As you may know, a holiday is just the beginning of our focusing on a certain topic; as the Ramban tells us, a holiday is like a well that you fill up your jug, and continue drinking from.
With that being said, we will discuss a Shavuot-Matan Torah thought, even though it is the day after Shavuot.
The Gemarah in Masechet Shabbat tells us that the Jewish people saying Na’Aseh V’Nishma ( we will do, and we will listen) is compared to a a Tapu’ach, a fruit that Tosafot defines not as an apple, but an etrog. This etrog fruit appears on the tree before the leaves. So too, the Jewish people. Normally the leaf comes before the fruit, and normally people say, “I will listen, and then I will do.” But the Jewish people said, “Na’Aseh V’Nishma” in this way, they are compared to a Tapu’ach. As the pasuk in Shir Hashirim says,
כְּתַפּ֙וּחַ֙ בַּעֲצֵ֣י הַיַּ֔עַר
Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest.
But Tosafot is bothered by the continuation that pasuk, which says, כֵּ֥ן דּוֹדִ֖י בֵּ֣ין הַבָּנִ֑ים
So is my beloved one amongst the men.
In this pasuk, the Jewish people are referring to Hashem as the Tapu’ach.
So how can we say the Jews are referred to a Tapu’ach?
The Nefesh HaChaim answers that the Jewish people have qualities based on those of Hashem. If Hashem is referred to as a Tapu’ach, it’s because the Jewish people have that quality. They are a mirror image. Therefore, we can bring a pasuk that refers to Hashem with the quality of a Tapu’ach, and apply it to the Jewish people.
If so, where does the concept of Na’Aseh V’Nishmah show up for Hashem ? We know that human beings have this quality; We commit ourselves to rely on Hashem and we know we can do it, even though we don’t know what He will tell us to do. We know we can do it, because He wouldn’t tell us to do something if we couldn’t do it. That is Na’Aseh V’Nishmah, as it applies to people, but how does it apply to Hashem?
The Sefer Gaon Yaakov says an unbelievable thought. He says that Na’Aseh, the act, is what Hashem does. Nishma, what Hashem says, is what we hear from Him.
He quotes a pasuk, Whoever beat me to it, before I paid?”
This means that no one ever did something for God beforeHe paid for it.
How so?
Hashem says, “Did anyone ever do a Brit Milah before I gave them a child?
Did anybody ever put up a mezuzot before I gave them a house?”
If we go through everything in our lives, there is nothing that we do, that God didn’t supply us with the item for, and the ability to do, before hand. That is what Na’Aseh V’Nishma means, on Hashem’s part.
For everything that we are commanded to do, Hashem first gives us the item.
He, so to say, pays us before we do the work.
This is really the underpinning of the entire Torah. The Gaon of Vilna says about the a pasuk in Mishleh (perek כב)
לִהְי֣וֹת בַּ֭ה׳ מִבְטַחֶ֑ךָ
The purpose of the Torah is to rely on Hashem.
That is the goal of the Torah.
What does this mean?
The Raavad, in the Sefer Baalei Nefesh, explains a fundamental of all Torah and Mitzvot: The purpose of Torah and Mitzvot is to realize, and constantly be aware, that everything we have, Hashem gave us, and then He told us to do the Mitzvah.
The Mitzvah is there to remind us that it is Hashem’s.
For example, if a person has a garment, he has to be careful of shaatnez. What is the reason for this?
Of course, there is a specific, underlying reason, but the over-arching reason ( as for all Mitzvot) is in order to remind us that it’s Hashem’s clothing. Because He is the boss, He can tell us what to do with it.
If you want to eat some thing, it has to be kosher, because He is the boss of the food. If you have a house, you have to put up mezuzot, and you can’t build on Shabbat, because He is the boss and He tells us what to do. If you are wearing a four-cornered garment, you have to put on tzizit.
Every single thing that we have comes with requirements, in order to remind us that Hashem is the One that is in charge.
That is the theme of the entire Torah, and all the Mitzvot; to realize that, to rely on Hashem, because everything we have is from Him.
Doing the Mitzvot ensures that we won’t forget that. I have to pray in the morning before I eat, and whatever else it may be.
Of course, all of the 613 Mitzvah each have their own individual reason, but the theme of all the Mitzvot is this concept: We have to realize that it is Hashem’s item, and He is asking us to remember that it is His.
Shabbat is there to tell us that we do not own our time. There are laws of Shemitah for our fields. Every mitzvah comes down to the point of Na’Aseh V’Nishma, so to say, on Hashem’s part. He gives us so much, and He asks only for a little bit back.
10% of your money? Hashem gave you 100%! If he’s only asking 10%, that’s a good deal!
Every single Mitzvah that we have boils down to the same point. That is why we commit ourselves to the Torah- because He gave us everything. The least we can do is remember that it is His.
Have a wonderful day.