"הנסתרות לה׳ א־להינו והנגלות לנו ...
לעשות את כל דברי התורה הזאת/The
hidden things are for God your Lord and the revealed is for us … to fulfill all
the words of this Torah." (Devarim 39:28) The simple meaning is that we are only held
responsible for those things that we can see.
We are not responsible the blasphemous thoughts of others[1].
The Sfas Emes
understands this pasuk homiletically as referring to each individual and his
struggle between the material life he lives and the spiritual life he would
like to live. How can we reconcile the
two? Is it possible to live a life
connected, as it were, to God, a life of holiness, while being involved in all
the mundane activities that we do each day?
The Sfas Emes answers
that not only is it possible; it is required.
To be sure, our physical body has physical needs that we must see
to. However, if our passion and
innermost desire is to be devoted to God, our mundane activities will not
separate us from Him. Quite the opposite;
our spiritual aspirations will influence us so that even our mundane activities
will take on spiritual meaning.
The Sfas Emes learns
this concept from our pasuk. "הנסתרות לה' א-להינו .../The hidden things are for God your Lord
…" If our hidden innermost passion
and desire is devotion to God. "... והנגלות לנו .../…
and the revealed is for us." Even
though we are required to take care of our physical needs. The result is, "לעשות את כל דברי התורה הזאת/… to do all the words of this Torah." Because of our inner devotion to God,
everything that we do becomes a way of serving God. This is called drawing the power of the Torah
into our actions. May we merit it!!
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