Hashem's Lien on Us

The Shinover Rav related that he once visited Rav Tzvi Hirsch of Riminov when a man arrived with his son, who was turning thirteen. The father asked the tzaddik to teach the bar mitzvah boy to put on tefillin for the first time, following the custom that a sage or tzaddik helps a boy with his first tefillin.

Before beginning, Rav Tzvi Hirsch asked the boy to say the Leshem Yichud, the prayer that precedes the mitzvah of tefillin. When they reached the words explaining why the tefillah is placed on the arm opposite the heart, lesha'abed, "to subjugate our desires and the thoughts of our hearts to serve Hashem," the tzaddik paused. He asked the boy whether he understood these words, and then he explained them.

In the Gemara, in Bava Metzia 12b, we find that a person who borrows money may give his property as collateral for the loan, which places a lien on it. The Hebrew word for "subjugate" and for "lien" is the same, shiabud, and the tzaddik read the word in the tefillah in that sense. Once the lender holds a lien on the property, no one else can come and take it away, since it is meshuabad, bound to the lender.

So it is with us, he said. When we subjugate ourselves completely to the service of Hashem, we place a lien on ourselves in His favor. Then no one, not even, Heaven forbid, the evil inclination, can seize anything from us, for we already carry Hashem's lien and we are His.