What Hashem Adores

One of the great ploys of the evil inclination is to get a person to believe that Hashem is not interested in his service, especially when things aren't going the way the person wants, and he tries harder to do more mitzvot, but things still don’t improve. Then the evil inclination tells him, why bother? Hashem is not accepting what you're doing anyway. If the person would only know how much Hashem values everything he has done already and continues to do, he would do it even better. If things don't improve when we improve, that just means the worth of our avodah becomes infinitely greater. When the evil inclination works overtime to get us to try and turn away from Hashem, that's when Hashem wants us the most. No matter what a person has done, Hashem always wants his avodah . So long as there's life, there's a way to improve. Hashem yearns even for the people who are completely estranged from Him. Every Jew is His precious child, and He can't wait to be close to us. Rabbi Elkarif from Israel told a story that was related by a tour guide in Italy, which recently took place. There was a group of Chasidim, traveling by bus on a highway in Italy that rarely has traffic. They intended to pray Mincha when they returned to their hotel, but unexpectedly, there was a big traffic jam on the highway. When they realized they wouldn't make it back in time for Mincha, they told the tour guide they wanted to pull over to a gas station so that they could pray there. The tour guide encouraged them to pray on the bus, being that in Italy there was a lot of anti-Semitism, and if people would see a large group of Jews all standing together at a gas station, who knows what would happen. The Chasidim were not worried. They insisted on pulling over so they could pray the right way. The guide directed the driver off the highway, and they all got off the bus, washed up, and were getting ready to start Mincha. All of a sudden, a huge motorcycle making loud, obnoxious noises pulled up right next to them, with a large man sporting a ponytail on it. He looked very scary. He lifted off his dark helmet, took one look at the Chasidic group, and then said, “Mincha?” They were shocked by his request, and they proceeded to pray together as a group. At the conclusion of Mincha, this biker said Kaddish, and then got back on his bike and was ready to go. One of the Chasidim approached him and asked him what his story was. The biker said he grew up in Jerusalem in a religious family, but he moved away and declined rapidly in his Torah and mitzvot. His father passed away a few years ago, and on his deathbed, he asked him to please say Kaddish for him. He mentioned that he always begged him to put on tefillin and keep Shabbat, but he never listened. Now he was imploring him to say Kaddish on his behalf. The biker told his father, “I eat non-kosher, and I use my mouth to speak inappropriately. This mouth will not be able to lift your soul with its Kaddish.” His father said, “No, the Kaddish will help,” and once again reiterated the importance of him saying it. The biker finally agreed. Every year, he made it a point to say Kaddish on the yahrtzeit . Then he said, “Today, I planned on traveling from my city in Italy where I live to Merce, 700 kilometers away. In the middle of the journey, I remembered it was my father's yahrtzeit , and it was not going to be possible to find any shuls in the small towns on the way. I turned to Hashem and said, “If my Kaddish has any value, and You want me to say it, please help me find a minyan.” I kept riding my bike, and as the sun was setting, I saw your group gathering at the gas station out of nowhere. My heart jumped. Hashem made it possible for me to say Kaddish today. He showed me that even my Kaddish is worth something.`` Hashem adores everything we do. There is never a time that He does not desire our avodah