On page 290 of the Artscroll biography of Rav Pam, it says that the Gemara (Yoma 35b) tells us that after 120 years we are going to be judged. People will have all kinds of excuses for why they couldn’t do this or that, but the Gemara says that there are three great Rabbis that are going to obligate others. If someone says that he was too wealthy so he had no time to learn, we have Rabbi Eliezer ben Harsun, who was fabulously wealthy, and he obligates the rich.
If someone says that he was very handsome and surrounded by beautiful people so he could not control his desires, Yosef HaSaddik, who resisted the enticement of Potiphar’s wife, will obligate those people.
If someone says that they were poor, and because of their poverty they could not learn, Hillel, who suffered extreme poverty and climbed on top of the roof on a snowy day and almost froze to death in order to learn Torah will obligate the poor.
Rav Pam added to that Gemara, quoting the Elder of Novardok that there is a moment in every person’s life, when he achieves something great, and that moment obligates him to maintain that level of achievement for the rest of his life. That means that you will obligate yourself. You might say that you can’t be nice to people because that is not your style- but what about the one time that you were nice? That will obligate you, because you do know how to do it.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that we should avoid doing great things in order to avoid the obligation. God will see through that as well. What it means is that we have to do our best, and once we show ourselves what we are capable of, we have to live up to that. Rav Pam related that in his mind, he knew the moment in his life that obligated him for the rest of his life. It was when an elderly member of the Torah Vadaat minyan took ill and was hospitalized. Rav Pam was a Kohen, and so he could not visit the man, but he took the time to write him a letter. Although halachically, writing a letter does not fulfilled the mitzva of Bikur Holim, he wanted a man to know that he had been thinking of him. When man passed away shortly thereafter, Rav Pam was told that the man had kept the letter under his pillow, and whenever a visitor would enter his room, he would take out the letter and show them the letter that Rav Pam, the Rosh Yeshiva , had written to him.
Rav Pam pointed out that a simple letter, which took only moments to write, had lifted the spirits of that sick man in a way that he had never imagined.
This incident served as a lesson to him, of how seemingly insignificant acts, that take only a little bit of time, can result in great achievements. This obligated him to utilize such opportunities in the future.
How Beautiful!
Let us look back at our lives and see all the great moments, and B’Ezrat Hashem, keep it up.
Have a wonderful day.