“You who are bonded with the Lord, your G-d, are alive, totally, today.”
G-d wants to give us the greatest pleasure — His presence in our lives; to feel connected to Him. We are therefore, commanded, “To love the Lord your G-d, listen to His voice and bond to Him because He is your life (Deut 30:20).” In other words, you should love G-d because “G-d is your life”: the very life force within every fiber of your being. Loving G-d is, therefore, synonymous with loving life.
The Torah teaches, “You who are bonded with the Lord, your G-d, are alive, totally, today” (Deuteronomy, 4:4). The more connected we feel to G-d the more alive we feel.
How can we know if we are truly bonding with G-d? It’s when we feel totally alive; when our entire being is filled with a phenomenal vitality that we know we cannot honestly call our own or refer to as my life.
We feel G-d’s presence when we realize that our willpower, wisdom, insights and love are really not ours but God’s and experience ourselves as merely serving to channel Divine powers into the world. In this state of connectivity we feel the joy of purposeful and meaningful living.
However, G-d cannot give us this great gift of His presence, unless we want Him in our lives. We must first know in our hearts that G-d’s presence is, indeed, the greatest gift we could ever hope to receive; that it is pure ecstasy.
This is how King David so eloquently expressed it:
“Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire none on earth. As for me, G-d’s nearness is my good.” — Psalm 73:25-28
“My soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for You.” — Psalms 63:2
“To G-d alone my soul waits silently, from Him comes my salvation.” — Psalms 62:2
“Yes, I will bless You all my life, in Your name I lift my hands. It is as if my desire is sated with fat and abundance, when with joyous language my mouth gives praise.” — Psalms 63:5-6
In other words, to praise G-d and recognize Divine glory satiated King David like abundant delicacies.
This is the goal of Torah living — to empower us to clarify and awaken our soul to desire what we truly want and what is truly worth wanting. We study Torah to know G-d’s will. We prayer to want G-d’s will and we do the commandments to live G-d’s will. Torah life is a complete daily strategy enabling us to attuned our will to G-d’s and thereby channel His presence into our lives.
The secret to daily exuberance and vitality is making His will our will. In others words: You who are bonded with the Lord, your G-d, are alive, totally, today