mitzvos were not given that they should be a source of hana'ah, but לעול על צואריהם המצווה. The mitzvos are intended. be a yoke upon our neck. לעול על צואריהם נתנו. And the question which we'll have to come back to before we finish: how do we reconcile that with pesukim in Chumash such as when Moshe Rabbeinu tells us that Vayitzaveinu Hashem Elokeinu, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu commanded us to do all the mitzvos לטוב לנו לחיותנו כהיום הזה. The Torah tells us that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is motivated letov lanu, for our good, lechayoseinu, that it should be a source of life, ultimately of eternal life. No greater hana'ah than that. So what does the Gemara mean that מצוות לאו ליהנות ניתנו? And what does Rashi mean with this seemingly very narrow definition that mitzvos are לעול על צואריהם נתנו? The mitzvos are intended to be a yoke upon our necks. There is a famous Gemara in Shabbos with which you are all familiar: Vayisyatzvu besachtis hahar. At the time of Kabbalas HaTorah when we received the Torah, Hakadosh Baruch Hu lifted Har Sinai, held it over us and as it were coerced us to accept the Torah. אם אתם מקבלים מוטב ואם לאו שם תהא קבורתכם. If you accept the Torah, fine and well, otherwise this will be your burial place. Tosafos raises the question: what need was there for coercion? We had already voluntarily accepted the Torah. We had already willingly said na'aseh v'nishma. There is a famous answer which the Sefas Emes quotes from the Midrash Tanchuma that Torah shebichtav we had accepted willingly, that we were willing to subscribe to, but the Torah sheba'al peh, the oral law, there we were holding out. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu coerced us to accept the accompanying Torah sheba'al peh. But there's another answer as well. And that is while part of the ideal is that a person should serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu willingly, voluntarily, out of love, which is why Hakadosh Baruch Hu offered us the Torah, He wanted and waited that we should make a voluntary commitment, that we should make a commitment out of love, but simultaneously it's essential, it's integral to a person's relationship with the Ribbono shel Olam that a person has to recognize and feel with every fiber of his being that the Ribbono shel Olam is the Borei Olam, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the creator, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the metzaveh, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the one who commands and we are yetzir kapav, we are His handiwork and we are metzuvim. Essential to any homo religiosus, any religious personality, is this sense of being a metzuveh. It doesn't eclipse, it doesn't prevent the sense of love that we strive for, the sense of volunteerism in our avodas Hashem, but essential, essential to the persona of an oved Hashem is the sense of being a metzuveh. That's the correct relationship. The same way no matter what love exists, to give an example, whatever love exists, and it should be deep and profound between parent and child, but there's no collegiality, it's not supposed to be collegiality in the parent-child relationship. There should be love, there should be closeness, there should be intimacy, but the Torah says there has to be mora also. Not a collegial relationship. A father, a mother can't mochel on their kavod, they can't waive their respect due to them and tell the child: call me by my first name. Lehavdil, lehavdil, whatever ahava we strive for, whatever ahava is the ultimate goal of our avodas Hashem, the relationship it has to be based in the sense that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the metzaveh, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is one who commands, and we are commanded, and that's integral, integral to our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and that's what's signified by the fact that even though we had voluntarily accepted the Torah, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says but now, representing this other element, this other dimension which is so pivotal, so basic, so fundamental, there was going to be a coercion that we should recognize Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the metzaveh, is the one who commands, and we are metzuvim. And so far for our understanding of some of the elements of avdus of avodas Hashem, we bear a yoke לעולם יהא אדם רואה את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים.
In addition, there's supposed to be an awareness, existential, almost almost visceral awareness that we metzuvim, that the Ribbono Shel Olam, the Borei Olam, the Creator is the one who commands and we, His handiwork, His servants are metzuvim, we're commanded. But there's another very basic and fundamental element to avdus and halakha in general, even in the human realm, and again lehavdil in our avdus to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And that is that according to the halakha an eved is subordinate to his master constantly. There are no set hours. There's no workday of nine to five that an eved has to adhere to. An eved is is subordinate to his master around the clock, 24/7. And in accordance with this Chazal tell us וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. Everything a person does is supposed to be calibrated, calculated and then implemented all according to one single defining orienting principle, and that is leshem shamayim, for the sake of heaven. That's what Shlomo HaMelech conveys bechol derachecha da'ehu. The Rambam describes such a lifestyle that a person is motivated in pursuing his livelihood, a person is motivated that the basic necessities which Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants us to provide for so that it provides a setting, a backdrop for a life of avodas Hashem. And that's what should motivate a person yetzei adam l'foalo יצא אדם לפעלו ולעבודתו עדי ערב when a person goes out to earn his sustenance, to earn his livelihood, not because he's looking for money to indulge himself, but rather to provide the setting, the grounding, to provide the necessities so that he can serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Rambam says when a person goes to sleep, a person goes to sleep to restore himself, to refresh himself, so he'll wake up the next morning energized for another day of serving Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The Rambam says if a person is successful in carrying out this mandate נמצא עובד את השם תמיד. The result is that a person serves Hashem continuously אפילו בשעה שהוא ישן even when a person is not even conscious, but if if he's calibrating the amount of sleep that he needs to be healthy and to be vigorous to be oved es Hashem, so even his sleep, even when he's unconscious, even the sleep is an act of serving Hakadosh Baruch Hu, is an act of avodas Hashem. It should be noted I think maybe maybe over the years we've had occasion to comment on this you know when one looks up if one follows up on the cross-references from the Mishnayos in Pirkei Avos to where the Rambam quotes them, for some Mishnayos in Pirkei Avos the Rambam delegates to a perek in Hilchos De'os which is devoted to the higher standard, the heightened The same way a chacham stands out by virtue of his knowledge, he has to stand out by virtue of his conduct and by virtue of his disposition. And some of the challenges, some of the mandates in Pirkei Avot, even though the mishnayot don't explicitly indicate so, Rambam interprets that these were intended as the higher standard for the talmid chacham. Nevertheless, the mishna וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים, that a person is supposed to strive that everything, everything he does is sincerely calculated and then implemented leshem shamayim for the sake of heaven, Rambam quotes that in the perek which is universally binding. That's not a standard which was intended only for an elite few. The notion that one's entire life should be a life of service to Hakadosh Baruch Hu is something which the Torah wanted us all to partake of. That's a vision for all of us, it's not a, it's not a vision for spiritual elite, it's a vision for all of us. וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים because this is part of what avdut entails. An eved doesn't have a nine to five day, an eved is totally, totally subordinate to his master. Mishna in Pirkei Avot tells us that Rabi Tarfon used the following analogy to describe our obligation to Hakadosh Baruch Hu: היום קצר והמלאכה מרובה. The day is short, the amount of work to be accomplished is great, hapo'alim atzelim, the workers are lazy, hasachar harbeh, the reward is great, uva'al habayit dochek, and the ba'al habayit, the employer, the owner, is pushing, is urging, is exhorting, is exhorting, pressuring. The mishna continues לא עליך המלאכה לגמור ולא אתה בן חורין להבטל ממנה.
Rabbeinu Yona comments on the mishna, amplifies, relating it specifically to the obligation of talmud torah and says shelo tomar, don't say, הואיל ואיני חייב לגמור את המלאכה, since no one expects me to finish the melacha, because after all there's a disparity, היום קצר והמלאכה מרובה, the day is short and the melacha, the amount of work to be accomplished, is almost endless. So if that's the case, a person will say לא אדחוק את עצמי, I'm not going to push myself, אלא אלמד בכל יום שעה אחת, I'll spend an hour, I'll spend an hour. Lo chen hadavar, says Rabbeinu Yona, כי עבד קנוי אתה, because you're an eved who belongs to the master, עליך לעבוד כל היום וכל הלילה, that a person should apply himself to talmud torah day and night. Avdut entails amala, exertion, and hasmada and utilizing one's time to one's fullest. As the pasuk says adam le'amal yulad. Here, Rav Pinkus zatzal has a very, very important observation. The mitzvah of, of talmud torah, of course, is incumbent upon men; women are exempt from talmud torah. Says Rav Pinkus, but don't make the mistake of thinking that the Torah's expectation from women is any less than that from men. It's, a man, in the mitzvot which the Torah imposes upon him, is expected to... To exert himself, is expected to work as hard as possible, to devote his entire life to avodas Hashem, that same level and that same degree of amal is expected from women. The Torah's expectations are no less. Which mitzvos are incumbent, the Torah has distinction. But this notion of Adam le-amal yulad, that a person's entire being, a person's entire life, should be dedicated, should be devoted to avodas Hashem, is not gender-specific. How that's channeled, how that's applied, there the Torah has distinction. But the magnitude of the obligation, where the bar is set, is the same. Now this outlook of the Torah, this hashkafa, that avodas Hashem is something which should dominate our lives, it's something which is all-encompassing, it's something which should preoccupy us 24 hours a day, it's something which, truth be told, is very alien to us. Our notion of being a shomer mitzvos is that it's one element in our life. Hopefully, we would describe it as an important element of our life, but too often, I'm afraid, we don't feel and we don't think of it as an all-encompassing, all-consuming obligation. True, that obligation some hours of the day tells me to go to work and to earn a livelihood, and other hours of the day it tells me I should be in the beis medrash, and other hours of the day I should be in shul davening, and other hours of the day I should be engaged in acts of chesed and tzorchei tzibbur. It expresses itself differently, but the demand is that my entire life should be oriented to avodas Hashem. Avodas Hashem is not one component of our life which can be compartmentalized. Sometimes we sort of, if we explain the foci of our lives, sometimes we comment, well, we sort of have three foci in our life: one is our religious obligation, but then of course I have professional aspirations, and then of course there's the personal side of one's life, one's family. Everything, everything is valid to the extent that the Torah validates it. Everything is valid and has a claim on our time to the degree and to the extent that as part of our עבודת הקדוש ברוך הוא, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says that we should be engaged in that. It's not an independent claim on our time. We have a truncated conception of avodas Hashem. Let's take an example: our notion of Shabbos. Our notion of Shabbos is that we pay our dues on Shabbos. We go to shul, probably we go to the rabbi's shiur an hour before mincha, and then we paid our dues, and the rest of the time is mine. The rest of the time is mine to socialize very leisurely for hours on end. Not necessarily that the conversation should be devoted to divrei Torah, but the rest of the day is a vacation day, it's part of the weekend. That sort of illustrates representatively this rather narrow, truncated vision and conception of avodas Hashem that we have, which stands in marked contrast to the Torah's notion of וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים, of נמצא עובד את השם תמיד. Now this is only a conception... We got a shiur, an hour here and an hour there, and then we have our own time. This is intertwined with another very basic error in our outlook. But to a degree, Baruch Hashem not entirely, but to a degree, the way we live our lives, not necessarily what we know and think and profess, but the way we live our lives reflects a belief that there's something ultimate about Olam Hazeh. That the enjoyment, that the pleasures, the material, physical pleasures, opportunities for pleasure in Olam Hazeh is something that we have to capitalize on. It's something that a person has to take advantage of. To a degree, we live as though our life in Olam Hazeh were the ikar. To a degree, we take vacations, not calibrated by what's necessary to re-energize ourselves, but truth be told, to a degree, we live for our vacation. That summer, that spot that we go to in the summer or in the mid-winter, it's not just a necessary and therefore mitzvah, mitzvah activity again of recharging one's batteries, but to a degree we live for that. We look forward to that. We live for that as though that were something ultimate. Chazal tell us differently. Chazal tell us עולם הזה דומה לפרוזדור בפני הטרקלין. That Olam Hazeh is an antechamber. The banquet hall is Olam Haba. This world is an antechamber. התקן עצמך בפרוזדור כדי שתיכנס לטרקלין. Rabbeinu Bachya says in Chovos Halevavos, very powerful, and he compresses it into a single line, a single sentence. He says love of Olam Hazeh and love of Olam Haba are antithetical. Love of Olam Hazeh in the sense of the physical enjoyment, the physical pleasure, and love of Olam Haba are antithetical. Says Rabbeinu Bachya, to the degree that a person loves Olam Hazeh, again, not Olam Hazeh as the venue for Torah and mitzvos, not that a person loves Olam Hazeh the way the Vilna Gaon cried on his deathbed. A person loves Olam Hazeh in the sense of the enjoyment and the pleasures of Olam Hazeh. Says Rabbeinu Bachya in Chovos Halevavos, to the degree that a person loves Olam Hazeh, to that degree he is spurning Olam Haba. Olam Hazeh in, again, in the sense of what we're speaking of it again, in that physical, materialistic sense. So a person, if that's a person's orientation, that's at odds with the spiritual orientation of Olam Haba. Rabbeinu Bachya says no more can love of Olam Hazeh and Olam Haba coexist than fire and water can coexist. They're antithetical. To a degree, we love Olam Hazeh for its own sake. We love for its own sake the relaxation, the recreation, the vacation, the pleasures of Olam Hazeh for their own sake. If we have that orientation, little wonder that the Torah's notion of וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים, that everything we do should be devoted to our avodas Hashem is something alien to us. Because devoting everything we do to avodas Hashem precludes, it just contradicts. any attempt to maximize the physical, temporal, ephemeral pleasures and enjoyment of olam hazeh. So we do use our time, but the question is what we use our time for. We use our time, we work hard, we save up money so that we'll be able to enjoy ourselves. We use our time, but the question is what we're using our time for. One final element, one final dimension as part of our truncated conception of avodas Hashem, an avodas Hashem which is limited and restricted, as a result our whole notion and understanding of religion and Torah becomes skewed. Torah is something which has to always, initially, instantaneously feel good. There has to be an instantaneous gratification. It certainly shouldn't inconvenience us. Whether we go to minyan daily, three times daily, isn't necessarily a function of what's possible or impossible, but is more often than not a function of what's convenient or inconvenient. And that's all cut from the same cloth. If we have a truncated conception of avodas Hashem, if avodas Hashem is something we pay our dues, you go to shul, Shabbos, go to the rabbi's shiur an hour before Mincha, if it's raining, so then you don't go to Mincha. You know, you don't go to Mincha because it has its place under other, rather other things in my life also. If something isn't immediately uplifting, if something represents the discipline of Yiddishkeit, which if we would think about it, we would recognize as indispensable for true ruchniyus, for true spirituality, for the true quest of kedusha, but if something represents the discipline of Yiddishkeit, doesn't have that immediate, doesn't elicit that immediate gratification, doesn't necessarily, doesn't necessarily attract us. And we end up with a very different desire, a very different inclination, a very different conception than Rashi's definition of מצוות לאו ליהנות ניתנו, שמצוות לעול על צוואריהם ניתנו. So let's, let's stop for a minute and try to understand. We've seen that avodus entails a yoke, לעול על צוואריהם ניתנו. We've seen that avodus demands hasmadah, constant, perpetual devotion. Everyone according to the best of his or her abilities, energies, situation in life, but everyone, everyone is supposed to strive and exert himself, herself again baasher hu sham given their abilities, given their opportunities, to the fullest. Why is Hakadosh Baruch Hu such a taskmaster? Why is Hakadosh Baruch Hu demanding so much from us? There are two answers. Answer number one, consider a mashal, consider an analogy. Let's say you have a gifted child, a very gifted athlete, exceptionally gifted, but a little lazy. And he has the ability, he has the ability to become a superstar. His coach knows that nothing will give him greater satisfaction, nothing will be a source of greater sippuk hanefesh for this child than if he's able to realize that American dream. But the child is young, he's immature, he's foolish, he's not driven to maximize his abilities. So the coach pushes him and pushes him and pushes him, and he drills him and he makes him take another hour of batting practice. makes them field the ground balls for another hour. He pushes and pushes and pushes. Possibly the young athlete appreciates it at the time, more likely he doesn't. More likely he's even resentful. Then the coach's plan works out and the child that grows up is the superstar and he looks back and he realizes that unless he had been pushed to the limit he never would have realized his potential. The Meforshim tell us that that's what it means when Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives us a nisayon. Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't have to give us a test because He doesn't know what the result of the test would be. Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows that unless we're challenged, unless we're challenged we don't reach down and use all our potential. It's only when we're pushed to the limit that we fully realize and develop our potential. A doctor once commented to the Rav Zecher Tzaddik Livracha who was driving him somewhere, and he commented to him and he said Rabbi, if we had worked as hard during our years in Yeshiva as we did during our years in medical school, he said we'd all be beki'im in Shas. We'd all be experts in Shas. But I'm not sure whether there should be some discount for דברי תורה לשון הזה, maybe there's an element of exaggeration here, maybe there's not an element of exaggeration. But the point is that in medical school with the boards looming at the end of the second year of medical school, one's entire future riding on success on those boards, a person feels challenged. A person finds out exactly how much relaxation time he really needs in order to work to the fullest, person finds out how much sleep he really needs to function at his best. When a person feels challenged he responds. The problem is that we don't realize that that challenge is constant. The reason the Baal Habayis is dochek is the reason the Baal Habayis, the employer, the Baal Habayis in the Mishna in Pirkei Avos's imagery and its analogy, the reason the Baal Habayis is constantly pressuring, constantly urging, constantly pushing, is because the Baal Habayis knows that otherwise we're going to cheat ourselves. We're not going to cheat him. Otherwise we're going to cheat ourselves. Otherwise the young gifted athlete is going to squander his ability. But if the coach pushes him and pushes him to the limit, not beyond the limit, not the breaking point, but he pushes him to the limit so then he'll capitalize and take advantage, full advantage of his abilities, of his gifts. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows that that's what that's the way human nature is and that's why the Baal Habayis is dochek. So why is it that Avodas Hashem is all-encompassing? Because anything less means that we cheat the Ribono Shel Olam. Anything less means that we cheat ourselves. But there's another reason also. There's another dimension of significance here to the demand, for the pressing, the constant pressure, the constant urging more and more and more, become a better Oved Hashem, go to the next level. There's another reason for it also. And for that we have to learn two pesukim in Chumash. Two pesukim that we say daily several times daily in Parshas Shema. The first pasuk of Shema, שמע ישראל ה' אלהינו ה' אחד is the formulation of our belief in the oneness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Hashem, יוד קי ואו קי, is the word that the shoresh of the root Havayah in Lashon Hakodesh means existence. The name of Hashem, the tetragrammaton, יוד קי ואו קי represents that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the source, the sustainer of all existence. That Hakadosh Baruch Hu exists and that we exist only through Him, because of Him, because He lets us share that existence. ה' אלהינו ה' אחד. That's the pasuk of Shema. The next pasuk, ואהבת את ה' אלהיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך.
Mitzvah of loving Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Mitzvah of, if circumstances warrant, sacrificing one's life al kiddush Hashem for the sanctification of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's name. What's the continuity in the pesukim? Ibn Ezra comments, ואהבת ואחר שאין לנו אלוה אחר רק הוא לבדו חייב אתה לאהבו כי אין לנו אלוה אחר.
The kernel of what we're about to say is in the Ibn Ezra, but let's develop it a little bit more. The mitzvah to love Hakadosh Baruch Hu with all one's heart, with all one's soul, with everything one has, bechol me'odecha, is a direct reflection of the fact that Hashem Echad. Hashem Echad means, as the Chofetz Chaim points out, that ultimately Ain Od Milvado. Ultimately, nothing exists independent of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Nothing exists without Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Everything is because of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, through Hakadosh Baruch Hu, from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Ain Od Milvado. אתה הראת לדעת כי ה' הוא האלהים אין עוד מלבדו.
There is nothing other than Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Everything exists through Hakadosh Baruch Hu, because of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, because He wills it. And that's the only, that's what everything is. Ain Od Milvado. Ain Od Milvado, if nothing else exists, then that has to be reflected in the way we live our lives. If I'm a doctor, I'm a nutritionist, and I know what diet is helpful and what diet is not helpful, so that's going to be reflected in the way I eat. If we understand on this deep level, on the profound level, what Hashem Echad means, that it conveys again not only that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not two, but it conveys again Ain Od Milvado, that there's nothing other than Hashem, nothing exists without Hashem, everything exists because of Hashem, through Hashem, because He allows anything and everything else that it exists to share in His existence. So how can a person live any way other than ואהבת את ה' אלהיך בכל לבבך with all his heart, uvechol nafshecha with all his soul, uvechol me'odecha? Says the Ibn Ezra, bechol levavcha, הלב הוא הלב והרוח המשכלת. Nafshecha, according to the Ibn Ezra in this context, היא הרוח הדבוקה והיא המתאוה. It's the desires that we have. Everything has to be channeled to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, because if Ain Od Milvado, that has to be reflected in V'ahavta. There's no disparity between belief and behavior. It's as if belief, that belief has to be reflected in behavior. If there's a belief in divine providence, in personal divine providence as there is, then that has to be reflected into our behavior, how we deal with adversity, how we deal with frustrations. We see it as yad Hashem, the hand of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and therefore that has to mold our actions and reactions. There can't be any, there can't be any incongruence, any disparity between belief and behavior. Ain Od Milvado. There's nothing truly, ultimately other than Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Then how can there be anything truly, ultimately in our lives other than that devotion to Hakadosh Baruch Hu? Now maybe I'm laying it on too thick. Maybe I'm not. Some sources, maybe they're... Ramban is commenting on the Parsha of Ben Sorer Umoreh. And Ben Sorer Umoreh, as you know, is the wayward son. He's a thirteen year old in the first month after his Bar Mitzvah. He eats and drinks gluttonously. He's a thief, he rejects his parents' admonitions. The Torah says he should be given misah. He should be given misah. He's given capital punishment. Ramban says, what's he being indicted for? אין עונשין אלא אם כן מזהירין. The Gemara has a principle that the Torah never punishes unless the Torah has first warned us against it. If there's a punishment forthcoming, that means that there was a Mitzvah, there was a commandment beforehand. So what is the Ben Sorer Umoreh guilty of? Ramban says he's indicted, indicted on two, on two scores. First of all, says the Ramban, the Ben Sorer Umoreh is guilty שהוא מקלה אביו ואמו וממרה בהם. Through his disdain, through his contemptuousness to his parents, his rebelliousness against his parents. That's one count on which the Ben Sorer Umoreh is indicted. Then says the Ramban, and again, this Ben Sorer Umoreh is not necessarily the son of the Gadol Hador, the son of the most, the biggest family of Rabbanim. It's anyone, it's any Jew. Says the Ramban, listen to this, vene'emar ve'od, the second, the second count in the indictment, shehu zolel vesoveh, he's gluttonous, עובר על מצותנו קדושים תהיו. The Ben Sorer Umoreh is guilty, the Torah, the Torah has a mandate, has an imperative Kedoshim Tihyu, to be holy, to sanctify ourselves, he violates that. Vene'emar od, Ramban says, ve'oto ta'avodu, avodah, we have to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu, uvo tidbakun, כפי שפירשתי שנתצוונו לדעת השם בכל דרכינו, which commanded to know Hakadosh Baruch Hu in everything and through everything we do. When a person allows this gluttony to shape and mold his character, then that is so antithetical to this imperative of niztavinu lada'at Hashem, which commanded to know Hakadosh Baruch Hu bechol derachecha, וזולל וסובא לא ידע דרך השם. This glutton will never know the way of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. I don't mean, I'd like to clarify this, I don't mean chas veshalom to imply for a second that because all of us are deficient in our avodah, in our exertion, because all of us are deficient in maximizing our time to avodat Hashem, I don't mean rachmana litzlan that we don't genuinely believe שמע ישראל ה׳ אלהינו ה׳ אחד. But, but if a person beshitah, a person in principle says that that his conception of avodat Hashem is a limited one, then that is a fundamental distortion of our obligations to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and willy-nilly, willy-nilly that encroaches upon reflecting yichud Hashem. Willy-nilly that prevents our belief in yichud Hashem and ein od milvado from being reflected. Every one of us has to implement this mandate in his or her own individual unique way. The emphasis, the diyuk from the Mesilat Yesharim, where the Mesilat Yesharim or the Ramchal speaks of חובת האדם בעולמו, a person's obligation in his world, in his private world, in his private universe. Within Torah, there has to be individualization. The balance that one person will have between his Talmud Torah and his tefillah and his chesed and the amount of hours that he has to devote to earning his livelihood will not be the same balance as another person. And that balance has to be determined based upon the person's position, his station, his temperament, his abilities, his opportunities. But the common denominator is that every one of us, every one of us has to strive and exert ourselves to the best of our abilities to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Do we need breaks? Do we need to recharge our batteries? We do. And it's a mitzvah to do so, but it should be calibrated for that purpose. But the questions that we raised at the outset, we still haven't answered. What's the point of contention in Gemara whether mitzvot lehanot nitnu or מצוות לאו ליהנות ניתנו? How can a Rava, how can a Rava say that mitzvot are only to be a burden, to be a yoke upon us? The Torah tells us that it was לטוב לנו לחיותנו כיום הזה. In order to answer these questions, I'll trade one final question. The pasuk with which we began, כי לי בני ישראל עבדים. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says that Bnei Yisrael are My servants, עבדי הם אשר הוצאתי אותם מארץ מצרים. Hakadosh Baruch Hu stakes His claim upon our loyalty, upon our devotion to the fact that He took us out of Mitzrayim. And so in the Aseret Ha-Dibrot, אנכי יהוה אלהיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים מבית עבדים. Why does Hakadosh Baruch Hu have to appeal to that fact? And if Hakadosh Baruch Hu would have said אנכי יהוה אלהיך אשר בראתיך, אנכי יהוה אלהיך אשר אנכי מחייך אותך,
I am the Hakadosh Baruch Hu who created you, I am the Hakadosh Baruch Hu who sustains you, I am the Hakadosh Baruch Hu who gives you life, would we have had a right to question His claim on our loyalty? Okay, so maybe it's to explain why we're obligated in 613 mitzvot and not only seven mitzvot, but there's much more to it than that. And that is that there is one final element of avdut. Avdut entails again, ol, bearing the yoke. Avdut entails amal, exertion. Avdut entails again, a constant, constant commitment of בכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמיים, tamid. But avdut connotes something else also, and that feature is highlighted by a famous story in the Gemara in Berachot. Gemara in Berachot says that when רבי יוחנן בן זכאי fell ill, he sent a messenger to his disciple Rabbi Chanina that Rabbi Chanina should daven in his behalf. In fact, Rabbi Chanina davened on behalf of רבי יוחנן בן זכאי's son and רבי יוחנן בן זכאי and the son recovered. רבי יוחנן בן זכאי then commented that ilmalei hitiah, that if I had placed my head between my knees and had davened all day long, my tefillah wouldn't have been accepted, but Rabbi Chanina's tefillah was accepted instantaneously. His wife says to him: וכי חנינא גדול ממך? Is Rabbi Chanina greater than you? So רבי יוחנן בן זכאי answers her: No, he's not greater than me, but אני דומה כשר לפני המלך וחנינא דומה כעבד לפני המלך.
I have cabinet status, רבי יוחנן בן זכאי says, but even if you have cabinet status, you can't walk into the President without an appointment. But Chanina ben Dosa, he doesn't have cabinet status. He's the private secretary. He's an eved, he's a servant. Servants don't have cabinet status, but the servant walks in and out all day long to the, to the king. He doesn't need the appointment. Abdus also entails intimacy. Abdus entails servitude, it entails bearing the ol, it entails working as hard as we possibly can, but abdus also entails intimacy. The answer is, what is Torah and mitzvos all about? Is it all pushing and pressure and ol, or is it letov lanu? That depends upon whose perspective. Hakadosh Baruch Hu's perspective is, you know why I'm pushing? I'm pushing לטוב להם ולחיותם כהיום הזה, I'm pushing them that they should live eternally. I'm pushing them because the way they're going to earn that eternal life, the way they can become close to me, is by exerting themselves to the fullest. I'm doing it to give them hana'ah. That's what Torah and mitzvos is all about. But for us to fulfill and to carry out and implement that design of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we can't do it for self-serving reasons. We have to experience it as an ol. From Hakadosh Baruch Hu's perspective, from Hakadosh Baruch Hu's vantage point, it's לטוב לנו ולחיותם כהיום הזה, the regimen of Torah which pushes us, it pushes us to make the most of ourselves, it pushes us to be oved es Hashem the best we can for as many hours a day as we possibly can. It pushes, pushes, pushes. Baal habayis dochek. Not the way we live, not the way we coast through life. The Torah pushes us. Why? From Hakadosh Baruch Hu's vantage point, it's לטוב לנו ולחיותם כהיום הזה. Rav Yehuda in Gemara Rosh Hashana says, when you look at a mitzvah, you have to look at it from Hakadosh Baruch Hu's vantage point also. Torah is hana'ah, mitzvos are hana'ah. There's no greater hana'ah, there's no greater benefit which issues forth from anything than Torah and mitzvos. Rava says you're right, I don't, I don't dispute that, but for purposes of this halakha, we're supposed to view the mitzvah from what is supposed to motivate us. We're supposed to be motivated, we're supposed to be motivated that we serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu, not because we're looking for the reward, but we serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu just because we're His avadim. He's the metzaveh, He's the one who, who holds the mountain over us, we're the metzuveh. That's supposed to be what motivates us. What's motivating Hakadosh Baruch Hu? What's motivating Hakadosh Baruch Hu is לטוב לנו ולחיותם כהיום הזה. The Sforno comments at the end of the first of this morning's two parshiyos, the Parshas Nitzavim concludes ראה נתתי לפניך היום את החיים ואת הטוב ואת המות ואת הרע.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu says look, I'm putting before you today life and good, death and evil. אשר אנכי מצוך היום לאהבה את ה' אלהיך ללכת בדרכיו ולשמר מצותיו וחקתיו ומשפטיו
and you'll observe all His mitzvos, all His commandments, all His ordinances, וחיית ורבית וברכך ה' אלהיך and you'll live and you'll multiply and Hakadosh Baruch Hu will bless you בארץ אשר אתה בא שמה לרשתה in the land which you come to inherit. ואם יפנה לבבך ולא תשמע however if your heart will turn away and you won't listen and you'll serve avodah zarah, הגדיתי לכם היום כי אבד תאבדון you'll be destroyed. Again Hakadosh Baruch Hu says העדתי בכם היום את השמים ואת הארץ I call heaven and earth to serve as my witnesses, החיים והמות נתתי לפניך הברכה והקללה I'm putting before you life and death, blessing and curse, uvacharta bachayim choose life למען תחיה אתה וזרעך so that you and your children will live. Listen to the Sforno. The Sforno encapsulates everything we've been talking about in a few beautiful words. Es hachayim la'ad. When Hakadosh Baruch Hu says נתתי לפניך היום את החיים it means eternal life, eternal life and maves also la'ad says the Sforno. It also means for eternity. Then the Sforno says למען תחיה אתה וזרעך uvacharta bachayim choose life chayei ad eternal life למען תחיה אתה וזרעך לאהבה את ה' אלהיך v'amarti shetivchar bachayim when you choose life. Serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu not out of self-interest, but because you choose Hakadosh Baruch Hu for its own sake, lishmah. I'm interpolating that word, but because you choose Hakadosh Baruch Hu because he is truth only. Why? Why? Because what Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants is למען תחפוץ בחיים אשר הם אמת בלבד. Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants that we should have eternity, לטוב לנו ולחיותנו כהיום הזה. That's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants. How is that achieved? It's not achieved by looking for the self-interest. It's not achieved by looking for easy life, by relaxing, by coasting, by giving Hakadosh Baruch Hu an hour of our day, an hour to go through a shiur. But it's rather, no, serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu with everything, לא על מנת לקבל פרס. Serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu with everything. Why? Hakadosh Baruch Hu says I want it so you have chayei ad. But you do it, you do it for its own sake. And that's exactly, exactly what the Rav says, מצוות לאו ליהנות ניתנו. It's an ol, we're being pushed, we're being exhorted, we're being pressured. Why? Why is Hakadosh Baruch Hu doing that? Hakadosh Baruch Hu is doing that all, uvacharta bachayim. Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants that on Rosh Hashanah we should all be inscribed lechayim, לאלתר לחיים טובים ולשלום, בספרן של צדיקים גמורים.