that’s his crown; he puts on the old hat and he’s the king! He marches out, the king with his twenty subjects to greet the boat coming in. So suppose you're a servant of that king. It’s a small yichus; but nothing so special.
But suppose you’re the servant of the King of England. So that’s a bigger yichus; to be an eved of the king of a big country, there’s more honor there. And if it was a king of all Europe, even more; the bigger the king is, the more your honor is.
And so Dovid says, “My fellow Jews, that’s nothing yet! Because you're servants of the מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא – the King of all kings, the Creator of the universe, the Yud-Kei, and that's the greatest honor there is. That’s why I always tell a bar-mitzvah boy, when he comes to shul wearing his black hat for the first time, I tell him that his hat is more valuable than the crown of the Queen of England. Her crown of gold and diamonds is a dunce cap compared to your sixty dollar or eighty dollar black hat.
And that’s the plain truth without exaggeration because if you’re fortunate enough to be an eved Hashem so you're more important even than kings. If you’re fortunate enough to be from those whose function in this world is to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu then you have to know that you’re more important than all the kings in the world together.
The Servants’ Obligation
And so we come back to Dovid’s first words. We say to ourselves and to anyone listening, “הַלְלוּ עַבְדֵי ה׳ – You servants of Hashem, you fortunate ones, let me tell you what you have to do. You have to be excited about Hashem.” Because along with that good fortune and honor, there comes an obligation.
The Secret of Avodah
How is that the function of a servant of Hashem? The Chovos Halevavos analyzes the word avodah; avodas Hashem. What does it mean to serve Hashem? A pious Jew who decides today to serve Hashem has in mind he's willing to do things for Hashem. He'll sacrifice his own desires. He'll give away his time or his money or his labor to serve Hashem.
But the Chovos Halevavos translates it in a different way. He says that to be an eved to Hashem, to be a servant of Hashem, means to be humbled to Hashem; to be so humbled that you feel like a servant who wants to serve His master. That's called avodas Hashem.
But pay attention because I didn't tell you the peirush yet what it means, how you become humbled. The Chovos Halevavos tells us avodah is based on the principle of gratitude, the attitude of gratitude. A person can only hope to be an eved Hashem if he understands what Hakadosh Baruch Hu did for him always and is doing for him right now. He studies all the benefits that were showered on him: How fortunate he is that he was born! How many miscarriages take place, but he was born. And he's not a cripple either and he's not blind. He lives normally, and he has so many limbs and so many organs, and every one is functioning.
Not just functioning—each one is a miracle of plan and purpose. Each organ by itself is one of the most wonderful contrivances that no human inventor can equal. And every day he arises in the morning, opens his eyes and is still alive, and he begins using again the great gift of his body and of his mind, all the faculties; he remembers, he thinks, he can speak, he can see and hear, he can function in every manner.
Indebted Service
After a while he begins to think and look what Hashem is doing for him, and he asks a big question, a very big question. מָה אָשִׁיב לַה' כָּל תַּגְמוּלוֹהִי עָלָי – What can I pay back to Hashem for all that He's doing for me?
It’s a question very many frum people don't ask themselves. What He’s doing for me?! We’re doing for Him! Oh yes, we're serving Hashem, and He owes us a great debt. In this world He's not giving us anything and in the Next World we expect to present Him with a bill. “Look what we did for You in this world!”
So Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, “You have to know, whatever you did for Me in this world didn't pay for the first day of your life yet. When you were a little baby and you were breathing and you were living normally, whatever you got on that first day, you didn't pay Me back no matter how many mitzvos you performed until the last day of your life. What I did for you, you could never pay back.”
You have to know that when you come to the Next World, you’ll be very surprised. You’ll find that you fell way behind in payments for the first day of your life. “Oh no! I haven’t paid up for all those diapers that I was wearing then.” And diaper pins—you have to pay for diaper pins. You have to pay for all the milk you drank the first day.
And only when the Jew understands that and he says ‘מָה אָשִׁיב לַה – “What can I do to pay back to Hashem what He does for me?”, then he can begin serving Hashem; whatever he does after that — Torah, mitzvos, gemillas chassadim — it’s all being done in humble gratitude. That’s called avodah.
The Work of Avdei Hashem
The Attitude of Gratitude
Now, all of this means that an eved Hashem has his work cut out for him because if you don't study what He does for you, you just can't be an eved Hashem—you don’t think there’s much to be grateful to Him for. On the contrary you're on top. עֶבֶד לֹוֶה לְאִישׁ מַלְוֶה – When you borrow money, you're a servant to the lender. So we think we’re the lenders here; we’re lending Hashem our time, our money, our dedication. We're doing good deeds to Him so He owes us. He's our eved, kaviyachol. And so unless you invest your thoughts in understanding what you really owe to Hashem, that’s going to remain the attitude of an honest person.
Only when you begin to feel humbled in gratitude, then you can start to serve Hashem. If you receive benefits, piles, mountains of benefits and you can hardly pay back pennies, so you're embarrassed. You don't know what to do. You say mah ashiv, what can I pay back? You're put to shame. You're nichna, you're humble, you're an eved. Oh! Now you begin the career of avodas Hashem.
The Gift of Eyes
And therefore you have to consider everything that He’s giving you. You have two good eyes? So he says, “Of course I have two good eyes. I’m born with two good eyes.”
No, you’re not born with two good eyes! You have two good eyes that are given to you every day by Hashem. Every day, it’s a special gift; two good eyes! That’s how to think if you’re an eved Hashem. And that’s how you have to say it every day: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳ אֱלוֹקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם פּוֹקֵחַ עִ וְ רִ ים – I thank You Hashem that You open up the eyes of the blind. Why don’t you say “that You gave me two good eyes”? No! You have to act like you’re blind, and now you got two good eyes. Ohhhh!! A blind man who suddenly gets two good eyes, he wouldn’t just mumble the bracha, “muh-muh-muh-muh”. Oh no! He would say it with dancing! With excitement! With hillul! He would be meshugah! He would be drunk with happiness! He would shout! He’d say Hallel!
The Gift of Teeth
And that’s the function of avdei Hashem. You have to thank Hashem for everything that you have. You have teeth? Most of you have teeth, don’t you? Your own teeth. Ahhhhhh! Ah ah ah! How lucky you are! You have to thank Hashem for that great gift. Teeth are a great gift!
Now, people say that’s silly. You came here for such foolish talk? You come to a place to hear maybe sodos, sisrei Torah, but such things, about teeth, you can’t waste your time. You want to hear chiddushim. The answer is this is the biggest chiddush you have to know. To thank Hashem that you have teeth! And if you don’t, then you have to know that you’re not an eved Hashem.
It’s the first time you heard it? You’re lucky you came tonight.
Functioning Feet
If you’re able to walk – look how many people cannot walk. How many people need wheelchairs? How many people have walkers? Or crutches? Or canes? And you’re able to walk! You’re moving around all day on your Rolls Royce.
And even those who have canes have to thank Hashem. Even those who have crutches have to thank Hashem. Even those who have wheelchairs have to thank Hashem. As long as you can open your mouth and say something, you have to thank Hashem! Because there are many people who can’t even talk – they talk with sign language. And even with sign language you have to thank Hashem in sign language. At least you have hands to make the motions.
The Breath of Life
One more example; I can’t help myself. If you’re sitting here now, you're breathing. One breath, another breath, another breath. You know how much gratitude you have to feel for that? Pay attention. כֹּל הַנְּשָׁמָה תְּהַלֵּל יָ-הּ – Every neshama should praise Hashem (Tehillim 150:6). So the Medrash says that neshama here means ‘a breath’: עַל כֹּל נְשִׁימָה וּנְשִׁימָה תְּהַלֵּל יָ-הּ – For every breath you have to say Hallel to Hashem (Bereishis Rabba 14:9). You didn’t know that? For each breath, one Hallel. Not half-Hallel; the whole thing.
I was in Slabodka when this was once being spoken about and one of the rebbis, zichrono levracha, said, “Think how many breaths we took since we were born! A little baby when he comes out and takes his first breath, he’s mechuyev in Hallel already. So you see we are behind in Hallels.” My rebbe, Rav Avraham Grudzinski told me that. “We haven’t finished by today paying for the breaths of the first day,” he said.
Home Experiments
You’re not convinced that one breath is worth saying Hallel? I have a simple experiment. Put your head in a bucket of water and hold it there for three minutes. And somebody will say, “I’ll let you take one breath if you promise to say Hallel afterwards for it.” It’s a bargain! He’ll let you take your head out for one second. You take one breath and back in the water again. And as you’re there, after a half minute you signal to him, “Ok, I need another breath.”
Then you pull your head out. Ahh! I owe another Hallel.
It’s an experiment anybody can carry out at home. It’s only because you have so many breaths they become cheap to you and therefore you begin ignoring that.
Be Different
Now, if you’ll speak about this in the beis medrash, they’ll take you for a meshugener. No matter! ‘הַלְלוּ עַבְדֵי ה! You can’t follow what the ordinary run of the mill people say. Although they’re good people — יְבָרֵךְ אֶת בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל; Hashem should bentch all of them, all the tzaddikim, all the men and women who keep the Torah — but you can’t follow them because they don’t study thoroughly the yesodos haTorah.
How many frum Jews do you know who thank Hashem for air? Did you make a tally of how many people think about that? I’m talking about frum Jews—the beheimos outside I’m not talking about them, but frum Jews, how many are thinking about thanking Hashem for air? I’m very sorry to say that not many will say yes. It doesn’t even enter his mind.
Be Jewish
Now that’s a condemnation, an accusation against us. Because you’re missing the point—gratitude and praise, that’s what it means to be a Jew. You know, Jew comes from the word Judah. Whether it’s Jude, Judah, Jewith, Jew; whether it’s juif, jude, yid, zhid, whatever it is, it comes from the word Yehuda. And Yehuda means ‘the one who praises Hashem’. Just take out the daled and you have yud kay vav kay. And so the purpose of a Jew in this world is to be a Yehudi—our job is to praise Hashem.
Every Jew should know that's his business in life; he is in the employment of Hashem. You may be a doctor. You may be a street cleaner. Whatever you are, you're working for Hashem and that means you have to get busy studying His kindness to you. It's without an end; it's a subject that has absolutely no limit, the kindliness of Hashem, but if you’re a non-thinker you’ll never appreciate it — you’ll be blinded by habit and you will never fulfill what you’ve been hired out to do. We are all avdei Hashem and that’s our business: ‘הַלְלוּ עַבְדֵי ה!
