Description: Chapter 11 - 02
Ahavas Chesed
Chapter 11 – 02
The Chafetz Chaim quoted a gaon who said, that every person should think that he has only one day to live, only one daf Gemarah, or Mishnah, or chesed to do, and he is the only Jew alive. The Chafetz Chaim explains that if you have the mindset that there’s only one day to live, then you most certainly not delay doing a chesed or learning or davening! There’s no tomorrow to push it off to. If a person thinks that he only has this Gemarah to learn or this mitzvah to do, he won’t get overwhelmed and he won’t let the Yetzer Horah tell him, ‘there’s no way you will ever finish,’ or, ‘this will take you at least three months, what’s the rush to do it today?’ If someone adopts the thought process that he is the only Jew, he won’t justify pushing things off by thinking, ‘there’s other Jews around, let someone else do it!’
Each one of these points can be found in Chazal. The Gemarah in Sanhedrin famously says, every person is obligated to say, ‘בשבילי נברא העולם’, the world was created for me! The Gemarah in Kiddushin says that it can have a real application, when the world hangs in the balance of a worldwide judgement, (think: Corona Virus!) and it’s a fifty-fifty scale – one mitzvah or one avairah can be what it takes to tip the judgement favorably or the other way chas v’shalom.
This is all hinted to in Krias Shemah. The Torah commands us, ואהבת את ה' אלוקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך, we should love Hashem with all our heart and all our soul. But how should we get to that level? The pasuk continues, ‘והיו הדברים האלה,’ let only these words, meaning the little that you are learning right now, whether it’s a daf Gemarah, a Mishnah, a halachah, or the mitzvah you are thinking of doing just now, a chesed, tzedakah, not speaking lashon horah, ‘אשר אנכי מצוך,’ that I, Hashem Yisborach, am commanding ‘You’ – the only Jew in the world – Hashem has a dedicated, unique command for each person – as if there is no other Jews. היום– today! You only have today to do these mitzvos! על לבבך – these three concepts should be on our mind and in our hearts.
Now we can understand the Medrash we began with. The pasuk, ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלוקיך שואל מעמך, is coming to warn a person against falling into the Yetzer Horah’s trap of pushing things off until tomorrow. The pasuk says – ועתה מה ה' שואל מעמך – Now! Today, Hashem is asking something of you! Think of how powerful this is in itself. If we would train ourselves to think, what should I do – should I learn now, shoud I do this mitzvah now, or I have other things to do, we can think – Hashem is asking us to do it, and to do it today! If Hashem would send a personal request to us through a navi – we most certainly would jump to do it! Even if a gadol baTorah, someone we really respect, would ask us to do something – we would jump to do it! Think of how much inspiration and motivation this thought process could give us. The Chafetz Chaim taught us how this reminder is built into Krias Shemah – this is a great place to try and incorporate this method into practice.
Ahavas Chesed
Chapter 11 – 02
The Chafetz Chaim quoted a gaon who said, that every person should think that he has only one day to live, only one daf Gemarah, or Mishnah, or chesed to do, and he is the only Jew alive. The Chafetz Chaim explains that if you have the mindset that there’s only one day to live, then you most certainly not delay doing a chesed or learning or davening! There’s no tomorrow to push it off to. If a person thinks that he only has this Gemarah to learn or this mitzvah to do, he won’t get overwhelmed and he won’t let the Yetzer Horah tell him, ‘there’s no way you will ever finish,’ or, ‘this will take you at least three months, what’s the rush to do it today?’ If someone adopts the thought process that he is the only Jew, he won’t justify pushing things off by thinking, ‘there’s other Jews around, let someone else do it!’
Each one of these points can be found in Chazal. The Gemarah in Sanhedrin famously says, every person is obligated to say, ‘בשבילי נברא העולם’, the world was created for me! The Gemarah in Kiddushin says that it can have a real application, when the world hangs in the balance of a worldwide judgement, (think: Corona Virus!) and it’s a fifty-fifty scale – one mitzvah or one avairah can be what it takes to tip the judgement favorably or the other way chas v’shalom.
This is all hinted to in Krias Shemah. The Torah commands us, ואהבת את ה' אלוקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך, we should love Hashem with all our heart and all our soul. But how should we get to that level? The pasuk continues, ‘והיו הדברים האלה,’ let only these words, meaning the little that you are learning right now, whether it’s a daf Gemarah, a Mishnah, a halachah, or the mitzvah you are thinking of doing just now, a chesed, tzedakah, not speaking lashon horah, ‘אשר אנכי מצוך,’ that I, Hashem Yisborach, am commanding ‘You’ – the only Jew in the world – Hashem has a dedicated, unique command for each person – as if there is no other Jews. היום– today! You only have today to do these mitzvos! על לבבך – these three concepts should be on our mind and in our hearts.
Now we can understand the Medrash we began with. The pasuk, ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלוקיך שואל מעמך, is coming to warn a person against falling into the Yetzer Horah’s trap of pushing things off until tomorrow. The pasuk says – ועתה מה ה' שואל מעמך – Now! Today, Hashem is asking something of you! Think of how powerful this is in itself. If we would train ourselves to think, what should I do – should I learn now, shoud I do this mitzvah now, or I have other things to do, we can think – Hashem is asking us to do it, and to do it today! If Hashem would send a personal request to us through a navi – we most certainly would jump to do it! Even if a gadol baTorah, someone we really respect, would ask us to do something – we would jump to do it! Think of how much inspiration and motivation this thought process could give us. The Chafetz Chaim taught us how this reminder is built into Krias Shemah – this is a great place to try and incorporate this method into practice.