Lev Tahor [A Pure Heart]
•
What is the most important duty of a good Jew?
•
Is it to perfectly protect the heleige shabbos koydesh [the holy shabbos]?
•
Is it to continue the next generation of frume yidn [religious Jews] by raising a big family according to the halacha [laws] of the 613 mitzvos [commandments]?
•
Is it to guide our non-religious brothers into the fold of frume yidn [religious Jews]?
•
Is it to live together in peace and harmony only between yidn to protect ourselves from the danger of the outside world?
While there are a lot of things we could say are important to the Ribbono shel Olam for us to do, he is without a doubt most concerned about each of our individual connections with him. Hakodesh Baruch Hu’s rachmones [mercies] on Klal Yisroel [the congregation of Israel] increases as each of us individually turns to him in teshuvo [repentance] and renews the condition of our neshomes [souls] before him. Hakodesh Baruch-Hu cares more about the condition of our neshomes and connection to him than he does about our learning or the way we dress on the outside, or our perfect fulfillment of every detail of shmiras shabbos koydesh [keeping the holy shabbos], or taharos ha-mishpachah [family purity], or whether we can afford two refrigerators.
But somewhere along the way, we have fallen off the derech [path] and have begun to judge one another by the color and style of our yarmulkes or whether we cover our sheytls [wigs] or not. But it is not so with Hakodesh Baruch Hu. For it is written in Sefer Shmuel Alef, perek
טז
posek
ז
,
וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֶל־שְׁמוּאֵל אַל־תַּבֵּט אֶל־מַרְאֵהוּ וְאֶל־גְּבֹהַּ קֽוֹמָתוֹ כִּי מְאַסְתִּיהוּ כִּי ׀ לֹא אֲשֶׁר יִרְאֶה הָֽאָדָם כִּי הָֽאָדָם יִרְאֶה לַעֵינַיִם וַה' יִרְאֶה לַלֵּבָֽב:
“But Hakodesh Baruch Hu said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For Hakodesh Baruch Hu sees not as man sees; man sees according to his eyes, but Hakodesh Baruch Hu sees the heart.’”
So what is the condition of your neshoma and your heart? Can you honestly say that you always approach the Ribbono shel Olam with perfect innocence and a pure heart? Of course not. This is why we try so hard to purify ourselves through tefillah [prayer], tachanun [supplication], and fasting in order to fight our yetzer horah [sin nature]. But all our fighting only brings us more guilt and dissatisfaction with ourselves and with our lives. We knock our heads against the walls to attain devekus and a really dynamic relationship with Ha-kodesh Baruch Hu and only find ourselves missing the standard again and again. But it doesn’t have to be this way, brothers. The yoke of Toryeh that we place on ourselves should be one of love and simcha [joy], not guilt and constant striving. Hashem promised to deal with our sins Himself, so that we don’t have to struggle so hard only to get bubkes [nothing] in return. As it is written by Micha ha-novi [prophet] in perek
ז
, psukim
יח-יט
, “Mi El komocha?...[Who is a G-d like you?...]”
מִי־אל כָּמוֹךָ נֹשֵׂא עָוֹן וְעֹבֵר עַל־פֶּשַׁע לִשְׁאֵרִית נַֽחֲלָתוֹ לֹֽא־הֶחֱזִיק לָעַד אַפּוֹ כִּֽי־חָפֵץ חֶסֶד הֽוּא: יָשׁוּב יְרַֽחֲמֵנוּ יִכְבּשׁ עֲוֹֽנֹתֵינוּ וְתַשְׁלִיךְ בִּמְצֻלוֹת יָם כָּל־חַטֹּאתָֽם:
“Who is a G-d like you who pardons iniquity and passes over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, for he delights in love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread all our iniquities underfoot and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”
When Yeshua, the Moshiach of Israel, walked in Eretz Yisroel [Israel], he taught a Toryeh of both righteousness and love, one that demanded a pure heart and true yiras shomayim [fear of heaven]. He taught that the thoughts of our yetzer horah are just as sinful as committing the sin itself, because both, “imrei fi v’hegion libi [the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart]” are important in the eyes of Hashem. (How is this good news? Just keep reading.) Nevertheless, he also offered hope and relief from all of our endless striving against our yetzer horah. Yeshua, the Shepherd of Israel, says in the Bris Chadasho, Sefer Matisyohu perek
יא
, psukim
כח-ל
:
“Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
How could he teach such a stringent Toryeh and yet promise that his Toyras- Moshiach [Law of Messiah] will bring us rest for our neshomes? Because his Toyras-Moshiach is the same one that our novi Yermiyohu prophesied in perek
לא
, psukim
:לב-לג
כִּי זֹאת הַבְּרִית אֲשֶׁר אֶכְרֹת אֶת־בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל אַֽחֲרֵי הַיָּמִים הָהֵם נְאֻם־ה' נָתַתִּי אֶת־תּֽוֹרָתִי בְּקִרְבָּם וְעַל־לִבָּם אֶכְתֲּבֶנָּה וְהָיִיתִי לָהֶם לֵֽאלֹהים וְהֵמָּה יִֽהְיוּ־לִי לְעָֽם: וְלֹא יְלַמְּדוּ עוֹד אִישׁ אֶת־רֵעֵהוּ וְאִישׁ אֶת־אָחִיו לֵאמֹר דְּעוּ אֶת־ה' כִּֽי־כוּלָּם יֵֽדְעוּ אוֹתִי לְמִקְטַנָּם וְעַד־גְּדוֹלָם נְאֻם־ה' כִּי אֶסְלַח לַֽעֲוֹנָם וּלְחַטָּאתָם לֹא אֶזְכָּר־עֽוֹד:
“For this is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after those days, declares Hashem. I will place my Toryeh within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their G-d, and they will be my people. And a man will no longer teach his neighbor, and a man his brother, saying, ‘Know Hashem.’ For they will all know me, from the smallest to the greatest, declares Hashem. For I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”
With Yeshua’s Toryeh written on our hearts and our sins forgiven by the sacrifice he made for us by giving up his own life, we can have peace with Hashem and rest from our struggle to overcome the yetzer horah.
Trusting him to forgive and cleanse us is the only way to peace and freedom from guilt. Once we have received the gift of his Geulah [redemption], we never again have to live under the burden of guilt for failing our own expectations for perfection, because Yeshua promised to send us the Ruach ha-Koydesh [the Holy Spirit] to aid us in the fulfillment of Hashem’s expectations for us. And when we do sin, we have the promise of the Bris Chadasho in Igeret Yochanon ha-Rishon perek
א
, posek
ט
, “If we confess our sins, he [Yeshua] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Then we can have a heart and a neshoma fit to serve the Ribbono shel Olam in any way he would ask from us. Ultimately our mitzvos and the way we dress on the outside will not gain enough zechus [merit] to make us worthy of Geulah because we cannot fool Hashem with a pious appearance when our hearts are not worthy of him. Only the purity and tzedako [righteousness] we can gain through Yeshua’s sacrifice for us will last forever, and only his Toryeh written on our hearts can guide us properly on the derech of our lives. His Derech will lead us to the Eitz Chaim [The Tree of Life]! Let him be your Moshiach now!
