Beyond Orthodox Conversion to Judaism

"Rabbi Elazar of Bartusa said, 'Give Him from His Own, for you and your possessions are His. And so has David said, 'For everything is from You, and from your Own we have given You'"

This Mishna teaches us that everything comes from G-d and because this is so, we have an obligation to use the gifts G-d has given us for His sake. This means that whatever talents we have, we should use and utilize them in our spiritual endeavors.

This does not just mean that if have been blessed with a good livelihood that we should give a  lot of money to charity. We definitely should do this but the Mishna is not coming to tell us just this case but rather in all our endeavors we should use the good gifts that G-d has given us.

We also learn that everything that G-d gives us is like a deposit and He has the right if He so desires to take it away. Therefore when G-d entrusts us with things i.e. money, children...we have to use them properly for the sake of heaven. The problem is that we sometimes look at the world in a much more selfish way.

We think that we deserve certain things and if we don't get them, we complain bitterly about our situation. G-d does not owe us anything, but he gives us the right to exist in His world. That means we are not allowed to just do what we want with our talents but rather we should utilize them to the best of our ability.

There are mitzvos that we also do that exemplify this teaching. For example, regarding the mitzvah of tithing our crops, the Torah commands us "You shall surely tithe all the produce of your seed which your field puts forth every year" (Deuteronomy 14:22). Remember, the Torah tells you, when you merit to have nice crops, don't forget to give to G-d some because He is the one that allowed it to happen.

We have to learn and realize that what we have comes from Him. Yes, we have to work hard and use all of our strengths to survive in this world but we cannot forget that even with that, if G-d does not will it, then we will not be successful in our endeavors!

We often think that whatever happens to use for better or for worse is only the result of the actions of our hands. This takes G-d out of the picture and leads to idol worship, whether it be literally another G-d or a replacement ie money, entertainment...

G-d runs the world and has a role in history as witnessed by our miraculous delivery from Egypt. He has a personal connection to His world and has never forsaken it! We may not understand how it works by what we see in this world, nonetheless He is right there pulling all the strings.

Although this idea may be obvious, we live in a world where G-d's presence is hidden and it is difficult to be able to see this. If we look carefully and analyze things in our lives, this becomes more evident as we see the close personal connection that G-d has with all of us!