[Avodah] Yismach Moshe

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, February 19, 2008 8:04 am, SBA wrote:
::  Yismach Moshe, but MRAH too is
:: described as being sameiach with something else "bematenas chelqo",
:: not simply because it's Shabbos.

: There are 2 pshatim for Moshe's Simcha.
: 1) "Ki eved neeman koroso lo" ie, that Hashem called him His faithful
: servant.

: Or 2) Referring to the Midrash which relates that while still in
: Paroy's house he saw how the Jews were laboring 7 days a week, and he
: pleaded with Paroy... Paroy agreed and asked MR which day they should
: be given, to which he suggested Shabbos.
: Later on when HKBH gave made Shabbos the day of rest, "Yismach Moshe"
: - Moshe was happy that HKBH had approved of his choice of day.

RSSkop discusses this tefillah in the haqdamah to Shaarei Yosher (tr
mine, from <http://www.aishdas.org/asp/ShaareiYosher.pdf> which has
the machashavah porting of the haqdamah in Hebrew and English in
full):
...
> From here it should be self-evident that love of oneself is desired
> by the Holy One, even though "the wise shall walk because of it
> and the foolish will stumble over it." In my opinion, this is true
> despite all the evil and sin that the world is full of because of
> this middah of self-love. Added to the challenge of wealth, this
> middah will cause him to stumble until the depths, as it is written,
> "Lest I grow full and deny." Because of the greatness of a person's
> attachment to his own qav, if Hashem graced him with wealth, and
> he believes with complete true faith that everything is the Holy
> One's, he is in truth poor.  What he has isn't his. However, if
> he denies G-d, then it is all his and he is in his own mind truly
> wealthy. Therefore, to satisfy his desire to enjoy his wealth, he
> will habituate himself to deny G-d, and then his error is complete.

> One can also feel this way with respect to acquiring a greater thing
> [than a qav of merchandise], which is wisdom....

> With this one can explain what it said, "Moses will be joyous
> with the giving of his portion, because You called him a reliable
> servant." There is no joy in receiving a bit of wisdom unless he is a
> reliable servant who possesses nothing, that it is all his Master's.
> Only then there is complete joy in acquiring wisdom. Without this
> [attitude] it is possible that there is no happiness in acquiring
> wisdom, for it through it he is capable of defending to heresy.

> Although at first glance it seems that feelings of love for oneself
> and feelings of love for others are like competing co-wives one to
> the other, we have the duty to try to delve into it, to find the
> means to unite them, since Hashem expects both from us. This means [a
> person must] explain and accept the truth of the quality of his "I",
> for with it the statures of [different] people are differentiated,
> each according to their level.  The entire "I" of a coarse and lowly
> person is restricted only to his substance and body. Above him is
> someone who feels that his "I" is a synthesis of body and soul. And
> above him is someone who can include in his "I" all of his household
> and family. Someone who walks according to the way of the Torah, his
> "I" includes the whole Jewish people, since in truth every Jewish
> person is only like a limb of the body of the nation of Israel.
> And there are more levels in this of a person who is whole, who can
> connect his soul to feel that all of the world and worlds are his
> "I", and he himself is only one small limb in all of creation. Then,
> his self-love helps him love all of the Jewish people and [even]
> all of creation.

> In my opinion, this idea is hinted at in Hillel's words, as he
> used to say, "If I am not for me, who will be for me? And when I
> am for myself, what am I?" It is fitting for each person to strive
> to be concerned for himself. But with this, he must also strive to
> understand that "I for myself, what am I?" If he constricts his "I"
> to a narrow domain, limited to what the eye can see [is him], then
> his "I" -- what is it? Vanity and ignorable. But if his feelings are
> broader and include [all of] creation, that he is a great person
> and also like a small limb in this great body, then he is lofty
> and of great worth. In a great engine even the smallest screw is
> important if it even serves the smallest role in the engine. For
> the whole is made of parts, and no more than the sum of its parts.
...

(Which gets us back to my previous post. Anavah is knowing that one is
a limb in a great body, and being able to *respond* accordingly.)

Again, simchah comes from anavah, just as Esther's "im la'eis kazos"
created/exemplified the ribui simchah of Adar. Moshe was happy with
*receiving* his cheileq because he was the anav mikol adam and
realized his cheileq was a custodianship with which to accomplish his
part, not self-earned results of personal accomplishment.


SheTir'u baTov!
-micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "Man wants to achieve greatness overnight,
micha at aishdas.org        and he wants to sleep well that night too."
http://www.aishdas.org     - Rav Yosef Yozel Horwitz, Alter of Novarodok
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