Now, when we study this mitzvah of ahavas Yisroel, of emulating the love that Hashem has for His people, there is another point that requires our attention. And that is Hashem loves the righteous (Tehillim 146:8). As much as Hashem loves His nation, He loves the tzaddikim of His nation even more.
Now, I can’t describe what's more than the love of the Am Yisroel; how could we express in words a love that’s greater than a nuclear fire of love? But it’s so; Hashem loves the frum Jews because they are His loyal ones, and He loves with an even more intense love, a more powerful and especial love, the tzaddikim who are especially loyal.
And if you think you can ignore this – you’re too busy for such things – you’re learning Torah, you’re doing mitzvos; who has time for such things like loving tzaddikim? – so you’re making a big mistake. It’s an absolute chiyuv and we have to get to work on it. Included in Kedoshim Tihiyu is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu expects us to emulate Him by making a career of loving the especially righteous ones of our nation.
What’s the Criterion?
Now, it doesn’t mean that you find a tzaddik you get along with, you agree with. If you pass let’s say a big rosh yeshivah and he stops and he says “My son, how are you?” – he puts his hand on your shoulder and he inquires and makes you feel good – so you love him. Big deal! You know why you love him? Because he has bribed you. He has given you a feeling of happiness.
But suppose there’s a tzaddik who never raises his eye from the sidewalk. He walks with his eyes on the ground because he’s thinking only about Hashem. He’s occupied. Or he's thinking about the shiur that he has to give in the yeshivahh this afternoon. So this tzaddik doesn’t notice you. Do you love him? Not really. Because we measure love by how much we get out of the person. That's our criterion.
Loving Righteousness
So the question is on what basis does Hakadosh Baruch Hu love tzaddikim? Do they do Him any favors? What does He get out of them? Do they make Him feel good? They're insignificant and meaningless to Him.
And still He loves them. You know why? Because He loves righteousness (ibid. 11:7). Not because it’s combined with a personality that makes Him feel warm. Hashem doesn't feel warm; it’s not the warmth of contact with a tzaddik. Hashem loves the tzaddik because of his tzidkus, his righteousness.
And that's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants from us. Hevei domeh lo means we have to love righteousness like He does. It means if you can come to the degree that there's a tzaddik who walks on the other side of Ocean Parkway – you never were near him; he never said any kind words to you and he never will – but because you know he's a tzaddik you love him, then you have arrived. You're somebody. You're emulating Hashem.
Starting With the Roshei Yeshivah
And therefore we have to get busy loving tzaddikim. We have them. Where are they? They're all around you. Baruch Hashem we have many tzaddikim. Our nation is not lacking tzaddikim – we’re lacking only people who love them. Not to tolerate them – to love them.
Now whom do you start with? I would say it’s easier to start with the roshei yeshivah. Today yeshivahs are sprouting like mushrooms after a rainstorm and that means there are many roshei yeshivah. Big ones, small ones, smaller ones. Start loving them with a chibah yiseirah, even more than for a fellow Jew.
The truth is, loving roshei yeshivah is quite easy. They are quiet people. They do their duty. They're raising up many young men to Torah. Of course they’re also more proficient in learning than most people are. They’re busy sometimes with tzarchei tzibbur.
It’s true, sometimes they bother you to come to the yeshivah dinner but we shouldn’t hold that against them. And therefore we should start with a great respect for roshei yeshivah. But respect is not enough however – we have to start loving the roshei yeshivah.
Don't think it's exaggerated. After all, someday you have to start working on these things that Hashem expects of you. Hashem loves the righteous. He’s doing it already. He loves the roshei yeshivah very much. What about you?
Rav Hutner’s Haskama
And therefore you should pick one and start your career in oheiv tzaddikim. Let’s say, I'll just pick at random, learn how to love Rav Pam. He's the head of Torah V’daas. I knew him as a young man. I'm older than he is but I knew him as a young man. I once heard Rav Hutner zichrono levrachah speak about him. “He's a very fine young man,” he said. “An especially fine young man!”
Today he’s an old man already. He’s been a rosh yeshivah for many years. He’s said many years shiurim. He’s an anav, a very big anav. He does his work for the yeshivah, for the talmidim, but he’s not looking for any publicity. Every day, for many years, he's in the yeshivah.
But I knew him when he was a young man and at that time, when Rav Hutner said that, so I paid attention. And I began to practice loving him. I saw him five times in my life and each time I saw him I was thinking, “Hashem loves this man. Absolutely He does; he’s a tzaddik. And so I love him too. I love him!”
Loving the Satmarer and the Bobover
Learn to love the present Satmarer Rav. I knew him also when he was a young man. I first saw him when he came to listen to Rav Moshe Feinstein after davening in the morning. Rav Moshe was taking off his tefillin and was saying some divrei Torah. The Satmarer Rav was a young man, standing there and listening. I saw that there was a love of talmidei chachamim in his eyes. He was a Satmarer and Rav Moshe Feinstein was a Litvak but because he loved Torah, he came and listened with such a derech eretz to what Rav Moshe was saying. That was the first time I saw him.
The Bobover Rav too I remember as a young man. I remember him in the country. He was far away from the minyan but he was the first one to come to the minyan every morning. The first one! From a big distance he walked every morning but he was always the first one there. And he was a real baal derech eretz. It was a pleasure to look at him. He was so easy to love.
You can love long distance too. In Eretz Yisroel there is a Rav Elyashiv; just to pick a name out of the directory (Editor’s note: This recording was from 1976, when Rav Elyashiv was relatively unknown). Harav Elyashiv; a very fine Jew. A big masmid. Or Rav Abramsky. Besides being a big gadol, a very old man, he's a tzaddik. A very gentle man, a beloved man.
Now if you never met them or maybe you never heard of them make use of their names anyhow. Try to fall in love with Rav Elyashiv and Rav Abramsky in Eretz Yisroel.
Local Love
In Boro Park there are tzaddikim. Boro Park is packed with tzaddikim. And don't tell me any leitzanus, “Oh, but there are all kinds of people in Boro Park.” I know all about Boro Park, more than you, and I'm telling you Boro Park is packed with tzaddikim too. There are so many that this place, our shul, would be too little to let in the top tzaddikim in Boro Park. Even a bigger place couldn’t take them in.
On every street you have tzaddikim, very big people but it’s a good idea to think of a specific one. It’s not a bad idea to pick out one every day and practice loving him. One today, another one tomorrow, another the next day. You have to hurry up and start because there are very many tzaddikim to love.
Nashim Tzidkaniyos
If you're a lady, you want to love a woman tzaddik? There's a Rebbetzin Kaplan. There are others but she is outstanding. Think about her, of all that she did. She gives her life to bring up generations of girls in the ways of the Torah. If not for Rebbetzin Kaplan, the picture of American Jews would be entirely different. Rav Aharon Kotler, zichrono livracha, said, “The kollelim in America wouldn’t have been possible if they hadn’t had the right kind of girls to marry.” And she was the one who started in America the practice of girls who want husbands who are learning. It became an ambition.
And she pioneered in showing the way for many to have big families. She herself raised a big family. And therefore her example inspired a whole army of girls. She's a woman who is dedicated in her own life – she’s raising a large Torah family – and in her institutional work. There's an ideal for people to love. So if you're a woman you can think about her all the time.
The Tzaddik Nistar
There's another woman, I won’t say her name, but I noticed her ways in life. Never did she raise her voice to shout; always patient and gentle. Now, there was trouble in the house. Not always did they have all that they needed. Sometimes it was a little tight in parnassah. But never was there any anxiety. Always quiet. Always gentle. Always doing her duty.
And she brought up a very big family, a very big family of tzaddikim. But she was a very big tzadeikes herself. I think if I could be in Gan Eden anywhere near her I'd be happy. A person who brought up so many children ken yirbu, grandchildren ken yirbu, all of them tzaddikim – a tremendous accomplishment! And never once did I ever hear an angry word or any excitement; always quiet and gentle. And so there’s no lack of tzaddikim and tzidkoniyos for us to love.
A Righteous Nation
Now, once you get the knack of oheiv tzaddikim so you’ll be able to go back to the Am Yisroel, to the plain poshuteh Jew, and love him even more. Because really, we’re a frum righteous nation (Yeshaya 60:21).
Now I don't say that in the same way that Rav Pam and Rav Elyashiv are tzaddikim. Many frum Jews maybe are still lacking. But to a certain extent every frum Jew is in the geder of a tzaddik if he's willing to curb his passions and limit his desires and he yields to the laws of the Torah. Even though he's not a man of high knowledge, he didn't study all the ideals of the Torah in the Gemara and in the seforim, and maybe he has to still do teshuvah for many things – however in a general sense every shomer mitzvos is a tzaddik whom Hashem loves very much.
The Career of Love
And so it’s a career we’re talking about now; a career of being in love with the Am Yisroel. We love the Jewish nation. We love our people! We love our nation because Hakadosh Baruch Hu loves us. And because He loves us more than anything else in the universe we love our nation more than anything else.
And if you do it, you have to know that you’re embarking on the career of perfection, of shleimus. One of the highest degrees of perfection, of kedushah, that a Jew could attain is this degree of being an oheiv Yisroel like Hashem is.
And you’re doing the very biggest favor to yourself. When you fulfill ve’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha, when you love your fellow Jews, it’s kamocha – you’re really doing it to yourself. You’re gaining a perfection, a greatness, because you become tied up to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. You’re a partner with Him. Just like He loves, you are standing at His side and together with Him, you’re loving the Am Yisroel.
And the more we do, the more Hashem will love us. Hakadosh Baruch Hu loves only those who love His people, and the more a person increases his love of Yisroel, Hashem will increase His love of him (Mesillas Yesharim, Chapter 19).
Have A Wonderful Shabbos
