Maamar Walk After Hashem 1937 (5697)
Maamar – “You Should Walk After Hashem Your Lord” – 1937
by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson
(reprinted in Sefer HaMaamarim – Kuntreisim, vol. 2)
(translated from the Hebrew by Noah Shavrick)
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With the help of Heaven,
2nd day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, 5697 (1937), Perchtoldsdorf (at the health spa, Wald Sanatorium, near Vienna).
“You should ‘walk after’ Hashem your Lord, fear Him, keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cleave to Him.” It considers here six things: 1) walking after, 2) fearing, 3) keeping, 4) listening, 5) serving, and 6) cleaving, which are different levels.
We need to understand, why did it begin with the issue of “walking after”, since the whole issue of walking is an external aspect (of the body’s powers)? Just like in the physical realm, with the powers of the soul, which are enclothed in the limbs of the body, the ability to walk is the very last power of the faculties of the soul. It exists within every person, even the most simple. So too, the general issue of walking, even in its spiritual form (to spiritually “walk after” Hashem), is an external aspect; for this is the main difference between Halicha “walking after” and Hamshacha “being drawn to”.
In spite of the fact that “being drawn to” is also the issue of “walking after”, nevertheless it is an inner aspect (from the soul’s powers), more than the issue of “walking after” (which is just an external expression of the soul’s powers). “Walking after” just describes an ability and action, but “being drawn to” describes the intellect and feelings. Both of them are going and moving from place to place, in an ascent from the lower to the higher, but nevertheless they are different in their cause, and they are different in the essence of their nature. “Walking after”, its cause is just the (basic) ability of power and strength. “Being drawn to”, its cause is the intellect and the emotions, as it is written, “Draw me after you, we will run”, and the Ibn Ezra explains that it is speaking about Avraham our father, peace be upon him, who was drawn after Hashem.
It is known that Avraham is Avram with the addition of the letter Hay, since a Hay represents a revelation, as the teaching, “Avram (who lacks the Hay) cannot produce children, but Avraham (with the Hay) can produce children,” and it is known that the Hay that was added to Avraham our father, peace be upon him, is the aspect of Binah (Understanding), since Avram (Av Ram) is the aspect of the intellect which is hidden beyond all thought, since Av (father) is the aspect of Chochmah Wisdom), and Ram (lofty) represents the loftiness. (Av Ram is) the aspect of Chochmah Siseemaah (the Hidden Wisdom in Kesser, the Crown), and when the letter Hay was added to him, all of this came to him in a literal comprehension, and this is that the walking (of Avraham), that he followed after Hashem, is the aspect of “being drawn to”, that he was drawn as a result of his awesome comprehension, as the prayer for rain, “Remember the father (Avraham) who was drawn after you like water;” but (plain) “walking after” is only external.
Afterwards, it considers five things: 1) “and you should fear Him,” 2) “and you should keep His commandments,” which in general are the issues of “fear” and “love”, in the fulfillment of the commandments.
3) “And you should listen to His voice” is the “inner feeling” which is called “Derheren” (in Yiddish), since there are two types of hearing, just like hearing a voice. There is one who only hears the sound of the voice alone, and there is one who hears the inner content of the voice. This means that there is one who only hears the sound, and there’s another who the sound of what he hears enters within his innermost self. One hears, and the other feels, as it is written about Abraham, our father, peace be upon him, “Since Abraham listened to My voice”; he felt.
4) “And you should serve Him” in active Avodah (service); 5) “and you should cleave to Him,” the Ibn Ezra explains (this means to cleave) with one’s heart, with the beginning and with the end. The issue of cleaving is when the concept, which one comprehends in Torah and in the knowledge of God, shines in his heart, and through the heart it comes in a literal active service.
These are very high levels, and when it says, “You should walk after Hashem your Lord,” it sounds like this is the main thing, and not only that the issue of “walking” is an external aspect, when it says, “You should walk after Hashem,” which is the aspect of the back and only the external, nevertheless, this is specifically the main thing, and through this will be the five other things that were considered afterwards.
Seemingly, the issue of “You should walk after Hashem your Lord” is a very low level of service, and how specifically through this can one come to all of the lofty levels, which are considered here? However the issue is that the foundation of Avodah (service) and its beginning is specifically the service of the acceptance of the yoke. This is the foundational basis in the service of God, that the beginning of the service specifically be with the acceptance of the yoke.
Just as with the general service of God, the beginning of man’s service is specifically the acceptance of the yoke, so too, every year, the beginning of the Avodah is the service of specifically accepting the yoke. It is known that the service of Rosh Hashanah is the acceptance of yoke of His Kingdom, may He be blessed, and just as in the kingdoms upon earth, at the time of the coronation, the main thing is the nullification and setting one’s self aside, that the person is nullified in all of his essence to the king, so too, the service of the New Year is the nullification and setting aside of oneself, in the acceptance of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, in tears and in pleading from the depths of the heart.
This is what is said on Rosh Hashanah, “Today is the birth of the world, today He stands in judgment of all creatures of the world, if they are like sons or if they are like servants, if like sons, have mercy upon us, like a father has mercy upon his sons, if like servants, our eyes turn to You.” Our Rebbi, whose soul is in Eden, explains that “today is the birth (Harras) of the world” means today the world “trembles”, the word “Harras” means trembling and fear, and the awe and fear are from this, that since today, the day of the Rosh Hashanah, He will place in judgment all of the creatures of the world.
In the creatures of the world, in general, there are two aspects and levels, sons and servants. “If we are like sons, have mercy upon us, like a father has mercy upon his sons.” We need to understand, why do sons need to request mercy? “Sons” mean that they are at a very close level (to Hashem), and just as in the physical realm, a son is like his father, and due to this reason, a son naturally loves his father and is drawn to him with a great and awesome love, for we clearly see that a young child, who does not know at all why this man is his father, nevertheless, he is drawn after him with all of his power, and certainly with an older son, who goes and recognizes the value of his father, he is drawn after him with all of his power, and greatly desires whatever is the will of his father. This means that what is the will of his father, is also the will of the son, and whatever is against the will of the father, this is also absolutely against the will of the son.
Furthermore, since this is the will of the father, the intellect of the son obligates (and absolutely accepts) that this is the way it should be. Generally, the intellect of the son is aligned with the intellect of a father, that just as the intellect of the Father obligates it to be, so too the intellect of the son obligates it to be. If so, the fact that the son fulfills the will of the father, in every detail, is because of the obligation of the intellect of the son, which is aligned in the essence of his nature to the intellect of the father.
Also, in actual service, the son serves his father with sincere service, with all of his heart and soul, all of this is because the son is drawn from the father who produced him, and is considered part of himself, as the teaching, “The son is the leg of the father,” and therefore, the son is constantly drawn with love and passion to his father, since everything is drawn back to its roots, and for this reason the will and powers of the son are aligned with the will and powers of the father, as the teaching, “Why are the sons of sages not sages, because (the sages) refer to people with disparaging terms.” From the fact that the Rabbis are looking into this and asking, “Why are the children of sages not sages,” the fact that they need a reason for this (change in behavior of the sage’s children), is that were it not due to the cause of the punishment (for the sage’s use of disparaging terms), then the power and will of the son would be naturally aligned to the powers and will of the father, from which he was taken.
Therefore, whatever the father commands the son to serve and to do, this is not a burden at all by the son, on the contrary, the son will serve the will of the father with joy and with great happiness, more than the son will do and serve for his own needs, as the teaching, “Like a son who puts out effort for his father and mother more than himself.” From this example can be understood regarding the souls of Israel, which are called “sons”, as the verse says, “You are sons to Hashem your Lord,” and Hashem is literally our father.
Therefore, the service of God, in the reading of the Shema, prayer, Torah study, and the commandments, this service will not be difficult for the souls of Israel at all. The “souls” are considered the aspect of “sons”, this is like their nature in their Divine Soul to go in the way of Hashem, without turning to the right or to the left, to only do what is the Upper Will, this is also truly their will. Also, with regards to comprehension of Hashem, their intellects, in comparison to above, they know and comprehend issues of G-dliness, and it firmly sits with them well. The issues of G-dliness literally sit well in their minds.
If so, it is a wonder, what is the request of compassion, that He should have mercy upon us like a father has mercy upon his sons? However, since on Rosh Hashanah, the main service is with the acceptance of yoke, therefore even the souls, which are at the aspect of sons, even their service is with the request of compassion and pleading.
The general issue is that the fact that the souls of Israel are called sons is due to the high level of the soul, but from the aspect of their “bodies”, they are called “servants”, as the verse says, “For to me, the Children of Israel are my servants.”
The main issue of servitude is specifically with a yoke. The servant, on his own, wishes to go freely and lazily through whatever work that there is, and he prefers freedom, and does not desire any work at all. All the service of the servant is only because of the great yoke that is placed upon him, the fear of his master, his awe and his fear, and because of this, he does all types of very hard and difficult work, even if it is against his will and not according to his strength, and the work is very hard upon him, until it even wears him out, due to the great amount of work, and even at night he does not rest in sleep, and besides this, even when he is literally sleeping, even then the yoke of the master and his fear is upon him. Furthermore, the yoke of the master is upon him like an iron yoke, to wake him up from his small sleep, in order to do his service. This harsh yoke does not give him a sense of peace at all. Although all of this is against the will of the servant, both due to the essence of his nature that he desires to go free, because of the nature of his laziness, and also due to the weakness of his strength, according to the magnitude of the work, nevertheless, due to the yoke of the master, it literally develops into (a new) nature within his soul to carry the yoke and the burden, and the great load with very difficult and heavy work.
Just like an ox becomes accustomed to his yoke, and a donkey to his load, so too, the servant becomes accustomed to his hard service, day and night, through the acceptance of the yoke. The acceptance of this yoke is acquired by the servant like his own literal nature, and all of this is because he gives himself over to be a servant, to except upon himself the yoke of his master, in anything that he commands upon him, at any time and any place, by literally and completely giving over himself, in this, that the servant gives himself over to be a servant.
In this giving over of himself, the servant nullifies his own nature, as if he himself does not exist in the world at all, and all of his having been created and his being in the world is only to serve his master, and to do all the work which is requested of him by the master, in the work of the field, plowing, planting, harvesting, working the garden and the vineyard, planting, hoeing, weeding, crushing the grain, grinding, baking, gathering together the produce of the garden and fruits of the vineyard, serving in the house by making the food, making clothing, making them nice, and cleaning vessels.
All of it is for the servant to do them, because of the master, and he does not consider himself to be any existence in the world at all, because he is considered like a possession, a monetary acquisition of the master, that he can do with him however he shall desire. Due to this giving over of himself, that the servant gives himself to be a servant, because of this, he accepts upon himself any hard and most difficult work, and he does not think about this at all. On the contrary, he knows within himself that this is how it should be, and since this work and service is all of his being, therefore, it is by him a literal nature to carry the harsh yoke and heavy load, with great effort and patience, and a complete acceptance of the yoke.
Therefore, we see, that in spite of the fact that the servant, due to his great heavy work, constantly day and night, he certainly does not have joy and pleasure “for himself”, from this work, with this harsh and heavy yoke. Nevertheless, even this servant has a great joy, that through the effort of his work is fulfilled “the will of his Master”, since the fulfillment of “the will of his Master” is all of his life and the essence of his being, and it was for this that he was created and made, and were it not for this, he has nothing for himself, since he has no place or existence or nature to himself at all, since his body and soul and whatever he acquires is to his master, that even what he profits or finds, all belongs to his master. The cause of all of this is the fact that he gave himself over to be a servant, specifically with the acceptance of the yoke.
This is (the meaning) that the Children of Israel are “servants”, that the Children of Israel, from their “bodies”, are at the aspect of a “servant”, since from the level of their “soul”, all of Israel are considered “sons”, as our Rebbi of blessed memory said that just like a son comes from the essence of the brain of his father, so too the souls of everyone from Israel is drawn from God’s wisdom.
Therefore all of Israel, even the most simple, are able, from the aspect of the light of their souls and its Holiness, to ascend and to go up to the greatest heights and levels, as the teaching, that every one of Israel is able to say, “When will my actions reach the actions of my forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?” Even though the forefathers are literally the Chariot (a complete vehicle for G-dliness), that even when they were below, enclothed in physical bodies, they were a Chariot for G-dliness, nevertheless, everyone from Israel is able to say, “When will my actions reach the actions of my forefathers,” since the source of the soul is in the world of Atzilus (Emanation), and they are called “sons”.
However, from the aspect of their “body”, the souls of Israel are considered “servants”, that they need to accept upon themselves the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, to the service of God. This is why we say, “Avinu Malkeinu” (“Our father our king”). From the aspect of the “soul”, Hashem is our “father”; from the aspect of the “body”, He is our “King” and He is called the King of Israel and its Redeemer.
We need to accept His yoke, may He be blessed. The acceptance of this yoke is like a simple servant who gives himself over to his master, in a complete giving over of himself, to be his servant. In this giving over of himself, the servant is nullified in all of his existence, and serves his master with a great yoke, to withstand all of the harsh and most difficult work. Even if the work is very hard upon him, nevertheless, due to the acceptance of the yoke, the heaviness of the work becomes natural to him, since it is the service of his master. This is all of his nature (and existence); he himself is not a being at all.
So too with the Avodah (service) of Hashem, the foundation of the service and its beginning is the acceptance of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the beginning of the Avodah, to give over oneself to be a servant of God, with the acceptance of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, due to his fear of Elokim (the Lord), and this is called one who serves the Lord (Elokim), since Elokim is a term which represents dominion and mastery. He accepts upon himself the yoke of the Master and the dominion of Hashem, because of fear and awe in his soul, with the fear of heaven. Because of this, he subjugates all of his physical body to be like an ox to the yoke, literally. This means to put out effort with himself and his human power, contrary to his material nature and desire, to serve His service, like the service of a servant in the field, in the garden, and in the vineyard.
All of these (forms of work) are analogously found in the service of God. Plowing is the idea to soften his heart that it should be able to receive a planting of Torah and the commandments, like a plowed field, which can receive the seed of the grain. Likewise with hoeing and weeding, in Avodah (work and service), is to make a proper accounting with his soul, in a detailed manner, of his thoughts, speech, and actions, to push away what is not good and to distance them, in the manner of distancing the chaff from the wheat, and likewise with the refinement and repair of behavioral attributes, which are comparable to the removal of thorns, or to the removal of dry branches and wormy fruit. The preparation of food, in Avodah, is the Avodah of refinement. The making of clothing, in Avodah, is the fulfillment of commandments; through the commandments, fine garments are made. Laundering clothing is the issue of Teshuva (repentance), where one cries with the bitterness of their soul, over their standing, and the tears “wash”. The precious “vessels”, in Avodah, are the letters of Torah and prayer, and the “washing” is to increase in the words of Torah and pleading, that within all this, his Avodah could be like the service of the servant with the acceptance of the yoke.
This is the meaning of, “Today is the trembling of the world,” that on Rosh Hashanah, which is the day of judgment, the main service is the acceptance of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. On these two days, one needs to be careful from speaking unholy words, to minimize the amount of sleep, and to increase in prayer and in the saying of Tehillim (Psalms), day and night, so that the main service is specifically with the acceptance of yoke. This specifically is the foundation and root of Avodah (service), and through this specifically one can reach the highest, most lofty sublime levels.
This is the meaning of, “You should ‘walk after’ Hashem your Lord.” The main thing is to “walk after” Hashem. This is the level of the most simple servant, who gives himself over, to be a servant. All of the great, high lofty levels of love and fear, and Deveykus (cleaving), all are dependent on this giving over of oneself. This means that one should “walk after” Hashem.
Through the acceptance of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, we reach this (highest) level of “And you should cleave to Him,” a Deveykus (cleaving) of (our) Essence to (Hashem’s) Essence.