For the past few days, we’ve been talking about the Bitachon of Yaakov Avinu. Yesterday we mentioned the Mizmor from Tehilim
מזמור לדוד ה׳ רעי לא אחסר
G-d is my Shepherd, I will not lack.
I was discussing this with someone, and shared with him a beautiful Sefer Haredim which can help us all. We know there’s a Mitzvah:
: וזכרתם את ה׳ אלוקיך
Remember Hashem,
כי הוא הנותן לך כח לעשות חיל
because He’s the one that gives you the strength to amass wealth.
This is a pasuk in Devarim.
It’s counted as a positive commandment by many of the Mitzvah counters. It can be found at the back of many siddurim, after Shaharit, and it’s on the list of things to remember daily. Remember that Hashem gives you the strength to amass wealth: Men, women, whoever has success must constantly remember where that success came from.
A few pesukim before that one, it says, Beware, lest you forget Hashem your G-d. This is listed by Rabbenu Yonah as a Mitzvah: Don’t forget G-d.
The Sefer Haredim says that since both the positive, to remember Hashem, and the negative, not to forget are mentioned, he comes up with a big Hiddush based on this pattern of repetition, which shows up in other places. For example, regarding Amalek, it says, זכור remember, and אל תשכח don’t forget. The Gemara and the Sifri are bothered by this seeming redundancy. The Gemara explains, if it just said לא תשכח- Don’t forget, that would be in your heart, but “זכור- remember” is with your mouth. That’s why it’s not enough not to forget Amalek in our brains. We have to actually enunciate it with our mouths (and there’s an added aspect with Amalek- it says, b’sefer- it has to be read from a scroll.)
So, it’s not enough to remember G-d in your head. You have to enunciate it with your mouth also. Therefore, the Sefer Haredim says that at times, a person should say pesukim that arouse him to remember G-d.
For example, he says, -מְלֹ֥א כָל־הָאָ֖רֶץ כְּבוֹדֽוֹ׃His presence fills the earth
Is a beautiful pasuk, or -אשרי איש שלא ישכחךFortunate is the one that doesn’t forget You. ובין אדם יתחמץ בך-And a person that pushes to connect with You .
He quotes that his rabbi, Rabbi Yosef Saggis used to sing that to himself, and always had it on his lips.
So, it’s a good idea to take a pasuk and live with it.
Rabbi Miller used to say that we should find a pasuk that speaks to us, and have it in mind, contemplate and think about it. Talk about it.
So, for the past two days, we’ve been talking about Mizmor L’David
ה׳ רעי לא אחסר -G-d is my Shepherd, I will not lack
Take those four words- and when you have nothing to do, just say them. It’s a wonderful thing to do, and you’ll be fulfilling a Mitzvah.
I once heard Hacham Ben Zion Abba-Shaul say that when a man is sitting, waiting for dinner, or if a lady is waiting for something, they should think the pasuk, “Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad.” This fulfills two of the six constant mitzvot- that Hashem is One and that He’s our G-d. It’s a beautiful opportunity.
Thinking of pesukim like this is doing another Mitzvah as well. Besides the fact that you’re fulfilling the lessons of what you’re doing, you are also fulfilling the Mitzvah of not forgetting G-d. That’s an important concept. How important?
The Sefer S”MaG, which stands for Sefer Mitzvot Gadol, lists the mitzvot as do Rambam, and Ramban and others. In this list, negative commandment #64 discusses the importance of being humble, and yet he says, he didn’t see anywhere on Rambam’s list that you aren’t allowed to be arrogant, or that you have to be humble and was not going to count it on the list of Mitzvot. Then one night, when he was up to that point in counting the mitzvot, he went to sleep and had a dream with the following vision: הנה שכחת את העיקר
“You forgot the most important Mitzvah. You forgot the fundamental, Beware, not to forget G-d.
He looked into it and saw that it’s a Gemara Masechet Sotah, ( daf ה). It clearly says that the warning against arrogant people comes from the pasuk: ורם לבבך ושכחת את ה׳ אלוקיך
“You will become arrogant and forget G-d”
And we know it say- השמר לך פן תשכח את ה׳
Beware, we should not forget G-d.
So, if we aren’t allowed to forget G-d, and arrogance makes us forget Him, that means we aren’t allowed to be arrogant. So, the Sefer Mitzvot added this to his list of 613 mitzvot - “Thou shall not be arrogant” and the source is that you aren’t allowed to forget G-d. Arrogance is forgetting G-d.
He says that the point where one transgresses Forgetting G-d occurs when one is arrogant about his gifts from his Creator- whether it’s money, beauty or wisdom, he has to be humble and thank Hashem for gifting him with that talent, ability or asset. If a person takes credit, that’s arrogance, and that’s forgetting about G-d.
How so?
Mashal: When a father teaches his son to play baseball, he stands behind his sin and holds the bat along with him. When the father swings at a ball, the child gets feel for it. The father is the one actually hitting the ball. The child’s hands are on the bat, but they are just a tool in the hands of the swinger. The child isn’t really swinging. But imagine if this swing is a home run, and the child starts cheering because he thinks he hit the ball. He forgot that this father was holding the bat and swinging for him. He didn’t do it at all.
If we become proud or arrogant about money, good looks or wisdom, we are like the boy who forgot that it was his father swinging the bat.
So how do we fulfill this Mitzvah and avoid the arrogance? This simple technique, (which according to the Sefer Haredim is actually part of the Mitzvah) is to take a pasuk like ה׳ רעי לא אחסר
G-d is my Shepherd, I will not lack
And just hum it, think it, and have it on your mind. That way, you’re fulfilling the mitzva of having Hashem on your mind.
Have a wonderful day.