We are on our 7th and final prerequisite that one needs have in order to be considered reliable. G-d is the only Being that has all seven. The last one is:
ושנדיבותו כוללת וחסדו סובב
His Kindness and generosity is all inclusive and his kindness surrounds all.
As the pasuk says, שנאמר (תהלים קמה ט) טוב ה׳ לכל
ורחמיו על כל מעשיו, G-d is good to everyone and His mercy is on all His creations
As we have said, a person can have the first six qualities and still not be reliable. Even if:
1- He loves me
2 I’m always on his mind
3/4- He’s strong and wise
5- He has a perfect track record
6- No one but him can affect me.
What if we got into a fight? What if I did something terrible? How can I rely on him to pick me up from the airport if I just blew up his car? The answer is-His kindness is never ending. So since it’s never-ending, I can still rely on Him, regardless of what I did or where I’m holding.
The source is this pasuk:
טוב ה׳ לכל- Tov Hashem LaKol
We say this 3 times a day in אשרי /Ashrei
G-d is good to everyone.
The Hovot HaLevavot bases a whole section, Shaare HaBechina, on this premise - the principle that Hashem’s kindness is never-ending. But the Hovot HaLevavot says most people are blind to this. They don’t see or appreciate G-d’s kindness.
This is an important job though, because we can’t rely on Hashem unless we fully appreciate His kindness.
The Hovot HaLevavot gives us three reasons that explain why we don’t appreciate:
1-Human nature is that we look at what we don’t have, rather than what we do have.
Therefore we say: Where’s G-d’s kindness, I don’t have ——, Where’s my new car?
But what about appreciating our old car? We have lots of things that we don’t appreciate, because we tend to look at what we don’t have.
We don’t appreciate our kidneys, our hearing, sense of sight, our hearts, etc.
2- We don’t appreciate G-d’s kindness because we were born into it. Therefore it’s taken for granted. “Of course I come to Deal every summer and live in nice house- I’ve been doing it since I was 3 years old.” But it’s not so simple; not everyone has that, it’s not a given. We have to appreciate it.
3-Things go “wrong” sometimes and we have challenges. So because we have challenges, we say G- d isn’t good.
But the Hovot HaLevavot tells us that a Pasuk is iron clad. טוב ה׳ לכל
ורחמיו על כל מעשיו,
(G-d is good to all and has mercy on all his creations) is something you can take to the bank. It doesn’t change and it never will. Therefore, if it doesn’t look like “Tov Hashem LaKol” like it’s good, there’s something wrong with us. It’s our job to work on this. We need to mindful and think about it. We must look around wherever we may be and appreciate. Rabbi Miller used to say that his vacation was walking the streets of Ocean Parkway. G-d made it nice for us because he loves us. When we have some time off, we have to look around and appreciate what we see: the gardens, the trees, the foliage, that the weather is good; and even if it’s not- even if it rains, rain is good too.
We have to develop, inside of us, this understanding of Tov Hashem Lakol
That’s the only way we can rely on G-d.
טוב ה׳ לכל
ורחמיו על כל מעשיו,
Hashem is good to everybody. And His mercy is on all His creations.
If we don’t understand that principle, we can’t rely on Him.
This is our final prerequisite. We will give 2 more pesukim in the next couple of lessons to make this point more clear.