Question

Hello, honorable Rabbi Michael.

הרהורים על לימוד תנ"ך (טור 134)

We learn the meaning of these things from the prophet Hosea, who tells Israel that they do not know what love is, and though they want to worship God, they love Him with a love that depends on something else.
“Come, let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, and He will heal us; He has struck, and He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him. Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is sure as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the latter rain that waters the earth” (Hosea 6:1–3). And the prophet laments their love: “What shall I do with you, Ephraim? What shall I do with you, Judah? Your kindness is like a morning cloud, like the dew that disappears early.” Their love is temporary and passing.
How, then, should love of God, and love in general, truly be expressed? “For I desire kindness, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”
There are three pillars on which the world stands: Torah, service, and acts of kindness. Israel said, “Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord” (ibid., 3) — through Torah, through service — but where is the foundational pillar, the pillar of kindness? The order is incomplete.
About this God says: “For I desire kindness, not sacrifice; knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (ibid., 6).
Knowledge symbolizes connection, love, and bonding between lovers.
True connection to God is not only through the Temple and worship, and not only through Torah, but through becoming a partner with God in repairing His world through the trait of kindness.
It is stated in Avot de-Rabbi Natan (4:5): “Once Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai was leaving Jerusalem, and Rabbi Joshua was following after him, and he saw the Temple in ruins.
Rabbi Joshua said: Woe to us, for this place is destroyed — the place where the sins of Israel were atoned for. He said to him: My son, do not be distressed. We have another atonement just like it. And what is it? Acts of kindness. As it is said: ‘For I desire kindness, not sacrifice.’ For so we find with Daniel, a man devoted to acts of kindness.”
And what were the acts of kindness that Daniel was involved in?
He would gladden brides, escort the dead, give a coin to the poor, and pray three times each day, and his prayer was accepted willingly.” When you love someone, you in effect atone for or cover all their deficiencies — you overlook and transcend them.
For example, a baby is hugged and kissed by everyone, even though, hygienically speaking, he is far from clean. Imagine the same filth in an adult — everyone would recoil. But a baby’s shortcomings are “atoned for.” The baby is loved, and people do not focus on his deficiencies but on the good in him. “Love covers all transgressions” (Proverbs 10).
Love can cover and atone for all shortcomings.
When a person does kindness for another, he comes to love him and to see his good side.
When an entire society behaves this way, that is atonement for sins, atonement for the gravest failings.
Or another example: on most weekdays, in the morning prayer after the Amidah, Psalm 20 is recited, and what is special about this psalm is that it serves as a kind of transition-prayer for the rest of the day, regularly, every day, as instituted by our rabbis.
There is a confidence that this will indeed happen.
“May the Lord answer you on the day of trouble”; “May He send your help from the sanctuary and sustain you from Zion.”
What builds a person’s confidence in times of distress?
Now I know that the anointed one has been answered; as is written in the liturgical poem, among Ashkenazim, at the end of each line: “May He answer.”
We know the eschatological saying: “For out of Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” And in Psalm 20, King David adds that salvation and deliverance also come forth from Zion.
“May He send your help from the sanctuary, and support you from Zion.”
And there is not only acceptance, but also a desire to give in order to delight our Creator.
“May He remember all your offerings and accept your burnt sacrifices. May He grant you according to your heart and fulfill all your counsel.”
There is a bond of deed, thought, and feeling that corresponds to salvation.
It is written in Midrash Tehillim 33, on Parashat Vayishlach:
“To the God who answers me in the day of my distress” — this is what Scripture says: “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble.”
Rabbi Shimon bar Abba said: From the beginning of the book until this point there are eighteen psalms, and then this psalm corresponds to the eighteen blessings of prayer.
When a person prays, they tell him: answer him according to your shadow.
We recite the Shemoneh Esrei with various prayers and supplications for the individual and the community.
Rabbi Nachman, in his famous saying, says: “If you believe that they can damage, believe that they can repair.” Regarding the strengthening of the heart, a person should be humbled by the knowledge that he has suffered from the many defects and corruptions he himself has caused through his actions. And he said: “If you believe that they can damage, believe that they can repair.”
Damage heralds repair, distress comes before relief, sorrow comes before joy, and in the end, the Blessed One will answer you on the day of trouble; our King will answer us on the day we call.
“They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stood upright”; “We will sing of Your salvation, and in the name of our God we will raise our banners.”