And in order for us to achieve this objective – the objective of the entire Torah and mitzvos – to have the mindset that there is truly nothing besides the Eibishter, we need to work hard, to learn and understand to fulfill the mitzvah of דעו כי 'ה הוא ,אלקים - דע את אלקי אביך.
Simply stated, we have to learn a lot of chassidus, and really learn it properly, to affect the way we think and look at the world. Otherwise there is the very real concern that even if we say the right things, even if we do all of the right things, it still may be that שמא לא יבטל בלב שלם, - in our minds we still may be attaching too much importance to inyonei ho’oilom.
We learn in this week’s Parsha: כי תצא למלחמה על אויביך. This refers to the eternal battle that we are all constantly waging against our bodily desires, against our nefesh habehamis and against the negativity in the world around us. כי תצא, when the neshomo emerges from its’ roots, from its’ celestial source, and descends into this physical world, to be partnered with a body and an animalistic soul, it is למלחמה, - this is not a vacation or a joy trip, it is here to fight a fierce and ferocious battle against a vicious foe.
However, the Possuk reassures us from the start that על אויביך, - in fact, there is no legitimate threat or danger to us, because, from the start we are above our enemies. We tower over them and overpower them in an incomparable manner, to the point that they can’t even be considered a legitimate adversary.
What, then, is the danger that we face? The danger is that we, in our minds, may view the world (and our NHB etc.) as a threat. Instead of ensuring that הסכימה דעתו לדעת התורה, that we acknowledge the truth of the perspective of Torah, that the world in reality is nothing, instead we in our minds attach importance to it, respect it and fear it. With that, we ourselves, ch”v, create the enemy, we legitimize the chometz.
