We are taking a break from the Bet Halevi today, to share a beautiful that I saw over the weekend from Rav Don Segal, one of the great Mashgichim of the generation. He says that David Hamelech says (Tehilim perek 27), “אַחַ֤ת ׀ שָׁאַ֣לְתִּי מֵֽאֵת־יְהֹוָה֮ אוֹתָ֢הּ אֲבַ֫קֵּ֥שׁ
Achat Sha’alti/There's One thing that I ask from Hashem, and that's what I request.”
What is that One thing?
שִׁבְתִּ֣י בְּבֵית־יְ֭הֹוָה כׇּל־יְמֵ֣י חַיַּ֑י לַחֲז֥וֹת בְּנֹעַם־יְ֝הֹוָ֗ה וּלְבַקֵּ֥ר בְּהֵֽיכָלֽו
“To sit in the house of Hashem all days of my life, to gaze in the sweetness of God, to visit in His sanctuary.
So simply, that's the one thing he's asking for.
But Rav Segal explains, in what we call a Drush (which means it's not the simple reading of the pasuk), that the word אחת Achat also shows up where is says,
בָּא חֲבַקּוּק וְהֶעֱמִידָן עַל אַחַת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר ״
Habakuk came and put the the entire religion on one pilla (on one mitzvah).
And what is that?
וְצַדִּיק בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִחְיֶה״.
The righteous man lives with his Emunah.
It’s not just that the righteous man has Emunah in his mind, but he lives with Emunah.
(This, by the way, is the source for the amazingly successful Living Emunah series. It's called Living Emunah because of וְצַדִּיק בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִחְיֶה״
Sadik B’Emunato Yihyeh
The righteous man lives by his Emunah.
That's where Rabbi Ashear got the title- from Habakkuk)
So Habakuk took the whole religion and put it on one thing.
Says Rav Don Segal, that's what David Hamelech meant when he said,
אַחַ֤ת ׀ שָׁאַ֣לְתִּי מֵֽאֵת ה׳
“I ask from Hashem, I want the Achat!I want the ONE thing.. I want that ONE main thing.
That's what I'm asking Hashem for. Give me Emunah. Give me Living Emunah. I want to live with Emunah. That's all that I want.”
That's what David Hamelech was asking for. What does the continuation of the pasuk mean?
שִׁבְתִּ֣י בְּבֵית־יְ֭הֹוָה כׇּל־יְמֵ֣י חַיַּ֑י
Shivti B’Bet Hashem..
I'll dwell in the house of Hashem all days of my life.
If I have that Emunah, and I'm living Emunah , then I am in the house of God all days of my life. Wherever I go becomes the house of God because I have that Emunah, and so God's with me wherever I go.
And that is Yosef HaSadik as well. Wherever Yosef HaSadik goes, the words of Hashem are on his mouth. Wherever he goes, they see God is with him, because he's always praying. He's always whispering. He's always saying something. His boss says, “What are you saying? Are you trying to put incantations on me?”
He says, “No. I'm praying that I should find favor in your eyes.
I'm thanking Hashem that I was successful.”
All day, God's name is on his mouth. Always. And that's why Vayehi Hashem Et Yosef/Hashem is with Yosef and brings him success. And that is why, although Yosef Hasadik is in Mitzrayim, in the most contaminated of places, he continues to grow and grow and grow like he's in the Bet Midrash.
We have to realize that Yosef became Yosef HaSadik despite the fact that he was stolen from the yeshiva. He gave up the best 22 years of his life- from 17 till 39! He could have grown and grown and grown in yeshiva to become outstanding. And yet he did it in Mitzrayim, in the house of Potiphar, in a jail, in the king's palace. How did he do that?
The answer is, wherever he went, he was B’bet Hashem. He was always in the Bet Midrash. He was always in the house of study. Why? Because,
“Achat Sha’alti M’et Hashem/ I asked for the ONE.
I asked for Sadik B’Emunato Yihyeh. I asked for that pillar.
When you have that pillar, it's Shivti b’Bet Hashem Kol Yeme Hayai
I’m in the house of God always. I see the sweetness of God. I'm visiting in His palace, His sanctuary.”
When David Hamelech says (Perek 116)
אֶ֭תְהַלֵּךְ לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה בְּ֝אַרְצ֗וֹת הַחַיִּֽים
I'm going to walk in front of God, in the land of the living,” most commentaries say Arsot HaChaim refers to Eretz Yisrael, a place where God's Shechinah is.
That's what it means. “I'll go in front of Hashem.”
But the Gemara in Masechet Yoma, (71A) says that it refers to the marketplace. Why is it called Arsot HaChaim? Because it's where you buy your food. That's the simple explanation.
Others say it refers to Gan Eden. How could we have such different explanations?
The Ben Ish Chai says in the sefer Ben Yoyada on Yoma, it means, “I always see myself in front of God. Even when I'm buying things for bodily functions, I'm always in front of God.” That's David Hamelech. That's the Sadik B’Emunato Yihyeh. As long as he's focusing on Hashem, living in Emunah, he's always in Gan Eden.
He's always in Bet Hashem, wherever he is.
That's the power of Achat, the power of One.
One is Emunah.
Have a wonderful day