I would like to share some stories from the sefer Orchot Yosher, a musar book by Rav Chaim Kanievsky.
On Page 41 (Artscroll version) it quotes Rav Chaim, regarding his father the Steipler, who was once asked, “You are tired and weak, why do you continue to see people?
And he answered, “We do not know by which merit we live.”
Rav Chaim also lived that way, and believed that. That is why he took the time to answer so many questions from so many people. Because You never know in what zechut you live. This is mind boggling. We are talking about a man who finished the entire Torah every year, and wrote many sefarim, and yet he said, You don’t know why you are living. We don’t know if it’s the merit of Hesed that keeps us alive.
Rav Chaim usually read and answered questioned without hesitation. However, his son once saw him considering, and scribbling on the page, trying again and again to compose his reply. The son thought it must have been a very deep question. But then Rav Chaim showed him that the letter was from a six year old boy from a Talmud Torah in Bnei B’rak. The boy wrote that he was a second grader and he had a problem with Paroah’s dream. In the verse “Seven people other cows rose up after them,” He why it said “after them,” in the feminine form אחריהן rather than אחריהם -the masculine form.
Rav Chaim told his son that he had a grammatical explanation, but it was a six year old boy, and he wanted to make sure the boy would understand his answer. His son asked him why it was so important. Rav Chaim replied, “I try very hard to answer all questions in learning, because I think that some writers would be encouraged by the answers and have a renewed desire to advance in Torah. I don’t know whether all the questioners will be strengthened, but it’s clear that a boy of six could be very encouraged. That is why I am putting in the effort.“ After several long moments passed, Rav Chaim picked up his pen and, with a smile, wrote an answer which he hoped the child would understand- Paroah was in Egypt, and did not know Hebrew. Therefore his grammar wasn’t correct.
Of course, that is not the simple answer, but it’s one that a six year old could appreciate.
So here we have Rav Chaim sitting, and using his precious time because to make sure that this little boy would be encouraged in his learning. Because, as we have said, Who knows what gives us life? It’s a very, very powerful statement. We think it might be a great mitzvah or great sedaka, but we never know. It could be the acts of our hessed. That is why it is so important for a person to be busy with hessed.
And how do you get busy with hessed all day? In another story from the book, (page 40), Rav Chaim quoted from his rebbe Rav Elya Dushnitzer who told him that back in the early 1900s there was a man from Moscow who was responsible for all the charity funds in his city. The man was asked how he had achieved that position, and he relayed the following. He was a pharmacist. The Chafetz Chaim happened to come to his town and came into his pharmacy. When he entered the pharmacy, he told the man that he envied him, because he does constant Mitzvot dealing with life and death, by fulfilling all those prescriptions. The pharmacist replied that he wasn’t doing any hessed because it was his business. but the Chafetz Chaim said that “If you have in mind that you also are doing it for Mitzvah, then all the actions that you do turn into Mitzvot.” The man said that from there, events evolved until, eventually, all the city’s charitable matters ended up in his hands. Because Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah one Mitzvah causes another Mitzvah. Since he was involved in such a!great hessed-saving peoples lives, that caused all the kindness of the city to come into his hands. It’s unbelievable how a mindset can cause a person to be doing hessed all day.
And who knows why we are living?
Have a wonderful day.