Don’t Try This at Home
Now, we can’t do that today; nobody should try it nowadays because once you say you’re Nazir, you’re out of luck. You can’t bring any korbanos and that means you’ll be stuck forever. But at least we should realize what we’re missing out on. It’s a tremendous loss for us that we don’t have the opportunity to accept upon ourselves nezirus and have a certain period of time dedicated to thinking about what it means to be living in an olam she’eino shelanu, a world that doesn't belong to us.
And yet, the message of nezirus, the results that follow from this important principle that this shepherd boy is teaching us is just as available – and just as important – as it was then.
Thirty Seconds of Nezirus
The Nazir tells us that anyone who wants can choose to be dedicated to Him. You’re not a Kohen? So what? You’re not a Levi? So what? You didn’t merit to be a talmid chochom yet? No matter. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to every man, woman and child: “You want to become great? You want to wear a crown of dedication to Me on your head? So you have to volunteer your thoughts to Me.”
It’s a glorious opportunity! Devote yourself to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for a while. Maybe you can’t do it for thirty days; so much we won’t ask of you. But for a little bit, why not? While you’re waiting for the red light you can wear the crown of Awareness of Hashem. When you’re walking down the street, you can make a donation to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. For one half a minute put in some thought to this yesod that this world is not ours; that there’s an Owner and that whatever you take from this world has to be with His permission. And then try it tomorrow again. And then the following day again. You can even do it for thirty days if you want to be great. Do it for a month and you’re on your way to understanding your place in this world!
Begin From The Beginning
Now, this is such a fundamental Torah teaching that it's found at the beginning of the Torah: בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹקִים – At the beginning, Elokim created. This statement teaches us many things; but one of the teachings is that nothing in this world is hefker. There is nothing in this world that is not owned by Hashem because bara Elokim, Elokim created it all.
Not only that He created it; He owns it! It’s His. That’s the first teaching. בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹקִים means that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the Owner of everything. We should study that idea. You know that there are various methods of kinyanim; various ways by which you acquire ownership of something. A movable thing, you pick it up and it becomes yours. If it’s a heavy object, you can drag it – that’s meshichah; or you can put it into your house and be koneh with a kinyan chatzer. If it’s real estate, you have kesef, shtar v’chazaka and chalipin. There are all kinds of ways of acquiring ownership.
But the very best form of kinyan is when you create something. Let’s say you take a few blocks of lumber and you saw them down; and then you sand the pieces and nail them and glue them and finally you build a bookshelf. You created it! It’s yours! That’s the best ownership of all.
You Make It, You Own It
But there’s one way that’s even superior to that. The very best kinyan is when you create the thing out of nothing. It’s impossible; you can’t do it. Yesh mei’ayin, to bring something into existence from nothing at all, that’s the most outstanding kinyan there could be. It only happened once!
That’s why we say that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the Konei Hakol, the One Who acquired everything. Hashem is a koneh? A kinyan? He acquired it?! He purchased the universe and everything in it? The answer is that by means of Creation, He became the Owner. There was nothing at all and He created everything yesh mei’ayin – and continues to create it every second – so He’s the true Owner of the world. When Hashem made everything, He acquired it with the best possible kinyan. That’s the first and most fundamental principle of the Torah – Hakadosh Baruch Hu created it all and He owns it all!
That’s step number one – recognizing that you’re walking in a world that’s not yours. And if that thought doesn’t enter your mind so you have no place in this world; you have no right to walk the earth. You’re prancing around in a world that doesn’t belong to you and it doesn’t even enter your mind. An Owner?! Who ever thought about that?!
Shopping With Children
We are the same as a little child who hasn’t learned yet. Did you ever experience taking a little child into a Five and Ten. I’m talking about the good old days when they didn’t keep the merchandise behind glass. Maybe there are still some neighborhoods like that. So you’re walking in the aisle with your child and he begins reaching for everything. “I want this.” “I want that.” He’s pulling it off the shelf. So the father has to tell him, “You can’t take it!” He doesn’t understand. “Why can’t I take it?” And you have to teach him, “It’s not ours; it belongs to the storekeeper!”
That’s a tremendous lesson for a little boy to learn. It’s a new concept for him. “An owner? Someone owns all of this; not me?!” A little boy doesn’t understand that! As you walk through the store with him, you have to drill into his mind that what he sees on the shelves doesn’t belong to him. It takes some time for him to understand that chiddush.
Adult Education Classes
The truth is that most adults haven’t yet learned that piece of Torah either. Of course, the Orthodox will say, “Certainly; mai komashma lun.” They know all about it! But the truth is that we are very far away from realizing what that means.
When you see people coming out of the stores with shopping carts jammed with all good things, it’s the same as if they broke the windows and looted the stores. You see that happens sometimes in certain neighborhoods; if they get enough looters to break into the store together, so the police stand by and watch. They don’t do anything while the bums are running in and out of the store with big boxes of merchandise. Sometimes these looters even bring their automobiles to fill them up.
And when we hear about it, we are upset about that. We want to protest only we can’t do anything about it because the mayor is on their side! But we think it’s terrible; it’s an avlah, a terrible sin!
But you have to know that these “underprivileged youth” who loot the store are not worse than the person who stands on line and pays good money. He says, “I paid for it,” but what did he pay?! He gave the man in the store a few bits of green paper that are worthless! The shopkeeper agreed to take money for what you have in your cart but is he the true owner?
You’re a Looter Too
Everything that they’re taking out of the store comes only from Hakadosh Baruch Hu; and even if you pay good money, but if you don't recognize the true Owner, you’re the worst type of ganav. According to the principles that we’re learning now you’re also a looter because no one in this world has a right to take anything unless the owner yields! If the conditions are not fulfilled, then it’s considered as if this man is a looter, he’s a pilferer!
So you’ll tell me, “Hashem is the Owner, but if you make a brachah, then He lets you partake of His world” (Brachos 35a). That’s the price, the Gemara says. The Owner yields to you if you’ll pay Him the price of saying בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה הַשֵּׁם אֱלֹקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם.
The Frum Shoplifter
But a bracha is the smallest possible payment. It’s the minimum, just to get by so that you won’t be called a ganav. So you’re not a holdup man; is that something to be proud of? And what about everything else on the shelves of this world besides for food? Hashem is the Koneh Hakol; He’s the Owner of everything in this world and our first function is to recognize that! It means an awareness that nothing is really yours; that you’re taking everything from the shelves in Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s store.
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.