Graduating in our Service of Hashem
A lesson from the Tiferes Shlomo Parshas Bo
ויאמר משה גם אתה תתן בידינו זבחים ועולות כו' ... כי ממנו נקח לעבוד את ה' ואנחנו לא נדע מה נעבוד עד בואנו שמה
And Moshe said (to Pharaoh) you too will give us sacrifices and offerings… from them we will take to serve Hashem, for we do not know how to serve Hashem until we arrive there.
And Moshe said (to Pharaoh) you too will give us sacrifices and offerings… from them we will take to serve Hashem, for we do not know how to serve Hashem until we arrive there.
The ultimate service of Hashem is when we are self-inspired with a deep appreciation and understanding of Hashem and feel strong emotions of love and awe towards Him. This is a very lofty level of Avodas Hashem, the service of Tzaddikim.
When one is in the beginning of their journey of the service of Hashem, their Avodah is more limited. We may not yet feel our own burning emotions of love and awe that drive us with a passionate service.
In this lowly state, we need to look outside of ourselves to take inspiration in how we should serve Hashem.
When we look at how people crave materialism and physical desires, we should extrapolate that this is how we should desire Hashem and His Mitzvos. When we see the zeal and commitment of evil doers to their ways, we should learn how we as Jews should pursue Hashem.
When they left Mitzraim, the Jewish people were at the beginning of their service of Hashem. And so Moshe told Pharaoh that the Jewish people will need to take their “sacrifices” from you, so that we may employ it in our service of Hashem.
This is because “we do not yet know how to serve Hashem” in the ideal, manner where we experience passion and emotion from ourselves.
But this is only “until we arrive there”. At Har Sinai, the Jewish people experienced an open revelation of the Divine Presence and could now appreciate and desire connection to Him without any outside help.
When one is in the beginning of their journey of the service of Hashem, their Avodah is more limited. We may not yet feel our own burning emotions of love and awe that drive us with a passionate service.
In this lowly state, we need to look outside of ourselves to take inspiration in how we should serve Hashem.
When we look at how people crave materialism and physical desires, we should extrapolate that this is how we should desire Hashem and His Mitzvos. When we see the zeal and commitment of evil doers to their ways, we should learn how we as Jews should pursue Hashem.
When they left Mitzraim, the Jewish people were at the beginning of their service of Hashem. And so Moshe told Pharaoh that the Jewish people will need to take their “sacrifices” from you, so that we may employ it in our service of Hashem.
This is because “we do not yet know how to serve Hashem” in the ideal, manner where we experience passion and emotion from ourselves.
But this is only “until we arrive there”. At Har Sinai, the Jewish people experienced an open revelation of the Divine Presence and could now appreciate and desire connection to Him without any outside help.