Understanding the Tochacha
Now with this definition we can understand what it means the criticism in our parsha, ב לֵבָב בְטו שִׂמְחָה ו בְ קֶיך ם אֱל אֶת הַשֵ א עָבַדְ תָ חַת אֲשֶׁ ר ל תַ ל מֵ ר ֹ ב כֹ – you did not serve Hashem your G-d, with joy and with a merry heart, from an abundance of everything. Without joy? Is that so bad? Yes, because that’s the definition of the service of Hashem, to serve Him with gratitude.
So when you put on tefillin, whatever the reason is – and there are reasons for every mitzvah – but realize that the chief reason is a demonstration that you are humbled before Hashem. Whether you study Torah or wear tzitzis or keep Shabbos or kashrus; when you sit it in the sukkah, have a mezuzah on your door or you say krias shema; when you eat matzah, when you're mekayem the mitzvah of lulav and when you give tzedaka; whatever you do, what are you doing? You're expressing your humble gratitude.
Even what you won’t do; when you take a walk on Shabbos and you see a dollar bill lying on the ground and you don't pick it up so you're fulfilling an act by passing it by. The kiyum of the lav of Shabbos is a demonstration that you are an eved Hashem. Avodah is not only aseh; lo sa'aseh is also avodah.
It’s All About tYH
So when you look for reasons for mitzvos, whether it's mitzvos of doing or mitzvos of prohibitions, the prime reason is to demonstrate our humility to Hashem. All the mitzvos together plus Torah are nothing but a form of saying thank You Hashem, that's all. The tzurah, the outward expression, is the doing of the mitzvah but the pnimiyus, the inner purpose of the mitzvah that transforms it into avodah is when it’s done as a form of thanks to Hashem.
And therefore, suppose you do all these things but you don’t have this attitude, so you’re doing the opposite of avodah; you think you’re doing a favor to Hashem. That’s what you think. You have the attitude that you’re the benefactor and Hashem owes you. Because what did He give you in this world? You’re not a millionaire. You’re not a multi- millionaire. And so you’re looking forward to what will happen in the World to Come. There you’re going to present a big bill to Hashem.
And we’ll be very surprised; Hakadosh Baruch Hu might ask us the question, “Do you realize that you haven’t paid me yet for the first day of your life?” You didn’t serve Me meirov kol; you didn’t serve Me with happiness, out of gratitude for what I’ve given you.
A Hole in Your Cup
Now, all this is easier said than done; it’s not a matter of sitting here and agreeing with me. No, it takes work; it’s not so easy. One of the biggest impediments to our being happy and grateful to Hakadosh Baruch Hu all the time is that our cups have holes in them. I’ll explain that.
In Ashrei there's a possuk that goes like this. בְך זֵכֶר רַ ב טו – The remembrance of Your great goodness, בְך זֵכֶר רַ ב טו יַבִיעו – they will utter. Now we translate יַבִיעו as ‘they will utter’ but it’s not the right translation though. ‘They will utter the remembrance of Your great goodness’? No. יַבִיעו comes from נוֹ בֵ עַ, to flow, like a fountain, מַ עְ יָ ן נוֹ בֵ עַ. It means ‘the remembrance of Your goodness overflows’.
Now, how does goodness overflow? Let's say you're sitting with a cup at a party and somebody pours some wine into your cup. Now another person comes and pours in some more wine. And another pours in some more wine. What happens? The cup overflows. When it's too full it is noveia, it overflows.
A Hole in Your Kup
Now every man has a cup. There’s a kup up here (the Rav pointed at his head) and also a cup down here in the heart. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu starts putting His kindness in the cups.
Your heart is pumping. That’s wine being poured into your cup. You’re able to go to the bathroom, that’s more wine. Every time it’s more wine. Every night you sleep b’shalom in your bed, your cup is being filled more. You can walk outside on the street? You can see? You’re breathing? The sun is shining? You’re married? You were married yesterday and the day before too. Each day is more wine being poured into your cup.
Only what happens? If your kup has a hole in it, it leaks out; and no matter how much gets poured in, it will never overflow. It’s in your cup for a moment, maybe not enough to even notice it, and then it leaks out. And so the man who has a hole at the bottom of his cup, he’s always forgetting. Whenever he looks into his cup, it's empty. What do I have already? That’s why he’s looking for good times. Because he forgets all the past favors; all the gifts and happiness leak out.
The No-Leak Cup
But suppose you have a good kup. If your cup doesn’t have a hole in it, or if it has a hole but you get busy plugging it, so you'll become a happy man. Your cup will always be overflowing with happiness. That’s what Dovid said, וֹ סִ י רְ וָ יָ ה כ – “My cup overflows.” A man who remembers, so his cup is always filling up, and after a while it overflows. “My cup overflows with chesed Hashem because I don't let anything leak out from the bottom!”
It means you have to remember all the breakfasts that you ate, all the lunches and all the suppers. You have to remember all the nights you slept. You had a bed, most of you had a bed with a mattress. Most of you had a pillow too. You have to remember the fact that you have a roof over your head. You have a kitchen and a bedroom. You have a bathroom.
Here’s an old woman, demented and homeless. She’s sitting on a park bench; she doesn’t have a kitchen, she doesn’t have a bedroom. All of her earthly belongings are in a little shopping cart in front of her. And she sits and stares out at world in which she has no friends because people are afraid to talk to her. She’s forsaken.
You have at least a home, a place where you can rest at night. She has to find a park bench. She has to be afraid of every malicious evildoer that passes by. She trembles when she tries to rest. She can’t sleep during the night. Even the passing sound of a shoe frightens her. Maybe it’s a wicked fellow looking to make trouble for her. Her life is spent in fears, true or imaginary. She has no place to wash, no place to bathe. And food? She’s hungry all the time. Her clothing is ragged, malodorous.
Savoring the ‘Small’ Stuff
So we have to thank Hakadosh Baruch Hu for our garments. Every time you go to the closet and take out a garment, it’s a happiness. Ah, clean laundry. It’s a pleasure. Every time you put on shoes you are a little happier than yesterday.
All the conveniences; a warm home in winter, maybe air- conditioned in the summer. You have a refrigerator, electric lights, indoor plumbing.
We have privacy. More or less you have safety when you close and lock your door. You have maybe a family. You have good health. Most of us here haven’t had a big headache since last Rosh Hashanah. That’s an achievement! Not one migraine headache in an entire year!
How to Say Hodu
So many things! And we’re every expected to utilize all of them to be the rock bottom foundation of our avodas Hashem. That’s why we do everything: to serve You, Hashem. It’s one long song of gratitude of הוֹ דו לַה' כִי טוֹב כִי לְעוֹלָם חַ סְ דוֹ.
And so if a person strides into a synagogue, let's say Shabbos morning, and he's full of enthusiasm and he wants to do Hakadosh Baruch Hu a big favor. And so he starts Hodu LaShem and he's singing with enthusiasm. He's helping to elevate the atmosphere in the synagogue with hislahavus. Very good! It’s a beautiful thing!
But it’s not everything. Because he thinks that he’s the paragon, the example, of avodah. But it might not be so. It could be he’s very far away from it because he’s lacking the entire preface to avodah. Avodah means that he walks into the beis knesses with the thought that he is loaded down with obligations.
Avodah Means Happiness
That’s the secret of becoming perfect as a servant of Hashem; to become full of gratitude. It matters what he put into his head before he came to shul, what he was thinking about before he came in the door. And that’s what he’ll put into the words. “Hashem’s giving me everything. I have shoes. I have hair. I have everything! Baruch Hashem!” He’s so happy, so humbled. לָיוְמוָל גְחִ י כִ שְׁ כָרֲכִי נַפְשִׁ י אֶת ה' וְאַל תּב – I won't forget any of the kindnesses He bestowed on me.
Happiness doesn’t mean a Caribbean cruise or that your name is in the papers, that you’re famous. No; it means the constant kindness that He showers down on you. Your teeth! Teeth are so much fun! Click them up and down. Ah, such a simcha! Sharp ones in the front for cutting food, grinders in the back for chewing. Ah, a pleasure. I can see! I can move my joints! On the way to shul, you’re rejoicing in your joints, how they’re functioning so perfectly.
Now these are not superfluous things. These are part of avodas Hashem. It's a pity that they're not emphasized, that they're so ignored. A frum Jew means a happy Jew. He’s so happy and so satisfied with life, so full of gratitude, it overflows. וֹסִ י רְ וָיָה כ – My cup is overflowing.
That’s the ABC of being frum. When you receive gifts and you can't pay back, you're loaded down with obligations and you’re seeking a way of expressing your humility. That's what avodah is. It’s a chiddush maybe to most people but it’s the plain truth; the foundation of all avodas Hashem is first of all to thank Hakadosh Baruch Hu and feel an obligation for what He does for you. And that means that once you get into the mode of thanking Hashem for everything, you’re going to change your character. That’s how you’ll become an oveid Hashem.
