The great nineteenth century German rabbi, Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch,
once took a holiday in the Swiss Alps.
“With all due respect, Rebbe,” exclaimed one of his younger colleagues,
“don’t you have important religious and communal matters to attend to?”
“My dear Moishe,” replied Rabbi Hirsch, “after 120, when I reach the
Heavenly court and the Almighty asks me, ‘Nu, Shamshon’ke, what did you think
of my Alps? Did you experience and appreciate
all My awesome creations?’ How will I
respond?”
בַּתְּחִלָּה מְבָרֵךְ
עָלָיו ״שֶׁהַכֹּל נִהְיֶה בִּדְבָרוֹ״, וּלְבַסּוֹף ״בּוֹרֵא נְפָשׁוֹת רַבּוֹת
וְחֶסְרוֹנָן עַל כָּל מַה שֶּׁבָּרָאתָ״
כמו לחם ומים שאי אפשר
בלא הם ועל כל מה שברא להחיות בהם נפש כל חי כלומר על כל מה שבעולם שגם אם לא בראם
יכולין העולם לחיות בלא הם שלא בראם כי אם לתענוג בעלמא כמו תפוחים וכיוצא בהן
Gemara: The preceding blessing
over it is “that everything is made by His word.” And subsequently, “(Blessed are You Hashem
our G-d, King of the world), Who creates many souls (Borei Nefashos) and
their deficiency over everything You created (to give life with them the soul
of every living thing. Blessed be the Life-force of the universe).”
Tosfos: “He creates many souls
and their deficiency,” such as bread and water, without which it is impossible
to survive. And for everything He created to enliven the soul of all the living
with them. This refers to everything is in the world, that even had He not
created them, the world could still live without them. For He created them merely
for our pleasure, such as apples and the like.
The Borei Nefashos bracha that we
make after various foods is a powerful testament to G-d’s love for us and a
tool to engender our love for Him. In
the blessing, we thank Him for not just providing us with bread and water, but
for all the delicacies this world has to offer.
In the Shema, we are commanded, “And
you shall love Hashem, your G-d.” The commandment
is a difficult one to understand. Presumably,
either you love something, or someone, or you do not. How can an emotion be commanded?
Maimonides explains (Yesodei
HaTorah 2:2), “What is the path to love . . . Him? When
a person contemplates His wondrous and great deeds and creations . . .” Love for G-d is attainable with a little
thought and effort. When you think about
His amazing deeds and creations, you cannot help but be overcome with a
powerful feeling of love and fondness for Him.
What does contemplating His deeds
entail? It means thinking about all the
amazing things He has granted you in your life: your health, your parnassah (livelihood),
nachas (family pride), and so on.
What does contemplating His
creations entail? It means thinking
about all His wondrous creations and the pleasures you’d be missing out in your
life if He hadn’t created them. Thinking
about everything He has created that gives you pleasure, how could you not be overflowing
with love for Him? And that’s the meaning
of the Borei Nefashos prayer.
G-d wants us to enjoy His
world. Why would He have created a
beautiful universe replete with mountains, forests, oceans, as well as exotic
fruits and other delicacies, if not to enjoy them? Every bit of pleasure that we derive from the
work of the Creator, and acknowledge as such, we fulfil the mitzvah of loving
G-d!
According to one school of thought,
the entire reason Hashem created the world was in order to give us pleasure! G-d is good.
But you can’t be good in a vacuum. Being good means doing good. And that’s why He created us – in order to
bestow goodness upon us. The more
pleasure we derive from this world, the more pleasure and satisfaction G-d, so
to speak, derives.
Pleasure is not a sin. It’s a duty. When you enjoy the pleasures of this world and
acknowledge Who has given them to you, you’ve made your Father in Heaven “happier”
than you can imagine. You’ve fulfilled your
mission and His will. May you maximize
your enjoyment of all the kosher pleasures of this world!
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