Part I. The Battle and The Weapons
Measure of Success
In the beginning of his sefer, the Mesillas Yesharim tells us a fundamental principle that should remain in the front of our minds always. He says there that hatov ha'amiti, the true good that a person can achieve in this world, hu hadveikus bo Yisborach, is when he is joined to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And so, if you were ever wondering what is good, what is the genuine good, then wonder no further – it’s to cling to Hashem.
Now, if you’re looking for ways to be joined with Hashem, there are many possibilities, but most of all, dveikus means that your mind should be connected to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And therefore, says the Mesillas Yesharim, ha'adam hashalem, the perfect man is the one, asher yizkeh, who is worthy, lehidavek bo, to remain joined always in his thoughts to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. It means that whatever you’re accomplishing in life, your true success will be measured by how much you train yourself to think about Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
And that's why you'll find people who do everything in life except that. Good people are willing to do a lot of good things but when it comes to this subject of thinking about the Borei Yisborach, it’s not done. And we can’t readily blame them because the truth is that it’s the most difficult of all battles. Those are the words of the Mesillas Yesharim; he tells us that we are fighting a milchamah chazakah, a mighty war that is panim veachor – it’s facing us from the front and also creeping up from behind.
The Mighty War
You know, in a battle when a soldier finds himself facing an enemy and he's able to overcome him – he shoots the enemy down or causes him to flee – so the soldier knows that he can’t sit and take a rest now. Because what's happening behind him? Immediately, he has to turn around and confront a different foe.
That’s what life is. On all sides you’re being attacked by ordeals that are pulling you away from your purpose – thousands of different tests are crowding in on you from all sides and therefore you can never let your guard down if you want to be victorious in this strong battle.
The truth is that there's no such thing as a battle that's not strong; you’ll never find a battle that’s comfortable. Ask any soldier and he’ll tell you that when bullets are whistling, it's very uncomfortable. Like once a soldier was dodging bullets and he said, “I wish I could be back in the good old American desert; lost in a desert, far away from civilization without anything to eat or drink. It would be a picnic compared to being here.” And that’s because every battle is difficult.
But if the Mesillas Yesharim says it’s a strong battle, it means that not only are bullets whistling but they're coming like hail and it's very difficult to dodge them. The tests are constant — there’s always something knocking you out and keeping your mind occupied so that you’re distracted from the great problem of life:
Guard yourself lest you forget Hashem.
Thinking While Talking
I’ll prove it to you right away. Make an experiment — say, “I want to remember Hashem,” and walk over to your friend and start talking to him. You’ll see! That second you already forget Hashem.
Rav Naftoli Amsterdam used to relate about his rebbe, Reb Yisroel Salanter zichrono livracha, that “he didn’t remove his mind from the service of Hashem, even when he was talking to people”. Now, if Rav Naftoli chose that as a way of describing the greatness of his rebbi, you can be sure that it was a very great madreigah what this tzaddik achieved – and you can be just as certain that it didn’t come easy. Rav Yisroel had to steel himself for winning that battle every time he opened his mouth because even just to speak to your fellow man is already a distraction from your purpose in this world.
And so we learn now in general the picture of this great battle: Will you forget the purpose of life? Or will you overcome all the disturbances and hectic activities and continue to think always about Hakodosh Boruch Hu, no matter what?
That’s the victory; that's the tov ha'amiti, the real success – to keep your head on what’s important. And what is important? Hakodosh Boruch Hu! Avodas Hashem! A person who wants to live successfully knows that whatever difficulties he encounters, his success will be that despite everything, he was able to keep his mind on the real business of life.
Mitzvah Weapons
Now, we must know that Hakodosh Boruch Hu didn't let us out into this world to face such a difficult war without arming us with powerful weapons. And because He is the one who created the war, you can be certain that He knows exactly how to deal with all the exigencies of that war; and so when He provided weapons you can rest assured there couldn't be any better ones — no manufacturer of military supplies, not even Lockheed Martin, could provide such capable weaponry.
What are these ‘made to order’ weapons we’re talking about? You might be surprised at first when you hear this, but it’s the mitzvos, the commandments of Hashem. Those are the sophisticated weapons that Hashem has armed us with.
Now, the non-observant, I’m not even talking about now – it's a pity on them because without mitzvos they are completely lost. They are like soldiers who go out to battle without any weapons. The ‘I am a Jew in my heart' Jew who expresses his Judaism by eating knishes or giving money to the UJA is a rachmanus – he has no chance on the battlefield. Nobody is capable of fighting off the enemy with bagels and lox!
But even the observant who possess the weapons, the shomrei torah u’mitzvos who keep everything, but if they don’t know how to use them, they’re also in danger. Most Orthodox Jews are like soldiers who have been given effective weapons to fight the battle, only that they never learned how to use them. Imagine a soldier goes out. He's armed with the most modern rifle, with a Bazooka. He's armed with hand grenades. He has every kind of sophisticated weapons, and they're all draped over his body, hanging from his belt and he gets into the midst of the battle and he neglects to use even one of them. That's exactly what's taking place with most observant Jews. What good is a bazooka that could finish off a whole squad of enemies with one volley if you never pull the trigger?!
Military Training
That happens often in underdeveloped countries. Let’s say the tribal leaders in central Africa buy Russian weapons – they pay good money for them and they quickly outfit some of the savages with modern weapons. The local villager who up until now was adept only with a spear is suddenly suited up for battle with a bazooka. And what happens? He runs into battle and tries to clobber the enemy over the head with that bazooka. That’s what happens when people who are supplied with good weapons are not trained in how to make use of them.
Now, you shouldn’t laugh because we are in exactly the same situation. We were given excellent means of self-defense; we’ve been supplied with very capable weapons only that we never learned to employ them properly. Most of us have never learned how to handle our weapons, and that means that it’s an important subject that deserves our utmost attention. How do we best make use of these weapons of war – the mitzvos – that are being provided to us by the best Manufacturer of military supplies that the world ever saw?
The Testimonial Weapons
If you recall, at the Pesach Seder when the chochom asks his father about the laws and practices of the Torah, he says like this: Mah ha’Eidos – What are these testimonies, v’haChukim– and the statutes, v’haMishpatim—and the judgments that Hashem commanded?
So we see right away that there are three categories of Torah practice – Eidos, Chukim and Mishpatim. Of course all three are important but we’re going to talk now about the first one mentioned there, eidos; it’s number one in the list which means that it’s very important.
What does it mean eidos? So some of the haggadahs translate it as ‘testimonies’ and that’s true, but we have to understand, what does it mean by ‘testimonies’? It’s important for us to clarify – in what way are these Torah practices ‘testimonies’?
The answer is that many of the mitzvos were given to us to make us constantly aware of our purpose here by means of testifying to ideals that we are expected to keep in mind. The truth is, if you study the mitzvos properly, you'll find that almost everything has some open purpose which is almost always clearly stated in the Torah. And that means if you'll learn how to make use of them you’ll be prepared to use them as weapons in this great battle.
Psychology of Mitzvos
We’ll take some examples soon but first let’s understand the general principle of what we’re describing now: The mitzvos are not intended to be carried out! Of course they are but that’s only the first step – the mitzvos are primarily given for the purpose of working on your psychology; they’re intended to be used in a way that will shape the minds of the Am Yisroel.
The mitzvos are eiduyos; they’re testifying to great and important ideals, and our job is not to just do the mitzvos but to make use of them to stimulate our minds. And when you become adept at handling these weapons, so every mitzvah becomes a valuable tool for achieving tremendous success. On the other hand, if you don’t utilize the mitzvos in their most effective manner, you're going into the great battle without the weapons of war you need to achieve victory.
How great would be the effect upon the Jewish nation if once more they awoke and would understand the treasures that lie in these eiduyos! It would be glorious because when a person undertakes to utilize the testimonials of the Torah, that’s how he becomes prepared to face the world. He’s suited up now for the battle that is eilav panim v’achor and he’s ready and able because he knows now how to make the best use of the weapons that Hakodosh Boruch Hu has provided him. That’s how the Jew is able to live a full life and to complete the purpose for which he was created.
