from Rav Simcha Zissel on Bearing the burden with your fellow

Bearing the Burden [1]

. . . . .
What you wrote about "In a place where there are no men…"[2] is relevant to our times and related to what I said about how accustomed people are to deluding themselves with regard to the Shema. It is indeed a great thing to be willing to give up one's life for the sake of God, as it says in the "Orchot Chayim": "because this how you observe the words of the psalmist 'for your sake we are killed all day' (Psalm 44:23)"[3] .
Yet this is also where one can go astray, because who knows when the opportunity for this [giving up your life to sanctify God's name] may arise, God forbid. With regard to "you shall love…" Rashi explained that "these matters that I command you today…" are the way to observe the injunction of "and you shall love"[4] . Indeed, this is something that can be verified right after reciting the prayers: is "and you shall love" among the matters one has placed on his heart? And if it isn't, it's just because of the ways people are accustomed to delude themselves.
Now about people who are not impressed by this teaching, which encompasses many useful subjects, I said earlier that among the middot by which the Torah is acquired is also the middah of bearing the yoke along with your fellow. And we can now understand its meaning from what we saw: a horse harnessed to a heavy cart and refusing to move, and the driver hitting it repeatedly. Had the driver tried to pull the load like the horse, with all his might, he wouldn't be so cruel to the horse, and it is only because he doesn't pull along with it that he can't imagine how to be compassionate toward his horse, who always pulls with all its might. And this is why it is said that if you want to feel the pain of your fellow, stand with him and pull at the yoke along with him and then you will be able to feel his pain. And if you recall the more general article[5] I wrote to Rabbi Shmuel Strashun[6] , you will understand this issue better.
Concerning those who don't take in the lesson above, which shows people's desire to delude themselves that they are tzaddikim, and not wanting to be put to the test for fear of seeing this is not so, about such people it can be said that their souls don't belong to them. Indeed they don't care to know their own souls, as David said: "Look on my right hand, and see, for there is no man that knows me" (Psalms 142:5)[7] And what you wrote is precisely about this, about how people devote themselves to what is not theirs, and not to their own selves that belong to them. And about this it is written: "If I am not for myself, who am I?"[8] , since the most important thing is that my self be mine so that I can take care of it, and this is the whole point.

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[1]Letter from R. Simcha Zissel Ziv to his son. In "Chochmah u'mussar", I p.14-15.

[2]Pirkei avot II:6
ובמקום שאין אנשים, השתדל להיות איש
"In a place where there are no men strive to be a man."

[3]"Orchot Chayim" by R. Asher Ben Yechiel:
הוב את ה' אלהיך בכל לבבך וגו', למסור גופך וממונך על קדושתו, ובזה תקיים בעצמך דברי המשורר "כי עליך הורגנו כל היום"..

[4]Rashi on Deuteronomy 6:6
And these words… shall be. What is this “love” [referred to in the previous verse]? It is that these words shall be upon your heart, and through this, you will come to recognize the Holy One, blessed be He, and will [consequently] cling to His ways

[5]The reference is probably to a longer article that appears in "Chochmah u'Musar"as " נחמד ונעים מאמר". A translation of this important article can be found in Ira F. Stone, "A Responsible Life".

[6]Rav Samuel ben Joseph Strashun (1794–March 21, 1872) was a Russian Talmudist.

הַבֵּיט יָמִין, וּרְאֵה-- וְאֵין-לִי מַכִּיר[7]7

[8]Pirkei avot I:14
הוא היה אומר, אם אין אני לי, מי לי

from Rav Simcha Zissel: renewed perception is the source of brakhot

. . . Similarly, the models in the Torah, such as the exodus from Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the manna, the giving of the Torah etc, which involve changing the ways of nature and divine revelation, should naturally arouse wonder (hitpa'alut) among those believing in them. Nevertheless, we read or study them in a cold and almost indifferent way, and they don't shock us or make an impression on us, as if they were normal or routine events.

"The person entering mussar study must strengthen his trust and be as if he had never heard anything before, as if she was born today and found a world full of wonders. And from then on he has an obligation to distinguish between good and evil and only then will his trust be complete, God willing. . ."

Our sages interpret the verse: 'which I command you today' to mean: 'they should be new to you as if you had heard them for the first time today'. And Rabbi Simcha Zissel interprets the intention here to mean that they should not only be dear to you as if they had been given to you today, but also that they should be received every day by reflecting anew on them, as if they had been heard today.

And this is, according to Rav Simcha Zissel, the intention of our sages when they prescribed the blessings, both the blessings for enjoyment and those for mitzvot: so that we won't, out of habit and distraction, ignore natural events and the observance of Torah and mitzvot and to arouse our attention and capacity for reflection.