Serving out of Obligaton & Shelo Lishma is a Starting Point

So we'll read a little bit and then we'll as we usually do discuss it a little bit. So Rabbeinu Bachya begins

חובת קבלת עבודת השם יתברך עלינו. אמר מפני שביארנו במה שקדם חובת תורת ייחוד השם יתעלה ואופני בחינת טובותיו על האדם.

So the two previous she'arim, number one, Rabbeinu Bachya has explained why and how we come to know of Hakadosh Baruch Hu and his unity, Yichud Hashem. And then number two, how we discern and recognize all the tovos which he bestows upon us. חייבים אנו לסמוך לכך, so we have to juxtapose to this מה שחייב האדם לנהוג בו כאשר יתברר לו. What is a person supposed to do with this information? Being aware, number one, of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Number two, of the fact that we are constantly, continuously recipients of his chessed. So here's Chovas Avodas Hashem. This is our obligation of serving Hakadosh Baruch Hu וכל מה שמחייבו השכל להיטיב מן המוטב לו, to the degree that a beneficiary is obligated to his benefactor. Okay. Then he goes on to describe various situations ben adam lachaveiro in which you have a benefactor and a beneficiary. And he describes five different examples: parent with a child, a master with his slave, a rich man with a poor man, one man and his neighbor, and the fifth, the more powerful with the weak. And he describes how in each case it's not really pure altruism, but in each case it's either a teva, it's either some kind of instinct that drives a person, or in other cases he's looking to protect his own investment, as with the adon and the eved, or maybe he's even bothered at the other person's pain, it's not so much the other person's pain but it's his pain that bothers him. And he describes that in each of these cases, even though the chessed is carried out, it's not pure altruism. But nevertheless, we all recognize intuitively that a person has an obligation of hakaras hatov, that a person has, is indebted and should feel indebted. So then he says על אחת כמה וכמה. This is a few lines after he finishes describing the five situations of chessed amongst men.

על אחת כמה וכמה חייב האדם מן המשמעת והתודה והברכה,

how much more so is a person obligated to obey, to give thanks, and to bless Hakadosh Baruch Hu לבורא הטובה והמטיבה אשר אין תכלית לטובתו chassadim אלא היא רצופה תמידית, constant, with no self-interest, בלא מחשבה לתועלת עצמו ולא לסלק ממנו צער, and not to free himself of any distress, אלא טובה נדבה וחסד מאיתו על בני אדם. But pure bounty and chessed from him upon the sons of man. pure chesed of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. ממה שברא שנאמר עליו another point of relevance

שכל אדם המיטיב לזולתו מאיזה סוג שיהיה מן הסוגים שהזכרנו

from any of the five classes which we enumerated before

אין יתרונו על אותו שהיטיב לו כי אם באחד המקרים.

The difference between the benefactor and the beneficiary is incidental. It's incidental. One's up on his luck, one's down on his luck, one's rich, one's poor. One's older, one's younger, one's more mature, one's less mature, but incidental differences. Aval b'admiyusam in their humanness v'atzmusam in their essence harei hein domim they resemble each other. קרובים במהותם וצורתם וחיבורם ותבניתם וטבעיהם ובהרבה מן מקריהם. They're basically of the same genus. ואף על פי כן and nevertheless, even though the differences between them are in a way accidental, it just so happens that he's rich and that I'm poor and that he has the opportunity to help me, nevertheless, חייב המוטב לו משמעת למיטיב כפי שביארנו. Nevertheless, the beneficiary is indebted to the benefactor.

ואם נתאר המוטב לו בתכלית החסרון והמגרעת והרכבו וחיבורו ותבניתו תהיה חובת המשמעת עליו יותר חובה וחיוב והכרחיות.

If the beneficiary is totally dependent on the benefactor, totally weak in every form and fashion, so then his indebtedness will be all the greater. וכן כאשר נתאר המיטיב בטוב נעלה ושלם מכל נמצא if we will describe the benefactor as being perfect והמוטב לו גרוע מכל נמצא וחלש מכל נברא. So if the benefactor is absolutely independent and the beneficiary is totally dependent, harei hasechel mechayiv so then reason, logic dictates שתהיה חובת המשמעת למיטיב עד ללא גבול. That the indebtedness which we have is all-encompassing. Then he goes on to explain, to explain that the nimshal here is in our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So here it's important to have some context for what we just read and for the part that we didn't take the time out to read together. Rabbeinu Bachya very consciously, so in a word, in a sentence, what does Rabbeinu Bachya say? Rabbeinu Bachya says we have an all-encompassing sense of indebtedness to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We're totally dependent upon Him. We're beneficiaries of His chesed without which we couldn't exist, so that creates a sense of obligation to accept ol malchus shamayim. Mishnayos in Pirkei Avos say it even more basically, even more fundamentally in a sense than Rabbeinu Bachya here does. Mishna at the end of Perek daled in Pirkei Avos al korcho.

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

So again, there's no, we're not appealing to that this is what you should want to do. We're not appealing to necessarily the nobler instincts here. But we're just stating a very brute fact. It's very a brute fact. Al korchacha ata chai, al korchacha ata meis, and

על כרחך אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון. ואין השאול מנוס לך,

the mishna says. There's no escape from that. The mishna's appealing to one of the most fundamental instincts we have, which is self-interest, self-preservation. That's what the mishna says. Al korchacha ata chai, and al korchacha ata meis, and על כרחך אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון. Ultimately, a person has to give a reckoning. So the mishna's appealing to self-preservation. Rabbeinu Bachya is maybe one step further. He's already lifting it to a sense of moral obligation, not just appealing to self-interest and to self-preservation, but he's arguing on more moral terms. That out of hakaras hatov, out of this sense of indebtedness which a beneficiary has, so we're obligated. But the tzad hashaveh, the common denominator of what the mishna says in Pirkei Avos and Rabbeinu Bachya is that they're very much underscoring a sense of obligation. A sense of obligation. Now it's very important again to have context on this. Number one, he does this throughout Chovos Halevavos, but especially over here, Rabbeinu Bachya in the first paragraph which we read, reviews for us exactly at what stage we're holding when he introduces this Shaar Avodas Elokim. We're talking about a person who is aware of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's existence and is aware of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's chasadim. So what Rabbeinu Bachya is saying, Rabbeinu Bachya is not describing an ideal here. That's what's important to see. Okay, sometimes you read it, you read the mishna in Pirkei Avos, so al korchacha ata chai, and al korchacha ata meis, and על כרחך אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון. Right? So Rabbeinu Bachya's a little bit more subtle. He tries to be a little bit more subtle. So it's a moral obligation. Okay, it's not just a obligation, but he adds the adjective. It's a moral obligation because we're beneficiaries of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But somehow we sense, is that really what Torah is all about? Is that really what Torah is all about? Al korchacha ata chai, al korchacha ata meis, and על כרחך אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון. So the answer is, Rabbeinu Bachya is talking to us now. Rabbeinu Bachya takes you through a journey. Takes you from a journey from knowing nothing. He begins by introducing you to yichud Hashem, and he takes you on a journey all the way to ahavas Hashem. Okay? So what Rabbeinu Bachya is describing now, what the mishna in Pirkei Avos is describing there, we're not describing the ideal. We're not talking about what Torah is all about. We're not talking about what Torah is all about. Take a little child. Take a little child. You want him to learn Torah. So the Rambam tells you in the hakdama to perek chelek in peirush hamishnayos. So you don't start telling him about the קודשא בריך הוא ואורייתא וישראל חד הוא. You don't tell him about לפי הדעת תהיה אהבה. You tell him, you learn a mishna and I'll give you a candy. You learn a mishna and I'll give you a candy. So you talk to people ba'asher hu sham. intellectual and emotional capacity as well. So Rabbeinu Bachya again he reviews what I'm telling you now about avodas Hashem I'm not telling you that this is what Torah is all about. I'm not telling you that Torah I'm not telling you that Yiddishkeit if you want a slogan for Yiddishkeit the slogan for Yiddishkeit is

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

I'm telling you if you believe in the Ribbono Shel Olam, Sha'ar HaYichud, Sha'ar Rishon. And number two you're aware of the chesed Ribbono Shel Olam, Sha'ar Sheni. And you want to know why you should get out of bed in the morning say Krias Shema. You want to know why should I do it? So I'm telling you you should do it you should have a sense of obligation. You should have a sense of obligation. So the Sha'ar Avodas Elokim I mean if you take it out of context of the Chovos HaLevavos as a whole so given the title of of this particular sha'ar so you might think that Rabbeinu Bachya is describing the goal describing how chasidim v'anshei ma'aseh are oveid Hashem. The answer is no. Sha'ar Avodas Elokim is a person who is at the towards the beginning of his journey of coming close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. It's talking to a person to us who are still far more distant than remote from the Ribbono Shel Olam than we should be. So yeah. So that's very important. So the mishna in Pirkei Avos

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

is that what Torah is all about? Is that the Torah's goal? Is that the Torah's ideal? No. Avodas Hashem so the Torah wants avodas Hashem should be out of self-interest should be for self-preservation? No. But the Torah's aware of a very fundamental fact. Let's say the first siman seif in Shulchan Aruch is יתגבר כארי לעבודת בוראו. Okay that's not so simple no it's not so simple. יתגבר כארי לעבודת בוראו is not so simple. If rachmana litzlan be a fire in the house. Three o'clock in the morning. You just went to bed at two o'clock. Exhausted. Dead tired. You wouldn't get out of bed for a million dollars. If there's a fire you'll get out of bed. You'll get out of bed. You'll get out of bed and you'll set a world record in the 50-yard dash. So self-interest acting out of an instinct for self-interest and self-preservation is not the goal of Torah. It's not what Torah is about. But it does provide a universal impetus for a person to begin on his way in a life of Torah v'mitzvos. Tosafos v'iyun. The famous Gemara in Shabbos daf peh-ches. Last week's parsha V'yisyatzvu b'sachtis hahar מלמד שכפה עליהם הר כגיגית. Right? HaKadosh Baruch Hu said if mekablim he picked up the mountain held it over their heads. אם מקבלים את התורה good ואם לאו שם תהא קבורתכם. I'll drop the mountain on you this will be your burial spot. So Tosafos ask the kasha why was there need for intimidation why was there need for coercion they already said Na'aseh V'Nishma. וישב משה את דברי העם אל ה׳ so in the previous psukim they already said Na'aseh they already committed themselves unqualifiedly to do what HaKadosh Baruch Hu said. That's Tosafos' kasha. So Tosafos answers that Ribbono Shel Olam was afraid that maybe they would regress.

ואף על פי שכבר הקדימו נעשה לנשמה שמא יחזרו כשיראו אש הגדולה.

The intimidation, the coercion was necessary that they shouldn't regress. But be-emet, we can give another teretz in Tosafot's kasha also. Salanter says, we all know the Rabbeinu Bachya, Chovot HaLevavot, and many others distinguish between yirat ha-onesh and yirat ha-romemut. Yirat ha-onesh, again, is the yira to which that mishna in Pirkei Avot is appealing, a yira of self-preservation, where we're afraid of being punished. Yirat ha-romemut, a more noble altruistic kind of yira, where we are in awe of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Not so much fear because of consequences but a sense of awe. Yirat ha-onesh, yirat ha-romemut. What is the ideal of Torah? What is Torah trying to lead us to? Yirat ha-romemut. Yirat ha-romemut. Not not not very, again, a very self-centered fear, fear of consequences, but rather a more noble sense of awe of the Ribbono Shel Olam. However, says Rebbi Yisrael Salanter, a person is not supposed to have disdain for yirat ha-onesh. A person is not supposed to dismiss yirat ha-onesh and say no, to talk about yirat ha-onesh is to sully, to contaminate Torah, it's to lower Torah too much. In other words, we should censor those mishnayot in Pirkei Avot which appeal and again without too much tact, which appeal to an instinct for self-preservation, we should sort of gloss over that. Says Rebbi Salanter, no. Why not? So here I'll just give you a mashal before and Rebbi Itzele Blazer elaborated on it. Give you a mashal before we discuss the rest of what they say. משל למה הדבר דומה, you have two magnets. You have a magnet and then you have a refrigerator. So if the refrigerator is over here, let's say over here, the refrigerator, and you're holding the magnet over here, so even though there is a natural, potentially powerful and irresistible attraction between the magnet and the refrigerator, the magnet is too far. It's too far from its source to feel it. It's not going to sense that. It might not even be aware that that attraction exists. It might not even be aware that that attraction is latent within it. Somehow or other, by hook or by crook, you push it forward, you push it forward, you bring it closer, so then all of a sudden you don't need to push it anymore. Then all of a sudden not only does it become aware of that attraction, but that attraction becomes so powerful and naturally irresistible, not because of any sense of coercion or sense of obligation, but just because within proximity to the refrigerator, so then the magnet is overcome once it becomes close enough with that attraction intrinsic to it. Then you don't need to push anymore. To be oved Hashem me-ahava, me-yira, to have yirat ha-romemut, awe, not just fear, not just brute fear, but a noble sense of awe. To be oved Hashem me-ahava without any with total disregard for personal consequences, בין בעולם הזה בין בעולם הבא. They tell a story about the Ba'al Shem Tov, the Ba'al Shem Tov was once told min ha-shamayim that he had lost his olam ha-ba. So his reaction was, ach Baruch Hashem, now it will be easier for me to be oved me-ahava, I will no longer have to struggle. That I'm going to get s'char for this in Olam Haba. I know I lost my Olam Haba, Baruch Hashem, I can really be oved me'ahava. So that's the goal. That's the goal. How does that happen? How does that happen? It doesn't happen when a person's very distant from the Ribbono Shel Olam. A person is distant from the Ribbono Shel Olam, he's very mired and weighed down by materialism, totally enveloped in gashmius. He doesn't sense that attraction. He's too far. He doesn't sense that attraction. He has to have a sense of obligation. You have to speak to him in a language that he can understand at all times, 24 hours a day, 24 hours a day.

על כרחך אתה חי ועל כרחך אתה מת ועל כרחך אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון

is a language we all understand 24 hours a day. If there's, if the fire alarm goes off and you know that it's not a fire drill, but you know it's for real, so it doesn't matter how tired you are and it doesn't matter how exhausted you are, you don't try to make excuses, you don't want to make excuses. It's a language which you understand and which you respond to bechol kocheinu. bechol kocheinu we respond to that. Salant says, even if a person thinks he has a sense, well, let me go add to what he says now. Even if a person thinks that he has a sense for yiras haromemus, Bnei Yisrael said na'aseh v'nishmah. We'll do whatever Hakadosh Baruch Hu says. We're not asking you what He's going to ask of us. We're not asking you for a listing of taryag mitzvos. We'll do, we want to do whatever Hakadosh Baruch Hu says. They had a sense, they had an inspiration. They said it me'ahava, miyira, miyiras haromemus. They didn't say it out of yiras ha'onesh. They made a kabbalah. So what happens? Vayisyatzvu besachtis hahar. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, you know, that's not enough. If the only impulse which you have is because now it's a moment of inspiration, it's a moment of inspiration, you have a sense for the romemus Hashem because you just witnessed a gilui Shechinah, you just witnessed a gilui Shechinah. You're overcome, you're overcome with a sense of ahavas Hashem because, again,

ראתה שפחה על הים מה שלא ראה יחזקאל בן בוזי

because of the nevuah you just had. If that underlays your kabbalas haTorah, that's not enough. You have to be mekabbel Torah also Vayisyatzvu besachtis hahar. You have to be mekabbel Torah not just as a sense of opportunity and a sense of privilege and because of a momentary, because of a moment of profound, profound inspiration and recognition, no. כפה עליהם הר כגיגית. You have to be mekabbel Torah because of this sense of obligation as well. Because if you have this sense of obligation of Vayisyatzvu besachtis hahar, so then there won't be that many peaks and valleys. Then even when that moment of inspiration fades, even when the nevuah which you just had is not so vivid anymore and you fall off that madrega for a moment, but they were all Yechezkels. No, they weren't all Yechezkels. For a moment, they lived on the plane which even Yechezkel didn't have. But after that, the Ribbono Shel Olam said, then you're going to fall back. This was a moment. So if your kabbalah is only going to come out of this moment of inspiration for romemus and for ahava, it won't last, it won't endure, because you're not on a madrega yet. Vayisyatzvu besachtis hahar, Hakadosh Baruch Hu said no, you have to have a sense of obligation. You have to have a sense of obligation that kabbalas hatorah is not again just as a brocha but as a tzivui, as a sense of obligation. And the reason for that is because that is something which will motivate you and impel you at all times, at all times. As it motivates and impels you, so then through torah u'mitzvos, so then we are purified and we become refined to such an extent that in the moshal of the magnet, it brings us closer to the ribono shel olam until it's not just a moment of inspiration, of romemus v'ahava, but we actually achieve that station. So hashem says in וישובו ויחנו לפני פי החירות. B'nai Yisrael told to backtrack. They went out of mitzrayim and then hakadosh baruch hu tells them, retrace your steps. Vayashuvu vayachanu. What does it mean? Why, why backtrack? Explain it like this. Yetzias mitzrayim hakadosh baruch hu lifted the b'nai yisrael to a tremendously high madrega, tremendously high madrega, nevuah was bestowed upon them, the gilluy shechina. They were שקוע במ"ט שערי טומאה. Hakadosh baruch hu had to intervene before it was too late. Vayashuvu vayachanu. Now you have to go back, you have to retrace your steps and through your amala, through your yegi'ah, through your exertion in torah u'mitzvos, you have to achieve this level to which I lifted you. Because if it just comes from a momentary, from a moment of inspiration which is entirely mil'ma'la, so it's not going to last. Vayashuvu. Now you have to backtrack. Now that I showed you, now that I was nisgaleh and you saw me, and you saw that ultimately, ultimately the most powerful melucha in the world was overturned. So now that moment of inspiration, you have to go back. You have to go back now and build on that. You can't just stay where I brought you because this moment of inspiration will fade, the moment of inspiration will fade. You have to go back and you have to translate that, you have to translate that into action and you have to build yourself. So rabbeinu bachya here appeals to a sense of obligation. You're indebted, like it or not, you're indebted. The mishna in pirkei avos also appeals to a sense of indebtedness. That's what Rabbi Yisrael Salanter explained, that that's critical and crucial, because that sense of obligation pushes us forward even when we're too distant and too remote to sense that overwhelming and powerful, irresistible attraction. The gemara tells us Rabbi Akiva:

כל ימי נצטערתי על מקרא זה מתי יבוא לידי ואקיימנו.

You didn't feel any pain. Akiva didn't feel pain. Kol yamai nitza'arti. Adaraba, then he was b'simcha, at the end he was b'simcha. Kol yamai nitza'arti. His whole life he agonized, will I ever have an opportunity to fulfill this posuk. So we don't understand that. That kind of irresistible, powerful attraction. So we're too far. We have moments of inspiration, but we have more moments of numbness and of laziness which more than counteract those moments of inspiration. So says rabbeinu bachya, so I'm going to explain to you now. You're only holding the sha'ah shlishis. I'm telling you a hachshara for now. I'm telling you how, if you're distant from the Ribono shel Olam, that you don't have this irresistible, powerful, that natural attraction which is there, but you're too far to sense it. So I'm going to tell you what will push you forward, even without sensing that attraction. So the yiras ha-onesh, this is what the Bitzlo Bazach talks about, the yiras ha-onesh pushes us into Torah and mitzvot. בל כרחך אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון pushes us into Torah and mitzvot. Torah and mitzvot, it purifies a person, it refines a person. Let's say a person, a person be-teva wants to gossip, wants to gossip. So puk chazei, even if a person abstains from lashon hara purely out of yiras ha-onesh, he's plotting to gossip, plotting, he's plotting to hear what they're saying about Yaniv, and he's plotting to tell his friend what he already knows about Yaniv. But he doesn't do it, he doesn't do it. So puk chazei that that person even though he's motivated by yiras ha-onesh, and look into yourself, the person becomes uplifted. He becomes uplifted. He becomes a better person. Not just that he abstains, maybe initially he just abstains, maybe initially he just bites his tongue, but ultimately he becomes a much better person. Less petty, less cheap, he becomes a better person. So the point is that shmiras Torah u-mitzvot, even if a person, when a person is motivated by yiras ha-onesh, it purifies the person, it purifies the person. A person learns Torah, so there's no non-mystical explanation for this. A person learns Torah, he learns enough Torah, a person gets a tshuka for Torah. Person learns Torah initially out of a sense of obligation, he learns enough Torah, he tastes enough Torah, he wants to learn more Torah, he wants to learn more Torah. You do it initially out of yiras ha-onesh, out of ahavat sachar, but it purifies the person, it refines the person gradually, slowly, bit by bit. Person doesn't want to daven every day, he'd rather not daven. Person davens every day, thinks about what he's saying, it changes him, even though the impulse was a sense of obligation. Even though he only is aware of Vayeitzei, he's not aware of any dimension of bracha of Vayevarech, totally totally motivated out of Vayeitzei, the self-instinct, the instinct for self-preservation, but it purifies the person, it purifies the person. And that's the secret. So no, that Mishnah in Pirkei Avot is not what Torah is all about, not the catch-all of Torah. Nor is this sha'ar avodat elokim of Rabbeinu Bachya. If you read it and you're disappointed, so it's because you're reading it in the wrong context. If this was sha'ar ha-asiri, if this were the pinnacle of avodat Hashem, so yeah, avodat Hashem is just out of a sense of indebtedness? And let's say I'm totally unaware of any chesed of Hakadosh Baruch Hu? So you're right, those questions are valid dependent upon the context, but given the context of this sha'ar, so the context of this sha'ar again is when the person is too far, when the person wants to talk lashon hara. But no, is that what Torah's all about? No, that's not what Torah's all about. Torah's not all about talk lashon hara. That's not what Torah's all about. But it is the beginning point, it is the beginning point, it is the beginning point. That's what Rabbeinu Bachya says. We're talking about a person who's far enough removed he doesn't sense any of that attraction. So at this point you appeal to the Vayeitzei, you appeal to a sense of obligation. Again, we're obviously not talking about trying to be mekarev people who don't believe in the Ribono shel Olam. I mean Rabbeinu Bachya tells you we're talking about after Yichud Hashem and Sha'ar Ha-Bechina. So we're talking to a very clearly identified person and to such a person, so they Yeah, so then you appeal to a sense of obligation because that's a universal at all times for all people. The Vayetzav, the Yiras Ha'onesh is something we always understand. If there's a fire we always jump up and ultimately that pushes us, and it pushes us a little bit, so then we don't do it totally out of sense of obligation. Then it becomes a mixture, becomes a mixture, it's not a hundred percent obligation, but the mixture, and the ratio within the mixture is constantly changing. The longer a person is involved in Torah and Mitzvos. And ultimately, ultimately the person is pushed and pushes himself so close that ultimately, no, he doesn't need this, this was a Hora'as Sha'ah. He doesn't need this. Rabbi Akiva didn't need this. This wasn't for Rabbi Akiva. Ultimately he's so close that then the magnet has a powerful irresistible attraction and can't be held back.