ונתנם ה' לפניכם ועשיתם להם ככל המצוה אשר צוויתי אתכם. הידוע מספרים הקדושים שכל מצוה מתרי"ג מצות אם האדם עושה אותה רק לשם שמים ליחד קוב"ה ושכינתי' פורחת לעילא ומצוה כזאת גוררת מצוה אחרת אבל אם האדם עושה המצוה להנאת עצמו אף שיש בו מצוה לא פרחית לעילא. וע"ד שכ' הר"ן בנדרים בענין מצות לא להנות ניתנו אם יש לו הנאת הגוף בהדי מצוה לא אמרינן מצוה לא להנות ניתנו הה"ד בכל המצות. ובזה אמרתי הטעם מה שמצינו במלחמת ישראל שהחרימו את ערי עובדי כוכבים ושללם בפ' חוקת וישמע הכנעני וילחם בישראל וידר ישראל נדר לד' ויאמר אם נתון תתן את העם הזה בידי והחרמתי את עריהם ופרש"י אקדיש שללם. הנ"ל ב"ה שזה הי' הכוונה כדי שילחמו לשם שמים ולא להנאת עצמם כלל:
This is the theme of aseres ymei teshuvah that can bring us success on the ymei ha'din. If you are looking for bracha for your own sake, then good luck with being zocheh to it. But if you are doing things for Hashem's sake and ask Him for help and success, then nothing will be withheld.
We see this idea in the bakashot we add in shmoneh esrei. The Meshech Chochma (in Zos haBracha) quotes a Chazal that before speaking about ourselves, we have to give shevach to Hashem. וְזֹאת הַבְּרָכָה אֲשֶׁר בֵּרַךְ מֹשֶׁה אִישׁ הָאֱלֹקים אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לִפְנֵי מוֹתוֹ actually does not begin with a bracha to Bn"Y, but rather speaks about Hashem coming down to Sinai to give the Torah ה׳ מִסִּינַי בָּא וְזָרַח מִשֵּׂעִיר לָמוֹ הוֹפִיעַ מֵהַר פָּארָן וְאָתָה מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ מִימִינוֹ אֵשׁ דָּת לָמוֹ. If so, asks Meshech Chochma, why do we stick זכרנו לחיים in the first bracha of shmoneh esrei? Shouldn't it belong later, after the first three brachos that are birchos ha'shevach to Hashem? Tos already asks this question, but the M.C. gives his own spin on things.
The M.C. answers that zochreinu is not a bakasha for our sake. "Ain Melech b'lo am." Our existence is a testimony to Hashem's hashgacha. The fact that Klal Yisrael has survived and thrived proves that Hashem is in charge. זכרנו לחיים... למענך אלקים חיים. We ask Hashem to grant us life for His sake kavyachol, as a testimony to his greatness.
This explains why we ask "zochreinu l'chaim" in this opening bracha, but later in shmoneh esrei we ask, "ksov l'chaim tovim..." When we are asking for ourselves, we don't just want a job -- we want a good job. We don't just want a house -- we want a nice house. Chaim alone is not enough -- we ask for 'chaim tovim." The first bracha, however, is not about us. For Hashem's hashgacha and majesty to prove themselves, it's enough that we simply continue exist through history. Chaim, even if not chaim tovim, is sufficient (Mishne Berura quotes a different hesber for the difference in bakashos.)
There is a chassidishe vort that sharpens the idea further Most of us read the bakasha like this:
זכרנו לחיים מלך חפץ בּחיים וכתבנו בּספר החיים
comma
למענך אלקים חיים
But you can also read it like this:
זכרנו לחיים מלך חפץ בּחיים וכתבנו בּספר
comma.
There is a chassidishe vort that sharpens the idea further Most of us read the bakasha like this:
זכרנו לחיים מלך חפץ בּחיים וכתבנו בּספר החיים
comma
למענך אלקים חיים
But you can also read it like this:
זכרנו לחיים מלך חפץ בּחיים וכתבנו בּספר
comma.
What sefer do we want to be inscribed into? We say to Hashem that the book to put us in is the book of
החיים למענך, אלקים חיים
We want to be put together with to those people who dedicate their lives l'shem Shamayim, who are החיים למענך and not for their own sake.
Chazal give us a little behind the scenes in the story of the haftarah of the first day of Rosh haShana. Chana brought Shmuel to the Mishkan at age two. This little child noticed that people were waiting around, delaying offering a korban. They all thought a kohen was needed to do shechita, and so they were waiting for one to be available. Shmuel stuck in his two cents and told them that it was not required. Shechita is OK if done by a zar. Everyone is learning zevachim now in the daf yomi and so mistmama people know this halacha, but at the time, this was a chiddush gadol and not the accepted norm. Eli wanted to punish Shmuel and get rid of him for this sin of being moreh halacha b'fnei rabo. This is where you have Chana's plea to Eli:
אֶל הַנַּעַר הַזֶּה הִתְפַּלָּלְתִּי וַיִּתֵּן ה׳ לִי אֶת שְׁאֵלָתִי אֲשֶׁר שָׁאַלְתִּי מֵעִמּוֹ
וְגַם אָנֹכִי הִשְׁאִלְתִּהוּ לַה׳ כׇּל הַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר הָיָה הוּא שָׁאוּל לַה׳ וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ שָׁם לַה׳
Shmuel was just 3 years old. Why was Eli such a stickler? Why couldn't he let things go? He couldn't overlook a mistake of a little 3 year old?!
I saw in the Chashukei Chemed of R' Zilberstein the following answer: Rashi in parshas Korach tells us that Korach thought he would be a success because his great-great-descendent was Shmuel haNavi. Eli knew that Shmuel had the DNA of Korach in him. Korach was the original "moreh halacha b'fnei rabbo," undermining the authority of Moshe Rabeinu. In that episode even the children were punished. The threat of Klal Yisrael being torn apart by machlokes, by different leaders/people pulling in different directions, is so great that the normal rules of mercy don't apply. Eli saw the tremendous kochos ha'nefesh of little Shmuel and his lack of fear to challenge authority that he feared another Korach was in the making. Therefore, he applied the same principle of showing no mercy even to a child.
If so, what was Chana's counterargument? What did she say that convinced Eli otherwise?
R' Zilberstein answered that Chana declared that her tefilos to have this child Shmuel were completely l'shem Shamayim. She did not want a child for her own sake, but for the sake of serving Hashem, and that is why Shmuel was given over to serve in the Mishkan. About a decade ago I posed the diyuk of R' Chaim Volozhiner on the pasuk וַתִּתְפַּלֵּל עַל ה׳ (1:10). Why עַל ה׳ and not אל ה׳? Chana was not davening TO Hashem for her sake, but rather ABOUT Hashem, meaning for the sake of kvod Shamayim. She said that if she has a child, there would be greater kvod Shamayim in the world and Hashem's greatness would be increased. When your tefilos are purely for the sake of kvod Shamayim, when your life is dedicated completely to kvod Shamayim, then your tefilos are answered, and nothing untoward will happen because of them.
החיים למענך, אלקים חיים
We want to be put together with to those people who dedicate their lives l'shem Shamayim, who are החיים למענך and not for their own sake.
Chazal give us a little behind the scenes in the story of the haftarah of the first day of Rosh haShana. Chana brought Shmuel to the Mishkan at age two. This little child noticed that people were waiting around, delaying offering a korban. They all thought a kohen was needed to do shechita, and so they were waiting for one to be available. Shmuel stuck in his two cents and told them that it was not required. Shechita is OK if done by a zar. Everyone is learning zevachim now in the daf yomi and so mistmama people know this halacha, but at the time, this was a chiddush gadol and not the accepted norm. Eli wanted to punish Shmuel and get rid of him for this sin of being moreh halacha b'fnei rabo. This is where you have Chana's plea to Eli:
אֶל הַנַּעַר הַזֶּה הִתְפַּלָּלְתִּי וַיִּתֵּן ה׳ לִי אֶת שְׁאֵלָתִי אֲשֶׁר שָׁאַלְתִּי מֵעִמּוֹ
וְגַם אָנֹכִי הִשְׁאִלְתִּהוּ לַה׳ כׇּל הַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר הָיָה הוּא שָׁאוּל לַה׳ וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ שָׁם לַה׳
Shmuel was just 3 years old. Why was Eli such a stickler? Why couldn't he let things go? He couldn't overlook a mistake of a little 3 year old?!
I saw in the Chashukei Chemed of R' Zilberstein the following answer: Rashi in parshas Korach tells us that Korach thought he would be a success because his great-great-descendent was Shmuel haNavi. Eli knew that Shmuel had the DNA of Korach in him. Korach was the original "moreh halacha b'fnei rabbo," undermining the authority of Moshe Rabeinu. In that episode even the children were punished. The threat of Klal Yisrael being torn apart by machlokes, by different leaders/people pulling in different directions, is so great that the normal rules of mercy don't apply. Eli saw the tremendous kochos ha'nefesh of little Shmuel and his lack of fear to challenge authority that he feared another Korach was in the making. Therefore, he applied the same principle of showing no mercy even to a child.
If so, what was Chana's counterargument? What did she say that convinced Eli otherwise?
R' Zilberstein answered that Chana declared that her tefilos to have this child Shmuel were completely l'shem Shamayim. She did not want a child for her own sake, but for the sake of serving Hashem, and that is why Shmuel was given over to serve in the Mishkan. About a decade ago I posed the diyuk of R' Chaim Volozhiner on the pasuk וַתִּתְפַּלֵּל עַל ה׳ (1:10). Why עַל ה׳ and not אל ה׳? Chana was not davening TO Hashem for her sake, but rather ABOUT Hashem, meaning for the sake of kvod Shamayim. She said that if she has a child, there would be greater kvod Shamayim in the world and Hashem's greatness would be increased. When your tefilos are purely for the sake of kvod Shamayim, when your life is dedicated completely to kvod Shamayim, then your tefilos are answered, and nothing untoward will happen because of them.
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