ספר ויקרא, פרשת אמור. In the Midrash there, פרשה כ\"ח, ג', דתני רבי חייא, רבי חייא taught, שבע שבתות תמימות תהיינה, the pasuk says concerning ספירת העומר, that seven complete weeks they shall be. So he says, אימתי הן תמימות, when are they complete? בזמן שישראל עושין רצונו של מקום, when the Yidden are doing the will of Hashem. Now, the פשוט פשט of תמימות is as the Gemara says in Menachot דף ס\"ו עמוד א', that from here we learn out that you must count every day, you must have complete weeks. And therefore the din is that if someone forgot to count one day, then he cannot make a berachah the other days, because he won't have תמימות, he won't have seven complete weeks, because one day was missing. Another לימוד that we learn out from the word תמימות is that you must count ספירת העומר at night, because you must have complete days and complete weeks, and a complete day is when you have the day and the night, and therefore you have to count at night, and this will be for the night and the day. This is the הלכהדיקע לימוד that we learn out from the word תמימות. But here in the Midrash it says that what does the word תמימות mean, complete, that when is the ספירת העומר complete, only if ישראל עושין רצונו של מקום, if the Yidden are doing the will of Hashem. Now לכאורה, what is the connection between the mitzvah of ספירה being complete to the ענין that the Yidden have to be doing the will of Hashem? Now בפשטות we could answer that when the Yidden are in a מדרגה that they're doing the will of Hashem, then definitely they would perform the mitzvah of ספירת העומר better. A person who is in a higher מדרגה performs the mitzvah in a higher מדרגה, so any mitzvah he does, he does it with more feeling, with more kavanah. And therefore, if the Yidden are in a מדרגה that they are עושין רצונו של מקום, that they do the will of Hashem, so definitely the mitzvah of ספירת העומר that they will perform will be in a higher madregah, it will be more tamim, more complete. But we can't say that this is the pshat in the Midrash, because if so, it has nothing to do specifically to the mitzvah of ספירת העומר. It could have said by any mitzvah, that בזמן שישראל עושין רצונו של מקום, when the Yidden do the will of Hashem, then any mitzvah they do is more complete, because they will be doing it with more kavanah, with more feeling. Since the Midrash connects it to the pasuk תמימות that says specifically by ספירת העומר, so it comes out that this concept of עושין רצונו של מקום has a special connection to the mitzvah of ספירת העומר. That when is the mitzvah of ספירת העומר תמימות, when is it complete, when does it really accomplish what it's supposed to, if the Yisrael are עושין רצונו של מקום, if the Yidden do the will of Hashem.

But in order to understand this, we have to first understand what is the meaning of ישראל עושין רצונו של מקום? The pshat as we would learn, it means pashut that the Yidden do what Hashem wants. The Yidden do all the mitzvot that were told to them by Hashem. But we can't say that this is what the words עושין רצונו של מקום means. Because the Gemara says in Berachot דף ל\"ה עמוד ב', that the pasuk that says in the second parashah of קריאת שמע, ואספת דגנך ותירשך ויצהרך, that Hashem says you will gather your grain, etc., so the Gemara there says that this refers to a time when אין ישראל עושין רצונו של מקום, when the Yidden do not do the will of Hashem. The Gemara there asks a contradiction, that we have one pasuk where it says, ועמדו זרים ורעו צאנכם, that strangers will get up, and they will be the shepherds to your sheep, and we, the people, the Yidden themselves will not have to work, and here we have a pasuk where it says, ואספת דגנך ותירשך ויצהרך, that you, meaning the Yidden, will gather the dagan, tirosh, veyitzhar from the field, so the Yidden themselves will have to work. How does that fit with the other pasuk where it says that strangers will get up and do the work for us? And the Gemara says that the difference is, כאן בזמן שישראל עושין רצונו של מקום, כאן בזמן שאין ישראל עושין רצונו של מקום. That this pasuk where it says ועמדו זרים ורעו צאנכם, that strangers will get up and they will be the shepherds, that's at a time when the Yidden do the will of Hashem, so then they are zocheh that others do the work for them, מלאכתן נעשית על ידי אחרים, their work is done through others. And this pasuk where it says ואספת דגנך ותירשך ויצהרך, that we ourselves will have to gather the grain and the oil and the grapes from the field, this is בזמן שאין ישראל עושין רצונו של מקום, when the Yidden do not do the will of Hashem, then they have to work themselves. So it comes out that the second parashah of קריאת שמע, according to this Gemara, is speaking in a time when the Yidden are not עושין רצונו של מקום. But lichorah it's very hard to understand that, because this parashah of קריאת שמע starts with the words והיה אם שמוע תשמעו אל מצותי אשר אנכי מצוה, if you ...will listen to all the mitzvot I tell you, and you will perform them בכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם, with your whole heart and with your whole soul. And Hashem says the berachah will come, and the rain will come, ואספת דגנך ותירשך ויצהרך, and you're going to gather the dagan, tirosh, veyitzhar. So we see clearly that this parashah is speaking at a time when the Yidden do do the will of Hashem, when the Yidden do the mitzvot. והיה אם שמוע תשמעו, you will listen to Hashem. That's when this will happen, that ונתתי מטר ארצכם בעתו, השם will give the rain and you will gather the dagan, tirosh, veyitzhar from your fields. So how could the Gemara say that this parashah is speaking at a time when אין עושין רצונו של מקום?

So, the Maharsha explains that what is missing in in this פרשה that because of that we call it אין עושין רצונו של מקום, that they're not doing the will of Hashem, is by comparing it to the first פרשה of Keriat Shema. In the first פרשה of Keriat Shema it says ואהבת את השם אלקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך. You will love Hashem with all your heart, with all your soul, ובכל מאדך. In the second פרשה of Keriat Shema it says that you will listen to Hashem, you will serve Him בכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם, with all your heart and with all your soul. What's missing there is ובכל מאדכם. In the first פרשה it says ובכל מאדך also, and in the second פרשה it doesn't say ובכל מאדכם. And because it's missing ובכל מאדכם, that's why we refer to it as אין עושין רצונו של מקום. Now this just shows that when we use the לשון עושין רצונו של מקום or אין עושין רצונו של מקום, it doesn't mean whether you actually do the mitzvot or not. Even if a person performs the mitzvot, but if he doesn't do it בכל מאדך, as we will explain soon what exactly that means, then he is considered אין עושין רצונו של מקום and he's not doing the will of Hashem.

What does בכל מאדך mean? So, one peshat in the Gemara is בכל מאדך means בכל ממונך, with all your money. But there are other peshatim in mefarshim, that the word מאד means very. טוב מאד means very good, גדול מאד means very big. The word מאד means very. When it says בכל מאדך, with all your מאד, that means with all your very. Now, what does that mean? As it's translated usually in English, with all your might. And it really means that you have to serve Hashem more than you feel you have the power to. מאד means very, means more than average, more than normal, more than regular. And this is really what בכל מאדך means: to serve Hashem beyond the boundaries of the power the person thinks he has. Because usually, when a person serves Hashem, he serves Him as much as he is able to. He gives tzedakah as much as he's able to, he learns Torah as much as he is able to. But be'emet, if you really try hard, you put in a lot of koach, a lot of might, then you'll see that you're you're able to go beyond your koachot, beyond your ability as you think, and you're able to serve Him more. You're able to learn Torah more than you think you're able to. You're able to give tzedakah more than you think you're able to. You're able to to perform the mitzvot in a much better way, more בהידור than you think you are able to. That's what בכל מאדך means. You have to serve Hashem beyond the boundaries. As he explains in Likkutei Torah in פרשת שלח, that בכל מאדך means בלי גבול, to serve Hashem without any limits, beyond the limits. The truth is, it depends on every person. Not everyone is the same. What by one person might be beyond his limits, concerning another person it could be within his limits. But every person in himself has to serve Hashem beyond his own limits. That's why it says בכל מאדך, with your מאד. We don't have to look what other people do. Every person has to look at himself and see what he thinks his boundaries are, how far he could go, and he has to serve השם בכל מאדך, more than that. He has to go beyond his boundaries. He has to serve השם בלי גבול, without the limit, beyond the limits that he has. And when a person serves Hashem with the בלי גבול, so then we refer to that as עושין רצונו של מקום, then he does the will of Hashem. Because this expression, עושין רצונו של מקום, doesn't just mean doing what Hashem wants, what Hashem commanded us to do, but it means doing what we really understand Hashem would like. There are certain things that Hashem told us what to do, and that we have to do. And then there are things that we understand Hashem would like us to do even though He didn't tell us outright. And we know that Hashem would like us to serve Him to the best of our ability and even beyond our ability. When a person does that, then he really does the true inner will of Hashem. Even though, if he would can do it. We can't say he's going against Hashem's will, because as long as he's serving Hashem and doing everything right, והיה אם שמוע תשמעו, he's listening and doing everything Hashem told him to do. He is not chas veshalom going against Hashem. Nevertheless, as long as it's only בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך, בכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם, but he's missing the בכל מאדך, the בכל מאדכם, so then he is not doing the רצונו של מקום, he's not doing the true, inner will that Hashem would want. Because what really Hashem wants is a person should give himself over to Hashem and serve Hashem so much beyond his boundaries. So if a person does that, then he is עושין רצונו של מקום. That is the first parashah of Keriat Shema, and that's when the Gemara says a person is זוכה that מלאכתו נעשית על ידי אחרים. But if a person serves Hashem just with his boundaries, בגבול, with the limits, but doesn't go beyond the limits, then this person is considered אין עושין רצונו של מקום. And that's why the second parashah of Keriat Shema is considered a time when אין עושין רצונו של מקום, because there is missing the בכל מאדך, the בכל מאדכם.

Now that we understand that the expression עושין רצונו של מקום means doing what Hashem wants beyond the limits of the person, we can understand the connection between עושין רצונו של מקום and ספירת העומר דוקא. Why is it that when is ספירת העומר תמימות, when is the mitzvah of ספירת העומר complete, when a person is עושין רצונו של מקום? And the reason is because we know that the mitzvah of ספירת העומר is not just a mitzvah to count the days. The mitzvah is to prepare yourself to חג השבועות, to prepare yourself to be מקבל the Torah when Hashem will give it to us again on חג השבועות. Because we know when the Yidden left Mitzrayim, the whole purpose of their going out of Mitzrayim was in order to receive the Torah, as the pasuk says that Hashem said to משה רבינו, בהוציאך את העם הזה ממצרים תעבדון את האלקים על ההר הזה, that when you take the Yidden out of Mitzrayim, they're going to serve me on this mountain, Har Sinai. Which means that the whole purpose, the whole goal of Yetziat Mitzrayim is for Matan Torah. When the Yidden left Mitzrayim they were in a very low madregah, and in order to reach the level that they should be כלים ראויים, they should be vessels fit to receive the Torah, they had to elevate themselves and purify themselves during these 49 days. And the same is with us every year. Between Pesach and Shavuos we have 49 days. When we count the days, doesn't just mean that we count them and we say one, two, three, but it means that every day we have to purify ourselves more and more. And when we purify ourselves 49 days, which really means we go through all the 49 levels that we have within ourselves and we elevate it, we purify them, so then we're כלים to receive the Torah on חג השבועות. And that's why it's called ספירת העומר, it's connected to the קרבן עומר, which was made of שעורים, made of barley, because barley is a מאכל בהמה. This is to show that the ספירת העומר is the idea of elevating the בהמה that we have within us and purifying it. And that's why it's also called ספירת העומר. The word ספירה means to count, but the word ספירה also means to shine. אבן ספיר means a shining stone. ספירת העומר means we have to shine, we have to polish our middot that we have within ourselves, the בהמה that we have within ourselves, we have to polish it and make it shine so it should be in such a way that we should be fit to receive the Torah on חג השבועות. So it comes out that the mitzvah of ספירת העומר is not just counting days, but working with ourselves, elevating ourselves, purifying ourselves to be able to reach the highest מדריגה so we'll be able to receive the Torah. When does a person know that he really purified himself and he really elevated himself, and he really accomplished what is expected of him? When he reaches the מדריגה that he knows that he's going beyond his boundaries. As long as a person elevates himself to serve Hashem, but he still looks into his גבול, into his boundaries, and he feels that there is a limit how far he could go, how much he could serve Hashem, how high he could reach, so then this person really didn't purify himself completely. When does a person know that he really reached the מדריגה where he could say he is pure is when he feels that he goes beyond his boundaries, that there is no limit of how much he has to serve Hashem, there's no limit in how much Torah he learns. There's no such thing as saying, \"I could only learn this much and not more.\" Even though physically there is a limit because we are physical human beings and we have limits to how much we could do, but not the boundaries that a person makes himself. The boundaries that Hashem made, those are boundaries we have to live with. But not the boundaries we make ourselves, like the boundaries that we make ourselves how much we could learn, and how much mitzvot we could do, and how b'hidur we could do the mitzvot. These boundaries should not exist. So when a person reaches that level, then the person actually purified himself to to a high מדרגה. And that's what the Midrash means, אימתי הן תמימות, בזמן שעושין רצונו של מקום. When is the mitzvah of ספירת העומר תמימות? When did he accomplish, complete, תמימות from the word complete. When is the mitzvah of ספירת העומר complete? When did he accomplish completely what the mitzvah of ספירת העומר is supposed to accomplish, is בזמן שעושין רצונו של מקום. That's when you reach the level that you are עושין רצונו של מקום, that you do what Hashem essentially wants. He wants a person to go out of his boundaries and serve השם בלי גבול, more than he thinks he's able to. Now understood that since Hashem acts to a person midah keneged midah, so if a person serves Hashem beli gevul, he does more than his boundaries, then Hashem will reward the person also in the form of beli gevul, he will give him beyond the boundaries. Which means that even if Hashem has set aside for this person a certain amount, and this is the limit of how much the person should get, but as Hashem sees that the yid serves him beyond his limits, so then Hashem will give him also beyond the limits that were set aside מצד Hashem to give to the person. And this is another meaning in עושין רצונו של מקום, not only that you do the will of Hashem, but עושין means you make, you make the will of Hashem. You make, so to speak, Hashem have another will. Just like we have an expression many times when you're misPallel, the expression is יהי רצון מלפניך, let there be a will, which means even if you did not have the will before, we ask Hashem to have a new will, a ratzon chadash, as it says in sefarim. This is the idea of tefillah, to daven to Hashem that he should have a new ratzon and give us more than he had set aside before. This is also the meaning of עושין רצונו של מקום. You make up the ratzon of Hashem. You make Hashem have another will, that if Hashem wanted before to give you a certain amount, Hashem will give you more. You make him have a new will that he should give you more than the limit that he had set aside before. And this comes through the person עושין רצונו של מקום, the person doing the will of Hashem, doing bichol me'odecha, beyond his limits. So then he makes a new will in Hashem that Hashem wants to give him more, beyond the limits that he had set aside before, but he gives him also in a form of beli gevul that a yid has all the things that he needs, even more than Hashem originally has set