As we've been mentioning, one of the mizvot in the Torah (as we said from the Samag) and one of the greatest fundamentals of all the Torah is
הִשָּׁ֣מֶר לְךָ֔ פֶּן־תִּשְׁכַּ֖ח אֶת ה׳ אֲשֶׁ֧ר הוֹצִֽיאֲךָ֛ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם מִבֵּ֥ית עֲבָדִֽים
Beware, Lest you forget God….
At any given moment, one is commanded with the negative commandment- Do not forget God for a moment.
Furthermore, in a positive sense, it says,
וְזָֽכַרְתָּ֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ כִּ֣י ה֗וּא הַנֹּתֵ֥ן לְךָ֛ כֹּ֖חַ לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת חָ֑יִל
Remember Hashem your God, He gives you the strength (or the ideas) to make wealth.
Sefer Haredim (chapter 12) brings this down and gives us advice for how we can do this… He says that the Midrash says, a lot of times when it says Zachor/ Remember, it means remember the heart. So it would’ve been only the heart, but when it says Lo Tishkach/Don’t Forget, then Zachor/remember means we have to enunciate it. So anytime it says it doubly, Zachor and Al Tishkach, that means enunciate it. He says a big hiddush- that a person therefore should arouse himself and say pesukim that cause us to remember our God and the fear we have of Him.
This isn’t just advice. He's saying this is part of the Mitzvah. He gives examples of pesukim- מלא כל הארץ כבודו MLo Kol HaAretz Kevodo (there’s a song, with those words) and he quotes his rabbi, the Hasid, Rav Yosef Sagis, who used to sing the song from Musaf Rosh Hashanah Ashrei Ish She’Lo Yishkachecha/Fortunate is the man who doesn't forget You, and the one who holds onto You tightly and courageously and doesn't give up.
Another pasuk he quotes, which might not be familiar to all, is said, lo alenu, at a funeral (Yirmiya 32,19)
גְּדֹל֙ הָֽעֵצָ֔ה וְרַ֖ב הָעֲלִֽילִיָּ֑ה אֲשֶׁר־עֵינֶ֣יךָ פְקֻח֗וֹת עַל־כׇּל־דַּרְכֵי֙ בְּנֵ֣י אָדָ֔ם לָתֵ֤ת לְאִישׁ֙ כִּדְרָכָ֔יו וְכִפְרִ֖י מַעֲלָלָֽיו׃
God Is called the One who is great in council (God gives us all the advice) and mighty in deed, Your eyes are cognizant to all the ways of mankind.
(Hashem is watching at all times). To grant each man according to his ways and the consequence of his deeds.
Why is Yirmiyah saying this? If you look at the context of the chapter, he's warning the people as the Churban comes close.
Rav Yaakov Sakili, in his sefer Torat HaMincha explains that the generation was lacking. And he says, This is the fundamental. God's Hashgacha is the foundation of our Torah, the fundamental of our service to Him, and the pillar of our faith:
To believe that God is supervising and watching and cognizant of every deed we do, and He rewards and punishes.
And only then is your service to God complete.
If a person doesn't believe that, he just lives a free life. He says, “This lack of Emuna was why the Bet Hamikdash was destroyed. Because they forgot this principle. They ate and they were satisfied and they forgot God Who was saving them.
And that's the pasuk- Lest you ואכלת ושבעת Eat and be satiated and become arrogant, and forget God.
Himself
He repeated it…. וישמן ישורון וינבעט
Yeshurun became fat and kicked… and so on and so forth.
We get intoxicated with our success and we forget about God, and that’s what causes all the downfall …
I recently met Mr/ Rabbi Michael Safdieh, a great Mashpia in our community and worldwide, and he told me that people are thirsty to hear this. He says people like it when he tells them, “You never made a dollar in your life, because you didn't make a dollar in your life. You think you made a dollar in your life. You think you're smart, you think you're great.” That's the beginning of the downfall.
Therefore, we have this advice to take a pasuk or a saying that you're familiar with, and hum it all day, to knock into your head this important principle. He says that when Yirmiyah saw this lacking, he drilled this pasuk in…
Enecha- God has His two eyes on you. He's watching you. His eyes are not taken off of you.
Good is watching us. And not like today, lehavdil, how we scroll down our iPhones and flying through pictures at record speed. No, it's God's looking at you like someone looks at a new sugya on the Gemara. He stares at every individual person. He's staring at you, on every single thing that He does.
This is the most important thing to have on your mind at all times. .
He says that before we do anything, God is, so to say, whispering in our ears. He's the advisor. We make fun of Biden that he has a teleprompter, or an earpiece.
But you know what? We all have teleprompters. Do you think you are coming up with great ideas?
We all have teleprompters, and we have to remind ourselves of that constantly, because otherwise, it gets to our heads.
Have a wonderful day.