Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Daily Advice. With God’s help, amen. My friends, today’s topic is zeal. As the Rabbi says, “The zealous are first for mitzvot.” What does that mean? What is zeal?
When something is important to you, you come early. When a person has a wedding, you can tell who is related to the family. How? The people who are there early are the relatives. Those who arrive on time, or later, after the chuppah, you do not know whether they are related or not, whether they are part of the family or not. But the people who are part of the family are there early. They are there when the pictures are being taken; they are there when the family comes out, before the chuppah. They walk around while the hall is still completely empty. Those people are clearly part of the family.
The same is true with mitzvot. A person who says, “I am part of Borei Olam’s family. I want to show the Creator that He is important to me,” comes early. He comes before the mitzvah and before the opportunity to perform the mitzvah has arrived. He is already there, ready to perform it. Why? He is saying, “Borei Olam, You are important to me. I am coming. There is a celebration, and I am coming.”
That is why a person comes early to the synagogue. I am not saying that someone who arrives later has not performed the mitzvah. He has performed the mitzvah completely—one hundred percent. But are you showing Borei Olam that He is important to you? Are you showing Hashem that He is significant to you? If so, you come early.
I remember Black Friday—I do not know whether they still have it. People would say, “I want to get a deal,” and at two o’clock in the morning they would be sitting outside a store. What are you doing outside a store at two in the morning? It is important to you, so you come early. That is the essence of zeal.
Zeal in any mitzvah enhances the mitzvah. You take the mitzvah and exceed the ordinary expectations; you perform it with enthusiasm and add an extra charge to it. It is like going to a burger restaurant and saying, “I want a burger—supersize it.” A supersized burger is more substantial, and a supersized mitzvah is also more valuable.
Therefore, when I perform a mitzvah, I should show that it is important to me. I should run to the mitzvah. I should run to the synagogue. I should run to perform the mitzvah of visiting the sick. I should run to do the shopping for Shabbat. I should run to prepare for Shabbat. This shows that it is important to Borei Olam.
A person prepares for Shabbat two seconds before Shabbat begins. Wonderful—did he perform the mitzvah? Yes, he did. Is that zeal? It is not zeal. You come and do it beforehand. You come home a little earlier and show Borei Olam, “You are more important than my work. You are more important than my work, because You are the source of all blessing.”
That is a wonderful way to begin the day.