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There's a beautiful story from the Alter Rebbe of Lubavitch, Roshner Zalman of Liadi. The Torah tonight that I'm going to share with you is a Torah that I learned from the Lubavitcher Rebbe. And the Torah begins with a story from Roshner Zalman from the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe said that his Rebbe Who was the Maggid of Mezritch? So not everybody was accepted to become a student. Of the Maggid of Mezrich, meaning people came And some people were accepted to be students, and some people were not. So there was a group of Chassidim that were not invited to be a part of the Chabura, but they wanted to be there. They wanted to be around. They wanted to at least tangentially be able to connect. And these Talmidim, these Chassidim, they were called Meshamish Yerubayim. They would serve their Yerubayim, and that was their way of connecting to the Maggid. For example, when somebody woke up in the morning, they'd be there to wash their hands in the morning. That's what they wanted to do to get close to the maggid. They couldn't be in the maggid sheir, but they could be meshamish the other chassidim who were in the sheir.
And they were called the oven stokers because what they would do is they would stoke the coals of the oven so that everyone could stay warm. And these oven stokers One winter night, the Alter Rebbe describes that he was in the beis medrash. He overheard a conversation between three oven stokers. They were all talking. Remember that even if you couldn't get in to be a disciple of the Maggid of Mezrich, still you were a pretty high level person. This was the conversation they were having. They asked, "What was so special about Akedas Yitzchak?" Why was that such a special messiah? And they said, 'If Hashem revealed Himself to me and commanded me to sacrifice my son, I would also obey.' That was their question. In other words, what was the big deal? Avram Avinu was told by Hashem to kill Yitzchak, so he went to kill Yitzchak. Why was that so chashav?
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So each one of the oven stokers had a different answer to this question. The first oven stoker he said as follows: He said, "If Hashem commanded me to sacrifice my only son" I would do it, but I would delay. I would do it, but I wouldn't run to do it. I would do it, but I would delay. As opposed to Avram Avinu, what does the Torah tell us? By Ashkeim Avram b'bokeir, he got up in the morning with what's called alacrity and zeal. And he ran to do Akedah S'vitzcha. What was Avram's greatness? Not that he listened to Hashem. Obviously, Avram Avinu was going to listen to Hashem. The greatness was that he listened to Hashem and he got up in the morning fast to do it. That's what the first oven stoker said. The second oven stoker said, "No. It's more than that." He said, "If God told me to sacrifice my only son, I would also do it right away. I wouldn't wait. If Hashem told me, I would do it right away."
But I would do it with a heavy heart. I wouldn't be excited to do it. I wouldn't do it b'kol kohch. The greatness of Avram Avinu is not only that he did it fast. But he did it joyfully And that's an even deeper thing than doing it fast. And the third oven stoker said, 'No, that's not it either.' If Hashem told me to sacrifice my only son. Of course, I would wake up in the morning and do it with alacrity and do it with zeal. Of course, I would do it joyfully. But the difference is that when Avram Avinu was told that he couldn't sacrifice his only son, Avram was overjoyed. But not because he wasn't going to kill Yitzchak. He was overjoyed because now he had the opportunity to fulfill another mitzvah of Hashem. Namely, don't kill Yitzchak. So you hear the third oven stoker's answer. It's even deeper. He's saying the first one said I would do it, but I wouldn't run to do it.
The second one said I would do it, but I would do it with a heavy heart. The third one said I would do it. But when Hashem tells me not to kill Yitzchak, I would be happy that Yitzchak wasn't dying. And Avram Avinu was happy not because Yitzchak wasn't dying. Now there is another mitzvah for Hashem for Avram Avinu to fulfill. Now he's fulfilling the mitzvah of not killing Yitzchak. The Alter Rebbe was listening to this conversation in the beis medrash, and he related to the other Chassidim. He said each one of them is describing a level of self sacrifice to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. This is not just stamma conversation; it's describing a level of self sacrifice. And that's what I want to talk to you about tonight. But this Torah. Girls, this is not a simple Torah. This is a deep, deep Torah, and you're going to need to listen very carefully. I want you to know, I myself, when I learned this, I struggled to understand this Torah very much. And tonight, it's not going to be easy. It's going to be deep, but it's going to be worth it.
So we have a couple of questions. The first question is, what separates Akedas Yitzchak from every other case of self-sacrifice throughout Klal Yisrael's history? Obviously, Akeda this Yisroch seems to be the prime event of self-sacrifice. How do we know? Every morning in davening, girls, what do we daven? We daven the Akeda. Every morning in davening, we reference the Akeda. Obviously, it's of prime importance. Where else do we see the Akeda? We see the Akeda on Rosh Hashanah when we're blowing the shofar. What is the shofar a reference to? The shofar is a reference to the Rams weren't very good. When Avram Avinu did not sacrifice Yitzchak and instead he sacrificed the ram, the horn of that ram is the shofar. So it's almost like on Rosh Hashanah. What are we saying? Hashem, even if we're not worthy, remember that we come from Akedas Yitzchak. Very strange.
Girls, how many Jews have given their lives throughout history? Jews have given their lives throughout history. Thousands of Jews have died on Kiddush Hashem. This nesayon seems to be so great. This test of Avram Avinu, the final of the ten tests Was so great that it's like at the core of all of Yiddishkeit. So we have to understand. First question: What was so great about Akedah Sichach? Second question: Let's give a potential answer first, and then you'll see why the question is so good. So maybe you'll say Akedah Sichach was great because Avram Avinu was willing to sacrifice his own son. That's a big level of sacrifice. To give up your own son But that's not a good answer. Because Hannah. What was that? Everyone in that generation gave up their kids for their religion. I don't think so. In ancient times When no that's something else. That's human sacrifice. That's I'm killing my kid completely inappropriately. This is a mitzvah from Hashem.
One second. Maybe you'll say, let's just play this out because I think your question is going to get answered. Avram Avinu, it was a great sacrifice. Why? Because Avram Avinu was killing his son. How many sons did Chana have? Anyone know? Chana had seven sons, and all of them died. All them died, Al Kiddush Hashem. And when the last one was about to die, what did Chana say? So rather than having her son bow down to a Greek idol She said, "My children" Go to Avram Avinu. And say to him, 'You only bound one of your children on the mizbeach.' And I not only bound one; I bound all seven of my children on the mizbeach. So Chana was saying, 'Avram, you gave up your son for only one son; I gave up seven.' So if that's the case, who's greater, Avram or Chana? So why don't we have every morning? Why don't we daven about Chana?
In other words, you see how this answer doesn't work. Misogyny. Because Because if it was really one second, if it was really about the fact that Avram Avinu sacrificed his son, Chana sacrificed seven And not only that, but we see throughout history that Jews have given up not only their lives but the lives of their entire families. Back to the original question: What makes the sacrifice of Avram Avinu by Akedas Yitzchak? What makes it so great? Yeah. No No answers yet. You should know, girls. In the beginning of a she'er, best not to try to give answers. Best to just try to appreciate the questions, because we'll see. There's even more questions. You said Who's greater, Chana or Avram? Avram held a knife in his hand. It was going to be him that did it himself. You're in the world of answers. I'm still in the world of questions.
But I'm saying How could Chana be greater if she wasn't the one? No. It's a good point, but I'm just saying regarding the fact that it was Avram Avinu's son. He only sacrificed one. She sacrificed seven. So you're saying true, but Avram Avinu was intimately involved. But if it's a question of volume, you're giving another answer, but I'm not ready for answers yet. If it's just a question of volume His volume was not as great as hers. That's all I'm saying. So this is why I'm saying so. We're gonna get there. That's why I want you girls to hold off. Because the good answers, I believe we're going to see. You're going to see they're in here. Another question. Everyone with me? Yes. No. Maybe. It's hard. It's late at night, but we'll do our best anyway. Another question. After the tenth test, which is Akedat Yitzchak, what does Hashem say?
Now I know that you're truly God-fearing. What does that imply? That up until that point, even though Avram Avinu passed nine other tests, only now was he considered God-fearing. Girls, what was the first test that Avram Avinu had? Anyone know? He jumped in. The fire. He jumped into the fire. At that point, when he jumped into the fire Had Hashem very good. You girls, you're Baruch Hashem so smart. Slow. You girls are much faster than me. I'm not such a fast learner. You're much smarter than me. Let's move slowly together. I promise you, it'll be worth it. So let's say Avram Avinu jumped into the fire. At that point, had Hashem revealed Himself to Avram Avinu? No. No. When he jumped in. When he jumped in, he saved his life. Only after. But was there a special instruction from Hashem? No. Exactly your point. So what's greater then? I would assume. I would assume, and let's again, let's not debate this point, just for the sake of an assumption.
I would assume that if God tells me to do it, that's easier than if God doesn't tell me to do it. What was a greater test, the first test or the tenth one? The first one seems to be a much harder test to pass, and yet it's only by the tenth test that Hashem says what. It's only by the tenth test that Hashem says, 'Now I know you're God-fearing.' I don't understand. What happened? It was a miracle. It seems like the first test was harder than the tenth one. What's so special about the tenth one? And not only that, let's make it even worse. The Gemara in Sanhedrin, eighty-nine B, says that when Avram Avinu was given the commandment of the Akedah, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, "Please. Why does Hashem say please? This is what the Gemara tells us. Hashem said to Avram. I have tried you with many tests, meaning you underwent many tests and you withstood them all.
Now please withstand this last test, because otherwise they're going to say that the first nine were nothing. Meaning, if you pass the tenth test, then what does that show? That the first nine were really good. But if you don't pass this one, it's like you pass none of them. Does that make any sense? Because you could pass nine and not pass the tenth. But what is the Gemara saying? The Gemara is saying that Avraham Avinu says to Hashem, 'Please pass this tenth test, because if you don't pass the tenth test, then all nine are getting thrown out the window.' That's very difficult to understand. This is what does that mean? Just because I didn't pass the tenth doesn't mean that I didn't pass the first nine. So this tenth, not only do we don't understand why it's the hardest, but it's clearly the hardest, which we don't understand. It somehow validates the first nine.
Welcome back. You girls got it. Need a quick review? Let's do a quick review of the questions. Question number one: The first question we asked is, 'What makes this so central to Yiddishkeit?' Other people sacrificed more children. The second question we said is, 'Why is it only now in the tenth test that Hashem says, "Now I know you're a God-fearing Jew"?' And why is it the tenth test that validates the other nine? So you said this earlier, but now I want to start to unpack it. In Chassidus, this is explained with the following mashal: There was once a forest that was completely untamed. We're used to when you go on a tour here in Eretz Yisrael. You go on a tour. How do you go? Have you also been on a tour this year? They bring you to these forests. You're walking in the forest. And they have rocks, and the rocks you've seen the rocks have colors on them.
Because you're following the trail. But if you go deep into the forest, there are literally places that you can't walk. How did the trail get there? Because somebody blazed the trail. What does it mean to blaze a trail? To blaze a trail means I walked through there in a way that now everyone could walk behind me. That's what it means to be a trailblazer. So alpi chasidus, it goes as follows: When Avram Avinu passed Akedas Yitzchak He didn't just pass. What did he do? For all time now, anyone who was involved in mesiras nefesh. Anyone who was involved in self-sacrifice, where did they get the power to do that? Because Avram Avinu did it first. So think about it. If you walk through a trail here in Eretz Yisrael, you should have gratitude to the people that came before you. Because if you're walking on a trail, the only reason you can walk on the trail is because somebody was a trailblazer first.
Every single Jew throughout the history of Klal Yisrael. Can I ask you a favor? Would you mind reminding the Shana Bet girls that there's a shiur in here? I know they forget; it's not their fault, but maybe just to remind them. Every single Jew that's meiser nefesh They're not meiser nefesh because they had the power to do so on their own. They're meiser nefesh because Avram Avinu did it. But if you think about this for a minute. You'll see that it doesn't make any sense. Let's take a second just to understand this. We'll see if it makes sense. Avram Avinu didn't go through with it. Good, and not only that. But I would say it sounds very strange Just because Avram Avinu did something. Now I could do it. Let's unpack this for a second. If Avram Avinu thousands of years ago Hello. If Avram Avinu, let's put. By the way, I'm allergic to phones. If we don't mind, I'm allergic. Unless someone's taking notes on their phone, I'm allergic to it.
If Avram Avinu thousands of years ago was willing to sacrifice his son, what's that got to do with me? What's that got to do with me? Because my father did something, now all of a sudden I do it. My father's in marketing, I'm teaching Torah. What does Avram Avinu's action have to do with me? Your answer before was a very beautiful answer. You said Avram Avinu was the trailblazer. So what? So he did it first. Lots of people do things first. Just because Avram Avinu did it, now I have the power to do it. What does that mean? If you just say it's like a kabbalistic thing. Now Avram Avinu did it, so now you could do it. That doesn't really give us any insight. That doesn't teach us how to become better people. We need to understand what exactly Avram Avinu did, and how it relates to me.
I feel like it's not talking in a literal sense. In a literal sense, it's saying that because Avram Avinu did it, you can do it. In a literal sense, Hashem is not telling you face to face to go and shach your son. That's exactly the question we asked before. Were you there? It's exactly the question we asked before. That Hashem said it. It's much easier to follow. Hashem, Chana didn't hear it. Lots of people throughout history didn't hear it. That was one of the first questions we asked. That's okay. It happens. Okay. I have a question. But you have to ask loudly. Avraham Avinu was so great. So just because he did something doesn't mean that we can. Exactly. That's the same. It's exactly the question I'm asking right now. You did it. It's such a beautiful question. I think even the Bava Shabbi thought of it.
So let's try to see if we can get a good answer. Okay. What do we mean when we say that someone is willing to sacrifice their life for something? What do we mean? Slow. You girls, I told you, much smarter than me. Slow. It's not their fault. They're so lewd. They're so excited. Maybe say we should move to a different place. Maybe that's a good way of thinking about it. So it goes like this. One level of sacrifice is you say Life is not worth living unless this happens. So I'm willing to die. So that this happens. Is that self-sacrifice? I think it's a pretty high level of self-sacrifice. Assuming it's a good thing. Life is not worth living unless a certain objective can be fulfilled. So let's say for example, this is my country. I want my people to have my country. To have this country. I'm willing to die in order for that objective to be fulfilled.
That's a level of self-sacrifice. Everyone agree to that? What's another level of self-sacrifice? Another level of self-sacrifice is that I'm willing to die because I'll be rewarded in heaven for doing this. Anyone know of a religion like that? That's Christianity. I think maybe there are people in Judaism that also think I'm willing to die because of the sechah that I'll get in Shamayim. I'm willing to die in Islam because I'm going to be rewarded in the kingdom of heaven or in Christianity. That's a level of self-sacrifice. Maybe there's a deeper one. Maybe one second. Maybe the cause is even more significant than my life. And it's my identity. It's my identity. For example, let's say Martin Luther King knew that by getting assassinated It would help. People who are African American have equal rights in America. Would he choose to be assassinated? Yes. Because he had become so identified with the cause that he was willing to die for the cause—not just the cause as an objective, but that is me. I am equal rights. So if killing me means that people get equal rights, then I'm willing to do it. So in all those cases, there's one commonality.
In all those cases, there's one commonality. What is the commonality? They're willing to sacrifice their life. But they're not actually sacrificing themselves. Say it again. Make sure everybody gets it. Just because you're willing to give up your life for something Doesn't mean you're willing to give up yourself for it. Do you know what the difference is in your life and yourself? Let's examine each one of these cases. If I'm willing to give up my life in order to be rewarded in heaven Is that really a true sacrifice, or is that a little bit selfish? It's a little bit selfish. Even though it's for a very high cause, it's really ultimately about what. It's a little bit about you, right? A lot. If I'm willing to give up, even if it's a very noble thing. If I'm willing to die so that people could live safely in this country.
So I'm giving up my life, but why? For a reason For my value. So when you die, Al Kiddush Hashem. If somebody is a soldier It's completely for other people. It's for other people in a certain sense, obviously because other people are going to benefit from it. But what's the reason that I'm doing it? Because this is my value. So I'm willing to die for whose value? For my value, it's still what It's a little bit about me. Let's take it one step further. I just want to make sure I get the idea. Let's say it's Martin Luther King, and my entire life is about creating equality. So I'm willing to die in order to get equality. Who is it about? It's not about everyone else. It's really about me. I'm willing to die. I'm willing to give up my life in order to fulfill what.
A very noble, very beautiful thing that people should have equal rights. But ultimately, why am I doing it? Because that's what my life is about. But any time, all in all three cases, what's the key word here? It's me. It's either my reward. Or my value, or my life. Do you see how in all three of these cases, even though it's self sacrifice, it's not really hundred percent self sacrifice. Anyone could die for this. You don't need Avram Avinu. Anyone could choose to die for a cause that's greater than themselves, and people do it all the time. People do it all the time. You see, whether we agree or disagree with their values, there are Muslim terrorists that, in their world, they're very noble. They're willing to die for a cause that's greater than themselves. They believe they're doing it for the right reasons. That is not what we mean. When we say mesiras nefesh in Judaism Mesiras nefesh in Judaism is not giving up your life; it's giving up yourself.
It's much nobler than just giving up your life, because if you give up your life, who could you be giving up your life for? Yourself, really, for yourself. If you give up your life al Kiddush Hashem, if you're moser nefesh truly, then you're not giving up your life; you're giving up yourself. Now we have to unpack what that means. Let me take a couple of questions real quick, but I want to make sure we don't lose everybody. So I reserve the right to say I'm not going to answer now. I feel like in Judaism, even if a person is sacrificing himself, let's say they put themselves in a situation and they realize it's not benefiting their Judaism and they decide to remove themselves from that situation. I feel like even though that's sacrificing, quote unquote, for Hashem. In the day, if you're—it's a good question, but it's what I'm about to answer. So sometimes it's important to hold off on these types of questions so we can get to the answer. It's a good question. If I don't answer it by the end of the year, call me out on it. Sounds good.
Good question. We'll also see that I, even though I probably won't answer it 100% today, I think I'll answer it at least somewhat today. And I have one more. How can you? This could be a moona, maybe not, but how? All beautiful questions. All I'm going to put hold on because I'm going to answer them. It's not me. It's the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Beautiful answers to these questions. You with me? Final stage. We could do it. What time is it? Seven twenty. Seven twenty. Amazing. Seven twenty at night after a long day. The fact that any of you are paying attention is a miracle. It's unbelievable. So much respect for you. I'm deeply chabad But I'm not Chabad. I'm Chabad in myself. The Lebavitcher Rebbe and then the six line kippa. It's just the six line kippa. That's what gets you. It's just not the beard. Baruch Hashem. I think I have respect for a lot of tzaddikim, and I was very inspired by the Lebavitcher Rebbe in my life. I don't know that I'm a chabad chassid. I'm a chassid of Hashem, but I'm inspired by the Lebavitcher Rebbe.
Here's the difference between akedas yitzchak. Just a gentle reminder about the phones. Here's even with the books. Here's a gentle reminder about akedas yitzchak. That's different than all of these cases. Let's look at the life of Avram Avinu for a second. What's Avram? What does Avram Avinu dedicate his life to? Dedicates his life to Hashem. And does he have a child who's going to carry it on? Not until he's a hundred years old. And now he has a child. And so what does he see? Everything that I built is now going to continue. Yitzchak will have Yaakov, Yaakov will have the Shvatim will become a nation. Har Sinai, Mishkan, Eretz Yisrael, based on Mikdash, Mashiach. And then Hashem comes and He says Tear it all down. I want none of it. Now at that point. What is Avram Avinu being told? Not sacrifice your life. What is he being told?
Sacrifice yourself. There's a big difference here Because every fiber of Avram Avinu's being said, "Don't do this." See, if somebody came to me and they said Are you willing to die for the sake of a Jew being safe in this world? On a logical level, I would say, "Sure" Because that's a value to me. But is that really self-sacrifice or life sacrifice? It's a life sacrifice for my values. But if Hashem comes to Avram Avinu and says, "Don't just betray" Don't just betray your life, don't just give up your life. I want you to destroy yourself. I want you to go against the very thing that you are and give up your life for no reason. And Avram Avinu does it anyway. Do you see why that's a completely different level? That's a level that makes no sense, and throughout history, Jews have done exactly that.
And this, by the way, Akedah Shtuk is what makes a Jew into a Jew. The highest level of the soul. The highest level of the soul is called Yichida. Have you girls ever heard of that terminology before? You should have heard about it last week. Yichida is what makes a Jew. Do you know when we got a Yichida? Vayelchu shnehem yachtov. It was by Akedas Yitzchak that we were given this level of the soul. It's not giving up your life l'shem shamayim. It's not giving up your life for a reason. It's giving up your life when there's no reason to give up your life at all And that is something that was bestowed upon us by Akedas Yitzchak. And every single Jew has the capacity to do it now because Avram Avinu did it. It's a famous story in the Holocaust. With a Jew whose name was Schneeweiß. Have you heard this story?
Schneeweiß means Snow White. His name was Schneeweiß. He was Jewish. And the Nazis Yemach Shemo told Schneeweiß to bring a feast for these Jews on Yom Kippur who barely got any food. Bring all of this, not kosher food. Into the barracks to serve these Jews who were working on Yom Kippur. Did you tell us the story? I don't. I thought. Not me. Somebody else. Let him say the story. It's a great story. I heard the other ones. And Shneivais, who brought the food in, was naturally a soul. Can't kill itself. It's the only thing you can't do. It doesn't even make any sense. You would only sacrifice your life for a reason. But Jews throughout history have sacrificed themselves for no reason. I'm not going to repeat the story of Shnevi. I've already heard it. Still, for a reason. I'll say it quickly. The story is very simple. There was a Jew who was commanded by the Nazis, a Jew who worked for the Nazis, to bring food to these Jews on Yom Kippur.
And the Jews refused to eat it And they told Shnevi, 'You eat the food.' This Jew who had brought the food to these other Jews, this Jew who was collaborating with the Nazis And Shnevi said, "I won't eat it." And it's shneivis. Eat it or we'll kill you. He goes. I'd rather die. This was not an Orthodox Jew. This was not a Jew that necessarily kept Yom Kippur. And they killed him. Wasn't he someone that specifically was irreligious? And he was. And he was. He was again. He was a Nazi collaborator. The fact that you have a Jew willing to die for no reason, where does that come from? It comes from this dimension of Avraham Avinu. When you see self-sacrifice in the world, just know that's not self-sacrifice. That's sacrificing yourself for a cause. Avram Avinu died for no cause. Avram Avinu died for what would be the destruct. He would be willing to kill his kid for the destruction of his cause. So throughout history, when Jews have died al Kiddush Hashem, it wasn't because of what they were willing to do because it would advance the cause of Judaism. They did it simply because that's what it means to be a Jew.
When you put a gun against the Jewish soul and you say, 'Be extinguished or be Jewish.' What happens? What does the natural soul do? The Jewish soul. A natural person would say, 'No, I'm going to do the avera.' What does a Jewish soul do? A Jewish soul says, 'I'd rather die.' If that's the halacha that I should die in this moment, then I'd rather die. Now we understand why Akedas Yitzchak. We go back to our original questions. Why is it so serious? Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to Avraham Avinu, "Please pass this one." If you pass this one, it's proof that the other nine were real. What does that mean? The other nine were real. Because the other nine all advanced the cause of Judaism. So maybe Avram Avinu was willing to die because it would advance his mission. Now we see why Avram Avinu was doing all nine tests. Because Hashem said do them.
Why is it such a big deal that we daven every morning we mention Akedah Yitzchak? Haven't thousands of people died throughout history? They died because Avraham Avinu was willing to give over his son. Why did all those people that martyred themselves throughout history, when they had the opportunity, what was the thing that drove them? It wasn't I'll advance the cause of Judaism. It was I'm willing to do this because I'm a Jew and no other reason. And we don't know. Maybe in the final moments when those Jews who were killed al Kiddush Hashem, we don't know what was going through their minds. From what I understand, kabbalistically speaking, any Jew who dies al Kiddush Hashem. They become an instrumentation, so to speak, of this concept, and we don't know what it means in the last moments. But we see one thing for sure: when the Jewish soul is about to be extinguished.
It rises up and it proclaims its Jewishness, and it says, "I'd rather die" Which is an amazing concept. Because you know what that means? It means that sometimes, even though you won't live for God You're willing to die for God. And if you're willing to die for God, then you know what you should do. Be willing to live for God. The Rambam says, what's the greatest expression? Not dying al Kiddush Hashem Living al Kiddush Hashem. What does it mean to live al Kiddush Hashem? When you do a mitzvah, who are you doing a mitzvah for? Hashem. You're doing it for Hashem. You know they make this they make Judaism today like a self help book. It's a tragedy. It's a tragedy. They say why you shouldn't be on your phone on Shabbos? You should take a break from technology. You'll come back into self. It's good family time.
You could be Amish and not have a phone. You could be Amish and have family time. Shabbos is not about family time, and Shabbos is not about technology. Those are ancillary benefits. You should keep Shabbos. Because that's what it means to serve Hashem. But it's also for yourself to be close to Hashem. But even that, exactly, you said it perfectly. Even that is a certain level. Obviously, that's beautiful, but it's still about me. Do it just for Hashem. That's the highest level. But doing stuff for Hashem means It happens to be true, but let's say I said that in any relationship. Let's say I said to my wife I like doing things for you because then I get to be close to you. Then are you? But which one is primary? Which one do I enjoy? I enjoy being in the relationship, but if it's about my enjoyment, then what happens when I don't enjoy it anymore?
A hundred percent. But I think it goes kind of together. Not only. They don't go together. One comes first and one comes second, and it's very important that one come first. And it's very hard to do this, and it's hard even to check in with yourself. That's right. A lot of people do good things because they feel better about it. For example, a person might say, "I like giving tzedakah. It makes me feel so good." Well, thank God there are poor people so that you could feel good about yourself. We give tzedakah because Hashem said. Give tzedakah, and if we have good feelings afterwards. That's good. You've been natural. At the end of the day, it's only four. That's my point. My point. But the way you just said it now is different than the way you said it before. It's not that they go hand in hand. One comes first.
That's all I'm saying. But you gain two. It's true that I gain, and it's true that, for example, if somebody is willing to die for a cause, it's true that the cause will be advanced. But the highest level is not to die for the cause. That's a big problem. When we say that Hashem doesn't need us to do anything for Him, it makes it feel like this is all about me. And it's not really a hundred percent true. Hashem doesn't need us because Hashem is perfect. But when you're perfect, do you know what you want? You want to be in a relationship with someone else. So it's not for me, because remember, when I'm serving my wife, it's because I'm connected to her. It's not because of what I get from her. So Hashem doesn't need my mitzvah in the sense that He's lacking But Hashem says I want to be in a relationship with you And because we want to be in a relationship with Hashem, when He gives us a mitzvah, we do it not because of what we're going to get, not because we're going to get schar in olam haba. We do it because I want to be in a relationship with Hashem, and this is what the Alter Rebbe said very famously. He said, 'Hashem, I don't want your olam hazeh. I don't even want your olam haba. All I want is you.'
Meaning, a Jew desires to do what Hashem wants us to do in this world, and that's the akedah. Are you willing to sacrifice? Everyone in this room has to ask themselves that question: What am I willing in my life to sacrifice in order to serve Hashem? There is no service without sacrifice. There is no relationship that doesn't require sacrifice. Girls, have a wonderful Shabbos.
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