Shavuos
The Heart Really Matters
By Rabbi Label Lam
Why do we read the Book of Ruth on Shevuos? One answer is that Ruth was
the great-grandmother of King David who was born on Shevuos and 70 years
later died on Shevuos. Still, what does King David have to do with Shevuos
in particular?
Our sages tell us that “the king is the heart of the nation!” What does
that mean? The king as a leader doesn’t tell the people what to think. He
rather, amplifies the pulse of the people. He tells us what we really
feel. In Tehillim-Psalms King David expresses prophetically the highest
aspirations and moorings of the Jewish heart, individually and
collectively. He reveals for us a G-d intoxicated intellect. He
writes, “What’s good for me is being close to G-d!” (Tehillim 73:28) What
King David artfully articulates in Tehillim is the authentic heart of the
nation.
In the fourth chapter having to do with trust in G-d, The Chovos HaLevavos
makes a surprisingly strong claim regarding the requirement to
develop “duties of the heart”. He states that Olam Haba- the world to come
is not a necessary result of the external performance of Mitzvos but
rather a function of the internal dimension of those Mitzvos. He informs
us that the outer aspect of the Mitzvos yields a “this worldly” benefit
while the next world is a consequence of the depth and direction of the
heart. Ultimately, Olam Haba is based on a relationship. It is not a
business deal with a quid pro quo. One can no more expect by coldly
dropping flowers on the table or even a diamond that love will
automatically flow in return.
When I was yet an unmarried Yeshiva student, we had the great honor of
meeting a holy man. The Manchester Rav, Rabbi Yehuda Zev Segal ztl. prayed
with us the afternoon service. Long after most of us had finished saying
our prayers he remained bent over, shaking and weeping all the while. We
watched in awe without knowing exactly what we were witnessing. I remember
saying quietly to the fellow next to me, “I wonder what he did so wrong!”
Days later while eating a Shabbos meal at the home of one of the rabbis we
were discussing the visitor we had been treated to that week. The Rabbi
told us that Rabbi Moshe Feinstein ztl. had considered the Manchester Rav
to be one of the thirty-six hidden Tzadikim of the generation. I had a
knack for asking obvious questions that elicited sharp responses, so I
queried aloud, “If he is singled out, publicly as one of these hidden
Tzadikim then he’s no longer hidden. His true identity has been exposed,
his cover is blown and he cannot by definition be one of the thirty-six
hidden Tzadikim in whose merit the world exists.”
The Rabbi looked at me with a look that shouted. I wondered what I had
said so wrong. It was a good question I thought. Then he gently but
intensely explained, “Label, you think you see him? You see his beard. You
see his hands. You see his eyes, but do you really think you see who he
is? He holds a Siddur and prays the same words as you and me and look at
the chemical reaction those words have within him. He puts on Tefillin and
so do you. You can be sure that his is somehow different than yours. The
outside is merely the tip of the iceberg. Beneath the limbs and the deeds
he does there’s a whole hidden continent of love and devotion we could
never hope to fathom.”
The bottom line is- “HASHEM wants the heart as it says, (Shmuel A
16) “HASHEM sees to the heart …” (Sanhedrin 106B) On the Yom Tov of the
giving of the Torah we are reminded again by the struggles of Ruth just to
join and the life’s work of King David, just how much the heart really
matters.
DvarTorah, Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Label Lam and Torah.org.
