The Real You - Eikev 5786

“And now, Israel, what does G-d, your G-d, demand of you? Only to revere G-d, your G-d, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, and to serve G-d, your G-d, with all your heart and with all your soul... by keeping G-d’s commandments and rules, which I am commanding you today, for your own good.”  (Devarim 10:12,13.)  These are Moshe’s words in his parting words to the people, as he prepares them for life without him in Israel.  

(Pardon the interruption.  We have invited a Scholar in Residence next weekend, Rabbi Avroham Jacks, August 7-8, in partnership with the Torah Science Foundation.  He is a very interesting speaker and will address some of the issues at the forefront of our consciousness these days.  Please see here for details.)

This is somewhat shocking: “What does G-d, your G-d, demand of you, “ONLY” to revere G-d etc.?” As the Talmud puts it (Berachot 33b):  “Is reverence [of G-d] a small thing?”  For someone to live with reverence of Hashem in a way that meaningfully impacts their lives seemingly requires a lot of deep spiritual work?  This does not seem like something small for most people!

The Talmud gives an equally shocking answer:  “Yes, for Moshe reverence is a small thing.”  Wait a second.  We are talking about Moshe, called the “faithful shepherd” who understood his people really well, and like a faithful shepherd was known for his understanding of each of their natures.  Just because it’s easy for him, how can he think that it’s easy for all the others?  As if it fits to say for all the people that it’s “only” reverence that Hashem wants from all of us.

The answer is that the Talmud is not referring to Moshe himself and the ease for Moshe to achieve reverence.  Moshe was not out of touch with the people and applying his own experience to the entire nation.  Every single one of us, the great sage Rabbi Schneur Zalman writes in the book of Tanya, has a spark of Moshe within us.  And for that inner spark it is a “small thing” to revere Hashem.  What does that mean exactly?

We have a mind and a heart, thoughts and emotions, conscious and subconscious feelings, and a whole system of behaviors.  These all can change, depending on our education, our environment, our physical, emotional and mental health, our habits and desires, and so much more.  But there is an inner core that never changes.  That is the essence of our soul.  It is a part of Hashem, never affected by anything and always connected to its source.

The greatest person who ever lived was Moshe.  His soul permeated him and he was constant in his connection to Hashem.  The Torah says: Moshe Emet - Moshe is true.  The word Emet has three Hebrew letters, Alef, Mem and Taf.  These are the first, middle and last letters of the Alef Bet, because Emet never changes.  

The inner core of our soul is the Moshe within us, always true and one with its Divine source, regardless of how far we may stray in our soul powers, character traits and behaviors.  So in order for us to achieve reverence for Hashem, what we need to do is to get in touch with our own inner core, which is always there.  Yes, reverence is a big thing, but not for our inner Moshe.

Of course the big question is how do we uncover our inner Moshe.  The answer is to connect to another thing that is one with Hashem.  The Torah is Hashem’s will and wisdom, and Hashem’s will and wisdom are part of Himself.  The more we open our minds and hearts to Hashem’s Torah, and our actions to following Hashem’s will in practical day-to-day Mitzvot, the more we get in touch with our true selves.  

To change our personality is a huge deal.  We often spend a lifetime trying.  To get in touch with ourselves is also not so easy, but it is a much smaller challenge than trying to change our personality. And this is the power of Mitzvot.  It is uncanny how doing a single Mitzvah connects us in a small way with our inner soul and leads us to feel the desire to do more.  Each Mitzvah we do, each little piece of Torah that we study with the knowledge that it is Hashem’s wisdom, helps us get in touch more and more with ourselves.  Before long we feel the reverence of Hashem permeating our lives.

It all starts with a Mitzvah!