The Secret of Effort: Why Do We Fall into Sadness and How Do We Sweeten the Judgments?

Lesson No. 86 | Lesson 1 - Wednesday Morning, 16 Nissan, First Day of Chol HaMoed Pesach 5757 - At the Yeshiva

When a person lives with the feeling that he is only \

The Secret of Sadness: The Feeling of Being a "Receiver"

When Hashem, may He be blessed, created the universe, there was not yet any spiritual work on the part of the created beings. Everything was through His loving-kindness, a free gift. A Torah of loving-kindness, a world of supernal grace. Because of this, the world was entirely in the state of being a "receiver."

From this, we can understand the root of sadness in the human soul. Why does sadness come to a person? Because he is in the state of a receiver. Because he feels that he is doing nothing to sustain the world. He does not pray and does not act for the sake of the world's existence, and because of this, sadness falls upon him.

When a person is nourished by a free gift of loving-kindness, solely from "isarusa d'le'eila" (an awakening from Above) and from the mercy of Hashem, and he himself makes no effort at all—that is where all his sadness stems from. It is brought down in the holy books that the primary decree of strict judgment and the "shviras hakeilim" (shattering of the vessels) occurred because the world was created without "isarusa d'lesata" (an awakening from below). Adam HaRishon (the First Man) sinned immediately because he had not yet done anything to justify his existence and sustain the world.

The Danger of Habit and Routine

When everything operates according to strict judgments, it means that the person is not doing anything on his part. He serves Hashem "however it happens to work out"—sometimes he wakes up early and sometimes he doesn't, sometimes he prays word by word and sometimes he doesn't. He makes no special effort, and therefore, heavy judgments rest upon him.

Even a person who did teshuvah (repentance) ten or twenty years ago, and made a tremendous effort back then, is liable to fall into a routine. If afterward he continues to live an ordinary life, performing mitzvos out of rote habit, he may find himself under harsh judgments. All the difficulties a person faces—problems at home, struggles in raising children—stem from the fact that he is no longer making an effort on his part.

He has grown accustomed to his spiritual state. And since he is not making any special effort, he does not sweeten the judgments. As long as a person is in the state of a receiver, not acting with mesiras nefesh (self-sacrifice) but only receiving, he remains mired in sadness. In order to sweeten the judgments, special spiritual work and constant effort are required.

The Power of the Righteous Convert

For a baal teshuvah (returnee to Judaism), these concepts are clear, but for a ger tzedek (righteous convert), they are sevenfold clearer. As the book Yarach Devash states, we should kiss the dust of the feet of righteous converts. In the Shemoneh Esrei prayer, we ask: "Upon the righteous converts and upon the tzaddikim." Why are the righteous converts mentioned together with the tzaddikim, and even placed before them?

The answer is that the righteous convert has demonstrated true mesiras nefesh (self-sacrifice). A Jew born to his people understands that he must keep Shabbos, but the convert leaves his people, his family, and his entire past behind in order to exert himself for Hashem.

Reb Noson explains that this is the secret of the charoses at the Pesach Seder. The charoses is meant to remind us that everything came about through Ruth the Moabite. The entire Malchus Beis David (Kingdom of the House of David), the entire Geulah (Redemption), everything arrived in her merit.

"A remembrance of the mortar... and the main point of the charoses is that we should know that from this charoses emerged the Kingdom of the House of David. The Kingdom of the House of David will come specifically from converts, specifically from a simple Jew who makes an effort with every step, with every prayer, with every single letter."

The Kingdom of the House of David: Self-Sacrifice in Every Step

Ruth the Moabite was a princess, the granddaughter of Eglon, King of Moab. She lived in magnificent palaces, yet she left everything behind and went to glean stalks of grain in the field.

The Mishnah in Tractate Peah discusses the laws of leket (gleanings left for the poor). Beis Shammai, who are usually stringent, rule leniently in favor of the poor, stating that even three fallen stalks are considered leket and the poor person is permitted to take them. Beis Hillel rule that only two stalks are considered leket. Ruth could have chosen the opinion of Beis Shammai, which represents the "peak of loving-kindness" toward the poor, and gleaned three stalks so that she would have more food.

But Ruth chose to be stringent with herself. She gave up the third stalk and followed the opinion of Beis Hillel, purely to be as careful as possible. Specifically from this mesiras nefesh (self-sacrifice), specifically from converts, the Kingdom of the House of David sprouted forth. The spiritual level of converts is immeasurably high, to the point that the Midrash HaGadol says that Hashem loves converts even more than He loves the tzaddikim.

The True Tzaddik Considers Himself a Convert

The true tzaddik is the one who feels like a convert. He says to himself: "I am not even a Jew yet. I haven't even begun to be a Jew. I have never prayed with kavanah (proper intention) in my life; I have never recited the Shemoneh Esrei prayer with kavanah."

In the book Hachanat HaLev LaTefillah, it is brought in the name of Rabbi Yechezkel of Shinova, the son of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz:

"It is worthwhile to live a thousand years, just so that perhaps, maybe, one will merit to pray a single prayer with kavanah. Maybe I will manage to recite just one Shemoneh Esrei properly."

The convert actually did something—he left his parents' home and his homeland. But to a person who was born religious, Hashem asks: "What have you done for Me? You received this from your parents. What have you renewed? What prayer with kavanah have you brought forth anew?"

All sadness stems from the fact that a person does not do anything new, does not exert himself, and makes no effort. He does not wake up for Chatzos, he does not go out to the field for Hisbodedus; he simply lives his life. From this lack of effort comes sadness, and from that sadness, all the harsh judgments cascade down. The tikkun (rectification) is to start anew every single day, to exert oneself in serving Hashem, and to shift from the mindset of a "receiver" toward proactive action and true self-sacrifice.

Lesson No. 86