That’s our function; that’s the reason for our existence. And even if you make a bracha, a perfunctory movement of your lips, but if your mind is not there, if you don’t sense that you’re taking from a world that doesn’t belong to you, so you’re considered a criminal. Hakodosh Boruch Hu blames you as if you’re an unsavory character, taking what doesn’t belong to you. If you don’t understand that you’re walking through an olam she’eino shelcha, then you’re just as corrupt as the looters in the slums.
Try It at Home
When you turn on the faucet, you’re taking from the Creator! He’s the Landlord! When you pick up a piece of bread, it’s His! Now we have to drill ourselves with this. You think it’s just a technicality: say a few words, now I can eat. No; practice it up tonight. When you come home, you want to take a drink of water. As you fill the glass, you think, “It’s not mine.” Practice that. As you’re holding the glass of water in your hand, as you’re drinking, you’re thinking, “It’s not mine.” Try that once.
As you’re eating supper, practice. You’re eating a piece of chicken? Try it, one bite at a time. As you put the food into your mouth, think, “I’m eating Hashem’s food right now. It’s His world and He let’s me take it off the shelf.” If you do it for one bite you’re already great. The next day, try two bites. You’re on your way now.
The Well-Stocked Store
Not only when you open your faucet and when you eat chicken. As soon as you walk out of here – when you leave here tonight and you take a peek out into this world – imagine you’re a little child walking into the world for the first time. You’re peeking for the first time at all the good things with which this world is stocked. Like the little boy who needs to be reminded, you’re no different. You have to remind yourself, “It’s not yours! You think you can just take things from this world without permission?” When we look into this world, it’s important for us to learn that first lesson.
The sunlight has an Owner. The clouds have an Owner. And the trees and the sidewalk and the air and and the grass have an Owner too. We have to realize that even to walk on the face of the earth, we need permission. V’haaretz nasan l’vnei adam – He gives us this earth to walk on. Earth to walk on?! You have to be grateful to be able to walk on the earth?! Absolutely! Hakadosh Baruch Hu is supplying us with a place to live. The truth is every block should have a turnstile which requires us to drop in a nickel or a dime. A long block, you should drop in a quarter! And yet, it doesn’t even enter our minds that la’Hashem ha’aretz, that to Hashem belongs the sidewalk!
No EZ-Pass On This Highway
Sometimes there’s a highway that’s been used for many years and suddenly the government decides that it needs extra income. So it sets up at the beginning of the highway toll booths; toll collectors to take your money. There’s an outcry! “We always used this highway for free and now we have to pay?!” But the government says, “It costs us money to make that highway; it costs big money to maintain and repair it.”
Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn’t want your money. He doesn’t need it and it’s His anyhow. He doesn’t need your long hair either. That’s His too. What does Hakadosh Baruch Hu want? He wants your mind! When we walk in this world, when we make use of His world and His conveniences, we are expected to pay a certain toll. What toll? Recognizing as much as possible what the shepherd boy realized; that it’s an olam she’eino shelcha – there’s a very big Landlord in this world.
