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44 | Harav Yaakov Pascal Harav Daniel Schwab | 45
these Middos in their own lives. This fulfills the commandment of “v’halachta Harav Danie l S chwab
b’drachav – to emulate the actions of Hashem.”
Rav, Bnei Torah of Clifton
This being said, it is crucial for us to properly understand each middah. Without
a proper understanding of Hashem›s rachamim, how can we hope to emulate
His actions? Operating System 8
Perhaps we can explain this middah with the following mashal. A fellow walks
into a small grocery store to buy a drink, and notices that the drink is not cold. id you hear the news? Did you hear about the new Covid variant? Did
He mentions to the storeowner that the fridge doesn›t seem to be working. you hear about the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan? Did you hear
The owner tells him that he is aware of the problem and has been trying to get D the latest violence and expression of anti-semitism? With each such
a repairman all day, without success. “Did you hear…?”, our minds can fill with worry and our hearts sink into a
sour anxiety, disconnecting us from Hashem’s warm, calming embrace. We
The customer says, “I may be able to help you.” He goes to his truck, brings anxiously ask, “How is it going to work out?” “Will we be okay?” “Will our
in his tools, and gets to work. Forty-five minutes and several parts later, the parents and children be okay?” The question is how to maintain that needed
fridge is as good as new. The grateful owner turns to the fellow and asks how bitachon and that safe, contented feeling with Hashem that, intellectually, we
much he owes him. The customer responds, “You owe me nothing; it›s my know can exist even in the face of painful and gnawing questions about our
chessed of the day.” He then proceeds to take two dollars from his pocket, to pay future and with daily mental illustrations of fears that we may not be prepared
for his drink. The owner tries to refuse payment, but the customer is insistent to handle.
that he won’t take anything for free.
The Torah tells us (Shoftim 18-13) “Tamim tehiyeh im Hashem Elokecha”, to be
We can all understand that in our mashal, after doing several hundred dollars’ wholehearted with Hashem. Rashi explains this as a directive not to worry about
worth of work for free, insisting on paying for his drink at the fair price is an the future and to accept wholeheartedly any frightening thing that happens to
act of chessed. Similarly, Hashem does with us tremendous chessed and rachamim. us. For if we manage to succeed in that, we will, as Rashi comments, “be with
After the chessed and rachamim Hashem does, as enumerated in the first seven Him and with his ’cheilek’ ”. Fulfilling such a directive as this is definitely no
Middos, could there be any greater act of chessed than Hashem insisting on easy feat, and that is especially so today, with the recent advent of modern-day
rewarding us in full for our good deeds – and considering the reward fairly communications and the explosion of news media broadcast methodologies
earned? that constantly and consistently spew worry, anger, and fear.
With this in mind, we should re-examine our relationships with those who The Rambam advises us not to subscribe to fatalism and predeterminism, as
are close to us. Sometimes there is a tendency to take for granted the chessed the astrologers do. Gazing upon the starry sky, they assert that our individual
done to us by our loved ones, reasoning that we also do much chessed for them. and communal scripts of successes and failures are already written into the
However, if we want to truly emulate the Middos of Hashem, we will make sure blueprints of the cosmos. The astrologer would readily inform you of your
to express our hakaras hatov for every kindness we receive. We can express our already doomed fate that you cannot escape, that you need to surrender to.
gratitude even to those for whom we have done far more than we received – Indeed, they told Avraham Avinu that the constellations proclaimed that he
thus emulating Hashem›s middah of emes. could not have children. Yet Hashem intervened, saying to Avraham that
while such may be true inside the natural world order, that Avraham and
Yehi ratzon that we should all be zocheh to be mekayem “v’halachta b’drachav” and to Sara physically and spiritually cannot beget children, nevertheless Hashem
merit the fulfillment of the bris of the ג”י middos harachamim, and merit that promised that “I will personally change the constellation for you” so that
our tefillos should be answered l’tovah, with a kesivah vachasimah tovah.
Agudah Achasgudah Achas
A Agudah Achas
