Eikev – 2015

· Last week’s Parsha  – Shema – VeHafta Hashem Elokecha be Kol Levavcha, ve Kol Nafshecha ve Kol Meodecha.  – You must love Hashem with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  Some say with all our resources.

· Brochas 61b - It says be Kol Levavcha – extra vov with our yetzer tov and our yetzer hara

· This week:: 10:12 – And now, Yisroel, what is Hashem, your G-d, asking of you, other than to fear Hashem, your G-d, to go in all His ways, and to love Him.

· 11:1 – You are to love Hashem, your G-d.

· 11:13, 11:22 – I am commanding you today to love Hashem, your G-d.

· Question - How can love be ordered, commanded, legislated?

· Can a person be told, You must love strawberry ice cream?

· When a couple is in marriage counseling, would it make sense for the therapist to say You must love your spouse?

· It’s a feeling – can a person control his feeling?.  Fear can be induced, but can love be commanded?

· Also, let’s say a person finds the commandments burdensome – he’s willing, even eager to perform them – but he doesn’t love them – he’s willing to be an evid Hashem – but does every evid love his master?

· During the slichos period when we wake up early, or cleaning for Pesach – does everyone love it?

· Gemorah in Yuma says that the highest level of Tshuva is Tshuva shel Ahava, of love, and that is very hard to achieve.

· Also we are not always rewarded, e.g if we don’t act in an optimum way.

· Second paragraph of Shema is in this week’s Parsha. 11:17 – if you are not good – You will swiftly be removed from upon the good land.

· 8:19 – When and if you forget Hashem, … you will surely be destroyed.

· And life is not always a bed of roses.

· The Gemorah says that for two and half years Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai debated whether mankind would have been better off not being created.  In the end they voted with Beit Shammai that mankind would have been better off never having been created, but now that we’re here, we should examine our actions.

· Kiddushin 30b – Our situation with Hashem is like a father who inflicted a great wound on his son, and placed a bandage on the wound, and said, don’t remove it – ‘and you shall place these words upon your heart’ – this is the Torah that we should put on the wound of the Yetzer Hara, and I’ve created the Torah as a Tavlin, an antidote.

· So how are we to understand the command to love Hashem?

· Life can be hard, being an evid Hashem may be hard, and can we control our emotions?

· The Rambam gives an answser in Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah (2:2): “By thinking into His actions and creations… and seeing His unlimited wisdom, one will love Him.”

· Sefer HaMitzvos (mitzvah 3):  We need to analyze and contemplate Hashem’s mitzvos, so that we understand Hashem better and enjoy our understanding of Him.

· Hilchos Teshuvah 10:6, “Love is based on knowing Hashem, which is developed by studying His teachings....”

· In the Shema, the commandment to love Hashem is immediately followed by the command to learn Torah.

· Chovov Levovis:  In how many ways is there love of G-d? I will compare it to the love of a slave for his master:

o Because the master gives to him and shows kindness to him.

o Because the master frequently overlooks his transgressions and abundantly forgives him

o He admires his master’s great and exalted character and inherent nobility

· That is the same for our love of Hashem

· So does this answer the question?

· This week I followed Rambam’s advice of looking into His creation.

· How many nerve cells is a baby created with? (no new nerves are created)– 7 trillion

· There are 2 million new red blood cells created every second to feed our 100 trillion cells in our body, flowing through 100,000 miles of blood vessels, all pumped by one muscle the heart, that pumps 100,000 times a day.

· There are tens of thousands of different chemicals in our body, all working in perfect synchronization – and if one is a little bit off, everything goes haywire.

· If you go back into time to the beginning of the Universe – what scientists call the Big Bang - - there’s a moment before which there was nothing – not time, not space, nothing – and Hashem created the whole universe out of nothing – Yesh me Ayin

· And we see the beauty of the Torah, it’s a handbook for life and society.

· But let’s say a person says: Life isn’t so easy, and my mind and emotions are otherwise occupied.

· After being impressed by all the previous numbers, can the feeling of love be commanded?.

· There is a story of person who needed a kidney transplant – and he lost all his money, fell into a coma, a kidney donor was found, who came of his own accord, and he donated his kidney, and he happened to be rich, and replenished all the lost money

· When the kidney recipient woke up, would he have to be commanded to love the kidney and money donor?

· Even though love is an emotion, how could the kidney recipient not love the person who gave him back his health and money? It would be very strange if he didn’t feel a feeling of love.

· If we don’t feel and love towards Hashem for all that He gives us, aren’t we similar to such a man not feeling love towards the one who donated the kidney and money?

· I heard a story involving the Chazon Ish – a person prayed for something for several years, and it happened, and he asked the Chazon Ish, he expected to be more grateful.

· The Chazon Ish answered, there is a special Yetzer Hara that Hashem puts inside of us – the ability to not feel grateful.  If it wasn’t that special Yetzer Hara, we wouldn’t have bechirah.

· The Ho-Hum attitude towards even the greatest of gifts is a Special Yetzer Hara that Hashem put within us to not feel gratitude, to take things for granted, so that we have free will, bechirah.

· It’s so easy to take everything, even life itself for granted.

· We are very easily prone to say Ho Hum

· Special Yetzer Hara that gives us Bechirah.

· If you go to a Chasunah hall at the start of Chasunah – everything is prepared, tables and food – we rarely think about how much work went into it – we usually take it all for granted – unless you were the one who prepared it all.

· 7 trillion nerve cells, Ho Hum.

· Created Universe from nothing – Ho Hum

· This is a Yetzer Hara that we can, and must, combat and counteract.

· It is within our ability to open our eyes and see all that we are being given

· To overcome the Yetzer Hara to say Ho Hum to everything, to take everything for granted, not to feel grateful.

· All we have to do is open our eyes and see all that what we are being given.

· And it is the key to happiness in marriage – to overcome this specific Yetzer Hara, and to open our eyes to all the things that our spouse gives to us, and all their wonderful qualities.

· Children should open their eyes and see all the things their parents give them.

· Parents should open their eyes and see all the things their children give them.

· Siblings should open their eyes and see all the things that their brothers and sisters give them.

· With regards to Hashem, We are commanded to open our eyes to what He gives us, and to see the miracles he always does, every second

· Our task is to combat that Ho Hum Yetzer Hara, to remove that Chatziztah,

· Just as we are commanded to battle the Yetzer Hara of Arayos, and stealing, and all the other wiles and tricks of the Yetzer Hara..

· We are likewise commanded to battle the Ho-Hum Yetzer Hara.

· That is within our ability to do.

· When we conquer the Ho-Hum Yetzer Hara.

· Then we will naturally feel love towards Hashem, the love will flow freely and naturally

· Then we will be able to fulfill the command to love Hashem will all our heart, with all our soul, and strength.