This week’s parasha, Re’eh, has a beautiful pasuk, “בנים אתם לה׳ אלקים You are children to Hashem your God.”
This is an important pasuk to always remember, that we have a Father in heaven Who's all powerful and loves us tremendously, like a father loves a son. His love for us never ends.
בנים אתם לה׳ אלקים
You are children, to Hashem your God. It’s a Mishna in Pirkei Avot, that beloved are the Jewish people that are called Hashem’s children. This special love was told to them. God lets us know that we are His children. That's what we read about in this week's parasha.
There's a machloket in Masechet Kiddushin 36a, between Rabi Meir and Rabi Yehuda, Rabi Yehuda says, they're called Banim/sons, if they act like sons, otherwise you're not considered Hashem’s children. But Rabi Meir says regardless of what we do, we never lose the status of His sons. The Rashba says that the Halacha is like Rabi Meir in this case, even though normally Halacha is like Rabi Yehuda, when against Rabi Meir.
Why is that so? The Gemara in Masechet Eruvim, 13B says that really, Halacha should be like Rabi Meir. He was the greatest of all. So why wasn’t it like him? Because they did not understand him. He was so deep.. But God Himself understands the true depth of Rabi Meir so according to God, Halacha is like Rabi Meir. And based on this, the Satmar Rebbi, Rav Yoel explains, that's why we say Elaha D’Meir Aneni/Let the God of Rabi Meir answer me.
We're trying to say God, You know, Halacha is like Rabi Meir, You know we’re Your children, and therefore, look down upon us like children. There's a beautiful pasuk (all pesukim are beautiful but these are pesukim that stir our emotions) that we say on Rosh Hashana, it's one of the 10 Zichronot,
Haben Yakir Li Ephraim/My beloved son Ephraim/ (the Jewish people are called Ephraim),
Im Yeled Sha’ashu’im
He’s my child that I play with
Ki Medeh Dabri Bo
just talking about him
Zachor Ezkerenu Od
I remember him,
My innards move for him etc.
The Or HaChaim HaKadosh, as quoted by one of his students, Rabi Shlomo Franco ( if there are any Shlomo Francos out there, maybe he's your great-great-grandfather), a rabbi in Chevron. He quotes the Or HaChaim HaKadosh that when there's a bad odor coming out of some place, or child, people move away. But he says if it’s a child, his father or mother come pick him up, clean him and get him back to the way he's supposed to be. That’s what it means that we are Hashem's children. Even if we sinned, we're still beloved, and Hashem Himself comes to clean us. The Tomar Devorah goes through God's 13 attributes.
The third one is Ovel Pesha. He says that this is a tremendous trait of God, because forgiveness does not come through a messenger. God
Himself forgives us, like it says Ki Imcha Selicha. Selicha means God cleans off the sin. He quotes a pasuk, If God will clean off the dung, the excrement of the daughters of Sion, referring to the Jewish people. So God Himself, so to say, cleans up our mess.
That is an indication of Hashem’s tremendous love for us. This is something that a father does for a child and the Jewish people, regardless of what we do, are still considered banim.
In our Rosh Hashanah prayers, we say Im K’Banim, Im K’Avadim. want God to look at us like sons.
The Tomar Devora’s whole thesis is that God acts to us the way we treat our fellow man. So if we treat our fellow man like he's our child, he’s beloved to us, then that arouses God's love for us as well.
B’Ezrat Hashem’s we will arouse our love for others and God will look down upon us as Banim/ children and
בנים אתם לה׳ אלקים
You are children, to Hashem your God.
Have a Shabbat Shalom!