A Pleasent Outlook on Life

On the context of Sha'ar Avodat HaElohim. On the context of Sha'ar Avodat HaElohim and we compared it to the Mishna at the end of Perek Daled in Pirkei Avot on

על כרחך אתה נוצר, על כרחך אתה חי, על כרחך אתה מת, על כרחך אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון

which again seems to appeal to a rather base instinct, doesn't seem to appeal to our most noble instincts, it seems to appeal to an instinct of self-preservation, of self-interest, is that really what Torah is all about? So we explained no, that's not what Torah is all about, but the context, at what madreiga a person is, what spiritual station he finds himself, and his need for something which will mechaya him 24 hours a day, so that's what underlies the Mishna. But the Mishna and Rabbeinu Bachya are not, certainly not describing the ideal or certainly not presuming to tell you what the goal or what the essence of Torah and mitzvot are. So then a question, but to flesh out what we were discussing, the following question was implicit in what we were saying. If it's true that both Rabbeinu Bachya and the Mishna, again, are not portraying the ideal, but rather are looking to impel, to be mechaya someone who doesn't sense a strong ahavat Hashem which will motivate him to perform the mitzvot? So how does one account for the discrepancy between what Rabbeinu Bachya says and between what the Mishna says? Because Rabbeinu Bachya doesn't say, he doesn't come and say, he doesn't say, Rabbeinu Bachya could have had Sha'ar Yichud HaShem and then he could have gone to Sha'ar Avodat HaElohim. And the Sha'ar Avodat HaElohim would be אחרי שנתבאר בשער הקודם אופני ייחוד תואר השם so now da lach that על כרחך אתה נוצר, על כרחך אתה חי vechulu. And given again that Rabbeinu Bachya is not trying to introduce the ideal of avodat HaShem. He's not trying to motivate us in avodat HaShem again on a madreiga of lishma. He's not portraying avodat HaShem as an opportunity, he's portraying avodat HaShem at this station only as an obligation. So what the Mishna says in Pirkei Avot lich'ora is better than what he said. Rabbeinu Bachya assumes, Rabbeinu Bachya assumes, there's one answer to what Rabbeinu Bachya says. If a person wishes that he'd rather not be born, so then what Rabbeinu Bachya says is not going to move him. He's not going to be propelled by what Rabbeinu Bachya says. The whole thing is hakarat hatov, hakarat hatov, so he answers: I think my lot in life is miserable, so what are you telling me hakarat hatov? The Mishna in Pirkei Avot addresses everyone, בכל מקום ובכל זמן. Never mind what you think, never mind what you know.

על כרחך אתה חי, על כרחך אתה מת, על כרחך אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון.

So besides the fact just that how do you reconcile the fact that Rabbeinu Bachya is saying differently from the Mishna, lich'ora given what each is setting out to do, the Mishna does it a lot more successfully than Rabbeinu Bachya does. So I think that question in light of our discussion last week suggests itself. What's the answer? Clearly the question is not a terrible question. What's the answer? The answer is that מר מדכר ומר מדכר ולא פליגי. Ein hachi nami, Rabbeinu Bachya doesn't disagree with the Mishna. Rabbeinu Bachya doesn't disagree with the Mishna. Of course on one level, once a person has conviction in his belief in the Ribbono Shel Olam. Rabbeinu Bachya says ain hachi nami, but I think you can bring a person along a step further, a step further, and then you can appeal still, it'll be appealing to a sense of obligation. Still, in our moshal, in our analogy, he'll still be so far away, the magnet is so far away that it doesn't affect natural attraction, but nevertheless the avodas Hashem will be one notch higher. And ain hachi nami you can't compare the avodas Hashem which would emanate from the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos to what would emanate from Rabbeinu Bachya's. It's one thing to feel totally muchrach, to feel totally forced and to observe mitzvos only in that capacity, and it's certainly one level higher in shemiras hamitzvos to observe mitzvos out of hakaras hatov. Neither is the ideal, both fall far from the ideal, but certainly what Rabbeinu Bachya says brings a person one step closer to the ideal.

מר מהכא ומר מהכא לא פליגי מר מהכא ומר מהכא לא פליגי.

But there's more to it than that, there's more to it than that. L'emes, now when you think back, so we really, we read this explicitly in Chovos Halevavos and we even discussed it, but I think the point becomes even sharper in this context. What underlies the sequence of Sha'ar Habechinah and then Sha'ar Avodas Hashem in Rabbeinu Bachya is the following conviction, following conviction: that for the overwhelming majority of people, except for people who never חברו עם מרי נפש, you can bring them along from that, from the level at which the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos addresses them to that higher level where Rabbeinu Bachya appeals based on the argument of hakaras hatov. Now let's understand what that means. I think one's first reaction to this whole foundation of avodas Hashem being hakaras hatov somehow seems very weak. Mesillas Yesharim already says most people in life have a lot more tzoros than they do pleasure. For most people life is very difficult, it's not a smooth ride. That being the case, Rabbeinu Bachya's again laying the foundation for avodas Hashem in a sense of hakaras hatov is very difficult, very difficult. And again, and it's not because he's trying, because he's telling you that's the ideal and the ideal is difficult, no, he's not even aiming for the ideal here. So what Rabbeinu Bachya is saying is something very profound. Again, the sequence of Sha'ar Yichud Hashem, Sha'ar Habechinah, Sha'ar Avodas Hashem presumes that a person basically has a positive attitude towards life. Why does he assume that? Why does Rabbeinu Bachya assume that, again in light of the Mesillas Yesharim's existential observation? So the answer is as follows, and again Rabbeinu Bachya said it explicitly, almost. When we're unhappy by and large the reason for our unhappiness is that we're looking... not as popular as we want to be, we're not as handsome or pretty as we want to be, we're not vekhulu vekhulu, a whole list of things. If a person's notion of simcha, if what would determine a person's attitude towards life would be proximity to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, would be measured spiritually rather than materially, if a person instead of measuring his happiness by wealth or by how large his circle of friends is, would measure it by the fact that the Ribbono Shel Olam gives us a pledge that Imo Anochi Batzara, that I'm with you at all times, so that we would have a very different attitude. Then all the things which loom so large and which at times when we place things on the scale, we get a negative balance and therefore we have a pessimistic outlook on life and therefore we can't respond to Rabbeinu Bachya's Hakarat Hatov. Rabbeinu Bachya's telling you it's good to be alive, not just because you can be rich and because you can have fun and you can have pleasure. No. It's good to be alive, you can learn Torah and you can do mitzvot and you can be oved Hashem and a person, and again let's talk on a very simple level, not the ideal level, and you can earn yourself eternal reward. So if that's what a person were looking for, so then Rabbeinu Bachya's telling you, everyone, when you see how we're surrounded by the chasdei Hashem, which is the theme of Shaar Habechina, so you see how Hakadosh Baruch Hu's an almost constant companion. If you see that, so of course you're going to be motivated by Hakarat Hatov. Of course you're going to be motivated by Hakarat Hatov. Now maybe you haven't yet cultivated, maybe you haven't yet exposed that natural affinity and desire which the neshama has to come closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But even rationally, even rationally, before a person senses it and lives it and feels it beleiv vanefesh, even rationally, חייב לאדם להודות לחי העולמים המה מעט ואנו הרבה. Even before a person reaches a madreiga of lishma, he can understand that. So come to see in the sequence of Shaar Yichud Hashem followed by Shaar Habechina followed by Shaar Avodat Elokim is a very, very profound statement. That if you have your priorities straight, so then everyone who has his priorities straight is going to be happy. He's going to be happy because the greatest, what more could you ask for than to have Hakadosh Baruch Hu personally interested in you? Everyone, any psychologist will tell you, people need to feel loved. Children growing up need to sense it from their parents, otherwise they won't grow up to be well-adjusted people. And even adults need it. Even adults need it. If you hear that someone you look up to takes an interest in you, so it's, it gives you a lift. It uplifts you. Everyone knows that from personal experience. takes a personal interest in you, so it gives you a lift. It uplifts you. Everyone knows that from personal experience. So if we stop and think for a minute, and that's what Rabbeinu Bachya tries to get you to do in Shaar Habitachon. Stop and think that there's Hashgacha Pratis, the Ribbono Shel Olam takes a personal interest in each and every one of us. And כי אתכם אהבתי מכל העם, it's even more true for Bnei Yisrael. So clearly that that sense of happiness which we all get from human companionship, from human moral support, so that should be multiplied and magnified infinitely. So that's a very profound statement and conviction of Rabbeinu Bachya that if only we prioritize correctly, so then we can all move one step beyond the Mishpat Pikei Avos. We can move one step beyond that Mishpat Pikei Avos and true we'll be far from the ideal. We'll be far from the ideal. על מנת שיזכה לחיי העולם הבא is still a shelo lishmo. You haven't, it's not lishma. We'll still be far from lishma, but our avodas Hashem will certainly be enriched above and beyond the level of the Mishpat Pikei Avos. So yeah, so there are times when a person maybe such a mar nefesh, not totally rational, that you can only speak to him on the level of the Mishpat Pikei Avos. Paam achas. So Mishpat Pikei Avos is coming to tell you halacha l'maaseh in such a case. Upaam achas, comes Rabbeinu Bachya and says, but a person who's not such a mar nefesh, a person who's totally rational and again, so rationally, without, the ideal is to feel it and to sense it, but even rationally, a person is certainly attracted and a person certainly understands the ultimate bracha which he could have is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu looks out for him and that Hakadosh Baruch Hu watches over him, and that's what Shaar Habechina tries to illustrate הנסים שבכל יום ותמיד. Just one of the two other short ha'aros in the hakdama. One is just a question. I'm not really sure that, Rabbeinu Bachya describes when he contrasts the way Hakadosh Baruch Hu does chesed with the way people do chesed. So basically Rabbeinu Bachya makes a very sweeping, skeptical generalization. People never do chesed altruistically. It's never, never altruistic. There's always self-interest involved. That's what he says. He says that a parent with a child, so it's really because the parent views the child as an extension of him or herself, they're doing chesed with themselves. The eved with the adon is protecting an investment. The ani with the ashir, so the ashir is looking for reward in Olam Haba. And בני אדם זה עם זה are looking for kavod. They want to be honored at a dinner, so that's why they give tzedakah he says. And the fifth category is when you feel bad, so again you're doing it to assuage your own feelings, you're not doing it to assuage his. So I don't know if that's really true. People never do, people never do things lishma. In the Gemara we had it in Pesachim, in the first perek, that סלע זו לצדקה על מנת שיחיה בני is a tzaddik gamur, or tzidko gamurah. So apparently that's a chiddush, right? Apparently there's a tzedakah according to Rabbeinu Bachya every tzedakah is that, not necessarily על מנת שיחיה בני, but it's al manas that I should feel better, it's al manas that according to him everything is, it's not a chiddush because then there is no such thing as any other, any other form of tzedakah or chesed. So I don't know. Tzarich iyun if I don't know, do we really, I don't know, I'm not say, I don't know. The other thing I wanted to comment on in as it appears here in the sichah today to the Sha'ar HaBitachon, and this is something we've discussed in the past, Rabbeinu Bachya writes if you have the Lev Tov edition here, it's in Kuf Tzadik Heh. We commented on this already in Sha'ar Habechinah, but it appears here, I'm just reviewing for a moment:

ונסתכל בחלישות האדם וחסרונו ושאינו מגיע השלמות לרוב צרכו והדבר שימלא מחסורו ונבחן רוב טובת הבורא יתברך וחסדו עליו שבראהו כמו שבראהו מן החסרון בעצמו והוא רש וצריך אל מה שיש בו תקנתו ולא יגיע אליו כי אם ביגיעת נפשו וזה מחמת הבורא עליו כדי שיכיר את עצמו ויבחן בכל עניינו וידבק בעבודת הקל על כל פנים ויקבל על זה גמול העולם הבא שלא נברא כמו שהקדמנו מן הדברים בשער השני מן הספר הזה.

So again, we already, we had this in Sha'ar Habechinah as Rabbeinu Bachya cross-references. Rabbeinu Bachya gives us a tremendous insight into how we were created. He says of all the ba'alei chayim, man is the most dependent. Man is the most dependent. In his infancy and childhood, he's more dependent than animals are comparatively. And throughout his life, he remains very, very vulnerable and very weak. So here we usually, our perspective on this is usually it's a klalah. It's a klalah that we're so vulnerable, that we're so weak. Rabbeinu Bachya tells us an important yesod. Rabbeinu Bachya tells us no, it's a big bracha. That vulnerability, that sense of dependence which any honest person has is a tremendous bracha. Why? Because the most important thing that a person has to maintain in order to keep the momentum in his avodat Hashem is never to be masiach da'at from the Ribbono Shel Olam. Never to be masiach da'at. Never to get so caught up in his routine that he's masiach da'at on the Ribbono Shel Olam. Says Rabbeinu Bachya, had we been created less vulnerable and more independent, so then the danger and the pitfall of hesach hada'at from שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד would have been all the greater. It would have been so much easier for us to, when do you say oh Ribbono Shel Olam? When something hurts. When something hurts, so then a person cries out, then a person cries out. The more invulnerable and the more independent we would be, so the more and greater the danger would be that we would be masiach da'at. So says Rabbeinu Bachya, it's a tremendous chesed of Hakadosh Baruch Hu that we are created with this vulnerability. I think we commented once, that's the pshat in certain brachos we have such as the bracha of Asher Yatzar. Bracha of Asher Yatzar basically comments on what a delicate balance the human anatomy is and how if the slightest thing goes awry, the slightest thing is amiss, so then אי אפשר להתקיים ולעמוד לפניך אפילו שעה אחת. So why is that occasion for hoda'ah? That's exactly Rabbeinu Bachya's answer. It's occasion for hoda'ah because Hakadosh Baruch Hu implanted, so instead of, instead of bemoaning our fate, we should give shevach vehoda'ah, which is exactly what the chiyuv bracha is, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has given us a constant reminder of how vulnerable we are so that we'll always turn to Him. Be'ezrat Hashem next Thursday we will begin the first couple of prakim in the sha'ar.