Tirtza - Parsha Ki Tavo - A Shabbat.com Message

god is good and the way of the good is to do good it is said that the basis of creation is his it my dear rabbi benzion clatsko says that there are two kinds of people in the world givers and takers the life of the taker is a sequence of fulfilling his needs and gratifications takers are mostly unhappy because they perceive their needs most of the time and only occasionally gratify them givers on the other hand are only interested in giving which is hesed but you may ask is not the desire to do heisei also a need by being kind to others the giver might be gratifying his needs just as the taker right the quality of giving however is a natural component and the person who is happy with his lot he's happy because his life is filled with the joys of a spiritual pursuit so the urge to do good to others is not produced by lack or deficiency it's actually an outflow of devotion by which the happy man is attached to hashem the divine giver hashem is also not moved by needs for he has no needs in his goodness god created us in his image he implanted in us the potential for such a joy as this the joy of being the joy of fulfillment the joy of giving and joining mitzvahs this whole concept may help us understand a difficult verse in this week's parasha kitavo which seems to imply that the greatest sin of all is not serving god with joy service without joy is no service at all it shows that the person is primarily self-serving he has not even started on the road to true service to god and this might be the root of all sin we should examine the quantity and quality of our joy and doing mitzvot and compare them with the joy we experience after gratifying our physical desires i truly hope you enjoyed the mitzvah of shabbat to reflect upon the fulfillment that only avod that hashem brings into our lives i hope you have an amazing shabbat you