On the FRONT LINES
Tzivos Hashem is an army of good. The Commander-in-Chief is G-d Himself, and all the Jewish people are the soldiers, who fulfill their orders faithfully.
In a regular army there are times when the soldiers gather together to stage a “rally”before their Commander- in-Chief.
In Tzivos Hashem there are also times when the children gather together in a holy place, such as the synagogue, where their Commander-in-Chief, the King of Kings welcomes each one of them and is with them.
There are also times in an army when the Commander-in-Chief comes to visit the soldiers on the front lines.
This gives great encouragement to the soldiers. They see that the Commander is proud of them, and cares about them. And this gives them strength to fight the enemy even better.
Since Tzivos Hashem is Hashem’s army, the Commander-in-Chief is not just with the soldiers from time to time.He is always together with them, right out there on the front lines.
This is what we say in the Twelve Pesukim:
…והנה ה' נצב עליו
G-d Himself is standing next to every single boy and girl, watching, encouraging and helping …
…ובוחן כליות ולב אם עובדו כראו
and He is looking very carefully into the heart of every child to see if he or she is serving Him as he should.
Just a few days ago,we celebrated the festival of Shavuos. When we went to shul and heard the Torah read,we heard G-d, our Commander-in-Chief, telling us about all the Mitzvos He wants us to do.
And we promised in our hearts that we would carry out all His orders faithfully. Hashem saw this, and you can be sure He was very happy.
The Yetzer Hara also saw it. But it did not make him happy.
When he saw the Jewish children armed with their good resolutions, he realized that they are sure to win a complete victory over him.
There isn’t even any point in his trying to keep Jewish children from learning Torah and doing Mitzvos, because G-d Himself is standing beside each and every one of them, helping them to win the war!
When the Yetzer Hara sees this, do you know what happens? Not just that he gives up. He even begins helping the Jewish child!
Imagine! The Yetzer Hara actually begins encouraging Jewish children to learn Torah and do Mitzvos more carefully, with more energy and enthusiasm.
And so a Jewish child comes to serve Hashem with his whole heart, בכל לבבך, with both his Good Inclination and his Bad Inclination, his Yetzer Tov and his Yetzer Hara together!
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