“Do [G-d’s] will as your will in order that He will do your will as His will, and negate your will before His will in order that He will negate the will of others because of your will” (Pirkay Avos 2:4). Are we expected to have a “will,” but sublimate it in order to do something more important/spiritual instead? Or should we work on ourselves to improve what our “will” is, so that we want the same things that G-d does? If our “will” is supposed to merge with His, becoming one and the same, how would G-d “doing our will” be considered “ours” rather than His? On the other hand, if our “will” is expected to remain distinct from His, isn’t it disingenuous, or at least shallow, to do what G-d wants just so we can get what we want? How is it really doing what G-d wants if our reason for doing it is to get what we want? What does it mean to negate our will so that G-d won’t let others do something we don’t want? Doesn’t that indicate that our will is still intact (even after we negate it)? [After all, if it wasn’t, there would be nothing left for G-d to protect!] What are we supposed to be doing, what are we supposed to want, and how are we supposed to get there?

Rashi has a slightly different version than ours; instead of telling us to “do G-d’s will as your will,” we are told to “do your will as G-d’s will, with Rashi explaining it to mean that even when doings things we want to do, we should keep G-d in mind, doing them for the positive spiritual benefit they bring. [For example, rather than just eating because we are hungry, we should (also) eat because it will give us the energy to fulfill His commandments.] If we do, since even things done for ourselves are also being done for Him, G-d will bestow much good upon us so that His will (i.e. our doing things for Him even though it’s what we wanted for ourselves anyway) can continue to be done. According to this, we aren’t being told to change what we want, just why we are doing it. Obviously, though, this only works if what we want isn’t problematic, which is why we need the second part, with Rashi (in the more meticulous editions) understanding “negating your will” to mean that when tempted to do something wrong we should negate such urges and do what G-d wants (us not to do) instead.

Rashi completes his explanation of the second part by saying that if we negate any inappropriate urges G-d will “negate the will others,” i.e. those who want to harm us. (Had we not negated such urges, on the other hand, we would certainly deserve the consequences of what those others had intended.) According to Rashi, then, the eight times the word “will” is used refers to (1) things we want that are permitted, but not inherently mitzvos (which we should turn into something positive by doing them for G-d’s sake); (2) things we do for G-d’s sake; (3) things we want, for any reason, as long as they are permitted; (4) things G-d wants us to do; (5) things we want that are not permitted; (6) things G-d wants us not to do; (7) things others want to do to us (that are harmful); and (8) things we don’t want others to do to us. In short, we are being given reasons to keep G-d in mind when doing things that aren’t inherently done for His sake and to not violate His mitzvos. We are not told how to do mitzvos, but it is unclear whether this is because not every category is being discussed or because it is assumed that if we are involved in doing mitzvos there is no need to tell us how to do them better.

Tiferes Yisroel (who has the same wording we do), flips the first part around; when we are learning Torah, which is what G-d wants us to do, we should be as enthusiastic and focused as we are when we are involved in earning our income (since having a good income is something we obviously want). The same concept applies to other mitzvos (see Rabbeinu Yonah, Rivash and Rabbeinu Bachye) in contrast with other personal interests; we should want to do all mitzvos as much as we enjoy other things that interest us. Do we discuss Torah concepts (and how they impact us) with the same passion that we discuss the economy (and how it impacts us)? Do we break down mitzvah observance and how we can best improve it with the same gusto we discuss sports and how our teams can improve? (I’ve heard that there are sports talk shows; how may Torah talk shows are there?) Based on how he explains the first line, Tiferes Yisroel explains “so that He will do your will as His will” similarly, with G-d helping us earn our income without too much trouble. [The rest is explained similar to Rashi’s approach.] According to this, we are being given reasons to do mitzvos zealously and to not let our physical urges side-track us.

It might be assumed that everything falls into one of those two categories, as doing things that are not forbidden — but not mitzvos either — can also be considered something that side-tracks us from mitzvah observance. However, even though it is certainly important to work on ourselves to become as excited about what G-d wants as we are for what we want, and the message could in fact be to do just that (although “negating our will” referring to moments when our physical make-up is battling our spiritual make-up indicates otherwise), until we get there it is difficult to get as excited for something we don’t yet want as we are for something we already want.

Bartenura explains the first part as referring to our monetary outlay; we should spend on doing things that are He wants us to do as freely as we spend on things that we want. (The rest is explained similar to Rashi.) Unlike Tiferes Yisroel (et al), this approach doesn’t impose any emotions upon us; it is just telling us how to do something in a more ideal way. There are numerous other explanations given by the commentators; I would like to suggest one more (incorporating ideas mentioned by others).

Ideally, the things we want and the things G-d “wants” would always be the same. However, as human beings, this is not really possible (although on a “b’di’eved” level it might be, as G-d wants us to take into account our human wants/needs, even as we try to minimize them, rather than pretending that they don’t exist, since ignoring them completely is often detrimental in the long run). Nevertheless, we are supposed to try to make our will and His will coincide as often (and for as long) as we can, and this Mishna is telling us how we can close that gap. Therefore, it only addresses those times when our will is not the same as G-d’s, providing us with a game plan to deal with such occasions.

“Do G-d’s will,” even if you don’t really want to, “as if it were your will,” i.e. as if you wanted to do it, because doing so will lead to really wanting to (“mi’toch she’lo lishma, ba lishma,” when we do the right thing even without having the best motivation, we will eventually do it for the right reason, see Midrash Sh’muel). [In this “b’di’eved” situation, doing it in order to get to the level of “lishma” might actually be the right reason.] But it’s more than just doing it so that we can eventually get to the point of doing it “lishma,” as if we do the right thing even when we aren’t fully motivated to do so, “He will make your will like His will,” i.e. there will be divine help to close that gap, getting us to the point where our will mirrors His.

This advice is helpful when we should be doing something that we are not fully motivated to do. What about when we want to do something inappropriate (see Tosfos Yom Tov) or if we have the opportunity to do a mitzvah but are preoccupied with mundane matters (see Ra’avan)? In those situations, we should “negate our will from before His,” and do the mitzvah/refrain from sinning. When we have to “negate our will” in order to “do His will,” the concept of “mi’toch she’lo lishma, ba lishma,” whereby our will comes closer to being the same as His will, doesn’t really apply; overcoming temptation prevents a further separation between what our will is and what His will is from developing rather than making the difference between them smaller. Therefore, a different motivation is given, “so that G-d will (similarly) negate the will of others from before our will,” i.e. just as we prevented ourselves from violating His will, G-d will prevent others from violating our will — preventing our will from being violated.

Some (e.g. Bartenura and Rivash) explain “the will of others” to refer to G-d’s will, phrased that way because it would be inappropriate to directly say that G-d’s will is being negated. The second part of the Mishna would then be saying that if tempted to do something wrong, we should negate our will because of His will, and in turn His will, if He would have otherwise punished us or not protected us from harm, will be negated from before our will, i.e. not wanting to suffer. The advantage of this nuance is that the four mentions of our will all refer to the same thing (what we want), and the other four mentions of “will” also all refer to the same thing (what G-d wants).

We are supposed to have our own will, but we are also supposed to work on getting it to mirror G-d’s will as much as possible. Since we cannot always succeed in doing so, we are given advice as to how to (try to) get there. When our will is not the same as G-d’s, we should do what G-d wants us to do anyway; He will then help our will more closely resemble His. In situations where having our will and G-d’s will coincide requires subjugating our will to His, we should do just that, knowing that G-d will repay us in kind.