Hashem’s love for us should make us feel so secure that we have no need to announce it or have others validate it. It should make us feel less self-absorbed. A Baal Shem Tov-inspired bumper sticker might read something like: Hashem Loves You!
By Rabbi Mordechai Lipskier – The Beis Medrash
The Baal Shem Tov, whose birthday we celebrated this week, was once addressing a large group of Yidden in the marketplace, as was his custom, and shared this analogy:
There was a Yid, Reb Yankel, who knew the entire Shas with Rashi and Tosafos by heart. Once, while reviewing a long and complex Tosafos, Reb Yankel’s young son disrupted him with a clever thought he wanted to share. Reb Yankel adoringly and lovingly listened to the little boy’s chochmeleh, although it obviously paled in comparison to what he had been studying.
“Hashem does the same for us!” the Baal Shem Tov exclaimed. “Hashem is busy all day studying Torah and tending to His world. He interrupts His learning when a Yid does a mitzvah, runs to daven in shul, or grabs a word of Torah at a shiur to share with his family. Hashem stops to lovingly and adoringly listen to the Yid’s tefillah or notice his mitzvah. He prides Himself in His creation of man and reminds the angels that it was for moments like these that He created man. For unlike angels, man is weighed down by responsibility and yet he makes time to serve Hashem. Like Reb Yankel, Hashem is happy to be interrupted by His beloved child.”
What do you think the listeners felt after this speech?
I’d certainly feel good, and also uplifted and motivated to serve Hashem with joy. Similar to a child who hears from his parents how much they love and adore him.
But was the Baal Shem Tov’s message just that—a reminder that Hashem loves us?
The Rebbe told [1] this story and pointed out a subtlety. When the Rebbeim transmitted this story they said that the Baal Shem Tov’s message that day was actually about ahavas Yisroel. If Hashem loves and adores every Yid, then we should do the same.
“Hashem Loves Me” is a bumper sticker I once saw on a car. Hmm.
Is it important for me to know that Hashem loves me? Absolutely. But a bumper sticker reminding me that Hashem loves me might be better placed on the dashboard of my car, facing me, rather than on a bumper sticker, facing the next guy. Otherwise, it’s like a bumper sticker that reads, “I’m a Millionaire.” Whoopedoo. How pretentious. What is gained by others knowing about Hashem’s love for me? A child who goes around announcing that his Tatty loves him is usually self-absorbed, immature or insecure.
Hashem’s love for us should make us feel so secure that we have no need to announce it or have others validate it. It should make us feel less self-absorbed. A Baal Shem Tov-inspired bumper sticker might read something like: Hashem Loves You!
This, the Rebbe explains, is why we read the sedra of Nitzavim before Rosh Hashanah. It’s a new year’s message from Hashem.
The sedra begins by listing ten different types of Yidden and assuring us that we are each beloved regardless of our status from the sage to the water carrier. This is important for us to know for ourselves but even more important for us to know about our fellow Yid.
If our father tolerates, loves, and adores our siblings, shouldn’t we?
[1] Sichah of parshasNitzavim, 5718 (1958).
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I haven’t heard any children announcing “My Tatty loves me”, but if you ever come across such a child, I’ll confidently wager every dollar I have that he is the child who defends other kids against bullies, gives up his place in line for another child, and doesn’t feel the need to return insults. I hope your children go around announcing, “My Tatty loves me” because it means that’s what they’re thinking. Perhaps there’s a maturing where they don’t need to announce it, but until they get there, they’re ok (and less likely to need therapy).