Boulder Aish Kodesh

One of the aspects of our lives that we must do teshuva on is how much of ourselves we invest in what we do – meaning, is there anything positive in our lives that we are able to throw all of ourselves into without regret?  This is not so much a function of what I do, but of how I do it.  A religious person and a person who is not so religious could be equally absent in their daily lives.

‘Religious’ people should be asking: Could I go to pray minchah or ma’ariv without regard to how much time it will take, or how tired I am?  Could I buy an etrog without thought as to how much it will set me back?  Or do I always shackle my service of G-d with practical considerations?

People who are not ‘religious’ should be asking, along with ‘religious’ people: How about when I talk to my children? Do I make infinite time for them, or do I give it five minutes, or even an hour?  Do I read the paper while I hang out with them, or do I give it all of my attention?  Do I put everything I have into talking to my spouse?  Cleaning the house?  My job?

In terms of this essential ingredient, it almost does not matter what a person does; what matters is a person’s capacity to invest in whatever he or she is doing.  This Parsha teaches us about doing something fully, and how rewarding that can be.  Every three years, says the Torah, a person is required to give all the charity they were supposed to give but did not.  When they do that, they declare, ‘I have removed all the designated items from my house…  [Now you, G-d], look down from Your place of holiness and bless your people Israel, and the land that You gave us, and you promised our ancestors that you would do, the land of flowing milk and honey.’

The Torah knows that, in order to say to g-d, ‘I did my job; now you do yours!’ a person must feel like they did their job.  So our work this week is to focus on doing whatever we do in a complete and satisfying way.  This has profound effect on our everyday lives, because when we finish something, we can leave it behind entirely and invest fully in the next thing we do.  But if we do not do it in a complete way, then it will nag us and hold us back as we try to move toward our next task.