Community Magazine March 2014

20 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE reluctantly. They watch the way we recite birkat hamazon , and notice if we say the words slowly with sincere gratitude to Hashem, or if we rush through them to move on to our next activity. They watch our body language as we give charity to somebody at the door, and they know how to translate that language into “It’s my pleasure to help,” or “Here’s some money, now get out.” We make an impression not just by what we do, but by the way we do it. And this, the Sefat Emet writes, is precisely the battle which we must continuously wage against the spiritual “Amalek,” the wily yetzer hara which does everything it can to make religious life uninteresting, and turn our beautiful Torah into tax returns – something we do only out of necessity. Hacham Ovadia Yosef ’s Needles The question then becomes, how do we fight back? After all, the yetzer hara has a valid point – Torah observance is often quite demanding and restrictive. How can we maintain the necessary level of excitement and enthusiasmwhen adhering to so many laws and fulfilling so many obligations? A number of years ago, before one of my trips to Israel, I was astonished to receive a call from the office of Hacham Ovadia Yosef, zt”l . The hacham, who suffered from diabetes, needed special needles brought from New York, and I was asked to bring them for him. It is not hard to imagine my reaction. I was euphoric. What an honor it was for me to do a personal favor for the leading Torah sage of our generation, for one of the greatest human repositories of Torah the world has ever seen! When I left Ben Gurion airport, I headed straight to the hacham’s house. I did not stop at my hotel or the Kotel. If I was carrying Hacham Ovadia Yosef’s needles, I was not going anywhere else before getting them to him. When I arrived at his building, there was a large crowd of people waiting to go inside to meet with the rabbi. When I explained to them that I was there to do the hacham a personal favor, everyone made way for me. I showed the needles to the people in charge, and I was ushered right in to the hacham’s room. Just by carrying needles, I was treated as though I was somebody special – because this was being done as a personal favor to one of the greatest men alive. If we could multiply this feeling of elation which I experienced at that time to the millionth power, we would still not come even close to the joy we should, at least in principle, experience upon doing a “favor” for Gd. The King of the entire universe, in relation to whom even the greatest human beings are less than microscopic, has selected each and every one of us to do Him certain “favors.” Of course, He did not need our favors – but this only makes mitzvot an even greater privilege. He does not need us for anything, and yet He asks us to do certain things so we can draw close to Him. What a fantastic privilege! I am not saying this is easy, but we should feel overjoyed every time we do even the simplest, most “minor” mitzvot . If bringing needles for Hacham Ovadia is exciting, why shouldn’t every mitzvah be exciting?