Emulating Our Models
Now, if we want to think about what’s most important to be excited about, we have models to emulate. That’s why we have a history; that’s why the Torah tells us again and again about Avraham Avinu that ‘he called out in the Name of Hashem.’ Because he’s intended for us as a model. That’s why we read about his life, what he did. His deeds became our Torah for that purpose.
That’s what the Mesillas Yesharim says in his sefer Derech Eretz HaChayim. He says you should take time and say “ּינוƒבָ‡ םָהָר¿בַ‡ הָׂ ָ̆ﬠ הַמ – What did Avraham do that Hashem loved him so much?” That’s homework from a great man. Try to do it someday, for one minute, two minutes, think about what was important to Avraham. What was he excited about?
And therefore, the person I’m going to speak about now, you have to know that he surely fulfilled that. Dovid Hamelech said what every Jew is supposed to say: “יַ ֹ̇בוֲ‡ י≈ׂ ֲ̆ﬠַמ¿ל יַׂ ֲ̆ﬠַמ ַיﬠƒּ‚ַי יַ ָ̇מ – What can I do that will help me reach the great deeds of my forefathers?” (Tana D’vei Eliyahu 25:1). And so whatever we say now about Dovid Hamelech, we should keep in mind that he was walking in the ways of Avraham Avinu.
Excitement in Jerusalem
You know, Dovid Hamelech, when he conquered Yerushalayim from the Yevusi city and he built up the city, he made it into a special city, Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh. Not Teddy Kollek’s Yerushalayim. That’s not Yerushalayim; a city where the mayor is most excited about developing the nightlife, the theatres, we’re better off without it. Dovid, however, built a city to be proud of. And here’s how he spoke about it when he was describing it.
ּינו≈ ֹ̃לו¡‡ ירƒע¿ּב „ֹ‡¿מ לָּלּהו¿מּו 'ה לֹו„ָּ‚ – “You know what’s made great in our city?” he said. “'ה לֹו„ָּ‚ – In our city Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the only thing that’s important. But not only He’s great. He’s „ֹ‡¿מ לָּלּהו¿מ! We’re very much excited about Him here.”
That’s something to hear, no? You wouldn’t hear that in the most pious kollel, in the best yeshiva. Yes, they praise Hakadosh Baruch Hu, there’s no question. They say brachos. They speak to Him, maybe they speak about Him too. But imagine somebody would say, “In our yeshiva, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is mehullal me’od. We’re very wild about Him.” Heh heh, they’ll kick you out. “Am ha’aretz!” they’ll say. “That’s mehullal me’od for you? Torah! Only Torah!”
Not a Little Excited
Sure, Torah! But Dovid HaMelech understood יםƒבֹטו יםƒׂ ֲ̆ﬠַמּו הָבּוׁ ̆¿ּ ̇ הָרֹוּ ̇ ̇יƒל¿כַּ ̇. What’s the purpose of Torah? To make you excited about the One Who gave the Torah. And therefore he said, “In our city, Hashem is לָּלּהו¿מ – He’s the Only thing we get excited about. And not just excited. „ֹ‡¿מ לָּלּהו¿מ – Very excited!
After all, you're enthusiastic in proportion to the importance of the subject. Let's say if you hear that you won $10,000 in a lottery, you're enthusiastic. If you hear that it's $100,000, you're more than enthusiastic. You're somewhat wild. Suppose you hit a million dollar jackpot? You’d go crazy. Some people faint. Some people, their hearts stop. There was a man in France who was told that his uncle, a rich man, died and left all his property to him. When he heard the news, he dropped dead. A true story.
So in Yerushalayim they were very excited about Hashem. Were they fainting in excitement? I can’t tell; I wasn’t there. I imagine some did. Could be. But whatever it was, they were excited about avodas Hashem, about His Torah and His mitzvos.
An Enthusiastic Nation
And that’s why when Dovid said about them, “ה∆ז יוָׁ ̆¿רֹו„¿ו רֹוּ„ – This is a generation that seeks Him,” he wasn’t saying something that’s a utopian expression. He was saying it about his own generation. We say the words, but Dovid was describing his people. “הָל∆ס בֹ ֲ̃ﬠַיָיך∆נָפ י≈ׁ ̆¿ ַ̃ב¿מ – This a generation that’s seeking Hashem.” It means that’s what excited them—nobody seeks out what they’re not excited about.
And so we have no idea of the enthusiasm that burned in the hearts of the Jewish people in his days. But not only then; that’s how our nation lived always. Some more, some less, but the Am Hashem was excited about Hashem. It’s not me saying so; this is what the goyim wrote about our forefathers. Gentiles saw it! One goy writes as follows—I’m quoting from him. He says, “The Jews were in love with their religion.” Now when that goy said, “in love,” he used the words advisedly. He had something in mind, a parallel from his world, and he used the parallel for the Jews for their religion.
I cannot tell you people—you wouldn’t believe me—how hotly the love of Yiddishkeit, love of Torah, love of Hakadosh Baruch Hu burned in the hearts of our forefathers even not so long ago. When I was in Lithuania, a kalte Litvak—they were cold, but inside there was a fire—he said to me, “You came here too late. You came to Lithuania too late.” He said it in Yiddish but I’m translating his words: “Had you come before World War I, you would have seen a Yiddishkeit! Judaism was like a fire. It was burning like a fire here.” We have no idea how in the not-so-remote past our forbearers had no interest in life greater than Torah and yiras Shamayim.
The Enthusiastic Nations
Now, the umos ha’olam, they also go wild. But they go wild about nothing. America is a country of people excited about nothing. Especially today. I can’t say in public the things they’re excited about but you hear what the music stores are blaring forth all day long. Look into music stores and you see inside they're jumping up and down to the tune of the music. A meshugene comes to hear the music and jumps up and down. What are you excited about?
It’s a very great non-approval of the gentiles when you see newspaper headings. Headlines: This and this team gained this man as a player for them. Tremendous news! There’s nothing more stupid than interest in sports. We don’t care for sports at all. Yes, we believe in exercise, we believe in fresh air. And even for yourself to walk fast in the street, a half hour every day, very good. By all means! But sports in itself is a stupidity invented by the umos ha’olam. Whose business is it if people get together in a stadium with sticks and they hit balls covered with horse skin, and then they run? Why are you excited? There’s nothing in it.
If you can become excited when a nobody is wielding a bat and gives a bang at the ball and the ball starts flying in the sky way out in the bleachers and everybody goes crazy and screaming with enthusiasm, and you're going to join in their enthusiasm over nothing, it's one of the biggest errors in life. I’ll tell you, I think we should be proud of ourselves today. If there are so many suckers in the world who are excited about the World Series—the radio, the television, parades, stadiums. Ho ho! All about nothing—and we ignore it completely, we have to feel proud of ourselves. If in this generation we still remain sane and get excited only about the right things, then we are somebody today.
A Stingy Nation
That’s what we have to do; we have to husband our excitement—we have to be stingy with enthusiasm and keep it only for important things. When we see the sefer Torah, we’re excited about that. We stand up. Don’t just stand lazily. No! We're enthusiastic about the sefer Torah. Oooh! Zos HaTorah, this is the same Torah that Hashem gave us at Har Sinai! Now that’s something to be excited about!
You hear that someone is making a siyum? A siyum on a mesichta? Ooh ah! Ho, ho! That’s something to go wild about! You see a man running. Where are you running? Oh, to a siyum? That puts the stamp on who you are, what you’re excited about in life. Here’s a man, a business man. But he jumps and runs off somewhere to study a piece of Gemara and he’s excited about it. That’s a successful man! That’s an ish that we can judge lefi m’halalo.
Proud of Our People
Once a man told me that he met two people, business partners, from my synagogue. He had a certain big business deal that day to do with them. They said to him, “Not today. We’re busy.”
So he said, “What happened? What happened?!”
“We’re finishing Perek Hamafkid today in the shul.”
He told me the story. “They said, ‘We’re finishing Perek Hamafkid today and that’s the only thing we’re interested in.” He was angry with me. “Your people are more excited about a perek in Gemara than closing a big deal.”
And we say, yes, that’s our people. That’s the stamp on a person—what he’s interested in, what he’s excited about. And so, when a nobody, a bum, whacks the ball and makes a home run, we’ll be excited? No, it doesn’t make any impression on us. Excitement is only for one purpose. It’s reserved only for Hashem. Everything else, לָלֹהו¿מ יּƒ ̇¿רַמָ‡ ֹ̃חוׂ¿ ̆ƒל – useless laughter, that’s nothing but empty wildness (Koheles 2:2). M’hollal means to be wild, to be wild about empty things. It’s nothing at all. It’s indignity to be wild about unimportant things.
The Flag of Am Yisroel
The frum Jew says hallel only about important things. And the most important thing, the one ideal that includes all good things, is Hashem. And therefore we have to be like Avraham our first father and ‘call out only in the Name of Hashem’. That’s the famous slogan, the life slogan of Dovid Hamelech: Halelukah!
Because hallel, we know means to be wild, to be excited. So Dovid Hamelech says, “Hallelu! Yes, you have to shout in this world! Yes, you have to be excited! But what should you be excited about, that’s the question. And so he tells us, “Hallelu – Be enthusiastic, Kah – only about Him.”
Be wild on Simchas Torah. Be excited on Shavuos at matan Torahseinu. Be happy on yomtov. Succos, zman simchaseinu. Shout to Hashem! Be excited about Torah and mitzvos, about chessed, gemilas chassodim. Be excited about your Torah shiur, about mussar, about tzaddikim. Be excited
