In Memory of our beloved David Schwartz, who fell in battle sanctifying God’s name, on 27 Tevet, 5784 (8 January 2024).
“Le’David Barchi Nafshi” is a compilation of essays written on the weekly Torah reading by David Schwartz, of blessed memory. First published on the occasion of his marriage to Meital, David’s unique Torah thoughts that delve into the depths of the Torah are shared now to elevate his memory and sanctify his soul.
[Translated by Akiva Herzfeld ([email protected])]
He who is a servant of God is fundamentally different from he who is a slave to another man. A slave to a fellow man is an unfortunate individual, whose leads a life of suffering and sadness. His servitude is out of necessity. As it states in the Torah reading of Behar: “If your fellow brother becomes poor and has no means among you” (25:35).
The servant of God is the opposite of this. That type of servitude constitutes a labor of joy and good will. It is unique and special. Maimonides writes in his work the Mishneh Torah that serving God is the highest joy that we can achieve. “The joy that a person achieves in the performance of a commandment is the greatest service of all. Whoever withholds himself from this joy deserves to be punished. As it states, ‘On account of the fact that you did not serve God your Lord with joy and goodness of heart.’”
In the laws regarding a Jewish servant, the Torah instructs us that after six years of labor, the Hebrew slave may become free from his master. Yet, if the slave chooses to continue in his servitude, they should then bore his ear as a punishment for this wish. As it states: “If he says, ‘I do not want to leave you’ … you shall take an awl and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall become your slave in perpetuity. Do the same with your female slave. (Deut. 15:16-17) Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai explains: “God says, ‘The ear that heard My voice on Mt. Sinai at the time when I said, ‘For the people of Israel shall be unto Me as servants, and not servants to others,’ and then this person went and acquired a different master for himself; he should have an awl put through his ear.” (Kiddushin 22b)
The Sages saw the slave’s wish to continue being a slave as a sin for which the piercing of the ear follows. We can ask what exactly constitutes the sin in this. After all, was it not the Torah that permitted him to sell himself into servitude? Moreover, what is the relevance of the piercing of the ear after six years of servitude? With God’s help, let us explore this issue in depth.
Let me begin with a parable that I heard from Rav Asher Weiss. There was once a great king who one night invited the greatest and most important of his generals to his chamber. The king tells him that there is a very important mission. He will need to reach a passage to the mountains of darkness. Right away, the commander says that he needs planes, divers, soldiers, and so forth for the mission. The king, however, stops him. The king says, you are jumping ahead. Before you tell me what you need, understand exactly what I need. Know that this task is of the highest importance and difficulty, and your life depends on it, as well as my life and my queen, and kingdom. Only if you understand this well and are imbued with a sense of mission and motivation will you be able to succeed in the task, which is extremely difficult, and must be executed perfectly. “Now,” the king says, “speak, tell me what you need.”
This parable above leads us to the ideas of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1746), who expounds on this concept. In the Path of the Upright, Rabbi Luzzatto opens (1:1) with the heading: “Clarifying the Responsibilities of Man in this World.” He writes, “The foundation of holy behavior and pure service of God begins with man clarifying and coming to harmony with his responsibility in this world. This is why a person needs to put his vision and goal before everything for which he will toil in his lifetime … as one finds true perfection only through his connection to God.
This is what King David writes in the Psalms, “It is good for me to draw near to God.” (Ps. 73:28) As we see in his writings, the singular task of our lives is to accept the yoke of heaven and draw close to God. Our purpose is to fulfill this task. R. Luzatto teaches us that above all a man needs to instill and root himself well in this goal. This understanding is essential for the success of one’s task.
In his commentary on the parsha of Behar, the Sefat Emet explains: “When the verse states “For unto Me the children of Israel are my servants; they are my servants,” (Lev. 25:55), the language of servitude is repeated twice. First, “For unto me the children of Israel are my servants” is directed at the idea of God choosing Israel. Then, the repetition of “they are my servants” is there to tell the children of Israel to accept the yoke of the kingdom of God … We find that in the topics of Shabbat and Shemitta, there is a nullification of labor that is applied in every detail. In our case as well, one needs to nullify himself before the awesomeness of God.”
The third Gerrer Rebbe is teaching us in his commentary on the Torah that man needs to nullify his ego so that he can accept the yoke of heaven. Being a slave to man can not coexist with the servitude to God. The Torah does recognize the temporary need of a person who encounters hardship such that he needs to sell himself into slavery, but the Torah completely disapproves of a person who enters into slavery forever, since that is contrary to man's purpose from creation.
Just as the land returns to its owner at the Jubilee, so also a slave must return to God after serving his temporary servitude. This desire of the Hebrew slave to sell himself into perpetual slavery is like a misuse of a holy item (me’ila in Hebrew), and this is the source of the sin.
As we learned in the parable above, if one does not first have an understanding of the task ahead, one cannot successfully complete the mission, which in our case is to draw near to God. The slave to a human master scorns the ultimate mission. A slave who completed his servitude but does not go out to freedom, reveals that he is satisfied with servitude to man.
Regarding this, there is a remarkable story that happened in the study hall of the Sefat Emet (R. Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter) that is worth sharing. On one of the days of Sukkot, at the time of the recitation of Hallel prayer, as his hassidim were saying the Hebrew words “Ana Hashem” or “I am the Lord your God” the Gerrer Rebbe said the following. “It is possible to perform the wondrous and the enduring.” The Rebbe said that but did not explain.
The hassidic elders gathered to understand his words. Some cried out in prayer at the words, Ana HaShem Hoshiya Na (Please, God, save us.), while others focused on the words Ana Hashem Hatzlicha Na (Please, God, grant us success.). But, the Imrei Emet, Avraham Mordechai Alter, the son of the Sefat Emet and fourth Gerrer Rebbe, said the following. “I did not join the hassdim in their prayers, because I understood that neither one of these prayers was right.
That was not what the Rebbe intended. He meant for us to pray the following:
"Ana Hashem Ki Ani Avdekha" - ‘Please, God, for I am your servant!’”
“For unto Me the children of Israel are servants; they are My servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God” (Lev. 25:55).