AT THE ARTSCROLL SHABBOS TABLE
The Midrash (Shemos Rabbah 36:2) comments that Hashem says, “It is not that I need your light. Rather, I want you to light [the Menorah] for Me as I lit [your way] for you.” This, continues the Midrash, is analogous to a sighted person who walked with a blind man. The sighted person said, “Let me support you and help you along the way.” When they arrived at their destination, the sighted person said to his blind friend, “Could you please turn on the lights for me?”
The sighted person is of rare quality. Not only does he take care of his blind friend, but he also asks for his help as if he were the dependent one in order to spare his friend the painful feeling of dependency.
This is exactly how Hashem treats His nation, Klal Yisrael. He illuminates the world on behalf of its inhabitants and provides them with all their needs, yet He allows people to feel that they are helping Him by lighting the Menorah.
According to the Baal Shem Tov, this concept is the key to understanding a perplexing verse in Tehillim (62:13): “U’lecha Hashem chased ki atah seshaleim l’ish kema’aseihu — And Yours, O L-rd, is kindness, for You repay each man according to his deeds.” If Hashem rewards man according to what he deserves, why does the verse refer to this as an act of Divine kindness?
The answer is that we have no right to expect reward even for the good deeds that we do. Could we have performed those deeds if Hashem had not granted us life, ability, strength, and resources?
Without Him, we would not even be able to lift a finger. Accordingly, even when Hashem repays each man according to his deeds, it is an act of kindness on His part. He allows us to feel that our deeds were a service to Him, when in truth, whatever we do is only because He empowers us to do it (Taam V’Daas).
Rav Elya Meir Bloch focuses on a different aspect of the Midrash. Although Hashem provides us with illumination, He wants us to do our part as if it were dependent on our efforts. So it is in all areas of life. Although we know that the truth of Torah and Hashem will eventually triumph, we must never tire of our own efforts to build and plant outposts of Torah to the best of our ability.
RABBI YY JACOBSON
RABBI MOSHE M. LIEBER
