The Power of Ashrei - Ashrei 17

פותח את ידך, ומשביע לכל חי רצון

You open Your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

Last week we questioned how it is that Hashem provides all of our desires, something that life does not seem to bear out as true. We answered that the underlying message of this most important pasuk is that Hashem provides ALL that we TRULY NEED at this moment, but left off with the question that the pasuk speaks of “desire” and not “need.”

Let us now see how the commentaries deal with the word “ratzon.” The S’forno and Rokei’ach say that it is not our ratzon that David HaMelech refers to; it is the ratzon of Hashem. What we are saying is that Hashem provides us with all that we need according to His ratzon, which is to give us what He knows is best for us at this moment.

The Chasam Sofer, Pri Tzadik, and Ben Yehoyada say that the pasuk is very literal – Hashem provides us with actual “ratzon.” Hashem provides us with the desire and proper attitude to accept what He gives us, with simchah, subjugating our will to His. According to this interpretation, we all have this ability.  We must choose to tap into this ability to access it, but we are capable of living life with this attitude.  Two people can be in similar predicaments. The one who complains and is greatly distressed about it, which is likely our natural reaction as human beings, will be miserable and add stress to his life, which is proven to be detrimental to one’s health. The one who understands and, more importantly, who internalizes and lives the lessons of our pasuk, will remain content, happy, and stress-free. (Naturally there are many levels in between these two extremes). Most of the life settings we live with (e.g., what family we are born into) and most of what occurs in our lives, are not in our control. What is in our control is how we react. We can choose to be miserable, or we can choose to be happy. Being happy in difficult situations may take practice in positive thinking…but we must be aware that Hashem gives us this talent.

The Vilna Gaon (on Mishlei 22:19) tells us: The essence of everything is bitachon, and it encompasses all of the mitzvos. We can now understand the emphasis and importance of our pasuk of פותח את ידך in both hashkafah and halachah, as discussed last week. We will, b’ezras Hashem, say this pasuk well over 1,000 times in the coming year. May we be zocheh to strengthen our bitachon each time we do, and may our commitment to do so be a tremendous z’chus for us in the Y’mei HaDin coming up, in accordance with what Rabbeinu Yonah (Shaarei T’shuvah 2:10) teaches us: We have all of the future z’chuyos NOW, as if we actually already carried out our intended good deed, immediately upon our firm commitment (coupled with a specific plan).