Let It Rain

Shacharis > Pesukei D’zimra > _Ashrei

Chazal taught us that within Ashrei, the most important passuk is: “Pose’ach es yadecha umasbia l’chol chei ratzon, You open Your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.” We’ll focus on this passuk now, and then look at the bigger picture of the rest of Ashrei next week. This verse is so crucial that if one does not say it with proper intention, one should go back and say it again. What is so special about this passuk?

Hashem created the world to give goodness to His creations. Hashem gives sustenance to every living creature, “from the horns of giant wild oxen to the eggs of lice.” Hashem asks of us: “Harchev pi’cha v’amaleihu, open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” He wants us to ask Him for anything that we desire, and He will fulfill our request. We have one job: ask for anything and everything, and do not limit ourselves! 

But we are guilty of doing just that, because sometimes we decide that we don’t want to ‘trouble’ Hashem by asking for so much, and so we ask for only our most basic necessities, as if there is a limited amount of resources to go around and we don’t want to be a burden on Hashem’s system. 

These are expressions of tzimtzum (limitation or constriction), which is the enemy of shefa. Tzimtzum is really any limiting thought that we have during our conversations with Hashem. While Hashem is pouring shefa ad bli dai down the pipeline of sustenance from up above, we are essentially reaching out to the pipe on our end and squeezing it shut, constricting the flow so that it slows down to a trickle, because of our thoughts of tzimtzum. The problem with a limiting thought is that the word ‘limited’ is not applicable to the Creator of the World. 

It is important to be able to identify a limiting thought when we have one, so we can try to introduce the Infinite One, Ein Sof, Who has no limitations, into the equation. This unleashes the floodgates of shefa. 

One form of tzimtzum is when we decide that we aren’t worthy of receiving so much, or that we lost our merits because of our sins, or that if Hashem gives us too many good things something bad will happen to us. Nobody asked us to be the administrator over Hashem’s calculations, yet we decide that we should only get small salvations instead of a massive, infinite, downpouring of goodness. 

Another form of tzimtzum is to do too much hishtadlus, by putting too much effort into earning our livelihood, and particularly when we stress about where we are going to get our sustenance from. Doing this expresses that we think we are the ones responsible for earning our livelihood. Dovid Hamelech teaches us: “Cast your burden onto Hashem, and He will sustain you.” Our financial blessing is dependent on our ability to rely on Hashem, to connect to the Source of shefa and thereby draw it down. Hashem tells us not to worry, and to rely on Him, but we use our tzimtzum to tell Hashem, “No thank you, I’m going to stress about this instead of giving it over to you.” The response from Heaven, so to speak, is:  “Ok, if you’d like to keep this burden and stress, so be it.” 

Another form of tzimtzum is when we do some math in our minds, and realize that the amount of money we may desire is absolutely impossible for us to earn within the laws of nature, even if we worked from morning to night every single day. Hashem doesn’t like performing miracles, right? (TZIMTZUM!) Hashem needs me to do enough hishtadlus for it to be rational and possible for Him to respond with an equal amount of shefa. (TZIMTZUM!) In the lingo of pnimius haTorah, we think Hashem can only put as much shefa in our keilim as can fit in that kli for parnassah. If I want more money, I need to put out more ‘buckets’ by starting a bunch of side hustles. (TZIMTZUM!) 

Tzimtzum means limitations. If we think Hashem can’t ‘fit’ a certain amount of shefa into a certain size kli, that is us choosing to create tzimtzum. Great job. Now there is tzimtzum. 

Pose’ach es yadecha umasbia l’chol chei ratzon is how we shatter the glass ceiling called tzimztum, and is our daily reminder that Hashem is Ein Sof. If you desire shefa and Hashem desires to give you shefa, and you don’t limit Him by trying to restrict the shefa He can give you, then the Infinite One will never be limited by a ‘technical problem.’ He can send you the kli with the shefa all at the same time, or use any of a million other ways to satisfy the desire of every living thing.