Who Needs Tests?
Now, we’re not done yet because there’s another question here and if we’ll understand the answer it will give us a practical path forward in ahavas Hashem. And so we go back to what Hashem said to Avraham Avinu after the akeidah: Now I know that you’ve built that skyscraper of ahavas Hashem ... because I see that You didn’t hold back even your one beloved son from Me” (Vayeira 22:12).
“Now I know”?! Didn’t Hakadosh Baruch Hu know even without that test? Hashem is not a schoolteacher that He has to give tests in order to see what you’ve accomplished. He knows very well what’s inside you. So what does it mean, “Now I know”?
Subterranean Love
And so we’ll explain it as follows. You must know that everybody is born with a great store of love of Hashem, potential love of Hashem, in their heart. How much is there? A tremendous fire of love of Hashem is burning there.
You know, inside the earth a tremendous fire, a subterranean fire is burning. Sometimes you can see it when there’s an eruption of a volcano. We’re amazed at that – so much heat, so much flame, so much energy is hidden in the bowels of the earth! Same thing in every Jew; there’s a volcano of ahavas Hashem under the surface waiting to erupt. Like deep waters of a spring is wisdom and counsel in the mind of a man (Mishlei 20:5). It’s inside of us only that most people let it remain dormant. It sleeps inside of them all their lives and only in the Next World they see what could have been, what they could have brought forth. It’s a tragedy, a rachmanus, a wasted opportunity.
And therefore our job is to avert that tragedy and bring it forth while we’re still in this world. And it’s possible. A man who uses understanding can draw it up like you draw up water with buckets from a well (ibid.). He can draw up this ahavas Hashem that’s concealed in the depths of his personality.
Thinking It Through
Now, there are a lot of ways in which ahavas Hashem can be brought to the surface. Number one is by means of thought. An ish tevunos, someone who is willing to use his mind, yidlenah, will draw it forth. Its potential is buried, hidden, within you, but when you think thoughts of ahavas Hashem, so you’re developing that middah in your neshama. When you think about it, you mull it over, you consider it, it comes to the front part of your mind instead of being hidden somewhere in the background.
So a man, let’s say, is walking on the street and he sees his married daughter coming his way, so instead of wasting the opportunity he thinks, “Oh, Hashem! I love You so much for marrying off this daughter. Day and night it was on my head, finding her a shidduch, and You did that for me. I love You for that.” So just by thinking those words, you cause it to become min hakoach el hapoal; you’re bringing it into the open more. And the more you think those thoughts – not only that example; you can think about loving Hashem for anything that Hashem has given you – so little by little you’re becoming stronger in that attitude.
Speaking It Out
Now that’s thoughts. Thinking, that’s very good, but imagine now that you’ll talk about it; oh, that’s much better already. Torah is life to those who discover the words of Torah (Mishlei 4:22). Instead of motzeihem, ‘discover’, read it as ‘motzee’eihem’, uttering. Torah is more life to you when you utter the words (Eiruvin 44a). When a person says words of ahavas Hashem, so he’s taking his thoughts, which are already precious, and by expressing them with words, that’s motzee min hakoach el hapoel, he’s making them more real.
So if you can whisper the words quickly before your daughter reaches you, even better. If you can sit in your home when you’re alone, when nobody will hear you, and you’ll say, “I love You Hashem for giving me a roof over my head, for giving me the money to pay the rent,” so you’re doing something very big now – you’re loving Hashem not only with machshava but with dibbur too. And the more you talk about it, the more you feel it because you’re drawing forth that fountain of love in your heart to Hashem and making it more effective by means of speech.
Secret Advice
That’s why I tell you – it’s good you came here tonight; you’ll get some good advice – that you should say these words as much as possible, “I love You Hashem.” You don’t love Him? Say it anyhow. Nobody should hear you. If somebody hears you say it, they’ll think you’re off your head a little bit. They’re off their heads but they don’t know. So you do it in secret. Walk in a telephone booth and pick up the telephone. Don’t drop any money in. Make a long distance call, say, “I love You, Hashem. Ich hob dir lib, Ribono shel Olam.”
Don’t think it’s a small thing. Life is passing by! Say, “I love you Hashem.” Keep on saying it and over the course of time, a little bit of that comes into your heart and you begin saying it sincerely.
Little Children Love Too
You know I must tell you what the Gra said. The Gra says that you can even start with little children. “Is that really possible?” he asked. “How do you start it with little children?”
So he says like this: When a little child is sitting on his highchair and you’re giving him something to eat or a candy so you say, “This candy is from Hashem. Don’t you love Hashem for it? My kind, say ‘I love You Hashem.’”
That’s seichildig. It’s very logical. And it’s seichildig for us too. After all, we’re little children too – each one of us is his own most important child – and that’s how we should talk to ourselves too. So when you sit down to breakfast, you should also think to yourself, “Shouldn’t I love Hashem that He’s feeding me? After all, I enjoy eating. It gives me energy and it tastes good too. And He’s the One giving it to me.”
“Oh,” you say, “I should love Hashem because of breakfast? A bowl of cereal is not befitting for such a great subject.”
Loving In Life
You’re making a big mistake because loving Hashem is not a detached emotion; it’s connected with your normal everyday life. When you put on your shoes, love Hashem for that. Suppose you had no shoes, chalilah and a man came along and said, “Here. Here’s a pair of shoes.” You’d love him! No question you’d love him! Baruch Hashem, every day He lends you a pair of shoes. You make a bracha, so you see you have to be grateful. You have to love Hashem for your shoes.
Now other people who never think about these things might ridicule this. They’ll laugh at it. Who cares? Let them laugh. They’re laughing at the Chovos Halevavos because he’s the one who says that we should be using that great motivation of hakaras hatov, gratitude to Hashem, to become ohavei Hashem.
Hands and Air
He starts from the benefits, having hands. It’s fun to have a hand. Oh yes, it’s a lot of fun! There’s a man on the street, I see him frequently. He has an empty sleeve. Baruch Hashem your sleeves are full! And out of your sleeve comes a derrick with more derricks attached to it. You can bend it anyway you want. And the joints of your fingers too! No creaking as the bones rub against each other! Everything is lubricated beautifully. Ah! A pleasure! A taanug! A privilege! As you’re walking down the street, swinging your arm, you’re thinking these thoughts and you’re loving Hashem in your mind.
And when you breathe a breath of air, think how much you should love Hashem for that. Air is the most precious commodity there is – you must have it immediately and constantly – and He’s giving it to you always. And it’s a special elixir that He made especially for you – it’s a mixture precisely suited to your needs; oxygen and a certain amount of nitrogen and a small amount of carbon dioxide. And each one of them is important in the right proportions so that when we breathe we are oxygenating our blood; we are making ourselves strong, making ourselves energetic and happy.
So why shouldn’t you love Hashem for that? Imagine a man is walking and is loving Hashem because he can breathe. He breathes in the Brooklyn air and he’s loving Hashem. If he’s thinking about it, very good. And if he’ll say words too, even better.
Acting It Out
Now suppose as a result of your thoughts and your words, you go on and do acts – even better. Words are greater than thoughts and actions are greater than words. If you’ll act on your love you’re bringing it out even more.
So you want to carry it out in acts too? You can do that too. You know when you do a mitzvah the poskim tell us there are conditions for a mitzvah; and among the conditions are dechilu u’rechimu. You have to have yirah and ahavah when you do a mitzvah. We’re too busy and we’re also so accustomed to the mitzvah, so we don’t think about it, but that’s what the poskim say. That’s a condition. You have to be aware that you’re standing in front of a King and also you have to love Him.
So suppose sometimes you make an exception and say, “This mitzvah I’m going to do now because I love you, Hashem.” One time a day you’ll choose a mitzvah. Now you’re taking all of those thoughts, all of your words, and you’re making it l’maaseh. You’re loving Hashem with your acts. Imagine a person is walking to shul and he thinks, “I’m walking to shul now to daven because I love You and want to speak with You,” so every step he takes is an act of ahavas Hashem.
Growing in Love
And so we come back now to Avraham Avinu. “Now I know” means not that Hashem needed this proof to demonstrate that Avraham loved him. No. It means that’s how he became a greater lover of Hashem. If Avraham took the knife ready to slaughter his beloved son whom he loved with such an overweening love, a love that encompassed all the generations of tzaddikim that would come from him and Avraham was willing to sacrifice everything, that act brought forth the ahavah min hakoach el hapoel into a most prominent and powerful force. And that’s what it says, now. Now you have become a man who loves Hashem. Because it doesn’t happen on its own; it’s by means of a person’s thoughts and words and actions that he becomes an oheiv Hashem.
And so we’re learning now that everyone can become an oheiv Hashem if they would make use of these three functions. You can do it b’machshavah, by thoughts. Then you do it b’dibbur too – you say words of ahavas Hashem. And then you do it b’maaseh too. That’s how you develop. Little by little, you keep on this way and you become something eventually. Of course, each one must do according to his abilities. It doesn’t mean that you’re going to be like Avraham but whatever ahavas Hashem is developed properly, it becomes the very greatest of a man's achievements, the crown of a man's perfection.
Have A Wonderful Shabbos
