When the time came for Hashem to take the Jewish People out of Mitzrayim, it was their tefila that started the process, but they needed additional merits to be worthy of that great salvation. So Hashem gave them two mitzvot to perform – Korban Pesach and brit milah. Mefarshim point out, both of those mitzvot required tremendous self-sacrifice. The animal they needed to bring was the Egyptian deity and the pain involved in an adult man doing brit milah was very great. It was specifically because those mitzvot were so difficult as to why they were chosen. When we put forth self-sacrifice in the performance of a mitzvah, Hashem appreciates it so much. And very often, He will show us in different ways how our acts of mesirut nefesh were appreciated.

Recently, a woman was traveling with her large family to Israel for Pesach. When they got to the ticketing counter, it was discovered that her name was entered wrongly into the system and because it did not match her passport, they would not give her a ticket. They tried to reason with the ticketing agent, showing clearly that it was all one family traveling together and the name was just an innocent mistake, but the ticketing agent would not help them. They had about twenty minutes to figure out what to do or the woman would miss the flight. They started calling different people including their travel agent who said he would do his best to try to change the name in the system. With about four minutes to go, a seat opened up and they were asked if they wanted to pay $2000 for a one-way ticket. The woman said that was way too much money and they continued hoping to get that name changed. At the last second, the agent saw the name was changed in the system and he issued the woman a ticket and they made the flight.

When a different family member heard this story, he reminded that woman that just a few nights before their mother was in the hospital, helping one of her children in labor. She was finally ready to go home after 1:00 in the morning but didn’t want to take a taxi. She put out a message to her children asking if someone would come pick her up. This woman, who was the one flying to Israel, was the one who answered the call. She got up from her sleep and drove all the way to the hospital and back at that time of night. It was pointed out that the time to drive to the hospital and back was the same as traveling from the airport and back. The relative said to this woman, “You went out of your way to drive to and from the hospital to do the mitzvah of kibbud av v’em with mesirut nefesh and it saved you from having to drive back and forth from the airport to take a different flight separate from your family.”

Rabbi Goel Elkarif told a story which began with a man who we’ll call Reuven who was getting ready to travel to his home in Bnei Brak at 12:15 am from a wedding that he attended in Netivot. As this man pulled out, an avreich asked him if he was headed to Bnei Brak by any chance. When he replied yes, the avreich was elated and asked him for a ride. While in the car, Reuven asked his passenger why he was traveling to Bnei Brak at such a late hour. The avreich said he had missed the last Arbit in his neighborhood and did not want to pray without a minyan. He had just asked Hashem to please get him a ride to Bnei Brak where he knew there would be a minyan and right after he finished praying, he noticed this car pulling out and asked for a ride. Reuven was amazed with this man’s mesirut nefesh, to travel over an hour each way to pray Arbit with a minyan. He then asked his passenger how he planned on getting home. The avreich said, “I hope someone there will take me back but if not, I’ll learn in Ponovitch Yeshiva until Shacharit and after minyan I’ll get the bus home.” Reuven was curious to find out the ending of this story, so he left his number with the avreich and asked him to call him the next day. What was the conclusion? The avreich entered a shul called Itskovitz at 1:30 in the morning and he was the tenth man. When they finished praying, he heard someone outside shout to his friend, who was still in the shul, “Yossi, stop chatting! We have to get back to Netivot, you are wasting time.” The avreich couldn’t believe his ears. He went to ask the driver for a ride and he happily agreed.

This avreich put forth a great deal of mesirut nefesh to pray with a minyan and Hashem arranged for him, at that late hour, to get a ride to Bnei Brak and then back from Bnei Brak to where he lived.

Our mesirut nefesh is so precious to Hashem and many times it is the catalyst that we need to receive the yeshuot we have been hoping for.

More lectures from Rabbi David Ashear

Whatever We Need

Mishna Berura Yom153A סימן קכח סעיף כ באמצע-סעיף כג

Hashem Is Guiding Us

Mishna Berura Yomi 152B סימן קכח סעיף י״ח מ״ב ס״ק סו-סעיף כ באמצע

Never Underestimate

Mishna Berura Yomi 152A סימן קכח סוף סעיף יד-י״ח מ״ב ס״ק ס״ה