Naso (Hasidism)

Praying for God

Even with a festival as rich in meaning as Shavuot, we cannot ignore the regular Shabbat that comes in its wake, with its own Torah portion (in fact, the longest in the entire Torah). (Readers abroad, who will celebrate a second day of Shavuot, may save this for next week; and so on until the Torah readings for Israel and Diaspora become realigned in Hukat-Balak.) The following teaching of R. Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev is very radical, in that it reverses the direction of imitatio Dei: rather than man imitating God, we do certain deeds in the hope that He will imitate us, in a kind of theurgic tour-dè-force. Kedushat Levi on the parsha, s.v. Vayedaber:

“And God spoke to Moses saying, Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘Thus shall you bless the children of Israel, saying to them…’” [Num 6:22-23]. And the rule is, that the Baal Shem Tov would reproach people with the verse, ”the Lord is your shadow” [Ps 121:5]. That is, just as the shadow does whatever the person does, so does the Creator, so to speak, do whatever man does. Therefore a person should do mitzvot and give charity and have compassion on the poor, so that the Creator will do likewise with him. And this attribute is called “thus” (koh), for the meaning of the word is that, in the same way as he does, so shall the Creator do. And it is known that the Creator blessed be He wishes to do good to His people Israel, for more than the calf wants to suck the cow wants to nurse. And when a person stands up to pray, whether it be to say the entire Amidah or to say other petitions, he must pray only so as to cause pleasure to God from this.

As it says in the Mishnah, “If you have learned much Torah, do not attribute credit to yourself, for it is for this that you were created” [Avot 2.9]. Meaning, that a person’s actions shall be only so as to cause pleasure to the Creator. For it is known that when a person prays for himself he is called, “one who receives,“ and when he does so… he holds the palm of his hand facing upward; but when one prays only so as to bring pleasure to the Creator, then he is called “one who gives [influx]”… and he holds the back of his hand facing up. Now the Priestly Blessing is recited with uplifted hands, that is, with them holding the back of their hands opposite their faces. And this is the meaning of the verse, “Thus shall you bless the children of Israel.” That is… so that there shall be pleasure to the Creator from this. And thereafter the Creator will bring down goodness and blessings… and life and peace, Amen.