We continue the topic of Mitzvot needing kavana, specifically acts of Hessed
Rabbi Moshe Aaron Stern tells that Rav Eliyahu Lopian once asked him, “In your opinion, who are the greatest Baalei Hessed of our generation?”
Rabbi Stern went on to list many great men that he knew, but Rabbi Elya and told him, “No. The greatest Baalei Hessed of our generation are the police officers, because they make sure that there is law and order. And it says that if we did not have a fear of government, people with swallow each other up alive. They are the greatest Baalei Hessed.”
And then Rabbi Lopian added, “And if that’s the case, that they do so much Hessed, why don’t they get uplifted from it?
He answered that it was because they did not have kavana when they did it, so it didn’t change them.
Powerful words.
We need kavana when we do acts of Hessed, we can’t just do them out of rote.
Actions change you if you give meaning and context to the them. Something becomes an act of Hessed only because you think it, and once you think it and turn it into an act of Hessed, then it impacts and uplift you.
We say, every day, in our Birkat HaTorah, before Keriyat Shema, “Lilmod L’lamed/ I want to learn and teach.” Not all of us are teachers, but when you sit and learn with a learning partner, you are teaching him..
Whenever Rabbi Yehuda Segal, known as the Manchester Rosh Yeshiva, would sit down to learn with a chevruta, He said, “I am now fulfilling the mitzvah of Lilmod L’lamed.”
And he told his chevruta to say the same thing.
Suddenly, you become not just a learner, but a teacher, which is in an act of Hessed, because you think about it before hand.
We have one last story about Gedolim and how careful they were when fulfilling Mitzvot Ben Adam l’chavero/ between men his fellow:
There is a Mitzvah called B’Yomo Titen S’charo/ when someone works for you, you on are supposed to pay them the day that they worked for you. Technically, if they forgive you (such as a Jewish painter who tells you that you can pay him tomorrow), you have not transgressed the sin of not paying him on time, but you have not filled the mitzvah of paying him on time.
Rabbi Aryeh Pomeranchik, a student of the Brisker Rav, once went to a dentist. The dentist charged a certain amount (we’ll say 1000 lirot) but the rabbi realized that he didn’t have the money on him. The dentist told him that it was okay, that he could pay him another time. But the rabbi felt bad that he would not be fulfilling the mitzvah. Thinking quickly, he told the doctor that he had a certain financial need, and that he needed to borrow 1000 lirot. The dentist said it was no problem, and that when he came back the next day to pay his bill, he could pay back the loan as well. And he gave him the 1000 lirot.
The Rabbi then gave the dentist back the 1000 lirot and said, “ I am now fulfilling the Mitzvah of paying you on time.“ He had borrowed the money, and once it became his, he paid the dentist. The next day he would go back and repay the loan. It was an ingenious way of fulfilling the mitzvah. Have a wonderful day