Casulness

23 Iyar 5782

“With this one we will be able to understand the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory: ‘Despite yourself, even against your will, you must live, and despite yourself, you must die.’” (Lessons in Tanya, Likutei Amarim, end of Chapter 50)

“From this saying, ‘Despite yourself, you must live,’ we learn that, in our service of G‑d, we should in the first instance desire the opposite of staying alive (kelot hanefesh) and that remaining alive within the body has to be perforce, against our will.”

“If you behave casually with Me and refuse to heed Me” (Vayikra 26:21)

If our service is to be in a way of intense love, almost to the point of kelot hanefesh, it must be free of any of the casualness which Hashem so despises, as we can see from the grave punishments that follow. We must never treat Hashem’s commandments as happenstance, as a temporary concern, something to get over with and continue our lives from as quickly as possible, G‑d forbid. Sadly, if left uncorrected this is the natural mode a person will enter into if he does not constantly remind himself of the greatness of the Creator, especially during the daily prayers and during Shema and its blessings in particular.

“Praise the L‑rd! I will give thanks to the L‑rd with all my heart, in the counsel of the upright and the congregation.” (Tehillim 111:1)

We should use out the time of our daily prayer to the fullest, pouring our heart into a truthful connection with Hashem. Then we will be able to nullify the harsh decrees of our exile through our Divine service and return to Jerusalem ir hakodesh, speedily, soon in our days.