BS”D
מִזְמוֹר,
לְדָוִד:
יְהוָה,
מִי-יָגוּר
בְּאָהֳלֶךָ;
מִי-יִשְׁכֹּן,
בְּהַר
קָדְשֶׁךָ
הוֹלֵךְ
תָּמִים, וּפֹעֵל
צֶדֶק; וְדֹבֵר
אֱמֶת בִּלְבָבוֹ
A Psalm of Dovid.
HaShem, who shall sojourn in Your Sanctuary?
Who shall dwell upon
Your holy mountain?
He who walks with
simplicity/wholehearted integrity, and does righteousness,
and speaks truth in his
heart
According to Chazal, the world depends
on three things:
על
שלושה דברים העולם עומד
על
התורה ועל העבודה ועל גמילות חסדים
On
three things the world stands: on Torah, Avoda (Tefilla), and Acts
of Kindness
Pirkei Avos 1:2
All of these three things
are connected to three fundamental “loves” as taught by the Baal
Shem Tov: Love of Torah, Love of HaShem, Love of one's fellow.
This is alluded to in the
above possuk:
הוֹלֵךְ
תָּמִים
This is avoda, which our Sages say is
tefilla- avoda of the heart.
A person who “walks with simplicity”
is one who knows that there is a Ribbono Shel Olam, a Creator of the
world, Who constantly wills creation into existence and watches over
it, a Creator Who is the source of all blessing and Whose goal in
creating the world is to bestow good (See Mesillas Yesharim Chapter
1). Such a person will go through his days, both during the joyous
occasions and the painful ones, knowing that HaShem is with him,
lovingly directing all the details of his life, and will take care of
all of his needs at the most appropriate time and in the most
appropriate way... he just needs to call out to Him.
Avoda of the heart is Love of
HaShem, because through it we allow HaShem, so to speak, to give
us all the good He has in store for us.
וּפֹעֵל
צֶדֶק
This refers to acts of kindness. While
this includes physical acts of kindness and tzedaka, there is a
higher level- the chesed we do for others in our hearts and minds by
being dan l'kaf zechut (giving the benefit of the doubt), by
recognizing and respecting the good qualities in those around us
while down playing the negative, and even by doing mitzvahs with the
specific intent to uplift those around us.
There
is a famous story in the Talmud about a gentile who came to Shammai
and asked to be converted to Judasim on the condition that he be
taught the entire Torah while standing on one foot. Shammai chased
him away with a builder's rod. Subsequently, he went to Hillel who
agreed to his request (Shabbos 31a)
The
Maggid of Mezritch explains this incident as follows:
That
gentile wanted to become a Jew, but only if he could do so without
having to experience life's ups and downs. He wanted to stand
perpetually “on one foot,” as it were, with none of the low
points. By chasing him away with a builder's rod Shammai was hinting
to him that this is not the structure of creation. We descend into
this world to build and repair...
[W]hen
this gentile came to Hillel with the same request...Hillel answered
him “what you hate, do not do to your friend”... Really, Hillel
was of the same opinion as Shammai; that in this world a person must
endure downswings, but he answered the gentile in a way that the
latter would understand, and in doing so, he revealed to him one of
the great benefits found precisely in low times.
When
a person falls to a low level, yet manages to overcome his negativity
and reaffirm his faith in God, he can redeem some crushed and
oppressed soul that has been lost in the very same forsaken place he
himself has reached in his moment of despair. His own affirmation
actually lifts up the other one...[Hillel said] “You yourself have
a holy soul... but you fell and became trapped in the guise of a
non-Jew. Why have you suddenly become interested in reuniting with
God's people? Because some Jew, in a moment of apathy and despair,
reached the very same level that you were on. Nevertheless, he
affirmed God's Presence even there, and through his effort, you
became motivated to come and seek shelter in the God of Israel. So,
now it's your turn to fulfill the verse, 'love your fellow as
yourself'... If that Jew went all the way down for your sake, why
aren't you ready to go through the samesetbacks for the sake of your
friend?”1
This
is love for one's fellow.
וְדֹבֵר
אֱמֶת בִּלְבָבוֹ
This is Torah and love for it. The goal
of each Jew is to purify his or her heart. As we daven on Shabbos:
וטהר
לבנו לעבדך באמת
Purify our hearts to
serve You in truth
And say in Tehillim:
לֵב
טָהוֹר, בְּרָא-לִי
אֱלֹהִים
Create
within me a pure heart, Elokim
Tehillim 51:12
Our job is to get rid of our bad
inclinations and give strength to our good inclinations so that we
can see ourselves, others, and world for what they truly are.
Ultimately, we can make ourselves into a pure vessel so that HaShem's
Presence can dwell within us and thereby shine out into the world. As
it says:
וְעָשׂוּ
לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם
Make me a Sanctuary and
I will dwell within them.
Shemos 25:8
We purify our hearts via Torah and its
mitzvahs. Yet, Torah doesn't just mean, mikrei (the written Torah),
Gemara, halacha, and hashgafa sefarim. It also refers to the spark of
kedusha that is inherent to every created thing and experience. By
tapping into these sparks of keddusha we come to greater wisdom and
understanding. In fact, the word Torah is related to the word for
teaching.
1. As brought in the sefer “In All
Your Ways,” by Rabbi Yakov Meir Shechter