A Simple Matter

Parshat Eikev

In the “Otzar Chaim” anthology of Divrei Torah, Rabbi Tzukerman (the editor) records a story of a certain man who was aiming to get his certification to be a recognized shochet, so he would be recognized as someone who could slaughter animals for the kosher consumer. The rabbi he went to was a righteous and punctilious man, who would not simply offer his consent to anyone who came his way, but would only put his stamp of approval on a person he felt met all the qualifications, knew all the laws, etc. 

 After several rounds of inadequate tests and not-to-snuff-shechitahs (in the good rabbi’s opinion), the candidate frustratingly asked if the rabbi could hurry up and fulfill his request for the certification. The rabbi hinted to him “Nu, and what about the small matter?” The candidate thought he understood and brought the rabbi a small donation. 

The rabbi, however, was referring to a passage in Brachos 33b which references Yiras Shamayim (fear of Heaven) as being a מילתא זוטרתא, and he was thus indicating to the shochet-in-question that this was an essential ingredient, in the candidate's essence, that was missing in order for him to take upon himself the responsibility of ritual slaughter. 

 This begs the question, is fear of heaven really a “small matter?” That passage in the Talmud quotes Rabbi Chanina’s parable that “someone who is asked to lend a large vessel – if he has one, he sees the favor as no big deal (and perhaps the vessel as nothing special), while someone who is asked to lend a small vessel – if he doesn’t have one to lend, the request seems like a huge request which is insurmountable.” 

Using R Chaim Volozhin as an example, Rabbi Tzukerman notes how while R’ Chaim was exceedingly humble, he personally felt that he never achieved the status of truly being a ירא שמים. Quoting R’ Chaim’s son R’ Yitzchak, he notes that the two qualities are intertwined with one another. The truly humble does not know of his humility and thinks of himself that he is proud and haughty, while he sees others as being on the lofty level that he simply “can’t reach.” When we consider Moshe, who was ענו מכל אדם, he must have felt that he had much to work on while everyone else had achieved the level of being a true 'ירא ה. For him to therefore tell the people, ועתה ישראל מה ה' א-לקיך שואל מעמך כי אם ליראה את ה', “What does Hashem ask of you, but to fear Hashem your God…” is for him to assume that for them Yiras Hashem is a little thing, because to him, it seems that it is so easy for them to achieve. 

 R Yosef B’chor Shor’s comment on this verse says the following [presented as a translation and then we’ll revisit]: 

Reverence of God is a light (easy) matter, for if the whole world tells you not to revere God, it is upon you to [nonetheless] have that reverence, for your life and soul is in His hand. And it is in His hand to bring death and to give life, and none escape [these realities]. It is just (as in din) that you should have fear of Him, and you should do all He commands you. There is no poor human who is reliant on you in the way that your existence relies on the Almighty. 

 From you. 'I request nothing from you but fear and love', for all the commandments are not from you but rather from Him; if He gives you a house, make a mezuzah and a fence [for its flat roof]. Clothing, make fringes. Money, make of it donations. Grain and grape juice and wine, make from them priestly and other tithes. A son, circumcise him. It turns out, performance of the mitzvot is ultimately from God! There is no Ishmaelite (Arab?) merchant in the world who, when he gives you 20 dinarim, for whom you wouldn’t give a half or a third to the place he instructs, and you would be grateful to him. And so too, you should give on the Holy One’s sake and to praise Him for what He did for you, [with the ability to] “give for Him,” [where you need] not beg at the doors. And this is [what it means] that He is not asking of you to give from “yours.” All He asks is just fear and love and the intention of the heart, and thus it is written (Job 41:3): "Who has a previous claim on Me, that I should repay him? All that is under the heavens is Mine!" -- I am first to give to them, before they give to Me anything.” 

He goes on to point to the notion that this verse מה ה' שואל is the source for the concept of saying 100 Brachos a day (reading מה as מאה – 100), as there are 100 letters in the verse (among other teachings). 

There are many possible messages we can take from this. Let us focus on two of them. 

 The first is the more obvious. God made a world, and He simply makes its resources available to us. He uses the Arab merchant as an example [though he lived 800 years ago in France] we can look at of someone giving material goods to be distributed, and our being grateful for the opportunity to do Chesed with it. God gives and gives and asks for nothing in return except to revere Him, love Him, and observe His commandments. One way of clearly demonstrating our gratitude is the additional daily focus we can and should have on reciting 100 blessings a day. 

The second message of how we take from the world He made and elevate everything through keeping His mitzvos is perhaps a message we don’t consider enough. 

 I recently watched a conversation that Rabbi Tuvia Singer posted on his YouTube channel, in which he made the following observation. Ask most people you encounter what they think of Chinese people (those living in China), and since they don’t know too many Chinese people, they likely won’t have an opinion about them. Same about Japanese people. And Indian people. (Those living in Asia) He uses those groups altogether because between them they comprise of over 60% of the world population. The people we know don’t have a specific opinion about them because we don’t know them.

But the Jews, who comprise such a tiny fraction of a percent of the world population, and most of the world hasn’t even met a Jew – everyone has an opinion about us! [His point was that if it seems unfair, it was God’s plan for us to matter, even if our numbers are relatively tiny in comparison to other peoples and faiths.] And perhaps to our discredit, we sometimes care too much about what they think. 

Were we to simply follow the Torah’s teachings, we would indeed see that it is all “for our own good.” But in worrying about how our actions will be perceived, we bend following the dictates which God has given us in order to make us look good in the eyes of “them who are watching.” Some Jewish leaders have even used the “Chillul Hashem” card to suggest that when we don’t shapeshift our values to align with values not our own, we are desecrating God’s name. [The way some use this in political conversations is quite disingenuous. One very simple example of a hot topic - frenzied up by media permissiveness, but nonetheless is a big one – the Torah’s perspective is that every person is committed in the image of God. That having been said, certain lifestyle choices are not in alignment with the Torah’s values. We can give dignity to a person-created-in-God’s-image, but we cannot condone actions that go against the Torah’s values.] 

Bending over in whatever direction to avoid “the goyim not liking us” and to avoid “a self perceived Chillul Hashem” does not make it the wrong thing. Those who call Jews getting attention for standing for Torah values a Chillul Hashem do not know what a Chillul Hashem is. Jews who wear “Jewish garb” and make people “uncomfortable” because of their attire are not committing a Chillul Hashem. Jews standing for their rights to pray in holy places in Israel are not committing a Chillul Hashem. Jews defending other Jews are not committing a Chillul Hashem. 

God gave us a world, and gave us an instruction book for how to live our best life in this world. May we only hold these truths to be self evident (as America’s Founders put it) that living a life of fealty to God is a path of goodness, particularly when we go about that task with humility, leaving space for others to find their path with the Torah’s guidance in a manner that is true to its instruction - with a multiplicity of options for how to make the most out of this blessed life.