Rabbis describe G-d finding delight in three experiences, 3 finds, each based on a Biblical text. Each teaches a moral principle. First Metziah: Abraham. ומצאת את לבבו נאמן לפניך. Loyalty of heart; faith. Not so much intellectual conception monotheism as faith in G-d in all totality and purity. 1. sign of times, sophistication, is "emancipation from all faith". 2. state categorically that’s impossible. Every man has faith; depends what kind — a. No more than two ways. No "grays”. b. either in G-d — or idols, wheteher stone, scientism, psychology, destiny, wealth, security, communism, free enterprise. No matter how good, still idol. 3. כיון שאדם פורש מן התורה הולך ומתדבק בע"ז. 4 Cynics deride this idea as too conservative, tight orthodoxy. Under guise of sham liberalism, "so open-minded that their brains fall out", they insist on third way — no faith in anything at all. 5. Bertrand Russel: “To live a human life, man must have grounding in something, in some sense outside of human life....in some end which is impersonal and above mankind, such as G-d or Truth or Beauty". 6. There must, therefore, be a choice of which faith. Abraham recognized this etc. Second Metziah: David. מצאתי דוד עבדי. Servitude, or service. 1. G-d could have found delight in so many other great aspects of David: a. Royalty: a monarch reigning in august majesty ... consolidated Jewish kingdom. b. Military prowess: uncanny strategist ... 2nd Book Samuel (vs Absalom). No Koje incident possible under him. c. Poet: sublime thoughts which run so mellifluously thru his Divine verses... inspiration to countless generations in times of need and also bliss. 2. Yet G-d extolls servitude above all these. Two great qualities of an עבד: a. Surrender, Yielding to Master ... Sacrifice in toto. 1. איזו עבודה שבלב? — תפילה, once altar, now Bimah; once Kohen, now Shatz; once animal physically, now man spiritually —. 2. בידו אפקיד רוחי. A measure of intensity. Noticeable in Psalms. 3. In this sense David a complete עבד. b. Time. Constantly and eternally at service of Divine master. 1. No "days off" — שעובדים יום ולילה. [2. Halachic expression to this concept in עבד פטור ממצות עשה שהזמן גרמא.] 3. True religious personality similar; not year end, not week end, not even daily Jew, but every moment infused with consciousness of G-d. 4. Religion not to be ”scheduled”; must be freed from oppresive tyranny of the calendar, and liberated from the haevy hour- and minute- hands of the clock. 5. In this sense David a complete EVED — all aspects his life bespoke servitude to G-d. We too must learn this. Third Metziah: complements the other two. 1. No Rabbi can expect to succeed in getting his people to live up to standards of an Abraham or a David. The Rabbi himself can’t. 2. Lionel Trilling in recent essay of lit criticism — people fear genius, uninspired by it even if they respect it. Better great acheivements of normal humans with normal weaknesses. 3. This is third great Metziah — what G-d found in desert, commemorate this Shevuoth day. 4. Hosea: כענבים במדבר מצאתי ישראל — pregnant profound symbolism, hidden meaning. 5. Midrash: מה הענבים הללו החרצנים בפנים, כך ישראל ... (חרצנים מבפנים). 6. Chartzonim of Jews: a. stubbornness: — כי עם קשה עורף הוא, b. unimaginative: — מי יתן מותנו ביד ד' בארץ מצרים, c. thankless: — מחלקת קרח וכל עדתו. 7. Yet G-d accepted them! Why? What great moral message is latent in this matter? Two Great Lessons From This Discovery in the Desert on Shavouth: 1. The Traveller (following grape-desert analogy): In desert, where hot, parched sands, and only thing that grows is thorny, inedible cactus, if find grapes, don’t quarrel with bitter pits, don’t hold out for seedless grapes. — G-d found Israel in a world like a desert .. idolatry, immorality etc. So he accepted the grapes; recognizing the Chartzonim, he also recognized the pulp & juice, the flesh & the skin. This is the lesson of realism. a. Israel — criticism OK, but conclusion is wrong. [b. Yeshivoth and other Jewish institutions. c. Personal — as parent, husband or wife — in for disappointment.] 2. The Grape: no despair. Jews recognized PITS yet tried for & succeeded in נעשה ונשמע. a. Freud — self-criticism — but not self-hatred. b. every person painfully aware own shortcomings, mediocrity, but not to despair. c. should be firm in knowledge that G-d accepts Chartzonim, if there are only Anavim. d. Traditionally masmid appreciated more than ilui. e. Moral: develop good points to fullest. G-d expects that, no more. f. Story of Reb Zusya.