Knowledge Takes Time to Penetrate

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

 In Parshas Ki Savo, Moshe Rabbeinu assembles the nation and informs them that now, after 40 years in the desert, Hashem has finally given them a heart to understand: “Hashem did not give you a heart with which to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear until this day” (Devarim 29:3).

Rashi explains that the understanding the nation now had which it lacked before was “to recognize the great kindness of Hashem and to cling to Him” (ibid.).

This is hard to comprehend: After 40 years of witnessing the miracles of the manna, the Well of Miriam and the Clouds of Glory every day, after seeing the Ten Plagues and the Splitting of the Red Sea, none of this opened up the nation’s hearts? It was only now, just as Moshe was about to leave this world and let Yehoshua lead them into Eretz Yisrael, that the Jews finally had eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to understand?

My father-in-law, Rav Elimelech Meller, answers that of course, the Generation of the Desert certainly witnessed miracles. However, the recognition of Hashem’s chessed, and the effect this recognition was supposed to have on their lives, was not evident until 40 years had passed. This is in fact the basis for Chazal’s statement (Avoda Zara 5b) that a person does not grasp fully what his rebbe teaches him right away. Little by little, the profundity of the Torah works its way into his heart until after 40 years it finally penetrates. Here as well, only after 40 years did the nation fully comprehend Hashem’s kindnesses to them. Only now could they truly cling to Him.

The Rambam expresses this idea as well in the Laws of Teshuva (10:6): “One can only love Hashem by acquiring knowledge of Him, and the more he acquires this knowledge, so will be his love; if a little, then a little and if a lot, then a lot.”

What the Rambam calls “knowing Hashem” means knowing what Hashem does, His great chassadim to us and the entire world. The more one is aware of Hashem’s chessed, the more he can come to love Him. This is what Rashi meant in his comment above, that by recognizing Hashem’s great kindness, this leads a Jew to cling to Him.

The above idea, which the Rambam expresses as a halacha, places upon every Jew a two-fold task: 1) To develop an ever-growing awareness of Hashem’s great chassadim for us, and 2) To the extent that our awareness grows, so must our sense of obligation to serve Hashem.

Rav Aharon Kotler saw in this halacha an answer to the unique service of Hashem that takes place on Rosh Hashanah. The Sages (Rosh Hashanah 15a) teach that Rosh Hashanah is the day that we make Hashem king over us, and over the entire world. The shofar blasts are part of this “coronation” process (Ritva, ibid.).

This is the Day of Judgment, which we should be preparing for with teshuva. Isn’t the idea of kingship diverting our focus from what would seem to be more important, that we have to cleanse ourselves of sin and become worthy to stand before Hashem and request a year of life?

Rav Kotler answers that indeed, Rosh Hashanah is the Day of Judgment and teshuva is critical. Only, the way to begin this process is to recognize that Hashem is King of the entire world. Every breath we take is His gift to us. “Making Hashem king” means working to internalize that He is the source of everything. This recognition is now expected to spur us on to greater service of Him, which is the teshuva process.

One of my Rebbe’im used to explain this with an analogy:

An international company once sent an agent to Tokyo to handle business operations there for one month. The employee went and got to work right away, overseeing the business there and furthering the company’s interests wherever he could.

Before flying to Tokyo, the employee was told which hotel to go to, and he ate all of his meals there as well. Throughout his month of service, he never once thought about the bill that was accruing to the company for his room and board. After all, they had sent him here.

As the month came to an end, he thought to himself: “I’m already here in Tokyo. When will this happen again? I might as well take the opportunity to tour the country a bit.”

Instead of flying home, he stayed an extra week, setting out each day on a tour of a different part of Japan. To his surprise, as he prepared to leave for the airport, the hotel manager approached him with a detailed bill he would have to pay before leaving.

“A  bill? But I was here on company interests! All expenses are supposed to be billed directly to the company!” said the employee.

“That was true until this week,” explained the hotel manager. “This week you were not working for the company, you were touring the country. Did you think that you could stay here for free?”

The analogy, explained my Rebbe, is that we are all “employees.” We were sent to this world to serve Hashem. As we engage in His service, we have the right to enjoy His abundant kindness, which fills the world and is evident with every breath of air we take. If we fail to recognize Hashem and instead pursue our own interests, what right do we have to be here?

May we appreciate Hashem’s kindness more and more, and serve Him better!