As Heard from Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT”L
Perke Abot
“He (R’ Hanina Ben Dosa) said, If the spirit of one’s fellows is pleased with him, then the spirit of Hashem is pleased with him; but if the spirit of one’s fellow is not pleased with him, the spirit of Hashem is not pleased with him.” (Abot 3:13)
Rabbi Miller ZT”L would say that this Mishna provides an answer to the big question which we should all have. How can I recognize how Hashem feels about me. If He would only just send me a telegram and let me know. This knowledge would be a tremendous help in directing me to make adjustments in my life in order to serve the Creator with increased perfection.
One way that we can see and affect the way Hashem is thinking about us is in this Mishna. When People are pleased with us, that is an indication that Hashem is pleased with us. When we make it our business to make people happy through respecting them, this results in people being pleased with us, which results in Hashem being pleased with us.
Therefore, every day we should realize that a great Purpose of Life is to make it a prime objective to make sure people are pleased with us. Then, R’ Hanina assures us that Hashem will be eternally pleased with us.
Rabbi Miller ZT”L explains further. In order to help us gain in our Sensory Awareness of Him, Hashem revealed to us that people are created in ‘the Image of G-d’. When we gain this Awareness we can think that Hashem is watching us through people’s eyes. This Mishna teaches us that a reminder of our relationship with Hashem is through our relationship with people.
Shabbat Shalom
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