The Kli Yakar shares a perspective I find very interesting and helpful to me on the words of the Shema and particularly Hashem Echad, Hashem is One. (Devarim 6:4)
He says He is our Empowerer and not for the other nations, שהוא אלהינו ולא אלהי האומות
He also states that in the future it will be Hashem as a Unity, One. לעתיד יהיה ה’ אחד.
I am wondering about this statement: Why only in the future? Is He not one now?
He explains how the world of Olam Hazeh is a world of opposites, therefore we say on good news, Baruch Hatov Umeitiv and on bad news we say, Baruch Dayan Emes. However in a world of Olam Habbah we say on all that transpires, Baruch Hatov Umeitiv. Blessed, is The Good and Bestower of Good. In a world in which we see bad things happening to good people and the opposite way around it there is room for people who do not serve Hashem properly to say there must be two powers Chas v’shalom. However, In Olam Haba the tzaros are forgotten and it is a world of Shevach to Hashem where it is clear that Hashem is One, all is Hatov Umeitiv.
He concludes and says that a Yisrael is able to unify both names, of Hashem which represents rachamim, (compassion) and Elokeinu which represents Din,(Judgment) as One. All become Hatov Umeitiv!
Therefore, unifying Hashem’s Name, not only means to connect all to The Only Source, (for example when we make brachos on the food we eat) But the Kli Yakar takes it further, it is our job as we are reminded to 3 times a day when we recite the Shema, to find a way to use even the tzaros, the perceived Din, challenges, difficulties, and use to unify with Rachamim, until we can express the Shevach of Hashem as Good and The Bestower of Good! And, so much so that the tzara is forgotten and replaced with a Shevach, a type of praise of Hashem that leads to more and more…
Reciting the Shema can recalibrate us when thinking of it this way. To listen and hear the ways in which we can unify even the din until it becomes Tov, in a world of Hashem Echad. Imagine if we can apply when dealing with other people, to find, and actively listen for the tov, even if there are differences, to see the tov in others as part of unifying Hashem’s Name in the world?
Perhaps the work at finding the Tov, despite a world of opposites, is the Avodah of Ahavas Hashem, Loving Hashem, and Ahava in general. I learned this insight from Mordechai Kholdorav.
This is a Kavana we can have when testify to Hashems’ Creation when we say Kiddush on Friday night, and say: וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי בֹקֶר יוֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁי, there was a world of evening and morning of two opposites but Shabbos is the time to unify and find ways to praise Hashem infinitely, in a world of redemption, a world that looks toward the future of Good.
May we all be Zoche to be considered Yisrael, as those who can praise Hashem as a constant, as Hatov Umeitiv, Hashem Echad.
hindy
Michal
intomeaning
Neil Wernick