ישמחו השמים ותגל הארץ -Yismechu ha’Shomayim v’sageil ha’aretz
The heavens will rejoice and the earth will be glad.
Nature is here to serve man. Thus, as long as man fails to achieve his mission in life, nature will react accordingly. (Nature, as we know it, is another tool of Hashem which He uses for reward and punishment.) Ho’rav S.R. Hirsch, zl, explains that, in the future redemption with man’s deliverance from the clutches of sin, a comprehensive rejuvenation of nature will occur. Nature development maintains a strong bond with man’s moral conduct. Once man fulfills his destiny, all of nature, which exists solely to serve man and his mission, will likewise achieve its destiny-since the two destinies are aligned. Fields and pastures rejoice when their products are used positively in the service of Hashem. Likewise, the heavenly bodies are pleased when man uses their light to please Hashem. We may extrapolate from here that, when we make positive use of Hashem’s gifts to us, we give nachas to Hashem. When we do not, the opposite is true. Imagine someone giving us a gift, which we, in turn, use against our benefactor. This is chutzpah at its nadir. We remind ourselves how often we are guilty of this infraction. When we do not appreciate our gifts, we can hardly be grateful. When we demonstrate no gratitude, we treat the gifts with disrespect. It all goes back to recognizing that everything we have is a gift.
