Man's supreme, guiding principle must be to know what his task is in the world and to ascertain the ways of G-d, the Divine ideas and traits he should cling to in order to achieve that task.
Above all else, he should accept upon himself the yoke of Heaven. The incontestable sovereignty, majesty and authority of G-d, Supreme King of Kings.
Relating to G-d as King and Master, he should cling to all of G-d's true and trustworthy, irrevocable ways and commandments, neither devinating from them nor questioning them.
Twice each day in the Shema, Israel lovingly recites, "Those words which I command you today shall be on your heart."
This clearly admonishes us to keep "those words", G-d commandments, above our hearts, superseding our own wishes, in line with "Transform G-d's will into your own" (Avot 2:4).
This is our supreme commandment, the foundation of the Torah edifice. It is the beginning of Man's redemption from bestiality and of the breaking down of his egotism, the root of evil in the world.
This process constitutes the beginning of man's ascent to holiness, which is his purpose.
Man's subjugating his ego beneath G-d's yoke and his readiness to cling to G-d and pay absolute obeisance to His sovereign authority are prerequisites to his attaining the complete holiness emanating from G-d.
No comments:
Post a Comment