Part III. The Road of Loving
A World of Bechinah
And we come now to one of the most important and yet most ignored opportunities in life. I’m talking about the opportunity to become fortified with emunah and ahavas Hashem by means of seeing Hashem in nature.
Now, I know that some might disagree with me – they don’t think it’s as important as I claim; but I’m only saying what the kadmonim say. You know, the Chovos Halevovos, near the end of his great sefer, he speaks about ahavas Hashem, about how to love Hashem. Now that’s a big subject that we won’t study tonight but he says there that before we can come to ahavas Hashem, we need to engage in what he calls bechinah. You newcomers should mark that word down - it’s an important vocabulary word if you come to this place. Bechinah means to analyze, to study carefully. And the Chovos Halevovos wants us to know that there’s a certain analysis that a person must engage in. And he says there that we have to engage in it not a little. You must spend a great deal of time in bechinah.
Bombarded by Bechinah
What bechinah is he talking about? What are we analyzing? So he explains that the primary bechinah is analyzing creation, the phenomena of nature. If you wish one day to arrive at the top of the ladder, to the highest of all degrees of perfection, so one of the prerequisites is to study and analyze the things that you see in the world and to become aware of Hashem in nature.
Now I understand that this is a chiddush to a lot of people. Most people wouldn’t even say such a thing, but he not only says it – he means it. And therefore who cares if so many people will contradict us and will perhaps ridicule this? The Chovos Halvovos is an authority on the subject of avodas Hashem. There are not many others who are authorities on this subject and he states, that number one is to see Hashem in the world around you.
Actually it’s not difficult. The Chovos Halevovos tells us that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is showing Himself to us always. Constantly, from all sides, we are being bombarded by opportunities to see His Presence. Only that we have to react to the opportunities in the right way by wanting to see, by looking. That’s ̇∆כ∆לָל ה∆ˆֹרו םָ„ָ‡∆ׁ ̆ ¿ ך∆ר∆„¿ּ ב – in the way you want to go. You have to want!
And once you want to look – like the students in the detective course – if you’re willing to use your peripheral vision and your intuition and your curiosity, so you’ll see more and more and you’ll become more and more impressed, and more and more aware of Him. But you have to want; you have to be willing to see all of the millions of things around you.
Impressed in Flatbush
I’ll bring you an illustration. A man once told me that he went to visit the Grand Canyon. He was telling me about the niflaos haBorei and he claimed that he was very much impressed. Now it could be that he was impressed; I have no reason to disbelieve him. But when a person is a rotzeh, when he wants to be impressed by Hakadosh Baruch Hu he doesn’t need such tremendous phenomena. His eyes are wide open for it here in Brooklyn too.
If he’s willing to look, so his admiration for Hakadosh Baruch Hu grows exceedingly every day. And when he wants to see, Hashem helps him see.
Now, I’m not going to make a big protest against people who go to see the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls but I’m telling you that it’s superfluous. Because the more a person makes sure to see things, the more Hakadosh Baruch Hu will help him be impressed by all of the little things.
That’s why my advice to you is to train yourself to be a rotzeh right here in Flatbush. If you want, you can walk outside right now in the street and look at the trees. It’s an exhibition that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is showing you. Only that what happens? A person walks past the tree like a horse walks past it; not noticing, not thinking, nothing. But a rotzeh looks! He wants to see! And once he looks, so molichin oso, he notices things.
What’s the Purpose?
He looks and he sees that every leaf of the millions of leaves on Ocean Parkway, every leaf has two sides; a dark green side where there’s a lot of chlorophyll and a light green side where there’s not much chlorophyll. And in every case the light green side is turned away from the sun and the dark green side faces the sun! Millions and millions of leaves! How did that ‘accident’ happen? Because chlorophyll needs the sun and that’s why the dark green side faces the sun. So it’s an exhibition of Hakadosh Baruch Hu right here on Ocean Parkway.
I’m not telling you now drashos, imaginary things. I’m talking plain fundamental principles. And so number one is we must divest ourselves of our habitual attitudes and ask ourselves a fundamental question. What’s the purpose of all the objects in creation? Or to put the question in a different way: why does the world need so many things? Why is nature so complicated? So many different trees with so many different leaves. So many different seeds and plants and flowers. What’s the purpose in general of all these things, of all this variety?
And for this, we turn to Koheles (3:14) and he tells us a key statement: הָׂ ָ̆ﬠ יםƒ ֹ̃ ל¡‡ָה¿ו – Why did Elokim make everything? יוָנָפ¿ּ לƒמּ ו‡¿רƒּ י∆ׁ ̆ – In order to demonstrate that there is a Borei; in order to make us Aware of Him. And even more, to demonstrate what kind of a Borei He is; to show how infinite is His wisdom and how endless is His kindliness.
But what’s the use if we don’t notice? The whole purpose is lost. And so what did Hashem do for us in His kindness? He doesn’t want you to waste your life. He wants you to notice things. So He made variety! In case you don’t notice the wonders of the red roses, so when you pass by a different garden and you see pink roses, so then what you didn’t notice the first time, you might notice the second time.
Dinner Variety
It’s like a man whose wife is making him the same supper every night and soon he forgets about the one making the supper. So his wife makes a variety: One night she’ll put this type of dressing on the chicken, the next night a different covering. She’s not so interested in the chicken – she’s hoping he’ll notice the one preparing the chicken!
And so if you’re eating a red apple and you don’t appreciate it – and you should; the glory of a red apple! What a beauty! What a miracle it is! What a wonderful design of packaging it is! Still, if you’re stupid enough not to notice that, if you’re obtuse and thickheaded and you lose the opportunity, so maybe someday you’ll be eating a Golden Delicious and it’ll hit you between the eyes – what a beautiful tint that is! And it will wake you up to the One Who made it for you!
And therefore variety stirs your mind to think about things that otherwise you might ignore. That’s the purpose of variety; to wake up people to notice things they didn’t notice before. That’s what Rashi says in Mesichta Rosh Hashana (31a). He says that the purpose of variety is that we should be attracted to see it and our attention therefore is concentrated on it.
Maple Seeds
The same is seeds. How many various seeds a person sees! You know that there are different ways that seeds are distributed. Some trees drop their seeds. Some seeds have wings that fly away. Some seeds spring out when you touch the plant. Some seeds are stored up in a container that builds up gas pressure and after a while it bursts and it explodes and the seeds scatter. There are many ways that seeds are spread. So the question is: Why are there so many ways? Why don’t all seeds scatter in the same way?
The answer is because Hakadosh Baruch Hu is trying to get you to notice them. So you’ve been stepping on maple seeds all your life - they are scattered across the sidewalk - and you never once noticed that each seed has a remarkable wing attached to it. It’s only if somebody bends over and picks it up and throws it into the wind and you see it whirling around like a helicopter that you finally think that there is something here.
I was walking with a yeshivah man last week and I was showing him the maple seed. “Oh I know all about this,” he said to me. “It’s the mustaches that children play with.” That’s all he knows, that it’s children’s mustaches. He thinks it’s nothing. It’s a seed and it’s a wing; a seed with a wing! A glorious contrivance! A flying machine!
Angels in the Sukkah
I was sitting in my sukkah a few years ago having supper when a few of these seeds flew in through the schach. So I said “I have to take these in. They are little angels that came from the Heaven.” They flew in and they said, “Look at us! You are neglecting us; you’re trampling on us. Pick us up and think about us; think about the One Who made us.”
That’s why I have one of them in my pocket. Look; there’s a seed here. When you see it it’s easier to speak about. And here is a backbone; because this material is very thin. When it dries it is taut and so it catches the wind and it conveys the seeds. And once it is in the wind, it starts twisting like this – it’s able to overcome gravity to some extent and it doesn’t fall straight down. You see the ridges here? When this was green these were all little pipes conveying liquid and materials to all parts of the leaf. But they serve a double purpose because when it dries they become staves to stiffen the flimsy material. It has to be lightweight to fly but now it has a backbone – all these staves that branch out are anchored in the back bone. It’s exciting to look at!
This little ailanthus seed leaf is masterfully formed. It is twisted like a propeller, both ends are twisted, so when the wind blows, it gains levitation and it travels outside of the shade of the parent tree - if it fell under the shade it wouldn’t grow well - and the passenger is just exactly in the middle, the seed is just exactly in the middle so it should have equilibrium. You hear that? It is a remarkable thing. It’s a pity you aren’t up here to see it.
Open Your Eyes!
That’s the purpose of life – to notice these things! That’s why they’re there. הָׂ ָ̆ﬠ יםƒ ֹ̃ ל¡‡ָה, He made everything, יוָנָפ¿ּ לƒמּ ו‡¿רƒּ י∆ׁ ̆, so that people should become more and more aware of Him. And it's right in front of your eyes. You don't need any books. You don't need to go to the libraries. Once you are willing to open your eyes and use your mind, you'll be able to write your own books.
All the good achievements of life are like that. Good middos, good attitudes, good ideals, Torah and mitzvos, everything – the more you want and the more you look, the more you’ll find. You want to do chessed? Keep your eyes open. You want to learn Torah or make shalom or do mitzvos? Keep looking for opportunities. You want to see the Creator in the creation around you? So open your eyes! And once you start on the road towards greatness, He’ll help you. It’s a Torah guarantee. ֹו ֹ̇ו‡ יןƒיכƒלֹמו ̇∆כ∆לָל ה∆ˆֹרו םָ„ָ‡∆ׁ ̆ ¿ ך∆ר∆ּ„ַּב – In the way you wish to go, He’ll lead you.
Have A Wonderful Shabbos
