Having Everything

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

This week’s parsha describes the passing of Avraham Avinu. The Torah says that Avraham died “in a good old age, old and save’a (satisfied)” (Bereishis 25:8). At first glance, it seems the pasuk is saying he was content and ready to go. But is that really the way to describe Avraham Avinu? For Avraham, every extra day of life meant another day to serve Hashem. Can we really say he was simply “satisfied” and ready to leave this world?

The Ramban explains that the word save’a here does not mean that Avraham was satisfied with life and ready to die. Rather, he reached a level where he no longer had any taavos (any desires at all). Hashem had given him wealth and honor, so he lacked nothing and did not crave what he did not have. This shows the chesed of Hashem, Who gives His tzaddikim what they truly need, and it highlights the greatness of Avraham. Most people, even when they have a lot still want more “Mi sheyesh lo maneh, rotzeh masayim” – if a person has one hundred, he wants two hundred. Human nature is to keep wanting more, but Avraham rose above this completely.

How does a person reach such a level? People naturally have taavos; even when they try to control them, the desires remain. We are drawn after money, kavod and comforts, and seeing what others have awakens even more desires. How can we work on ourselves to move in Avraham Avinu’s direction, to feel that we do not need anything more?

The mashgichim explain that the way to work on this is through being same’ach b’chelko (truly happy with one’s lot). If a person really lives with the idea of being same’ach b’chelko he slowly stops running after what he doesn’t have.

What does it mean to be happy with one’s lot? It means to internalize that everything Hashem gives is hashgachah pratis. Hashem tailors each person’s circumstances exactly to his tafkid (mission) in the world. Some people need to be rich in order to do what they are meant to do; some people need to be poor; some need one type of family situation and others another type. Hashem gives each person exactly what is fitting for his tafkid.

The Ibn Ezra (Shemos 20:14), on “Lo sachmod” in Parshas Yisro, explains that this is the key to not desiring what belongs to someone else. He compares it to a simple villager who would never dream of marrying the king’s daughter; he knows that is not his world. So too, each person has his own place in life, given by Hashem. When a person lives with this emunah that Hashem gives him exactly what he needs for his mission, he stops craving someone else’s life.

Along with this, we must work on appreciating what Hashem has already given us, even the “small” gifts. Someone who is more or less healthy should realize how many things could have gone wrong but did not and think of people he knows who are struggling with illness. Someone with a family should pause and appreciate that gift. If a person has a job he should realize how many people have none at all. All of these are the chesed of Hashem. Do we really deserve them more than anyone else? When a person feels, “I don’t really deserve this; it is pure chesed from Hashem,” and thanks Hashem for what he has, he is content with his lot.

Rav Wolbe says that a person should strive to feel that he truly has everything he needs because this is exactly what Hashem has given him and wants him to have. From that place he can really think: I do have everything: my basic needs, physically and even more so spiritually. I can learn, I can keep Torah and mitzvos, I can daven, … With that realization he can feel that he truly has everything.

This is how the Avos lived. Esav said yesh li rav (“I have alot”) (Bereishis 33:9), meaning there is always more to want. Yaakov Avinu said yesh li kol (“I have everything”) (Bereishis 33:11). He reached this level because his main yearning was completely for ruchniyus. He understood that his material situation was exactly what Hashem had given him for his needs. Since what he truly wanted was closeness to Hashem, and in that he felt full, he was not driven to chase anything else.

Chazal teach (Bava Basra 16b) that all of the Avos expressed this level of kol, and that they were given in this world a taste of olam haba. The Ben Yehoyada explains that this does not mean they actually had olam haba here, but that they felt such deep pleasure in Torah and mitzvos that it was like a taste of olam haba in this world. Because Torah and mitzvos were “everything” to them, Hashem gave them a special sweetness in those areas. So too for us: when a person does mitzvos and tries to live with the awareness that “this is everything,” Hashem gives him a taste of that sweetness; each mitzvah becomes more enjoyable, each bit of Torah more precious, and that sweetness helps him come closer to HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

We saw a living example of this in our generation in Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l. The whole world knows that he was a tremendous gaon who knew all of Torah. But he was also an example of someone who had an extraordinary ahavas Torah and ahavas mitzvos. He learned Torah the entire day with amazing consistency, going through kol haTorah kulah every year. This was not a burden for him; it was his greatest joy. His schedule was fixed and he would not interrupt it for anything. If he was ever forced by serious circumstances to miss a seder he would make it up late at night.

The same was true with mitzvos. Rav Chaim would run to do every mitzvah with energy and great joy. He tried to daven at the earliest times to fulfill the mitzvah as soon as possible. Whenever there was a special chance for a mitzvah or a rare brachah he was excited like a child with a new gift. He would even travel around the country to serve as the sandek at a bris milah when needed. Once, at a bris milah of a ger, he was given the chance to perform the final cut and say a special brachah he rarely made, and he came home full of joy from this mitzvah.

After his passing, one of the maspidim said that not everyone can be a gaon like Rav Chaim. However, his love for Torah and mitzvos, his burning desire for every mitzvah is something we are all obligated to strive for. Every Jew can work to increase his ahavas Torah and ahavas mitzvos and to feel that these are his real treasures.

May we be zocheh for our desires to be in Torah and mitzvos, and to be same’ach b’chelkeinu.