“Behold, to Hashem your G-d belong the heavens and the heavens above the heavens, the earth and all that is in it. Solely in your Fathers did Hashem delight to love them, and He chose their seed after them, from all the nations, in you as of this day.” (10:14-15)

These verses can be construed as follows: Hashem created the entire universe for the sake of your righteous Fathers, for He delights in them more than the entire Universe. Because of these Fathers, Hashem has chosen their seed after them from all the nations, to continue to love their seed more than anything else in the Universe. This love is eternal, for all subsequent generations. The expression “after them” probably means: those of their seed that follow the Fathers in their loyalty to Hashem. The expression “from all the nations” probably stipulates that the seed of the Fathers, in order to be beloved over all the nations, must abstain from the ways of all the nations and must go solely in the ways of the Fathers.

“Solely in your Fathers…(and) in you.” This thunderous declaration that in this vast Universe, Hashem delights solely in the Fathers and in their seed, is clearly demonstrated by a most open fact. The Creation of the Universe is granted in the Torah merely 56 verses. The history of Mankind is given only ten chapters. But subsequently, the entire Torah of Hashem is devoted to the Fathers and to their seed, the people of Israel. According to this allocation of space in the Torah, the entire Universe and all the nations of the world are vastly unimportant in the esteem of the Creator in comparison to His regard for Israel.

Actually, this is an understatement. The Creation of the Universe and the events that transpired thereafter are written in the Torah only as a necessary preface to Beresheet 12 where Abraham appears. Everything before Abraham was intended for the purpose of the beginning of history and the history of his seed. Thus the Creation of the vast Space of millions of star-worlds, and all the events of Adam and Cain and Hevel and of Noach and the Great Flood: all have a place in Hashem’s Torah solely as an essential preface and introduction for the story of those that Hashem delighted in them alone.

And because of Israel’s vast importance, therefore they are showered with warnings and harshest castigations, because their continued excellence is required to justify the Creation of the Universe.

Quoted from “Fortunate Nation” by Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT”L

Shabbat Shalom

“And You shall bless Hashem.” (8:10)

The word U’Berachta (you shall bless) is from Barech, derived from Berech (a knee). It literally means not “bless” but “to bend the knees” in humility of deep gratitude. When one receives a gift from a Donor to Whom he is unable to repay, all that he can do is to demonstrate his humble gratitude (”bending the knee”) to his Benefactor. We cannot “bless Him,” but we can express our endless Gratitude toward Him.

This principle of expressing our gratitude to our Benefactor is a cause of the greatest excellence in ourselves. “Sing, you righteous ones, to Hashem; for the upright, praise is befitting” (Tehillim 33:1). This means: for those who desire to be upright, it is for their benefit to praise Hashem. Those persons that develop the genuine attitude of appreciating Hashem’s countless forms of kindliness will thereby gain a love of the Benefactor. And as they continue to sing to Him and to express His praise, they come closer to Him and thereby gain excellence of mind and character.

The secret is to spend time to learn how to thank Hashem. But first we must learn why you should be Grateful to Hashem. For example: you have to learn to appreciate your shoes and even shoe laces. Remember how you felt when one of your laces broke and you didn’t have a replacement? Did you appreciate the metal tips on the laces? Do you appreciate your belt? Do you have gratitude for the holes in your belt? Some of the holes are for “before breakfast” and others are for “after breakfast.” These, and thousands of similar items must be studied so that you can eventually learn to be grateful for them.

To attain the state of true Love of Hashem is the highest Perfection. “He that sings (to Hashem) in this life is rewarded that he shall sing in the World to Come.” (Sanhedrin 91B) “The righteous sit with crowns on their heads and enjoy the splendor of the Shechina” (Berachot 17A). “These crowns are the understanding of Hashem that they gained in this life.” (RMBM)

Adapted from “Fortunate Nation” by Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT”L

Shabbat Shalom

“And You shall bless Hashem.” (8:10)

The word U’Berachta (you shall bless) is from Barech, derived from Berech (a knee). It literally means not “bless” but “to bend the knees” in humility of deep gratitude. When one receives a gift from a Donor to Whom he is unable to repay, all that he can do is to demonstrate his humble gratitude (”bending the knee”) to his Benefactor. We cannot “bless Him,” but we can express our endless gratitude toward Him.

This principle of expressing our gratitude to our Benefactor is a cause of the greatest excellence in ourselves. “Sing, you righteous ones, to Hashem; for the upright, praise is befitting.” (Tehillim 33:1) This means: for those who desire to be upright, it is for their benefit to praise Hashem. Those persons that develop the genuine attitude of appreciating Hashems countless forms of kindliness will thereby gain a love of the Benefactor. And as they continue to sing to Him and to express His praise, they come closer to Him and thereby gain excellence of mind and character.

To attain the state of true love of Hashem is the highest Perfection. “He that sings (to Hashem) in this life is rewarded that he shall sing in the World to Come.” (Sanhedrin 91B) “The righteous sit with crowns on their heads and enjoy the splendor of the Shechina.” (Berachot 17A) “These crowns are the understanding of Hashem that they gained in this life.” (RMBM)

“Him you should serve.” (10:20)

Him alone you should serve. In all that one does, even in eating and sleeping, he should intend thereby to serve Hashem. But “serve” means more; even when doing nothing, he should consider himself as an Eved. This is based on a fundamental principle, as follows.

To be an Eved means to be humbled before Hashem. Why? Because of absolute gratitude for all that Hashem did for him, and which he is totally unable to repay. Because Hashem has showered us with a multitude of benefits, and because we can do nothing for Him in return, we are therefore totally humbled before Him as servants that are owned by their master. Thus to “serve” Hashem means to feel that we are servants that are Hashem’s property, for He has created us and has maintained us with such a multitude of benefits that we can repay only by the profoundest humility to Him. This humility is called Avodah (Service).

Quoted from “Fortunate Nation” by Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT”L

Shabbat Shalom

“In order to cause you to know that not by bread alone does man live, but by all that comes forth from the mouth of Hashem does a man live.” (8:3)

If this lesson was the purpose of the forty years of Mann which deprived the nation of the pleasure of eating ordinary foods, then it is of the utmost urgency for us to study and to understand this principle.

Hashem denotes Being, and because His existence is the sole is the sole true existence, we understand that the existence of everything is the result of His will to cause things to exist. To believe that anything has existence of its own or even has power to cause others to exist is therefore a form of idolatry. That eating could transmit energy to a living person is a miracle of causing continued existence, and this miracle is solely the result of Hashem’s will.

Thus eating ordinary foods results in sustaining the life of the eaters solely by the will of Hashem that such should be the result. But the constant use of foods has caused men to err into believing that the food itself is the cause of life; and thereby they slip into a form of idolatry. And even if they thank Hashem for the food, they are merely thanking Him for making available a force for maintaining life which their confused minds consider a separate and independent force.

Therefore when they no longer had recourse to ordinary foods, but solely to the Mann to which the mind of man does not attribute any power of sustaining life, they gradually became accustomed to the lesson that not food sustains life, but it is solely Hashem’s decree that sustains life.

And although today we have gained a glimpse of the profoundly complicated cunning of the functions of life, it is again mere idolatry to credit these super-designed mechanisms with the power of sustaining life, both because of the immense wisdom which we perceive and which no power but Hashem could achieve, and also because of the need to recognize that all mechanisms could have been harmful rather than beneficial, in the countless steps and manners of their performance.

Now that we see that 40 years of sustained effort were expended by Hashem on inculcating this principle of Oneness of Hashem’s Power, then we can understand why this lesson became the most reiterated and most emphasized of all: “Hear Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One.”

Quoted from “Fortunate Nation” by Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT”L

Shabbat Shalom

“And you shall remember the entire journey that Hashem your G-d led you these forty years in the wilderness.” (8:2)

When Rabbenu Yonah wished to point out the great importance of a Mitzvat Aseh (positive Commandment), he states that some of the most obligatory duties required by Hashem are expressed in the form of a Mitzvat Aseh. This verse is among the examples of such great duties and principles cited by Rabbenu Yonah (Shaare Teshuba 3:17): “The great virtues of remembering His kindnesses and of meditating upon them, as is said “And you shall remember the entire journey” and it is said “They meditated in the kindnesses of Hashem.” (Tehillim 107:43)

Thus we learn that this verse, “You shall remember”, refers not only to the nation in general and not only to the journeys in the Wilderness. But, it imposes the obligation upon every individual to look back upon his own journeys in life and to spend some time meditating upon them in order to appreciate more greatly how much he must be grateful to Hashem for His many kindnesses.

In one’s journey through life many perils and illnesses and misfortunes and evil influences hovered nearby, even though he was totally unaware of them. And Hashem continued to protect him as he journeyed from childhood to adolescence and on to adult maturity.

He must be grateful also for the continued well being of his wife and children. And, he must always be aware of the tragedies that others had suffered but from which he had been protected by Hashem. This is an example of the method of utilizing commandments to the nation in general as admonitions for each individual.

When Rabbi Miller ZT”L was asked by a grandchild to reminisce upon his youth, the Rabbi responded. “Talking about the olden days is a waste of time. However, in the context of ‘you shall remember’ (see above), it is a Mitzvah.”

Shabbat Shalom