I would guess that anyone who has ever dramatically elevated their level of religious observance was at some point inspired by a particular Torah idea that moved them greatly. For myself, one such idea was that each one of us has a unique role in Hashem's plan that no one else can perform. Each of us has a particular mission.
Another idea that continues to energize me is that every Jew possesses a unique ability to open up conduits of blessing, which emanate from the Upper Realms and flow down into this world, through his performance of the mitzvos, study of Torah, and acts of chesed.
Rav Chaim of Volozhin writes in Nefesh HaChaim (Shaar Daled, Perek 4): "No member of Klal Yisrael should ever think to himself, 'Who am I, and what power do I have to do anything in the world through my lowly actions?' Rather he should know and understand, and establish it firmly in his heart, that no small action or word or thought is ever lost. How great and elevated are his actions that each one has an impact in the most elevated of the Upper Realms, according to its root below, and causes a bright light to shine above."
In a famous footnote, Rav Chaim adds, the injunction at the beginning of the second chapter of Avos, "Da mah l'maalah mimecha — Know what is above you," should be read, "Da mah l'maalah — mimecha." Know that what is taking place in the Upper Realms is "mimecha — from you." Your every thought, word, and deed makes a tumult Above.
The Mishnah in Avos instructs us, "Do not be like those servants who serve their master in order to receive a reward. Rather be like those servants who serve without an intention of receiving reward." What is the source of that double language? Isn't the Mishnah saying the same thing twice?
No, Rav Chaim writes in Ruach HaChaim, the double language contains a crucial addendum: True, we should not serve Hashem in order to receive a reward for ourselves. The only reward we seek is the closeness that comes from being bound to Him through His mitzvos and the desire to bring Him nachas ruach. But that is only with regard to a reward for ourselves. With respect to the rest of the world, however, we should have the intention that our actions will bring Divine blessing to the entire world and all our fellow human beings in it.
The whole intention of Hashem's Creation was that He could shower blessing and good on created beings outside of Himself. And to the extent that we seek to bring good from Hashem to our fellow man, we bring Him nachas ruach. "That is the highest level of Divine service."
When I was (very) young, I dreamed that I would one day discover the magic button I could push and remove all the world's problems and suffering. The concrete expression of that desire was the ambition to be the first Jewish president: After all, I reasoned, wouldn't the president have the greatest access to that button, right along with the one launching nuclear destruction?
Well, I didn't become president. And Barack Obama, with whom I share an English birthday, became the first black president before I became the first Jewish one. But neither he nor anyone else has discovered that button.
But when I first learned the preceding excerpts from Rav Chaim of Volozhin, I was brought back to my youthful dreams. There may not be one magic button, but there are many other buttons. And if we cannot transform the world with a one-time push, nevertheless we can have an unfathomable impact with every thought, word, and deed. We can push buttons all day long, and bring blessing to the world by doing so.
Can there be a more energizing ideal than that? Smile at someone after davening, reach over and help a bent-over old man get his tallis over his shoulder, and you have not only directly brought them happiness, but opened up the Divine pipelines as well. I believe it was Charlie Harary who said our smile is Hashem's ATM machine, we can keep giving and giving to others without diminishing our supply.
Nothing so infuses everything we do with energy as does living according to Rav Chaim of Volozhin's description of the relationship between the Upper and Lower Realms. Every time we daven with deeper kavanah or learn Torah with more concentration or are alert to all the opportunities for chesed around us, we are simultaneously bringing greater blessing to the world.
By the same token, nothing so protects us from failing to do Hashem's Will as awareness of the infinite ramifications of every failure, not to mention the missed opportunities.
On Becoming an Eved Hashem
Few things are so exciting as watching someone grab on to a Torah ideal and fully integrate it into his or her life. For years, my once-a-week trainer has been a source of fascination. When I first met him, he was still running marathons and rigorously adhering to Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live diet.
His goal was to live to 150, and to that end, he removed all his mercury fillings and banished all aluminum utensils from his home. At one point, he even spoke about finding a place to live above the timberline because the rarified atmosphere is known to be good for longevity.
He has long since eschewed marathons, but still adheres to the diet, eating only one meal a day, before alos hashachar — a very large salad, filled with a vast array of sprouts and other high-nutrient items.
Even in the early days of our friendship, he usually had a Gemara open in front of him in the exercise room he then owned. But at some point, he became determined to dramatically increase his time spent learning. On a vacation to scenic rural Slovenia with his wife, he saw an old wooden house for sale on a large plot of land, and with a majestic mountain range in the backdrop. With the idea of one day opening a health retreat on the premises, or perhaps a place for a chizuk vaad, of the type that has become a common offshoot of the larger Israeli yeshivos, he purchased the property. Subsequently, he purchased a second adjacent house, with a large fireplace. (Real estate in rural Slovenia is apparently a lot cheaper than Jerusalem.)
Apart from serving as a once-a-year summer retreat for his large family, he uses the property, at present, as a place for him to daven and learn from the wee hours of the morning until nightfall for a week each month. On each trip, he adds to the already large library of seforim in Slovenia.
Even though his trips are devoted exclusively to learning, he joined a social media group of Slovenian Jews, and was recently invited to address a Holocaust Remembrance Day gathering in Ljubljana, the capital, over an hour from his house. Though he has never been a public speaker, he reasoned that it might be the first time that many of those present had ever met a frum Jew, and that he should not miss that opportunity.
As a result of that event, he was approached by a number of individuals interested in learning more about Torah. One of those was a Jew in his forties from Ukraine whom he invited to spend a Shabbos with him. Since then, my trainer has been busy arranging for his new friend to attend a baal teshuvah yeshivah in Israel.
A few weeks ago, he received notice that his friend would be undergoing a bris in Paris. The price of the ticket and the additional days missed from work were not in his budget. But as he kept telling himself, "I'm an eved Hashem and working with this Jew is what He wants me to be doing right now." So, he flew to Paris for the bris.
There he met the brother of his friend who came in from Dusseldorf, a 63-year-old Jew from southern France, who was also having a bris that day; and also the sandek for the two brissim that were taking place that day. From the brother in Dusseldorf, he learned that they have an 89-year-old mother still in Ukraine. Like many Jews who grew up in the FSU, she is panicked by the idea of her son so publicly proclaiming his Judaism. He also found out that the sandek had little knowledge of his role, other than that he was supposed to pay for the mohel and the seudah following.
Ever since my trainer became a kiruv operation of one, he has seen nothing but siyata d'Shmaya. For instance, he found out that Rav Yitzchak Ezrachi, the senior rosh yeshivah in Mirrer Yeshivah, for whom his son had served as a shamash, was in Paris at the same time for a Mirrer dinner. So, the day after the bris, he brought his friend to Rav Ezrachi, who spoke to him for a very long time.
In the meantime, my trainer was purchasing hundreds of dollars of seforim in Russian or French for the other Jew who underwent a bris, for the sandek, for the brother of his friend, and for his mother. Each received a copy of Rav Yitzchak Silber's account of how he remained a Torah Jew steeped in learning under the Soviets, To Remain a Jew, in either French or Russian. And he sent copies of Derech Hashem, Mesilas Yesharim, and Michtav Mei'Eliyahu in French to the sandek and the other Jew who had a bris along with his friend.
Despite having little writing background and certainly not holding himself to be a talmid chacham, my trainer wrote a long letter to the sandek, explaining the blessing that flows through the sandek, and another to the mother of his friend, using Google Translate. Both letters were received with enthusiasm.
Back in Israel from the bris, he made a very rare trip to a restaurant in honor of his wife's birthday. In the course of the meal, she asked him where he was going to find the money for his book purchases, especially given his dwindling client list, as the only new clients he will accept are talmidei chachamim of note. (His list of past and current clients includes former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Bakshi-Doron ztz"l, Rav Yehudah Neuwirth ztz"l, and ybdlch"t Rav Moshe Zilberberg and Rav Zvi Kushelevsky.)
My trainer explained that he is "an eved Hashem," and he prays that Hashem will provide him with the resources to help the Jews he is meeting come closer to Him.
At precisely that moment, an older stranger passed their table and wished them "B'teyavon." He then stopped to chat, and mentioned that when he had left the army as a senior officer, he had been offered a position on the Knesset list of one of the major parties. But he had replied with the same words as my friend had just used to his wife: "I'm an eved Hashem, and I want to be free to serve Him."