Shiviti

I’m going to teach you an important word in classic Hebrew today – shiviti. What does it mean?

When we recite Tikkun HaKlali, the 10 Psalms Rabbi Nachman put together for us to read every day as a general rectification, the first Psalm includes the immortal words: I have placed G-d before me always. (Psalm 16:8)

Shiviti literally means, “I have placed”, but when someone says it, it refers to the whole passage, “I have placed Hashem before me always.” Many synagogues around the world hang this statement on their gates. Others put them right above the ark that holds the Torah. How do you constantly place Hashem before you?

What if we did the opposite? What if we chose to push away Hashem at all times? What if we started out in those moments we were most likely to jettison thoughts of Hashem in favor of our own musings? What if we chose five common situations we face each day where the instinct is to look for the problem and the solution in just the realm of our immediate, physical surroundings?

Business. Every time you start to focus on business, think of Hashem. Every time you are tempted to go beyond the basic need to advance your business, your job, your livelihood and squander moments of Torah learning, time with your wife, attention for your children, remember Who is the only Provider.

Physical pleasure. Every time you see something lustful and your thoughts turn into an adult film, remember Who monitors your every thought. Imagine how it would feel if you were watching such a film and in the middle your grandmother joined you, or your rabbi. When we think these things, this is exactly what’s happening; Hashem is “watching” the spectacle alongside us. It’s up to us to remember this and do all we can to push the poison away.  

TIP: Try to spend your weekends offline and away from screens. Go hiking, cook a meal, hang out with friends, read a book, volunteer somewhere, go to museums, take a drive, listen to audio shiurim, or attend a live Torah shiur. If you plan ahead, you won’t be bored. If you turn off the news on Thursday and don’t turn it on again until Monday, you will be shocked to discover how little you actually missed.

Trouble. Every time someone is able to do you harm, the real response is to think beyond him. Don’t be angry. Don’t even look at him. Remember that around his neck is a leash, and grasping the chain attached to that leash is the Hand directing it all to your benefit somewhere.

It’s hard. When you are in a conflict with someone it lasts for weeks, even months. Fighting the urge to be angry or vengeful is as hard as it is to fight lewd thoughts. It’s a battle that goes moment to moment and lasts for what feels like forever. The only way to win is to pierce the klipa and reach directly to Hashem, to place Him before you by refusing to see the immediate situation and to reveal what He really wants from you.

TIP: In times of trouble, ask Him. In personal prayer, ask G-d why He is doing this and what He wants from you.

Advancement. When taking the next step in anything, our instinct is to ask a friend or a loved one. We ask professionals, colleagues, thought leaders. We go online and ask complete strangers who have convinced us that they are experts in the field. How often do we ask Hashem?

Information. This has to be the biggest test of our time. The average person today has as much information about the world in his head as the standard CIA agent had about 30 years ago. Any type of information, personal, professional, and political, is online and refreshed by the minute. To get information, we don’t even ask anymore; it comes to us.

But is it the right information? Is it presented to us in the right manner? Is there a pure motive or are there sinister motives? They say that if a product is free, you are the product. Information from Hashem is the best there is. It’s also given by our Father for our benefit. It’s up to us to ask.

Could you imagine how much of your life you would have returned to you if you asked Hashem how much you need to know about what’s going on in the world and He said nothing! Putting Hashem before you always may mean turning off 90% of the distractions that suck our life away, and giving us new opportunities to feel really good all the time.

Hashem sends us blessings, at times in the form of tribulations, to force us to dig deeper than the words we read and to uncover their meaning to add vitality to our lives.

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David Ben Horin is the author of Thank God for Israel. It is my greatest desire to share this with you, along with another book I wrote, The Great Life Hack. You can have it for free!