Now pay attention because it’s a fundamental principle. ָנֶה עוֹלָם חֶסֶד יִב – Hakadosh Baruch Hu made this world for the purpose of doing kindliness (ibid 89:3). Kindliness for whom? For man. You see that everything was made for man.
There's metal in the earth. Do wolves use metal? Do lions use metal? Only mankind uses metal. And mankind uses lions too. Mankind kills lions and uses their skins. ָ מַ עֲ שֵׂ י יָ דֶ י ך בַ מְ שׁ ִ י לֵ ה וּ ת – Hashem, You gave man dominion over all the works of Your hand (Tehillim 8:7). ָ ה תַ חַ ת רַ גְלָיו כֹל שַׁ ת – You Hashem have placed everything under man’s feet, under man’s control (ibid.). Why is it when you walk in the streets, you see sidewalks of cement everywhere. Who needs cement? Do birds need cement? Do animals need cement? Only man needs cement. The tar that paves the streets? Only mankind needs the tar; and miles and miles of roads are paved with the tar. Miles and miles of sidewalks. And so you see that mankind is getting what he needs.
If there are potatoes that grow in the earth, it’s for man. If there are apples on trees, it’s for man. And why did Hakadosh Baruch Hu make everything for man? Because He wanted to give man kindliness. He’s trying to make us happy. He supplies us not with colorless and tasteless food just to keep us alive. No; He supplies us with food with a pleasant taste, with pleasant aromas. Even with colors; He gives a little blush to the pear. On one cheek, the pear is blushing a little bit. It makes it look better.
He makes the orange beautiful; a beautiful yellow, almost orange. Yellow bananas and red apples. Blueberries and raspberries. He gives color to the things we eat because He’s feeding us ְ חֵ ן בְ רַ חֲ מִ י ם חֶ סֶ ד וּ ב. Not only He’s giving us what we need to exist but He gives us with kindliness.
A Double Kindness
But there are two kinds of kindliness and you have to understand both of them. You know, when a guest comes to your house and you take out an apple from the refrigerator and you wash it off and polish it and now a bright shiny apple is served to your guest on a plate, so you're doing two forms of kindliness to your guest. One, you're giving him the pleasure of eating a delicious apple. An apple is fun. It's a refreshing drink. An apple is a food but it’s a drink too; and it’s nourishing. No question about it, it’s a chessed.
But there's a greater kindliness that you're giving him, more than just an apple. Because when he looks at the apple, if he is a man of discretion he'll think “Look what a beautiful creation that is. ‘It looks almost natural’. Who produced such a product? A luscious food-drink, flavored not too sour and not too sweet, exactly suited to the needs of men. And it's wrapped in such a beautiful wrapper with colors and tints that make it attractive”.
The True Delight of Apples
So the guest is thinking – remember, we’re talking now about a good guest who wants to get everything he can out of this apple; so he’s thinking, “How did that happen? Where did it come from? Was it DuPont Chemical Corporation that produced that apple? You mean to say it came by itself? Could such a thing happen by itself? A miracle of packaging and flavoring. Oh no! There must be a great Chef with a capital C Who could produce such a concoction.”
And then when he opens up the apple inside there are some coupons entitling him to some more apples. All he needs is to spit them out on the ground and an apple tree will grow. How did that happen? Seeds, reproduction. ‘An accident’ of reproduction? Are you crazy? Can there be an accident of reproduction? And so the apple seeds demonstrate that there's a Great Designer for the universe.
And so when you're giving your guest an apple you're giving him knowledge. That’s the biggest gift you can give him, to help him recognize there's a Creator. Of course, he knows there’s a Creator; he’s a frum Jew. His mother and father told him so and his rebbe too. But as he’s chewing on the apple he’s knowing it more and more.
Delighting in Hashem
And so the apple is a delightful way of learning about Hashem. As you were told many times here, if a Gemara would be printed on sponge cake and as you're studying the Gemara you're chewing a little bit of the big margins and enjoying it, ah that would make it an even more geshmake sugya. Ah! Such a delicious subject, this sugya. And you bite off a little bit of the Gilyon Hashas and you chew it. “Ah! A pleasure to read this.”
It's a delight to study about the Creator from an apple. And as the apple goes into your insides and begins to spread its benevolent nourishment throughout your body, it's the benevolent nourishment of your mind that's even more important. The emunah that you gain from the apple is even more important.
So now after the guest takes the napkin that you offer him and wipes off his lips and makes a borei nefashos, he thanks Hashem for the apple; but he thanks Hashem for the bigger gift of true knowledge which he acquired by means of the apple. That's the biggest kindliness you can give anybody. It’s the biggest kindliness you can give yourself! More emunah!
Hashem’s Joy
And so when Hashem sees that you're enjoying the apple He's happy. “Ah! You’re hungry?” he says, “Take an apple, My child, and enjoy it. That's why I'm making it colored.” An apple could look like a potato; it could be the same color. But we wouldn’t enjoy it that much. So He colors it; and He gives flavors to it. “My child take an apple and enjoy it.” Certainly He’s happy that you like His apples.
But when He sees that you're getting the real benefit of the apple – that you're learning about the Creator – Hashem is certainly more full of joy. He rejoices because you’re complimenting Him? Because you’re praising Him? No! He’s happy because you’re gaining what is most important to gain. You’re achieving our function for which we were created – awareness of Hashem and singing His praises. That’s how the chessed Hashem is being fulfilled in the greatest possible manner.
And that’s why Hakadosh Baruch Hu made everything in this world, for the great kindliness of helping mankind recognize Him. Like Dovid Hamelech says in Ashrei; we say it too, every day, only we’re unaware of what we’re saying. What is the world made for? ָ ל מַעֲ שֶׂ יך ה' כ ך יוֹדו – All of Your deeds praise You. You hear that? The purpose of Your deeds, of Your handiwork is that they should praise You.
A Joyful Summer
The apple praises You. The peach praises You. Ah! A peach, beautiful pink cheeks. The plum praises You. The red cherry praises You. A watermelon, ah a delicious red watermelon – it praises You.
Not only fruit; I mention fruit because it’s the summertime now. It’s the best time to go on a trip to a fruit store and sing to Hashem; that’s the purpose of summertime fruit, for singing. But in the winter the snow praises Hashem; the winds praise Hashem. And in the rainy season the clouds and the rain. All things are praising You, Hashem. That's why You made them.
And that’s why You made the Am Yisroel; so that we especially should be the ones in this world whose function it is to fulfill the purpose of creation. ִי לִי יָצַרְ ת עַם זו – This one nation, I created, ָתִי יְסַפֵּרוְהִלּת – they are the ones who will speak My praises.
The Creator Rejoices in His People
And that's why Hakadosh Baruch Hu rejoiced most when we were living together as one nation in our land. Because it was one nation under G-d. Dovid Hamelech and his company sat in the evenings or in the mornings or sometimes all day and they sang songs to the Creator, thanking Hashem for His kindliness. And these songs went forth from the palace and were hummed and repeated by the entire nation. A whole nation that understood their function in this world.
Even long after Dovid, for many centuries, the spirit of עַם זו יָצַרְ תִי תְהִלָּתִי יְסַפֵּרוּ poured out of the gates of Yerushalayim into the suburbs and into the rest of Eretz Yisroel. And so it was a nation, אִישׁ אֶחָד בְלֵב אֶחָד, proud of its function and living up to their purpose to the greatest extent possible.
And so, יִשְׂ מַח ה' בְמַעֲ שָׂ יו – Hakadosh Baruch Hu rejoiced in His nation during those great days when we lived on our land because it was a nation that was achieving all the results that Hakadosh Baruch Hu had intended when He made the world. And so He rejoiced in our greatness, in the perfection we achieved because of our pride.
