Whatever you do, have in mind to give gratification to your Creator, blessed
be He, and do not think-even a little-of your own needs. 1 Even the expectation of personal delight from your service [of
God] is [an ulterior motive] for one’s own concerns. 2
I.e.,
the concept of “service for the sake of Above” (see sect. 2-3). This is the
principle of “Acknowledge Him in all your ways” (Proverbs 3:6; see below,
sect. 94), and “Let all your deeds be for the sake of Heaven” (Avot
2:12), as explained in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim:231.
True
service of God implies total disregard of self, to the point of bitul hayesh,
self-negation (see below, sect. 52-53). This excludes the expectation of any
sort of reward (material or spiritual), the pursuit of spiritual attainments (cf.
below, sect. 47), let alone a sense of self-satisfaction. All these are peniyot
(sing. peniyah), ulterior motives of ego-centricity that must be shunned
(see below, sect. 15, 42, 55, 77 and 92).
By Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov; translated and annotated by J. Immanuel SchochetMore articles... |
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Tzava'at Harivash is
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Shem Tov and his successor, R. Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezhrich. The
translation, by a foremost authority on Chassidism and Jewish
Mysticism, is enhanced by source-references, brief commentaries,
notes on the passages that were perceived to be controversial, and a
comprehensive introduction.
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