Shaarei Shamayim

BO 5771

During the plague of darkness, Pharaoh seems ready to capitulate to Moses’ demands to let his people go and worship their Gd in the desert, and so he summons Moses and says (Ex. 10:24), “Go—serve Gd; only leave your flock and your cattle behind; [and in reference to a previous dispute he adds] even your children may go with you.”

But Moses is obstinate and responds, “And our livestock as well will go with us—not a hoof will be left—for from it shall we take to serve Hashem our Gd, because [here’s the part that struck me] we will not know with what to serve Gd until we get there.” Let me repeat that: “We will not know with what to serve Gd till we get there.”

Isn’t that so true? Ask a young man or a young woman ready to go out on their own how they will serve Gd? You might get a response like, “I’ll go to shule every so often,” or “I’ll write some checks to charities.” The real answer is that we won’t know what will be our most meaningful service to Gd until we get there! Life will confront us with challenges that will present great opportunities for service to Gd. Will we embrace or ignore them?

Let’s face it. How many young men or women think about how they can serve Gd? How many of us think about how we can serve Gd? We live in the “me generation.” We want to know how our government will serve us or what our shule will do for us. Who thinks about how they can serve Gd? Yet if someone were to ask me what is the purpose of life, I would say it is to serve Gd. You may ask, but if Gd just wants us to serve Him, isn’t that kind of selfish? Not really, because serving Gd is for ourselves. It’s only through the service of Gd that we can perfect ourselves and raise our souls to their potential.  

Let me explain with 2 seemingly conflicting statements from the Talmud. The first (JT Kiddushin 47b 4:11) teaches that we should say to ourselves: “I was created to serve my Creator.” But the 2^nd (Sanhedrin 4:5) obligates us to say: “The whole world was created for me.” So which is it? Was I created so I could serve Gd or was the world created so it could serve me? The answer is, yes, our function is to serve Gd in this world that He created for us…because, in doing so, we benefit; we raise ourselves and grow.

The question I think we should continually ask ourselves is: “What is my avoda? How can I serve Gd in my life now?” If this doesn’t make much sense to you now, if the concept of serving Gd seems so strange to you, let me illustrate with a few examples. Since none of us are priests in the Temple of old there is not a neat formula for us to follow in serving Gd. But the Torah and our tradition suggest many ways for us to serve Gd every day. 

For example, the Torah again and again tells us that we must take care of the poor, the widow and the orphan. In other words, we are to take care of those among us who are in need. Don’t look away thinking someone else will take care of them. If you can help someone, do it! You can serve Gd by being Gd’s hands in this world. A call, a visit, a kind word is also a service to Gd. Call Rose Anne Schulman and tell her you want to be involved in our Chessed Society that is there for our congregants in both simcha and hardship. Doing acts of chessed (kindness) is a great service to Gd.

The Torah commands us to tithe our income for the shule and other worthy causes. Times may be hard these days, but Gd has blessed you with something. A good part of the bounty Gd has given you is to enable you to be His vehicle in helping Him distribute it properly in this world. Giving from what Gd has blessed you with is your obligation in serving Gd. 

 Serving Gd can begin at home with our families. Be the best spouse, parent, sibling and child you can be. Be there for you family when they need you. Support, listen, care and love them even when you feel it’s not fully appreciated or reciprocated. Gd knows. Gd sees your service. Your importance as a role model who serves Gd cannot be underestimated. Being a loving, caring supportive family member serves Gd because it’s a real Kiddush Hashem, a real sanctification of Gd’s name. 

Serve Gd with your creativity—it comes from Gd for a reason. Gd has blessed each and every one of us certain talents that He wants us to use. Each of us has a unique way of seeing the world. Each of us is creative in his/her own way. How has Gd blessed you? Examine your life and see what talents you have. What are you good at? What do you enjoy doing? How could you use your talents to help those around you? Are you good with children? Offer to watch someone’s child in a time of need. Are you good with your hands? Computers? Gardening? Building? Organizing? What are you doing about it? Using your Gd-given talents for good is a great way to serve Gd. 

Serve Gd by being a friend. One of the simplest and easiest ways to serve Gd is by befriending another. Pirke Avot, “Ethics of the Fathers” (1:6) advises us K’ney l’cha chaveyr, “Buy yourself a friend.” How does one buy a friend? What currency does one use? The currency of being a good friend. A friend is an image of Gd and befriending someone touches Gd profoundly. Gd, the ultimate parent, like all other parents wants his children to get along and be friends. Being a friend is a great service to Gd.

Serve Gd by serving children. So many children and teenagers need our love—and we can give it! There are many programs to become involved. There are members of our congregation who have become school volunteers or library volunteers. Some volunteer in the scouts and others in Big Brother/Sister programs. There is no greater service to Gd than serving children.

Serve Gd by showing up to praise Him. Translation: come to shule often and regularly! Sing with gusto and pray from your heart—even if you don’t always use the words in the Siddur. The synergistic effect of praying with others can be very powerful as we see here in Shaarei Shamayim. Come and help make a minyan to praise Gd Friday and Saturday nights, at a Shiva home or for a Yahrtzeit. Show up with praise.

Serve Gd by studying Torah. Come to my new adult education class: “What Does a Jew Believe?” Take other Torah classes in the community. Yes it helps you learn. But also you will help spread your knowledge of Torah as you talk to others and they see your enthusiasm for Torah. Studying Torah is a great service to Gd.

I’ll end with 2 ways of serving Gd that come from within. First, serve Gd by humbling yourself. Developing humility is a choice. It’s the recognition that all we have and all we are is a gift from Gd. And why did Gd give these gifts to us? Not so that we should think we are better than anyone else. Our gifts are also a challenge of sorts. By using them wisely our souls will soar and we will grow into the kind of mentchen that Gd will be proud of. And being a mentch is one of the highest services to Gd. 

And finally, we best serve Gd by appreciating and being grateful for all He has and will do for us. The truth is, none of us is so worthy as to deserve what we have. We only have what we have because of Gd’s great love for us. Gd loves us unconditionally and what we have in our lives is an expression of that love. Even the commandment to serve Gd is an expression of His love because by serving Him, we are really serving each other and ourselves. And so let us follow the advice of King David who urges us in Psalm 100: Ivdu et Hashem b’simcha, “Serve Gd with joy.” Amen!

                                        Rabbi Mark Hillel Kunis

                                        1/8/11