The Invisible Chapter
In Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim there’s a whole siman, an entire chapter, devoted to this one subject (§231). It’s remarkable how many people don’t even know there is such a chapter. It’s a siman titled כָּל מַעֲשֶׂיךָ יִהְיוּ לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם - ‘that whatever you do should be leshem Shomayim.’ Kol means everything – your eating, your sleeping, your work in the office or the kitchen.
Now, one of the reasons this chapter is ignored by so many people is because it seems to be impossible. Leshem Shomayim?! And it should be kol? Everything we do?! Forget about it then. That’s for very big people, we think; for tzaddikim. Maybe one day, after I retire, when I have time to dedicate myself fully to avodas Hashem, maybe then.
But we’re learning now that that’s all wrong because what Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants – at the bare minimum – is tziruf; He wants that thought that you’re adding on. If you’re eating, nobody is asking you to do anything different – nobody is asking you to eat less, although it’s not a bad idea many times – but even if you don’t change a thing, what He wants from you is that you should add the thought leshem Shomayim.
And it’s so easy because you already did the hard work. You paid good money for kosher food – glatt kosher surely costs more. And you’re making brachos before and after. No question that you do a lot of things to eat according to halachah. So what will you add in expense if you add one thought: “I am eating in order to serve Hashem”? What do you lose by thinking that thought?
Eleven Important Words
And so when you sit down to a table of good food and you’re full of appetite and you say, “I’m going to eat leshem Shomayim in order I should be able to have koach to serve you Hashem”, don’t think it’s hypocrisy. It’s just being smart. That’s what Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants. “I’m eating לְהַבְרִיא אֶת הַגוּף, לַעֲבֹד אֶת ה’.” Memorize those words. Once more: ”הִנְנִי אוֹכֵל לְעַבֹּד אֶת ה’ לְהַבְרִיא אֶת הַגוּף לְכֹּחַ לַעֲבֹד אֶת ה’”.
Now your wife shouldn’t hear it. She’ll laugh at you. “You’re a faker”, she’ll say. Unless she comes here to these lectures. If she’s here in the women’s section so you’re a lucky fellow. But let’s say she’s home taking care of the children and she doesn’t listen to the tapes either. So you’ll have to wait till she walks out of the dining room. When she walks out to go to the kitchen to get something, you should say it. And if you can’t shake her off for a minute – she’s there with you in the dining room – so say it quietly under your palm, “I’m eating this piece of chicken now, this browned potato, in order to have the strength, the health, to serve Hashem”. And don’t worry about your hearty appetite. Say it anyhow.
Enjoy It
I once spoke about this and there was a tzaddik, a young man, who tried to do it. So he never chewed his food. “How can I eat for the sake of Heaven if I enjoy it?” he said. “So I’ll swallow whole pieces without chewing it so I won’t enjoy it. Then it’ll be leshem Shomayim”
Until finally he became ill and the doctor told him to stop. Do you know why he became sick? He was being punished. You think Hashem wants you to swallow food without enjoying it, in order to eat leshem Shomayim?
Leshem Shomayim means you could sink your teeth into that food and enjoy it. V’achalta! Let the saliva run. Let the stomach juices run. Enjoy it. V’savata! Go to town! But while you’re enjoying it, add the intent that you’re doing it to be healthy in order to serve Hashem!
Bedtime Stories
When you’re about to go to sleep, what can you lose if you add the thought, “I am doing this now in order to be healthy and to get up tomorrow morning and serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu with a rested body and mind”? And even though it’s not true – you’re going to sleep because sleep is fun! You’re falling off your feet and leshem Shomayim or not you can’t wait to put your head on the pillow. Say it anyhow! Add on the intention of leshem Shomayim.
You know sleep is one of the biggest benefits that we enjoy in our lives. Sweet sleep is more important than medicines because at nighttime your worn out nerves become mended. Everything in the body is restored by sleep. And therefore, why should you sleep like a cat sleeps or like a gentile sleeps? By means of adding one little thought before you drift off into slumber land, your entire sleep is transformed. You are healing yourself for Hakadosh Baruch Hu now.
Walks, Work and Welfare
Not only sleep. The Chida in one of his seforim says if you like to take walks so why shouldn’t you think when you’re beginning your walk that you’re doing it for avodas Hashem. You’re exercising or maybe you want to pick up your spirits or think about the niflaos haBorei. Whatever it is, add that thought.
When you go to work, if you have children, so you’re bringing up children bederech haTorah. You have to pay sechar limud in yeshivos and Bais Yaakov. It costs money to run a Jewish home. Certainly you can think these thoughts. Why shouldn’t you? Don’t just think of your career, of putting money in the bank. Even if you put money in the bank, overlay those deposits with leshem Shomayim. Someday your daughter will want a ben Torah.
It costs money to support a son-in-law who learns. It costs money if you want to go to the kollel in your later years in life. It’s a good idea by the way; some people do that. Whatever it is, you’ll need money for some good purpose so do it leshem Shomayim.
IRS Fraud
Otherwise, you’re slaving away for nothing – מַעֲשִׂים בְּלִי כַּוָּנָה. Especially today when you’re working mostly for the government. The IRS is taking away a quarter of your income — more than that — which means that of the twelve months in the year, you’re working three months, maybe four months, for the government, for government programs.
It means that your money goes to support other people who don’t work. The silliest thing is welfare. What does welfare spending mean? It means you’re inviting all the poor to the big cities. Welfare is an incentive for them to come and settle in your cities where they can loaf all day. So they come and now the politicians want their votes which means that we’ll have to pay even more taxes so these people can loaf and live on welfare checks. All these ‘kind hearted’ things that the liberals are doing to encourage criminals, they’re doing it with money they take out of our pocket.
And so a factory worker who doesn’t think, that’s what he’s doing; he’s working for the loafers, for the liberals, for the wicked politicians. When a father slaves all week in the factory or in his office, and he doesn’t think at all, he’s practically wasting his life.
But now you want to transform your life into avodas Hashem; how can you do it? The answer is what we’re talking about now. Practice up on adding some leshem Shomayim! If only he would add a little bit of thought, “I’m doing this in order to raise up a generation of shomrei Torah”. And let him think about it as frequently as he can. When he opens up the office or the store in the morning he thinks that. And then a couple of times during the day to refresh his memory.
Dumb Dentists
I once spoke to a dentist about that. I said, “You’re helping mankind. Think about that a few times during the day. You’re serving the Almighty,” I told him. “רָׂפָא כָּל בָּשָׂר – He heals all flesh, and you’re serving Him by healing people. You’re an emissary of Hashem!”
You know what that dentist could have accomplished with a little bit of thinking?! He would have become a true oved Hashem.
But he looked at me with such intelligence like this wall looks at me. I tried it again at other visits but nothing went in. At least I tried.
Everything Stays the Same but...
Do you have to change what you’re doing? No. No change. You go through all the motions of your workday; you’re busy in the office or maybe you’re laying down carpet or painting or installing pipes. Whatever it is, you’re trying to make some profit. But you’re adding some thought to it. That’s the best profit.
When a mother feeds her child, if she does it like the lady next door does it - Mrs. Dominick also feeds her child, Mrs. Levitino also feeds her child with compassion – so if Mrs. Levine and Mrs. Cohen also do the same, so what is their greatness?
That’s why tziruf is so important! When a Jewish woman will feed the child because she is an emissary of the One Who is פותֵחַ אֶת יָדֶךָ וּמַשְׂבִּיעַ לְכָל חַי רָצוֹן – He opens up His Hand and He satiates all the living; a mother opens up her hand and she feels that her hand is the Hand of Hashem, you know what that means? She has taken a simple act that everybody does and she has elevated it into one of the great forms of service of Hakadosh Baruch Hu!
Everything is Different
Everything in life is different. Everything becomes noble. Otherwise we’re just machines. We’re just cogs in a machine. Like the gentiles all over the world are working and supporting children and feeding them and marrying them off – Italians also want nachas from children; Italians also feed their children. But when the Jew does it not because of selfish motives – now you can’t help being selfish but if in addition to the selfish motive if you’re able to add one more thought, “I’m doing it for Hashem too,” so all of your deeds are transformed by that intent! The intent is the heart of the deed!
