Kavana l’shem Shomayim

Perek Gimmel, Halacha Gimmel. המנהיג עצמו על פי הרפואה, one who conducts himself based on medical guidance, medical directive.

אם שם על לבו שיהיה כל גופו ואיבריו שלמים חזקים בלבד ויהיו לו בנים עושים מלאכתו ועמלים לצורכו אין זו דרך טובה. אלא ישים על לבו שיהיה גופו שלם וחזק כדי שתהיה נפשו ישרה לדעת את השם. שאי אפשר שיבין ויסתכל בחכמות והוא רעב או חולה או אחד מאיבריו כואב. וישים על לבו שיהיה לו בן אולי יהיה חכם גדול בישראל.

So we commented earlier in terms of the Rambam's organization, his breakdown of the perakim, that what seems lefi ha'emet strange that the discussion of the derech habeinonit spills over for one halacha into Perek Gimmel and then the Rambam ostensibly switches topics to וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים that in reality the Rambam here is telegraphing for us that the implementation of vehalachta bidrachav of the derech habeinonit depends upon is inextricably intertwined with וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. And again we illustrated, so what's the midah beinonit in terms of how much money a person should be looking to amass? What's the midah beinonit in terms of maintaining good health? What's the midah beinonit in terms of diet? And the וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים provides the answer to all these questions and therefore the application of vehalachta bidrachav remains in many instances abstract and it's the וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים which allows us to apply it. So the emet is that the Rambam here in Halacha Gimmel says it meforash and even goes a step further, because when the Rambam says המנהיג עצמו על פי הרפואה, so a person's diet is perfect, every everything he eats is nutritious and no empty calories and everything is calibrated that he should be in the best of health. So when the Rambam says that if his end goal is he wants to be strong, he wants to feel good, so the Rambam says אין זו דרך טובה. So אין זו דרך טובה, clearly, clearly the Rambam earlier in Perek Aleph repeatedly identified the midah beinonit as the derech hatovah. So the derech hatovah the Rambam is saying not only requires the וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים to calibrate the kamut but that kavanah is necessary for it to be a kiyum in the vehalachta bidrachav. Right even if a person is on the midah beinonit but he's on the midah beinonit because why should I kill myself at work why should I work so hard as long as I'll have enough money to pay my rent and pay the grocery bill I'll have more time. more time for the golf course, more time for the tennis court. But the person is mamash on the derech beinonus in terms of his work life balance. So the Rambam says no, he's not mekayeim the mitzvah of vehalachta bidrachav unless it's purposeful, unless the reason that he's on the derech hayesharah is for the correct goal.

המנהיג עצמו על פי הרפואה אם שם לבו שיהיה כל גופו ואיבריו שלמים וחזקים בלבד שיהיו בניו עושים מלאכתו ועמלו לצרכו אין זו דרך טובה.

Again, it's not stam mussar. אין זו דרך טובה in context clearly means that he's not mekayeim the mitzvah of vehalachta bidrachav that the Rambam has defined as drachim tovim viyisharim.

נמצא המהלך בדרך זו כל ימיו כולן עובד את השם תמיד אפילו בשעה שנושא ונותן ואפילו בשעה שבועל מפני שמחשבתו בכל כדי שימצא צרכו עד שיהיה גופו שלם לעבודת השם.

The Rambam at the end of perek chamishi in Shemonah Perakim. Perek chamishi deals with the same topic as here of וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. So again, just as the Rambam does here, so first he has the whole presentation and then at the end he says Chazal encapsulated all this within that short saying of וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. But listen to how the Rambam writes: וכבר כללו חז"ל זה העניין כולו בקצרה במילות מועטות and yet מורה על זה העניין הוראה שלמה מאוד. It's the end of perek chamishi in Shemonah Perakim. Very few words, but they encapsulate, they encompass everything. Ad, listen to this, כאשר תבחן קוצר המילות when you'll discern, you'll see kotzer hamilos on the one hand, how with so few words, so sparingly,

איך סיפר זה העניין הגדול והעצום כולו אשר חיבר בו חיבורים ולא השלימוה.

Other mechabrim have written whole treatises and it didn't encompass, and Chazal in five words encompassed it all. תדע שנאמר בכוח אלוקי בלא ספק when you see that, תדע שנאמר בכוח אלוקי בלא ספק. That's an incredible hispailus. The hispailus of the Rambam's hispailus is off the charts here.

תדע שנאמר בכוח אלוקי בלא ספק והוא אמרם בצוואותיהם וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים.

So what's the Rambam so, so mispaleil from here? What's the Rambam so mispaleil from? So what's the Rambam so so so mispoel from him? What's the Rambam so mispoel from? So kim'duma maybe for purpose of perspective just to quote something my father zichrono livracha once said about the Chovos Halevavos. Someone once said to my father that in effect, the language wasn't quite this crude but in effect said that he thinks the Chovos Halevavos is overrated. Don't understand what everyone's so mispoel from the Chovos Halevavos. Everything he says is devarim pashutim. So my father didn't like that at all. And he had a two-part response. Number one was bring your Chovos Halevavos and I'll show you me-inyan hachidushim. And number two was what for us devarim pashutim are because the Chovos Halevavos made them devarim pashutim. So it's hardly a critique of the Chovos Halevavos to say that he's saying devarim pashutim. So the emes is that's a pitfall that one can often have and I think here too in the sugya of וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים also the Rambam maybe a victim of his own success. Kim'duma that whether one looks at ancient philosophies or lehavdil lehavdil lehavdil elef alfei havdalos other religions life is very bifurcated. Religion again we would call it avodas Hashem religion is very narrowly curtailed to what are viewed as inherently spiritual endeavors. The reality is that the overwhelming majority of people spend the overwhelming majority of their time on matters which are inherently mundane not inherently sacred. And even people who are looking to accentuate the spiritual they need to sleep they need to eat they need to attend to hygiene vechulu. They need to have a parnassa. What וכל מעשיך לשם שמים the first chidush in וכל מעשיך לשם שמים is that vechol ma'asecha nitpasim in being l'shem shamayim. In order for Chazal to tell us that there's a directive of וכל מעשיך לשם שמים so first the chidush is that vechol ma'asecha nitpasim in l'shem shamayim. All the mundane all the physical everything is nitpas in being l'shem shamayim. It's not just this sort of as a necessary inescapable evil okay so we're physical so be-leys brira we have to eat and drink and we're physical and we get tired so be-leys brira we have to sleep vechulu. No it's all nitpas in l'shem shamayim. So it's a double chidush A it's all nitpas in l'shem shamayim and then mimaila. do it all l'shem shamayim. Again, calibrate it and orient it l'shem shamayim. Both, right? Calibrate the middos b'mishkol, calibrate and orient l'shem shamayim. And that's what the Rambam says:

נמצא המהלך בדרך זו כל ימיו וכולן עבודת השם תמיד.

And that's what he's so nispoyel from. This prescription that it's not that there's a few fleeting hours every day where a person can be oved es Hashem. No, a person can be עובד את השם תמיד. The potential is there, okay? Like all potential it needs to be actualized. It's for us to actualize it, but the potential is there to be

עובד את השם תמיד אפילו בשעה שנושא ונותן אפילו בשעה שבועל.

It obviously doesn't totally erase the distinction between dvarim which are inherently kadosh and that which is mundane and is uplifted by being a hechsher. Dvarim which are inherently kadosh so a person can't learn Torah bimkomos metunafim or davven bimkomos metunafim. We're not erasing that distinction. That distinction remains a very important distinction. But it is being erased that avodas Hashem is no longer buttonholed into a relatively small number of activities which occupy a small percentage of a person's time. נמצא עובד את השם תמיד. The potential is there.

אפילו בשעה שנושא ונותן אפילו בשעה שבועל במה שמחשבתו בכל כדי שימצא צרכו עד שיהיה גופו שלם לעבודת השם. אפילו בשעה שהוא ישן אם ישן לדעת ולדעת כדי שתנוח דעתו עליו וינוח גופו כדי שלא יחלה ולא יוכל לעבוד את השם והוא חולה נמצאת שינה שלו עבודה למקום ברוך הוא. ועל ענין זה צוו חכמים ואמרו וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים והוא שאמר שלמה בחכמתו בכל דרכיך דעהו והוא יישר אורחותיך.

I think we commented the leshonos ha-Rambam are so precise. When the Rambam says how even when a person's conducting business, so the Rambam says if a person has the right kavana. If again, if he calibrates the degree to which he's involved and he orients it for the right reason, the right goal, so אפילו בשעה שנושא ונותן he's עובד את השם תמיד. When he says about sheina, so the Rambam says that not nimtza that he's עובד את השם תמיד but נמצאת שינה שלו עבודה למקום. Right, a different a different formulation. So the pshat clearly is to be to describe a person as ohev as oved es Hashem, so it means he has to be conscious and aware and oriented towards a certain goal. When a person's asleep, he's asleep. He's not he's asleep. What is it? He's asleep. Ela mai a person before he goes to sleep can frame and contextualize the sleep. But you can't say anything about the gavra at that point. He's sleeping, he's sleeping, he's sleeping. What you can say is that given what his kavanas were before he went to sleep and given I don't know what time he set his alarm clock for in the morning, so you can say that the way he's framed and contextualized the sleep that the sheina shelo is avoda la-makom. We suggested then that it could be that there are echoes of this later in Hilchos Sukkah. Perek Vav Halacha Hey Halacha Vav. Perek Vav Halacha Hey Halacha Vav.

כיצד היא מצות הישיבה בסוכה? שיהא אוכל ושותה ודר בסוכה כל שבעת הימים בין ביום בין בלילה כדרך שהוא דר בביתו בשאר ימות השנה. וכל שבעת הימים עושה אדם את ביתו עראי ואת סוכתו קבע שנאמר בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים. כיצד כלים הנאים ומצעות הנאות בסוכה וכלי שתייה כגון השישות וכוסות בסוכה אבל כלי אכילה כגון קדירות וקערות חוץ לסוכה.

So the Rambam based on the Mishna, the Baraisa in Kaf Ches in Sukkah, כיצד היא מצות אכילה וישיבה בסוכה is that a person he talks about ochel veshose and spending time, dor, right? אוכל ושותה ודר בסוכה. Then in Halacha Vav, the Rambam seems to start all over again.

אוכלין ושותין וישנים בסוכה כל שבעה בין ביום בין בלילה ואסור לאכול סעודה חוץ לסוכה,

skipping a couple lines, ואין ישנים חוץ לסוכה. So why the repetition? Why does the Rambam tell us twice that ochlin veshosin basukka? So I think what we discussed then is and I think maybe the Rogatchover has along these lines also, is that Halacha Hey, the Rambam says what a person does proactively in the Sukkah to establish the Sukkah as his home. צא מדירת קבע ושב בדירת עראי. Teishvu ke'ein taduru that a person the mitzvah of yeshivas sukkah is to make the Sukkah into one's kvius for the week of Sukkos. So the Rambam initially in Halacha Hey mentions achila and shtiya in that vein, that by a person takes his meals at home, right? משל למה הדבר דומה. So people will wait and they'll eat dinner late in order to eat dinner at home. Instead of eating dinner at six o'clock at the Stillman office, so they'll hold off and they'll eat dinner at eight or at eight-thirty at home because it's something you try to do, something you try to do at home. Halacha Hey is what a person does actively to establish the Sukkah as his kvius. עושה אדם סוכתו קבע וביתו עראי. But then there are things that if a person does outside of the Sukkah, it contradicts mitzvas sukkah. It contradicts mitzvas sukkah. There are things that you do in the Sukkah to facilitate mitzvas sukkah. עושה אדם סוכתו קבע וביתו עראי. And then there are things that you abstain from outside of the Sukkah not to contradict that. That's why the Rambam says achila veshtiya again because achila veshtiya is two-sided. By eating in the Sukkah, by eating in the Sukkah that makes sukkaso keva, by avoiding eating outside of the Sukkah, so that avoids undermining the Sukkah, contradicting it. That's why the Rambam only in Halacha Vav talks about אסור לאכול סעודה חוץ לסוכה. The Rambam only mentions sheina in Halacha Vav, he doesn't mention sheina in Halacha Hey. Sounds like the sheina, the chiyuv to sleep in the Sukkah basically is really just a result of the issur of sleeping outside of the Sukkah. Right? The chiyuv. Why? So itachen it's the same pshat as here in Hilchos Deios because you can't say that the sleeping is the way a person accomplishes the mitzvah of עושה אדם סוכתו קבע because a person has to be, he has to be awake and alert and and mindful of what he's doing. So what he's doing to establish the Sukkah as sukkaso keva. What the halacha does say is that if the person would sleep chutz lasukka, so then that would contradict, that would undermine the mitzvas sukkah. It's a similar similar understanding of the status of sheina. Yeah, okay, well we'll stop here for now.