What Hashem Wants Most

As we go through another Tishah B'Av, we have to ask ourselves a painful question: Why do we still not have Mashiach? What are we still doing wrong? The Sefer HaBerit asked this question a couple of hundred years ago. He looked around at the people of his generation and saw they were learning Torah, they were praying, and they were doing mitzvot. So what was missing? He concluded that they were lacking one of the most fundamental principles of our Torah. Sometimes people view religion as a checklist. We perform mitzvot, fulfill our obligations, and then ask, "So what do I get now?" But our mission as Torah Jews is not just to do mitzvot. It is to develop a relationship with Hashem, to love Hashem, to know Hashem, and to understand what pleases Him and what pains Him. A relationship cannot be one-sided. The Sefer HaBerit wrote that in his day, many people were serving Hashem only for themselves. They wanted a better Olam HaBa, a better Olam HaZeh, a good spouse, successful children, a beautiful home, a long life, and honor from others. They knew the path to those berachot was through Torah and mitzvot, and so their focus became, "What do I get out of this mitzvah? What does this do for me? What does that do for me?" "I'll pray for others only because of the reward I'm going to get. I'll show compassion to others only because of the blessings it will bring me." Everything revolved around one question: "What's in it for me?" Even when standing before Hashem in tefillah, the conversation was always, "Hashem, please give me this. Please give me that." We're constantly asking Hashem what He can do for us, but do we ever stop and think about Him? Do we ever stop and think about what's causing Him pain? The Beit Yosef writes in Maggid Meisharim that the heavenly maggid told him if we could comprehend even one trillionth of the pain that Hashem experiences during this exile, we would not be able to have any enjoyment, knowing that we are the ones causing Him all of this pain. Hashem longs to rest His Shechinah with us. He wants to be close to us. He wants to have a home among His children. Yet because of our shortcomings, that cannot happen. Does that pain ever affect us? When we pray for Mashiach, is it only because our lives will become better? Because there will be peace, prosperity, and no more suffering? Or do we pray because we want Hashem's glory to be restored? Because we can't bear the thought of our Father being in so much pain—a pain that will not be relieved until He is able to dwell with His children once again? Imagine if we said, "Hashem, I want to do more mitzvot because I know they will bring You pleasure. I want to pray for Mashiach because I want You to be happy. I want Your Shechinah to return. I want to be close to You." A loving parent wants nothing more than to hear a child say, "I just want to be close to you." That is what the Sefer HaBerit meant. If we could shift our focus from ourselves to Hashem, if we could begin thinking more about Him than about our own benefit, then our entire avodat Hashem would change. We would make peace with others, not because of the segulah of blessing that comes from it, but because we can't bear to cause our Father pain by allowing His children to keep fighting. We would perform mitzvot not only because of what we receive from them, but because of what they mean to Hashem. May Hashem hear all of us say, "We want You. We want to be close to You. We don't want You to be in pain." And in that merit, may we finally experience the great day of geulah, when the Shechinah will return to dwell among us forever.