Simple Faith Beyond Lofty Attainments

1“Moshe said, ‘This is the thing that Hashem commanded you to do, and the glory of Hashem will appear to you.’”¹ What is “the thing” that Hashem commanded them to do? The verse leaves it unnamed. Further, why would doing this thing make “the glory of Hashem” appear to them, so that the Shechinah would rest among Israel? And why was all this said only after the seven days of the Mishkan's inauguration?

2On the verse “And it was on the eighth day,” the Gemara cites a Baraisa, a teaching from the time of the Mishnah: “That day there was joy before Him like the day on which heaven and earth were created.”² But what does setting up the Mishkan have to do with the creation of the world?

3Let us first cite the words of my holy father and teacher, zt"l, on the verse “Hashem appeared to him in the plains of Mamre.”³ Even when a person reaches great attainments, the level of “Hashem appeared to him,” he must still regard himself as “in the plains of Mamre,” that is, as a sinner, in the sense of the verse “You have been mamrim, rebellious, against Hashem.”⁴ This is the meaning of “while he was sitting at the entrance of the tent.” A person must know that he still stands only at the entrance of avodas Hashem, the service of Hashem, and has not yet attained anything. This humility is the true perfection of avodas Hashem. Those are his holy words.

4The holy sefer Yismach Yisrael, by R' Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchak of Alexander, explains the words “and the glory of Hashem will appear to you.”⁵ Moshe Rabbeinu told Bnei Yisrael not to reach for great and wondrous things. Otherwise, at times when they lacked spiritual light, they might, Heaven forbid, fall short in their service. Rather, “the thing that Hashem commanded you to do”: they were to serve Him plainly, with complete faith, doing all the mitzvos only because Hashem commanded, even without any reason and without feeling any light or sweetness. Even then they should do them because the Creator commanded, and through this they would afterward be privileged to see the words “the glory of Hashem will appear to you” fulfilled: they would see the glory of Hashem with their own eyes, for “the whole earth is full of His glory.”⁶ That is the gist of his words. In other words, a person whose service rests only on spiritual attainments sometimes loses his clarity of mind and cannot attain anything. Then, as a result, he does not serve the Creator, Heaven forbid. The proper way is to serve Hashem simply, only because Hashem commanded it, with wholehearted faith and without clever reasoning.

5aWe may explain this further. While Bnei Yisrael were engaged in the work of the Mishkan, they attained wondrous wisdom and understanding, as the Torah testifies: “Betzalel and Oholiav shall do it, and every wise-hearted man in whom Hashem has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work of the holy service, according to all that Hashem commanded.”⁷ Chazal tell us that Betzalel understood on his own things that had been said to Moshe, and Moshe said to him, “You were betzel E-l, in the shadow of God.”⁸ That is, he received, as it were, from the shadow of Hashem's wisdom: chochmah, binah and da'as, wisdom, understanding and knowledge. Chazal also said: “Betzalel knew how to combine the letters with which heaven and earth were created. It is written here, ‘He filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding and with knowledge,’ and it is written there, ‘Hashem founded the earth with wisdom; He established the heavens with understanding.’”⁹ This also explains why Chazal compared the day the Mishkan was set up to the day heaven and earth were created: setting up the Mishkan involved immense wisdom, like the wisdom with which heaven and earth were created.

5bYet even though they had wondrous attainments in setting up the Mishkan, the Shechinah did not come to rest among them at once. Instead, each day Moshe Rabbeinu set up the Mishkan and took it apart, then set it up again and took it apart again. All this was to teach that even great attainments, like theirs during the work of the Mishkan, sometimes do not help; what is needed is to serve Hashem with temimus, simple wholeheartedness. This is what Hashem commanded them here, [at the end of the seven days]: after all their attainments and all their labor on the Mishkan, they still needed to serve Hashem with simple wholeheartedness. That is “This is the thing that Hashem commanded you to do,” as the Yismach Yisrael explained.

6This also explains the verse “You shall be wholehearted with Hashem your God.”¹⁰ The verse says “with Hashem your God,” though it would seem more fitting to say “to Hashem your God.” But the verse hints that even when a person reaches the level of “with Hashem,” which points to great attainments, it is still better to be tamim, wholehearted, and to serve with simplicity.

7In the same light we can explain a story Chazal tell. When R' Eliezer fell ill, his students came in to visit him and said, “Our teacher, teach us the paths of life, so that through them we may be privileged to reach the life of the World to Come.” He told them, “… When you pray, know before Whom you are standing, and through this you will be privileged to reach the life of the World to Come.”¹¹ But why should this be his special teaching to them? Knowing before Whom one is praying is a duty for every single person, as the Tur and the Shulchan Aruch, the codes of Jewish law, explain,¹² not something reserved for the students of R' Eliezer the Great. And how could this one teaching give them “paths of life” to follow wherever they went? The answer is that R' Eliezer came to teach his students the idea we have been discussing: even people of great stature must serve the Holy One, blessed be He, with simplicity and wholeheartedness. That is what “Know before Whom you are standing” means. Tzaddikim have found the same idea hinted in the Gemara's words: “Why do we blow the shofar? The Merciful One said, ‘Blow!’”¹³ After all the attainments and preparations, the only reason is that He said so, and so we do His will.

8This applies especially in our own times and generations. Each person must learn to serve the Holy One, blessed be He, with simplicity, without philosophical inquiries, removing such thoughts from his heart and simply believing that there is a Creator of the world Who commanded us to serve Him. In the merit of this faith may we be privileged to see the redemption speedily. Amen, may it be His will.