A hint to this – that HaKadosh Baruch Hu does not want an avodah with internal thoughts intermingled in it – we find in the Torah (Shemos 22:19), 'זבח לאלהים יחרם בלתי לה' לבדו' – ‘One who slaughters to the gods shall be destroyed – only to Hashem alone!’ See Rashi there who explains that the intent is to slaughter to idols. The question then arises, why did the Torah not just say explicitly ‘one who slaughters to idols shall be destroyed’? Because the expression 'זובח לאלהים' can be taken literally, that the slaughter is to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and even though it is obvious from the continuation of the posuk that the intent is for avodah zara – idols, since it writes ‘shall be destroyed, we still have to understand why it wrote the word that has to be taken out of its plain meaning, it must be that this expression is coming to teach us something.
We can say that the intent of the Torah was to hint at the severity of one involved in Torah and avodah out of a personal interest. Even if outwardly it seems that he is serving Hashem Yisbarach, nevertheless, this does not rise up to the will of Above, since his intent was not to Heaven. This is what it is saying, 'זובח לאלקים' – ‘slaughter to G-d’ – ‘zevichah’ refers to the avodah [as we see in the Bais HaMikdash that zevichah – slaughtering – is called avodah], and the intent is that he serves his Creator. However, his avodah is not purely to Heaven, as hinted in the word 'לאלקים' – the letters 'לא' are counted as if they are written twice, as if it says 'לא לאלקים' – ‘not for G-d’, and the intent of the Torah is to say that if the avodah is mixed with an internal interest and is not just for the sake of Heaven, ‘shall be destroyed’ meaning that this avodah is undesirable for it does not rise to the will of Above. What avodah is desirable to Heaven? When the intent is ‘only to Hashem alone’.
Do not make a mistake and say that from the power of our words the person must do different things to remove any personal thought, since the Rabbis were not pleased with this either, as they said (Avos 2:1), ‘Which is the proper path that a man should choose for himself? Whatever is a credit to himself and earns him the esteem of fellow men.’ This shows that we ask the person to moderate his ways, to go in the average way without veering to the negative side. On the one hand, he must not go to the worst and the other hand he must be careful not to overdue the correct way.
The person must also understand this, that the main purpose is to serve Hashem Yisbarach just for the sake of Heaven, still, he should not cut off his avodah that is not for the right sake, for it is not possible for the person to come to avodah for the right sake so long as he has not first served not for the right sake. The will of the heart of a man is evil from his youth. First, he acts with his animalist desire, and the strength to negate this is only after he realizes that this is not for his benefit. Therefore, to start, he must do the avodah with the faith of reward and punishment. Chazal say (Sanhedrin 105b) ‘From not for its sake comes for its sake’, that is, the way to come for its sake is only through not for its sake, for this avodah though is not acceptable, still, it accustoms the person to serve and this will bring him to its sake.
Zohar HaKadosh (Cheilek 2 82b), all 613 mitzvos are advice to come to the first commandment 'אנכי ה' אלקיך', that is, even if the person is not yet great, and he cannot serve for its sake, and his mitzvos are weak, still, there is power to add knowledge, and in time he will merit doing perfect acceptable avodah.
כל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים
All your actions should be for the sake of Heaven
וַיַרְא מֹשֶׁה אֶׁת כָּל הַמְלָּאכָּה וְהִנֵּה עָּשׂוּ אֹתָּהּ כַאֲשֶׁר צִוָּּה ה' כֵּן עָּשׂוּ וַיְבָּרֶׁךְ אֹתָּם מֹשֶׁה: (לט:מג)
‘Moshe saw all the work and behold! they had done it as Hashem had commanded, so had they done; and Moshe blessed them.’ (39:43)
Rashi explains: And Moshe blessed them - ‘He said to them, “May the Shechinah rest in the work of your hands. May the pleasantness of my L-rd, our G-d, be upon us.” (Tehillim 90:17)’
Those involved in the construction of the Mishkan and its utensils, could have gone after their personal interests since a great skill was needed here. They could have received great honor when people recognized their handiwork, and even the very fact that the work was done through their ability, they built a Mishkan to Hashem, could have brought them much fame and glory, for there was much praise for someone who merited this. However, the Torah testifies that the worker did all the work lesheim Shamayim – for the sake of Heaven, as it states, ‘They had done it as Hashem had commanded, so had they done’, there are two doings according to the word of Hashem here, one for the actual work and one for the intent that the work was only for the sake of the will of Hashem Yisbarach.
Even after they saw success, they were not allowed to glorify their success since they understood that this was not done through their own merit, since ultimately, they were messengers of the entire Nation of Israel. The merit of the entire nation reminded them that their work was for the sake of Heaven, as Chazal teach (Avos 2:2), there is a special guidance for all those involved in communal matters and their actions should be for the sake of Heaven: ‘All who exert themselves for the community, should exert themselves for the sake of Heaven, for then the merit community’s forefathers aids them’. The Ra’av (Rav Ovadia Bartenura) explains: ‘They should exert themselves for the sake of Heaven – and not take a credit by saying “I did such and such for the community”, for the merit of the forefathers of the community and their righteousness stands for them as a support to those who exert themselves to bring their righteousness to light, and not for the benefit of those who exert.’
Once Moshe saw how the public merited from a mitzvah that was totally pure for Heaven, he blessed them that they merit midah keneged midah, measure for measure, and since their actions were for the sake of the community done only for the sake of Heaven, so too shall they merit to do their personal actions for the sake of Heaven. This is the intent when he said, ‘May the Shechinah rest in the works of your hands’, for mitzvos that are done for the sake of Heaven lets the Shechinah rest on those who keep them.
This is the most important bracha that is possible to give a person, that his avodah should be just 'ל/ם יחוד קודש אבריך הוא ושכינ תיה' – ‘For the sake of the unification of HaKadosh Baruh Hu and His Presence’. The person cannot come to this quickly, as this is the main virtue of the avodah and not the will of the yetzer. Anyone who wants this pure avodah, it is incumbent on him to purify his will and intent, as it states (Divrei HaYamim I 28:9), 'דע את אלקי אביך ועבדהו' – ‘Know the G-d of your father and serve Him’, meaning, when you want to serve your Creator, you must first know Who you are serving, and remove all thoughts that are not for the sake of Heaven. Then you will merit to fulfill ‘and serve Him’. But so long as the person does not reduce his will, he mixes his unwanted will with his action, and this is not desirable by Heaven. Therefore, if one blesses the person that he should be able to do the avodah exclusively for Hashem, then he is the most praiseworthy of all creations.
