The Gift of Life. More on the Sequence of the Sefer.

So I think this may be backtracking a few lines for vispananti

ופניתי במחשבותי לאחד האמת מהאדנות ומה שחייב להיישר בו מעבודתו. ופניתי במחשבותי לאחד האמת מהאדנות ומה שחייב להיישר בו מעבודתו.

So how does one relate to, once one comes to know ה׳ אלוקינו ה׳ אחד, so what relationship does that entail? What relationship does that dictate? So סמתי קבלת עבודת אלוקים, Shorash Shlishi Laklal Me'Chovos HaLevavos. In the opening lines of Sha'ar Avodas Elokim, he elaborates this.

מפני שבארנו במה שעבר חיוב ייחוד אלוקים בלב שלם שער הייחוד ואופני בחינת טובותיו על האדם,

how to discern the innumerable tovos of Hakadosh Baruch Hu,

נתחייבנו לזכור אחר כך מה שהאדם חייב לנהוג בו כשיתבאר אצלו והוא קיבול עבודת אלוקים כפי אשר יחייבהו השכל המטיב על מי שהטיב לו.

There’s a very cogent, compelling assumption that is so self-evident Chovos HaLevavos doesn’t articulate it. And that is, again he says the mechayev in avodas Hashem is the hakaras hatov. The moshal being, let’s say a person is living rent-free in someone else’s home. And again there’s no rent. The heat in the winter, air conditioning in the summer, the refrigerator and freezer are always stocked. So it’s certainly intuitive that at the very least, this tenant needs to comply with whatever the rules of occupancy are that the balabos reveals. Unless, the only logical pushback to that is unless in the moshal, he’s imprisoned there as opposed to being hosted there. Right, if one were to depict it as being imprisoned, so then it wouldn’t follow that one is obligated to abide. So Chovos HaLevavos is assuming, he’s assuming because it’s true, that everyone feels viscerally that it’s a blessing to be alive. Even before one recognizes how as בני אברהם יצחק ויעקב, upon whom the infinite tova of Torah was bestowed, how that compounds the sense of tova. But even before that, it’s the ultimate tov to be. Existence is the ultimate tov. In relation to its alternative of non-being and non-existence. So given that we all recognize that, we all sense that. So that's what the Chovos HaLevavos says, that שיתברר אצלו כי השם אחד and all the tovah she'hayichid and all the tovah which abundantly fills and overflows the world, sha'ar habechinah, so what follows from that is is kibal avodas Elokim. Sometimes people are distracted and fail to recognize just how instinctively we we value the blessing of life. And and people will, when they're, I don't know, in in the best of health and enjoying whatever lifestyle that they've chosen, so they they write they'll write living wills. And they say, you know, if such and such happens then you know, I'm I'm not interested in any medical intervention and I don't want to live and you know, if if when I'm playing golf if I can't break par anymore, that's it. Life, you know, where you can't play subpar is is not worth living. And and then because when when they're able to take life for granted and and they focus on all the all the empty entertainment in in life which is on one level very enjoyable, so they think that's what life is about because they're so blessed with with health and vigor that they can take the blessing of life for granted. And then when people find themselves in that situation, they have a very different perspective, which is the dangerous fallacy of these without commenting on when, you know, and under what circumstances, you know, that there would be halachically valid anyway. That's the dangerous fallacies of because of these living wills because when a person when when all the extras are are stripped away, so then a person realizes, no, that what he values most is this blessing of life. And that's what the Chovos HaLevavos knows and understands and that's why the Chovos HaLevavos says, you know, the moshal is not a person who's imprisoned in in a jail against his will but but the moshal is a person who's being given, you know, free room and board in a in a luxurious mansion. Could be that that the Ramban, famous Ramban at the end of Parshas Bo, is articulating something similar. Do you have it at the end of with the the famous one where he explains about all the מצוות זכר ליציאת מצרים, the line about yode'a l'Kel. It's the last Ramban in Parshas Bo, towards the end. Do you have it? Do you have a chumash?

ואין קל עליון חפץ בתחתונים מלבד שידע האדם ויודה לאלוקיו שבראו. שידע האדם ויודה לאלוקיו שבראו שידע האדם ויודה לאלוקיו שבראו וכונת רוממות הכל בתפילה

v'kavanat batei knesios v'zechus tfilas harabbim

זהו שיהיה לבני אדם מקום יתקבצו ויודו לקל שבראם והמציאם ויפרסמו זה ויאמרו לפניו

Briyosecha anachnu. The Rambam explains that the pasuk in Parshas Ki Sisa when in response to הודעני נא את דרכיך Hakadosh Baruch Hu says והעברתי כל טובי על פניך. Says to Moshe Rabbeinu, Ashreihu kol tuvi. So what does it mean all my goodness, kol tuvi? So the Rambam says that Moshe, Hakadosh Baruch Hu explained to Moshe Rabbeinu everything about the entire briya. Kol tuvi is the briya. How is kol tuvi the briya? So the Rambam says no, look in perek aleph v'beis, וירא אלקים כי טוב. Whenever Hakadosh Baruch Hu creates something וירא אלקים כי טוב, וירא אלקים כי טוב, and then at the conclusion of sheishes yimei bereishis וירא אלהים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד. So you see that there is this equation between existence and tov and that's what it means kol tuvi that Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu you're not going to be able to understand me, capital M, but I'll let you understand everything about the hanhaga of the world and how everything interacts and what the interplay is between things. So the same idea that existence is a tov is the ultimate tov. ואחר כך נתבאר לי מה שבאו לאחד האמת meihiyachdo behanhagas hakol

ושהטעות והנזק אינם כי אם ממנו וברשותו לבדו התחייבנו לבטוח עליו ולהמסר אליו שמתי הבטחון שורש רביעי לכל חובות הלבבות.

So the idea in Chovos HaLevavos is a precursor, it's a similar idea to something Rav Moshe Feinstein has in Igros Moshe. He says it a little bit more at length so maybe we'll quote it from there first. Rav Moshe says a chiddush, he says that Bnei Noach chayavim in tefilla. Where do you find that Bnei Noach are obligated to daven? So Rav Moshe says Bnei Noach are obligated to believe in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, to recognize Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and anyone who genuinely, sincerely believes in Hakadosh Baruch Hu in an eis tzara calls out to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It's as it were an automatic expression and reflection of emuna. It's impossible to conceive of someone who really is ma'amin b'Hashem and doesn't call out to Hakadosh Baruch Hu in an eis tzara. Adaraba, the eis tzara reveals to the person who postures that he doesn't believe, it often reveals that the person has buried deep inside of him that he does believe. I think it was from the First World War that the saying was coined that there are no atheists in foxholes. So the Chovos HaLevavos is saying something similar. Chovos HaLevavos says that to have bitachon is simply to be consistent to one's belief and one's belief system. Genuinely believes in the echad hoemes mehisyachdo, he's, he's alone, right? He's, he's, he's alone in the sense that that he exclusively is responsible for hanhagas hakol and that שהתועלת והנזק אינם כי ממנו וברשותו לבדו. So if one really believes that, so then that has to translate in the form of bitachon. I think last time we mentioned the Rabbeinu Yonah, right? In the beginning of Brachos.

ואחר כך חשבתי בעניין האחד האמת מהתייחדו בכבודו ושאיננו משתתף עם דבר ואינו דומה לדבר וצריכנו לחבר על זה שנעבדהו לבדו ונייחד כל המעשים לשמו כי איננו מקבל המעשה המשתתף בו זולתו עמו שמתי המעשה המיוחד לשם הקל שורש חמישי לכלל מחובות הלבבות.

It's intuitive, let's say, in interpersonal relationships. It's intuitive that let's say one is on the receiving end of a chesed, of a tovah. So how much hakaras hatov should one have? How much hakaras hatov should one have? How do you depend how much tov he got? Exactly, it should be commensurate. It should be proportionate, commensurate. If someone gives you a birthday card and inside the birthday card there's a quarter, right? A quarter's a quarter. Once upon a time, once upon a time you could make a phone call for a dime, so I guess the quarter was once upon a time worth something. So you should certainly appreciate it. I don't know whether, whether you'll be indebted for the rest of your life for that overly generous birthday gift. It should be commensurate. So says the Chovos Halevavos, avodah in the phrase of avodas Hashem should be commensurate and there should be a symmetry with Hakadosh Baruch Hu who is the nediv. What does he mean, כי איננו מקבל המעשה המשתתף בו זולתו עמו? So, I don't know, you have to, you have to check in Shaar Yichud Hamaiseh, but presumably what it means is this: he's not... He is obviously not dissenting from what Chazal said

לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות אף על פי שלא לשמה

and when a person is עוסק בתורה ומצוות שלא לשמה, so that doesn't rise to this level that Chovot Halevavot is referring to. M'idach gisa, you see minei u'vei from Chazal that yes, that's true, but it's true because מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. It's not true because that's really an acceptable level to aspire to, that that's an adequate level to aspire to. No, we're supposed to aspire to a level higher than that and that's what he's describing. So I don't know that this is a practical statement. It certainly isn't, that if I don't think it's going to be totally lishma, so I'll skip bentching and move on to the next thing in my schedule for the afternoon.

וכאשר שוטטו רעיוני לחשב במחשבת חובנו לאחד האמת מסופר ומרומם ומגודל מאשר אין כמהו והוצרכנו לחבר על זה שנקנה לו כפי יכולתנו. שמתי את הקנייה שער שישי לכל חובות הלבבות.

In Perek Bet of Hilchot Yesodei Hatorah,

והיכן היא הדרך לאהבתו ויראתו בשעה שיתבונן האדם במעשיו וברואיו הנפלאים הגדולים ויראה מהם חכמתו שאין לה ערך ולא קץ מיד הוא אוהב ומשבח ומפאר ומתאוה תאוה גדולה לידע השם הגדול כמו שאמר דוד צמאה נפשי לאלהים לאל חי וכשמחשב בדברים האלו עצמן.

So from Hakadosh Baruch Hu's handiwork, we see a reflection of what's inestimable and infinite. וכשמחשב בדברים האלו עצמן מיד, the inevitable corollary to that is

מיד הוא נרתע לאחוריו ויירא ויפחד וידע שהוא בריה קטנה שפלה אפלה עומד בדעת קלה מעוטה לפני תמים דעות כמו שאמר דוד כי אראה שמיך וגומר מה אנוש כי תזכרנו וגומר.

So if we really understand to any reasonable extent the greatness, the awesomeness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so then that dictates one's self-perception as well. Emuna is a source of again of self-perception and self-understanding as well.

ויודע שהוא בריה קטנה שפלה אפלה עומד בדעת קלה מעוטה לפני תמים דעות. ויודע שהוא בריה קטנה שפלה אפלה עומד בדעת קלה מעוטה לפני תמים דעות.

If a person thinks that he can chas v'shalom question the Ribono shel Olam, it means that he doesn't really have any hasaga of of elokus, of of what emuna is. And and that's I don't know that it's the only perspective. Yeah, so we with our katnus hamochin, so we wonder how how great people can be humble. I mean, aren't they aware of, you know, how they tower above the rest of us? So how how does that work? So for example, let's say you have an ant colony. An ant colony, teeming with with ants. And and there's one ant goes to the gym every day and and he's bigger and stronger than all the other ants. I'm not sure if ants have biceps, but if they did, his would be twice the size of of the nearest competitor. But then vayehi hayom they become aware of the fact that in their surroundings there are these people who are, I don't know, a million times their size and and with one step, you know, can wipe out the the half the half the colony, half the ant colony. So if so this this ant who is bigger and stronger than all of other fellow ants, so when he looks up at a person, so he feels he feels ga'avah? Is it a nisayon for him? Is it a nisayon for him not to not to be misga'eh at that moment? Of course not because the the difference between him and all the other ants is totally batel u'mevutal in comparison to the difference between him and and these giants, these these people. So if a person doesn't live with an awareness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu and he's more successful, more gifted, more whatever, fill in the blank than other people, so then he'll he'll experience ga'avah. He will experience ga'avah because if that's his if his frame of reference are other people and he conveniently overlooks the fact that, you know, where do where do his abilities come from? He conveniently overlooks that. So he will experience ga'avah. But if if a person is aware of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so not only is there no room for ga'avah before Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but there's no possibility of ga'avah klapei others as well. That's also all this is part of the that idea that the Chovos HaLevavos is saying. is that when there's some kind of sense of romemuso v'godlo, so then what ensues is the sense of hachna'oh.

שמתי הכניעה שער ששי על כל חובות הלבבות. וכאשר הבינותי מה שהוא עובר על בני אדם שהם מתעלמים ומקצרים במה שהם חייבים בו מעבודת הבורא יתברך, והדרך שיוכלו לתקן בו מעוותם וקצורם היא התשובה ובקשת הכפרה, שמתי התשובה שער שביעי על כל חובות הלבבות.

You could have made the same argument for maybe Sha'ar HaTeshuva to come right after Sha'ar HaBitachon, after Sha'ar Avodas Elokim, but it's not only at this point when we're aware of chiyuv avodas Hashem and yichud hama'aseh as well as bitachon and as well as hachna'oh, so now it's inevitable that we'll come up short. That inevitability was present beforehand. But maybe what the Chovos HaLevavos means is that, again, if you take Sha'ar HaTeshuva and Sha'ar Cheshbon HaNefesh basically as two parts of one whole, which in many ways that is the relationship and that is what he presents, maybe within the avodah of Chovos HaLevavos, what Rabbeinu Bachya is implicitly identifying is that ad kan, meaning through hachna'oh, is not to achieve madreigos in avodas Hashem, but in many ways is the ground floor, is the threshold, as opposed to, again, the perishus and ahavas Hashem, which are already, again, it's not that they're being depicted as optional, but it's chiyuvim of attaining higher and higher madreigos. Mah she'ein kein, these other areas are even more basic and elementary. So he finishes that unit, so now's the time to taka talk about teshuva.

וכאשר חפשתי להשיג אמיתת מה שאנו חייבים לשם יתברך מן החובות הנגלות והנסתרות, וידעתי כי לא יתכן לקיים אותם עד שנחשב בנפשותינו בעבור הבורא יתברך ושנדקדק עליהם, שמתי חשבון הנפש שער שמיני על כל חובות הלבבות.

Okay, I think that's the same comment, same perspective maybe as we just said about Sha'ar HaTeshuva.

וכאשר השיבותי מחשבתי בעניין האחד האמת וראיתי כי ייחודו בלב שלם לא יתקיים בנפש המאמין כשלבו שקוע ביין אהבת עולם,

right, if he's intoxicated with the love of the physical, ונוטה אל תאוותיו הבהמיות, ve'im yishtamesh

ופנה את לבבו ולסלק את מצפונו ממוסרי העולם ולפרוש ממעדניו

so then יתקיים היחוד השלם בלבו ויעלה אל מעלתו. And maybe that, maybe that supports what we've just said, the person then comes to a higher level. Now, now, now the Chovos HaLevavos is talking about achieving the higher levels. שמתי הפרישות שורש תשיעי לכמה מחובות הלבבות. So this degree of prishus, again he's not talking about asceticism, talking about disproportionate involvement and engagement. It's not only necessary, let's say the Rambam concludes Hilchos Teshuva,

דבר ידוע וברור שאין אהבת הקדוש ברוך הוא נקשרת בלבו של אדם עד שישגה בה תמיד כראוי ויעזוב כל שבעולם חוץ ממנה.

If a person has independent attachments, a person has attachments which are which have a life of their own, as it were, which which unrelated to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so then it competes with a person developing and cultivating אהבת הקדוש ברוך הוא. Okay, so that I think in theory we understand. But the Chovos HaLevavos is saying something which which runs much deeper, right? Chovos HaLevavos is saying that even Yichud Hashem, a person doesn't isn't fully meyached Hashem as long as as long as we have these entanglements.

כי ייחודו בלב שלם לא יתקיים בנפש המאמין כשלבו שקוע ביין אהבת עולם ונוטה על תאוותיו הבהמיות.

So maybe just to try to unpack that very partially and superficially, maybe we'll try to elaborate, I'm not sure. Whatever taiva a person has, whatever Again taivah in the sense of taivos habehemiyos. So I desire, I crave, I lust for such and such. So by being in the grip of that taivah, that gives the object of my taivah a reality, a certain reality. And if a person doesn't have a taivah for nothing, you can't have a taivah for nothing, right? It's axiomatic to a taivah that the object of one's taivah is a reality, it's something to be attained. The deeper understanding of yichud Hashem right includes not only that, you know, השם אלוקינו השם אחד in the sense that there's one God and there's no other Gods. But the deeper understanding of השם אלוקינו השם אחד is that in terms of existence, that ein od milvado, that there is no other reality, there is no—everything is from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. הוא לבדו הוא אמת. The Rambam expresses it again emes in the sense of not just truth but reality and nothing else has emes kaamito. And in that sense, any again physical attachment, entanglement detracts not only from one's efforts and focus in terms of avodas Hashem, but it really diminishes the yichud Hashem. And again bitachon, that's a little bit of what the Chovos Halevavos is here talking about. And that's again what really follows now:

ועתה כאשר חקרתי על מה שאנו חייבים לבורא יתברך שהוא תכלית כל תאוה וקץ כל תקוה כי ממנו ההתחלה ואליו התכלה.

And Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Rishon va'Acharon and Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the source of everything, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the destination. He's the ultimate source, he's the ultimate destination:

כי ממנו ההתחלה ואליו התכלה. ומה שראוי לו ממנו מאהבה ורצון ויראת חובנו אשר המה תכלית הטובה והברכה כמו שאמר הכתוב כי רגע באפו חיים ברצונו בערב ילין בכי ולבוקר רינה. שמתי אהבת אלוקי יתברך שורש השלמי על כל

Chovos Halevavos. So we'll end here for next time. Not sure if that's tomorrow or Thursday. Maybe we'll pick up a little bit more here about what he just said about sha'ar ha'ahavah and try to think maybe try to finish the hakdamah.