Part I. Brachos for Gratitude
What Does He Want?
“What does Hashem want from me?” That’s a question that everyone should ask themselves one time or another—and probably very frequently—because the answer to that question is everything. If we want to accomplish things in this world, it’s a question that should concern us all the time.
In this week’s parsha Moshe Rabbeinu is speaking to the Am Yisroel and he says to them as follows:
¿ךָּמƒע≈מ ל≈‡ֹׁ ָ̆יך∆ ֹ̃ל¡‡ םּׁ≈ ַ̆ה הָמ ל≈‡ָרׂ¿ ̆ƒי הָּ ַ̇ﬠ¿ו – “And now Yisroel; what is Hashem asking from you?”
Oohh ah! Jackpot! That’s our question! And we can hear an answer now from Moshe our Teacher who is speaking the Word of Hashem: “You know what He wants from you? םƒ‡ יּƒכ – Only, ָיך∆ ֹ̃ל¡‡ םּׁ≈ ַ̆ה ̇∆‡ הָ‡¿רƒי¿ל – to fear Hashem your G-d, יוָכָרּ¿„ לָכּ¿ב ̇∆כ∆לָל – and to walk in all of His ways, ֹו ֹ̇‡ הָבֲהַ‡¿לּו – and to love Him, ָךׁ∆ ̆¿פַנ לָכ¿בּוָך¿בָב¿ל לָכּ¿ב ָיך∆ ֹ̃ל¡‡ םּׁ≈ ַ̆ה ̇∆‡ „ֹבֲﬠַל¿ו – and to serve Hashem your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul, יוָ ֹּ̇ ֻ̃ח ̇∆‡¿ו םּׁ≈ ַ̆ה ֹ̇ ו¿ˆƒמ ̇∆‡ רֹמׁ¿ ̆ƒל – and to keep all the mitzvos of Hashem and to keep all of His laws (Eikev 10:12-13).
Now, there’s a lot in that possuk – He’s asking a whole lot of things from you – it seems like He’s asking for everything! It’s a load of work; a program for a lifetime.
Difficult Path of Heroism
And so, if you want to get started, it seems you have to gird up your loins and start learning Shas. Learning the whole Talmud will certainly bring you closer to all of the ideals enumerated in that possuk – only that it’ll take some heavy lifting to achieve that.
And Shas is not enough. You’ll have to learn Mesillas Yesharim and Sha’arei Teshuva and the Chovos Halevavos – other seforim as well – and you’ll have to learn them cover to cover and do it many times! It’ll take some heavy lifting to achieve such a comprehensive program; nobody said greatness comes easy! It entails many difficulties and a great deal of self-denial.
Now I’m not saying that learning Shas and mussar is the only way – it could be there are other ways as well, but whatever it is there’s no question that any path you take will require heroism and heavy labor. To achieve all those qualities of perfection is not going to be easy. You have to prepare yourself for a long career of hard work.
Seeking the Easy Path
And so when we study that possuk – even superficially – we should be quite surprised by how Moshe Rabbeinu introduces us to all of these great ideals: םƒ‡ יּƒכ ... הָמ – “What is it that He’s asking of you already? Only this...”. Ki im means ‘only this and that’s all’. Only this?! That’s hard to understand because we see that what Hashem wants of you is everything.
But if that’s what Hashem is saying – that’s the pshuto shel mikra after all – so we’ll have to admit that there must be some simpler way of accomplishing these great ideals.
There must be an easier path for us to climb this mountain of greatness because if it was difficult, if from every angle there was no easy access to the top, it wouldn’t make sense for the Torah to use such words – “What is He asking from you already?”
Blessings Are the Key
In Mesichta Menachos (43b), Rabbi Meir quotes our possuk, ל≈‡ָרׂ¿ ̆ƒי הָּ ַ̇ﬠ¿ו ¿ךָּמƒע≈מ ל≈‡ֹוׁ ָ̆יך∆ ֹ̃ל¡‡ םּׁ≈ ַ̆ה הָמ – What does Hashem Elokecha require of you? and he says as follows: Don’t read the word “הָמ – What does He wants of you,” but הָ‡≈מ – “He wants meiah; He wants a hundred.” Instead of mem hei, we stick an alef in between and now it reads meiah, a hundred.
A hundred what? So Rabbi Meir goes on and says, ֹ̇כוָרּ¿ב הָ‡≈מ¿ך≈רָב¿ל םָ„ָ‡ בָּיַח םֹיו לָכּ¿ב – Everyone is obligated to make one hundred brachos every day. Rabbi Meir used the sharp and witty style of the Sages and he put a play on words, הָ‡≈מ ‡ָּל∆‡ הָמ יƒר¿ ּ̃ƒ ̇ לַ‡ – You want to know the way, that easy way to come close to Hashem? Instead of saying הָמ, which means ‘what’, say הָ‡≈מ – one hundred brachos.
Now, it’s important to realize that all the drashos of Chazal are inherent in the plain meaning. It’s not merely a memory aid; it’s actually included in the pshat of the possuk. And so we must understand that this verse םּׁ≈ ַ̆ה הָמ¿ךָּמƒע≈מ ל≈‡ֹוׁ ָ̆יך∆ ֹ̃ל¡‡, includes the duty of saying one hundred brachos. But not only the duty; it’s the key!
You want to fulfill what Hashem wants from you? You want to come to yiras Hashem? You want to love Hashem and walk in His ways, and all of those great subjects in the possuk? So our Sages are telling us that the easy way, the way of mah, is by means of meiah. םֹיו לָכּ¿ב ֹ̇כוָרּ¿ב הָ‡≈מ¿ך≈רָב¿ל םָ„ָ‡ בָּיַח – A hundred times a day you have to thank Hashem, that’s the easy way to come to all of those great perfections enumerated in the possuk.
Discard the Catalog
So you’ll say I’m exaggerating – meiah brachos is the key to perfection?! Making brachos? That’s ABC’s – it’s kindergarten talk! We’re talking now about big subjects, great pinnacles of perfection, and you’re saying brachos?!
But that’s what Rabbi Meir is telling us here; the hakdamah, the preface to yirah and ahavah and all the good things in that possuk, is to make a hundred brachos every day.
Now don't go and tell me a catalog of the brachos. Some think it’s a matter of counting; here's how they work it. There's 19 brachos in the Shemoneh Esrei you say three times a day so that’s 57 brachos and you hear chazaras hashatz twice a day, it's 38 more. And before you even said the Shemoneh Esrei of Shacharis there’s 30 brachos already (Mishnah Berurah 46:14). And now you exceeded the limit and all that time you didn't even thank Hashem once.
No. Forget about technicalities.
Of course, if a man makes a hundred brachos a day, no matter how he makes them, we accept him. There are people who don't make any brachos and so we’re happy with this man who is fulfilling the technicalities. But is that man fulfilling his destiny in life which is to fear and love Hashem? Meiah brachos means a hundred heartfelt expressions of thanks!
Rediscovering Brachos
Now, if you’re going to hark back to your concept of what a bracha is, then the whole talk will be in vain. A bracha is not just Baruch Atah Hashem, you mumble some words and finished. Even if you’re not mumbling – let’s say you’re saying the words slowly with peirush hamilos, even that is not the brachah we’re talking about here.
In order to get the benefit of this idea, you must act like you never heard of the term brachos before. You just became geirim now, and for the first time in your lives, you’re hearing that there’s such a thing as a bracha.
Why do we say brachos? I’ll tell you a secret now, something I heard from my rebbe in Slabodka. He was telling us what the Kuzari (3:13-17) says, a remarkable statement explaining one of the reasons for our brachos: ֹלו יףƒסֹיו¿ו „יƒמָּ ̇¿ך≈רָבּ¿יׁ∆ ̆ , ּ̇בו≈רֲﬠ לַﬠ ּ̇בו≈רֲﬠ – It adds pleasure on pleasure when one says blessings. You hear that? Eating an apple is a pleasure, certainly. But what type of pleasure is it if you don’t concentrate on enjoying it? Sometimes you’ll just gobble it down and you only remember you were eating an apple when you get to the core and you need to find a trash can. So the Kuzari says that one of the reasons for our brachos is to enhance our pleasure. Before you eat the apple, you stop and you feel gratitude for it. Ah! Now you can dig in and enjoy it!
But my rebbe zichrono livracha, when he taught us that, he argued on the Kuzari. He said it’s not “one of the reasons” for making brachos – he said it’s the reason. It’s the most important one. Because that’s how you’ll become a person who lives a life of gratitude to Hashem – you’ll walk around in your home, on the street, everywhere, feeling grateful to Hashem for everything He’s giving you.
Ungrateful Boys and Girls
Grateful?! That’s a secret to many people. Last week I was walking on Kings Highway with a young man, a yeshiva man, and he asked me: “Why should I be grateful to Hashem?” I took a look at him. He wasn’t wearing crutches. He didn’t have braces on his feet. He didn’t have a brace to hold his neck up. He seemed to have a full set of teeth – at least they didn’t look like false teeth. He looked to be quite well-nourished as well, and he didn’t seem to have slept the night on a park bench either. And he was clothed – it wasn’t too shabby. And this yeshiva man asked me, “For what should I be grateful to Hakadosh Baruch Hu?” He was serious – he was asking with sincerity.
It’s the same as a young girl, a girl of sixteen who refuses to wash the dishes. “What am I getting out of you?” she says to her parents. The nice ones don’t say it, but they think it. She refuses to even pick up her own stockings in the morning when she runs off. She never brings the garbage out; she doesn’t do a thing in the house. She only has one complaint against her parents – “What are you doing for me?”
That means, besides giving me free lodging – no rent is charged for the bed she sleeps in – and besides giving me three meals a day and clothing, what else are you doing for me? Besides for paying her doctor bills, besides paying for dental care, besides for paying her Beis Yaakov tuition. When she washes her face, when she puts on the light in her room, she’s using her father’s hard earned money. And besides all that, later when she decides to do a very big mitzvah and choose a kollel man, so she’ll confer upon her poor father the privilege of supporting him and her for the next five years. And she thinks she’s doing a big mitzvah – “I took a kollel man!” On whose shoulders? On her old father’s shoulders. It’s a great ideal and a tremendous mitzvah! But it’s her father’s doing. And still, she’s thinking, “What am I getting from you?”
Gaining Gratitude
So you’ll shake your head, tsk, tsk, when you hear about this inconsiderate girl, but actually she’s just a mashal for all of us. Most people in this world – I’m talking even about the good ones – they think Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not giving them anything. “What am I getting from You?” they’re thinking. Now, they won’t tell you that; some self-esteem they have, but you can be sure that’s exactly what they’re thinking: “What is Hashem doing for me?” And I’m afraid that most of us here tonight, even though we’re polite enough not to say that, but in our heart, that’s what we’re thinking.
And that’s what a hundred brachos a day are for. A hundred brachos means that one hundred times every day you have to make yourself aware of the gifts you’re enjoying all the time. Because what is a bracha? It’s an expression of gratitude. Otherwise it’s not a bracha, it’s just words. Of course, you fulfill your obligation al pi halacha; you won’t make a second one. But that’s not what the Torah meant.
