542. Return, O Israel – 2

“Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God.” That is, do not engage in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] because others tell you that you must engage in Torah and Mitzvot. Rather, one should come to a degree where he feels the existence of the Creator, that “The whole earth is full of His glory,” since one who sits at home is unlike one who sits before the King. This is called “your God.”

“For you have failed in your iniquity.” Do not say that the first generations were better than these, and the iniquities caused us not to be able to feel it. It is written about this, “For you have failed in your iniquity,” meaning in your personal inequities. That is, the bad in man wants only to receive for himself and not because of the glory of heaven, and does not want to have faith in the sages that we should learn Lishma [for Her sake], meaning for the sake of the Creator, and not for ourselves.

However, “It is not the uneducated who are pious.” Rather, “Take with you words and return to the Lord,” for the name HaVaYaH is called “the quality of mercy.”