Friday, 27 September 2019

Miller's Musings Parshas Nitzovim: With All of You



This week's Miller's Musings is sponsored 

לעילוי  נשמת  דבורה בת רחל

                                                                            דבס''


Miller’s Musings
נצביםפרשת 
With All Of You
On the day of his death, what else would a man of the spiritual magnitude of Moshe focus on, other than the betterment of his people?  His parting words concentrated on channeling all the Jewish people’s energies towards making the right choices based on their responsibilities as the people of Hashem.  The Parsha begins with the words “You are standing today, all of you, before Hashem”, before declaring the nature of the covenant between the Jewish people and their G-d.  The fact that they were “before Hashem” is always the case and hence patently obvious. An elucidation of its necessity is therefore required.
                                                                                                                                                                                                       
I think we can say with absolute certainty, that the Chofetz Chaim was a man of tremendous faith and belief in Hashem. But it is brought down in Bilvovi Mishkon Evneh, that when he felt any manner of slight weakening of his spiritual level, he would review the sections of the Torah that relate to the creation of the world.  It is of course impossible to say that he even for one moment possessed even the minutest amount of uncertainty about Who brought the universe into existence.  Yet he read over those passages in the Torah because he understood that ultimately all failings of our service of Hashem is rooted in some dilution of our belief in Hashem, His creation and our being His created ones.  This is not to say that he was not certain of this truth, but perhaps it was to some degree, on his level, not as entirely absorbed in every fibre of his being, as it may have once been.  And this is what he needed to rectify.  Perhaps this too is what Moshe was telling the people.  You are here today to form an everlasting bond with Hashem.  To keep His commandments and follow His word.  You can live up to this pledge and succeed in this task that is such a privilege to fulfil.  But the key to your success is being standing “before Hashem” at all times.  To know with all your mind, body and soul that He is there.  If you truly know this, you cannot go wrong.
                                                                                                                                                                                                   
The message we must take is incredibly powerful and has tremendous repercussions for our entire service of Hashem.  It points to the source of all of our deficiencies and the root cause of every error that we make that goes against the Torah’s teachings.  Throughout the year, when we slip up, and especially now, when we are searching for routes back to Hashem, we must give some time to considering the basic quality of our own belief in Hashem.  For if we believed as we should, absolutely, unconditionally and in every single part of our being, how could we ever fall and how could we ever lack the will to achieve what we must?  We must not be afraid of our weaknesses in this area, nor succumb to the Yetzer Horah’s attempts to accentuate what is common to all and merely requires strengthening.  Moments of frailty do not indicate an overall failure.  Yet knowing the power and effects of this vulnerability compels us to improve, support and intensify our belief in Hashem, so that we not only know it intellectually, but feel it at every moment, in all we do and with all our heart.  

*May our rest on Shabbos deepen our faith in Him*

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