Sukkos - The Arba Minim (the 4 species) & Service of Gratitude

Shabbos & Yom Tov Pesukei d'Zimra

...Were our mouth as full of song as the sea, and our tongue as full of joyous song as its multitude of waves, and our lips as full of praise as the breadth of the heavens, and our eyes as brilliant as the sun and the moon, and our hands as outspread as the eagles of the sky and our feet as swift as hinds -- we still could not thank You sufficiently, HaShem our God and God of our forefathers, and to bless Your Name for even one of the thousand thousand, thousands of thousands and myriad myriads of favors, miracles and wonders that you performed for our ancestors and for us.

Therefore the organs that you set within us...and the tongue that you placed in our mouth - all of them shall thank and bless and praise and glorify, exalt and revere, be devoted, sanctify and declare the sovereignty of Your Name, our King...as it is written: "All my bones shall say, Hashem who is like You?"

Rav Avigdor Miller on How to Shake the Lulav and Esrog

Q:
What should we be thinking about when we’re shaking the lulav and esrog, when we do the na’anuim?

A:
You can’t just lean back and do the minimum, even if you're a frum person who keeps everything & obeserves all the mitzvos. Let’s say you bought a beautiful esrog and you paid good money for it. So now you’re holding a lulav and an esrog; that's not enough. Maybe you should be m’chadeish (innovate) something in the mitzvah. You have to be a m’chadeish (an innovator).

When you make the na’anuim (shaking of the lulav during hallel), you should say to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, "I’m thanking You Hashem that You gave me a good heart." You know, many people have sick hearts. They wish they could have your heart! The esrog is like the heart, the medrash says. So as you hold up the esrog you think, "Thank You Hashem for giving me a good solid healthy heart."

"And You gave me good eyes." Many people have trouble with their eyes. And that’s what the hadassim are telling us. The hadassim are eyes.

"You gave me a good backbone." Many people, lo aleichem, are bent over. They have hunchbacks. Their spines are bent. And you have a straight back. Now, that’s something to think about when you pick up the lulav.

Listen to me; What does na’anuim (shaking of the lulav) mean? Back and forth, back and forth. What does it mean back and forth, back and forth? It means our thanks are to You because it came from You to us. Our thanks are to You because of what’s always coming from You to us. That’s what we’re saying when we shake it back and forth. We shake in all directions because we say, no matter from where the good comes from, it’s only coming from You all the time.

And therefore you take the lulav, that’s your backbone, and you take your heart, that’s the esrog. And you take the hadassim that’s your eyes, and you take the aravos, that’s your lips, your mouth, and you say "I dedicate them to You Hashem for what You did for me." Back and forth, back and forth, that’s what you think about by the na’anuim. It’s all coming from You - to me.

TAPE # 757 (September 1989)

From Toras Avigdor Parshas Emor - Torah on One Foot

You remember when the gentile wanted to become a Jew, when he wanted to be accept the Torah, so he came to Hillel: “Teach me the whole Torah on one foot,” he said to Hillel. So Hillel said: “You want to learn the whole Torah on one foot? Okay, lift up your foot and let’s go.”

So what did Hillel tell him? Mah d’alach sanai — What is hateful to you, l’chavrach lo saavid — don’t do to your friend. And Hillel told him, “You can put your foot down now. That’s the whole Torah. All the rest is commentary; now get busy studying.”

Now, Rashi has two explanations on that, but we’ll just study the first peirush. Hillel was saying to gentile: “You want to know the reason that you have to eat kosher, the reason that you cannot shave with a razorblade, why you cannot wear shatnez, why can’t you write on Yom Tov? So I’ll tell you the reason,” Hillel said. “If you had given someone very many gifts, costly gifts for a long time, over and over again without end, and then finally one day you requested of him a small favor, that he should go on a small errand for you, and he told you, ‘Why should I?’ how would you feel? That’s gratitude?! You’d feel that he’s a barbarian! If after you did so many favors for someone, he refused to do a small favor for you, that would be hateful to you.”

And if that would be hateful to you, then l’chavrach — to your great Friend in heaven, lo saavid — don’t do that to Him. Hakodosh Boruch Hu has given you so many things that you’re indebted to Him forever. Just the fact that He gave you life for so many years is more than enough, yet it doesn’t even occur to you that you’re in the red. You’re so deeply in debt that there’s no way to pay Him back. He gave you life! Now, that’s a big debt already!

Now, some people say, why should I repay? Did I ask Him to give me life? Did I ask Him to create me? That is the summit of ingratitude. The question alone shows a corruption of character, because suppose this person suspects that he might not live more than a few days because of a certain fatal illness — he would do everything in the world to find a refuah (cure). He’d go to every physician and take all kinds of tests. He’d pay all kinds of money. He wants to live! Aha! You want to live! So what are you asking such questions - “Did I ask Him to give me life?” You love life! And so, just for that, just because you woke up this morning, you should be walking around all day thinking, “What can I do to pay Him back? What can I do to serve Him?”

People don’t understand that today. I once was speaking to a yeshiva boy about this. He says, “What am I getting?” What’s Hashem giving him?! He was thinking that he doesn’t have five Cadillacs, that he doesn’t have a yacht and a summer home in Maine. The fact that he has three meals a day — that’s nothing to him. The fact that every one of his organs is in perfect condition, the fact that his mind is functioning and that he’s not locked up in an institution — that’s nothing to him, because he never spent time thinking about it. The fact that he’s an American citizen — you think that’s a small thing? I was in Europe, in Lithuania, and once I was walking in the street. I saw an American Jew in the street and he was brandishing his red American passport — in those days it was red — and he was showing it off with glee for all the natives to see who he was. Everybody envied him that little book. That’s when I began to appreciate it.

If a person doesn’t learn to appreciate all these things — and not just superficially, but to actually feel a debt on his shoulders — then he’s very far from being a servant of Hashem because he has started out without the right foundation. There cannot be any kind of avodah (service of Hashem) without first knowing that you are the one who is the recipient of countless benefits.

It’s a pity we don’t study this. We should take out time, a lot of time, to think about what we’re getting from Hakodosh Boruch Hu. If we would study the benefits thoroughly, we would see how much we’re enjoying.

How fortunate you are that you were born. So many miscarriages take place, but you were born! You made it into this world! And you’re not a cripple either! And you’re not blind. You live normally, more or less, and you have so many limbs and so many organs, and every one is functioning — each one is a miracle of plan and purpose. Each organ by itself is a most wonderful contrivance that no human inventor could ever equal.

And every day you arise in the morning, you open your eyes and you’re still alive. And you begin using again the great gift of your body and your mind, all your faculties. You can remember; you can think; you can speak; you can see and hear; you can function in every manner. When you begin thinking in this manner, you’re ready for avodas Hashem. (serving Hashem)

Let’s say Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives you a home to live in and all he requests is that you put up a mezuzah on the door. Are you going to ask him why? So He just might say, “If you don’t want to put up a mezuzah, fine. Give Me back the house.” Nobody has to put up a mezuzah if he has no place to live in. It’s only if you have a house to live in that you have to put up a mezuzah.

Why do you have to put tefillin on your head? Because you have a head! You don’t want to put on tefillin, so give back the head. If Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, “Tomorrow morning put tefillin on your head” and you say, “Why?” so He can say, “Well, give back the head. Everyday I’m giving you a head; and it’s a very valuable gift.” So when you put on tefillin, realize that you’re doing it because like Dovid Hamelech said in Tehillim: מָה אָשִׁיב לֲהַשֵׁם כָּל תַּגְמוּלוֹהִי עָלָי — How can I repay You for all that You have bestowed on me?

So now, when you begin a career of being oved Hashem, it’s not enough, let’s say, to just go out and buy a more expensive pair of tefillin. It’s not a bad idea, by the way. You should make sure that your tefillin are kosher tefillin. And if you must, don’t delay in buying a new pair. But it’s still not enough. It’s not enough if you just buy a better tallis. It’s not enough to put up more expensive mezuzos. It’s good, but it’s not enough.

When you put on tefillin tomorrow morning, and you put on tzitzis tomorrow morning, and you say kriyas Shema and daven, and you give charity, they should be expressing one thing. They should express your feelings of humbleness for all the benefits that Hakodosh Boruch Hu has given you. So Torah and mitzvos, and everything you do is merely a demonstration that you are subject to Him, that you are humbled before Him in gratitude.

All the benefits that Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives us require of us some small payment. And that was Hillel’s answer to that ger. The reason for the whole Torah is gratitude. That’s the reason why we fulfill the mitzvos. Mah d’alach sanai — what is hateful to you, if after you did so many favors for someone, he refused to do a small favor for you, that’s hateful to you — then l’chavrach, to your great Friend in heaven who has given you everything, lo saavid — don’t do that to Him. And therefore, the foundation for the whole Torah is nothing but gratitude.