I am very excited for the opportunity to share words of Torah with you. Each week, in this spot, I look to share an idea I've found that speaks to me and that I think will resonate with you as well. This week, I share an excerpt from an article by Rabbi Boruch Leff entitled ‘Appreciating the Process’, which discusses how we are able to achieve love and fear of HaShem.
[...] "And now, Israel, what does God, your Lord, ask of you but to fear God, your Lord, to go in all His ways, and to love Him." (Devarim 10:12) [...] How can love or fear be commanded? How is it possible to command an emotion? Either I already love and fear God or I don't. But commanding me to love God does not make me love Him. [...W]hat is the meaning of a commandment for an emotion, and how can I fulfill it?
The Rambam in Yesodei HaTorah, 2:2 (Fundamentals of Torah) presents an approach to loving and fearing God that addresses all of our questions:
"What is the path to love and fear Him? When a person thinks deeply of His wondrous and awesome creations and actions and sees from them His infinite wisdom, inevitably and necessarily, he will love, praise, glorify, and desire greatly to know the Great Name... And when he thinks of these things, he will inevitably and necessarily tremble and become afraid, knowing that he is a small, low, creature standing with feeble intelligence before the Perfect and Complete Knower of all things." [...] Only when it comes to commandments involving emotion, like loving and fearing God, does the Rambam feel compelled to present a path toward achieving it. This is because the Rambam acknowledges that it is not possible to command an emotion, unless there is a clear path to guarantee the attainment of the emotion.
The Rambam is showing us that pondering God's wondrous creations will unmistakably lead to the emotions of loving and fearing God. This is the path we must use if we wish to fulfill the commandments to love and fear God. And this is the approach we must take in relating to an invisible and intangible God. We must relate to and see Him through His creations.
We cannot actively involve ourselves nor worry about attaining the ultimate goal of feeling the emotions of love and fear for God. The only thing we can do is to embrace the process and the path toward the emotions of love and fear by daily and continuously contemplating His works throughout our lives. Through consistency and dedication to the process, the final goals - of love and fear of Him - will come.
The process is what needs focus, not the results. The results can only come if the process is accomplished well and the process will only be accomplished well if it is properly appreciated. [...] You need to be reflective in order to appreciate the process, removing yourself from the microcosm of the present event and contemplating how this experience fits into the entire picture of what you are accomplishing. Focus on the process, not the ultimate goal. [...]
Let's face it. We don't live forever, and unless we treasure our individual days, one by one, we will end up growing old even faster than we think - with nothing left to 'get over with' and nothing left to look forward to. Let's truly live the 'process' of life, not only the results. Living in this fashion helps us get more out of the years of our lives.
Speaking of the process, and following my remarks from last Shabbat entering year two, I believe this is a worthwhile moment to ask each of you to think about any ideas you might have to further enhance our experience at SOI. I invite you to email me at Rabbi@SOICherryHill.org.
Have a Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Davies
Rabbi@SOICherryHill.org
