Pure Motives

27 Tishrei 5782

“G‑d said to Noah … “Make yourself an ark”” (Bereishit 6:13–14)

“When the Flood came, Noah and his family entered the ark—alone. His 120-year campaign yielded not a single baal teshuvah! Perhaps public relations was never Noah’s strong point, but how are we to explain the fact that in all this time he failed to win over a single individual? In order to influence others, one’s motives must be pure; in the words of our sages, “Words that come from the heart enter the heart.” Deep down, a person will always sense whether you truly have his interests at heart, or you are filling a need of your own by seeking to change him.” (The Lubavitcher Rebbe)

So too it is with every personal relationship, from the most intimate to the most superficial. Deep down every person can see into another, most of the time they just deny what they see because they don’t like it. If we want “grace, kindness, and mercy in … the eyes of all who behold us” as we ask for in the morning prayer of Vihi Ratzon, we have to first and foremost work on our own motives. When they are pure our relationship with other people will also be pure.

“As our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “The Shechinah speaks from the throat of Moses”; Moses had so nullified himself to G-d that when he prophesied, he did not relay what G-d told him to say; rather, the Shechinah itself spoke directly through his mouth.” (Lessons in Tanya, Iggeret HaKodesh, middle of Epistle 25)

Moshe Rabbeinu was the ultimate manifestation of pure motives. He got to a point where he was wholly a chariot unto Hashem, in a state of total self-abnegation in relation to Him. Thereby his words became 100% true and pure, like the “words” of Hashem with which he continuously creates the worlds. This also explains the cardinal difference between Moses and Noah, and why the former is held in higher esteem today.

“Fortunate is every man who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways.” (Tehillim 128:1)

The concpets described above are not lofty spiritual achievements reserved for select individuals. This verse in Tehillim specifically comes to teach us that “every man” can walk in Hashem’s ways and thereby receive unbounded guidance and blessings from Above.