This is the greatest expression of kirvas Elokim! L’havdil, when two people love each other, they derive great pleasure from spending time in the presence of one another, and they await the next opportunity for spending time together. The very act of conversing (even if the conversation isn’t interesting) brings a great feeling of pleasure. Each of them awaited the feeling of closeness to the other person, and this is what they experience.
The Ribbono shel Olam never abandons His children, and it is through the arrangement of ועונש שכר that He communicates with us. If we listen to what He is telling us, we will attain great kirvas Elokim—because we will invite more closeness and conversation. We speak to the Ribbono shel Olam during Shemoneh Esrei, and we listen throughout the day to how He speaks with us in return, through the many events that transpire in our lives.
Holiness Arouses Hashem’s Memory of Us
There’s yet another yesod that lies in the tefillah of Zichronos, which is really connected with the previous point. The holy Chozeh of Lublin explained that זכרון refers to a Yid’s conduct of holiness and purity, guarding his covenant with Hashem. When a person behaves with holiness, he is a הברית זוכר, he remembers the Bris with Hashem—and this arouses within the Ribbono shel Olam the middah of זכרון to remember us. The attribute of זכרון, memory, of the Ribbono shel Olam is directly connected to our היסוד מידת and our kedushah.
The incredible pleasure that we attain when we maintain our kesher with the Ribbono shel Olam is the greatest love and desire that can possibly be experienced. The only reason people gravitate to experiencing pleasure from foreign and forbidden sources, R”l, is because they’ve become distant. They don’t feel this pleasure of connection to Hashem; therefore, they seek it elsewhere.
True Pleasure
Thus, this is the second of the three important principles that we internalize during ושופרות: זכרונות מלכיות to always remember the deep bond we share with the Ribbono shel Olam and the deep pleasure we can attain when we maintain the bond. For, if someone neglects the connection and doesn’t guard the covenant of holiness, it hollows out the person from the inside... he becomes distant, and he cannot feel the Presence of the Ribbono shel Olam. When we’re close, we attain such pleasure of אלוקים קרבת, that it obviates any need for any other pleasure.
Just as emunah is one of the fundamental principles of Yiddishkeit, and a person who lives without the belief that Hashem conducts the world is untethered from the Source of life, the covenant of holiness, of maintaining a life of purity and holiness, is similarly one of the most fundamental aspects of Yiddishkeit. It permeates our entire life, our heart, our emotions, and our pleasures—and it enables us to be close to the Ribbono shel Olam.
The holy Shiniever Rav pointed out that the words השמימה לנו יעלה מי, who can ascend for us to the Heavens, are an acronym for the word מילה—for through guarding this covenant, a person can indeed ascend to the Heavens. This Yid is prepared to sacrifice everything for the purity of this covenant, and he will indeed merit kirvas Elokim, which is the greatest possible pleasure.
When We’re Close, We Need Nothing
The pasuk tells us that the curses in Parashas Ki Savo come to pass לבב ובטוב בשמחה אלוקיך ה' את עבדת לא אשר תחת, because you did not serve Hashem, your G-d, with joy and a willing heart. Explain the tzaddikim: the root of all the problems and curses is because we lacked joy and pleasure in performing a mitzvah, the לבב וטוב שמחה. If we were to experience pleasure and joy in a mitzvah, we would have no need or desire to seek pleasure elsewhere. We would be completely satisfied and blissful!
The Ribbono shel Olam, complains to us, as it were: What about our deep bond? Why haven’t you looked after it and maintained it? Be joyful with mitzvos! Shed a tear of joy for the ability to bring Me joy! When a Yid invests in this relationship and maintains the bond with Hashem, then he becomes a הברית זוכר. He longer needs to muddy himself with foolish pursuits of pleasure, because his nefesh will be filled with the satisfaction and pleasure of kirvas Elokim.
Building the Bond Davka Down Here
Further in the pesukim of Zichronos, we speak of the great light of purity and holiness that our neshamos merited before we descended to This World—because the Ribbono shel Olam desired for us to build this bond davka here, within the great darkness of This World.
And we must always remember that we can always repair—we can always return to the Ribbono shel Olam. The Zohar HaKadosh tells us that at the time that HaKadosh Baruch Hu created the world, the angels complained that it will be a place of sin. But the Ribbono shel Olam answered them, “Do you think that it is in vain that I am called אפים? ארך I see that they will also do teshuvah! And I will forgive them!”
Hashem Sees Every Effort
We also say ומביט צופה אלוקינו ה' לפניך וידוע גלוי הכל, everything is revealed and known before You, Hashem, our G-d, Who looks and sees. Say the Sefarim HaKedoshim, the Ribbono shel Olam sees every single battle that a Yid wages for His sake!
The Ribbono shel Olam derives so much pleasure from the battles that Yiddishe kinder struggle with during these end times, the darkness preceding the great light of Mashiach—a time when, the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh tells us, we’re in the fiftieth level of impurity! We’re being tested with the most challenging nisyonos in the history of the world, and Hashem looks and sees the way we contend with it. The Ribbono shel Olam tells the angels in Heaven, “It brings Me so much pleasure when a Yid seeks to be close to Me. He battles and he fights. He falls and fails. He is bloodied and bruised. But he gets up, and he cries out, ‘Ribbono shel Olam! I don’t want this! I want to be close to You!’”
Says the Ribbono shel Olam, “This is why I created the world! This is the world that I want!” This pleasure is incomprehensible to the Malachim Above.
