We continue discussing the proper attitude toward mitzvot. We learned that we should not focus on the reward or the honor. When G-d gives us the opportunity to do a mitzvah, the real focus, says the Hovot HaLevavot, should be
יחשב בלבו כי הוא טובה מאת הבורא יתעלה שהטיב בה אליו
To think in your heart that it’s a gift from
G-d.
When you have the opportunity to do a mitzvah, that is G-d doing you a favor. For example, putting on Tefilin is a gift from G-d. We aren’t doing for Him, He’s doing for us. This frame of mind turns around our whole attitude.
The Chafetz Chaim was once overheard in private, talking to G-d, saying,
“You’ve done so much for me, You allowed me to write the Mishna Berurah the Chafetz Chaim... “ and he continued to thank Hashem for the opportunity to write all his other sefarim as well. This is an eye-opener. We aren’t doing G-d any favors; He does not need our mitzvot. He created the world for our benefit. The ultimate gift that He gave us is Mitzvot; the Mitzvot are a greater gift than food, drink, homes or cars. Mitzvot are the only things that last forever, and we get rewarded for them both in this world and the next. We have to thank Hashem for the opportunity to do Mitzvot.
The Zohar (vol one page 104) in the Hebrew translation says,
בשעה שה׳ אוהב את האדם, שולח לו דורון , ומיהו?העני כדי לזכות בו
When G-d loves someone, He a sends a gift. What’s the gift? The gift is a poor man, to give the person merit.
So after all the holidays, when you really just want a quiet Shabbat at home, and someone calls to tell you that a poor man needs a place to stay, somewhere eat or to sleep...rather than complain, know that it’s a gift at your door. It’s like finding an Amazon Prime package that you didn’t order, at your door. It’s a gift. That how you should consider the call that the poor man needs a place to stay.
And the Zohar continues,
וכיון שזוכה בו
When you get that merit,
הוא מושך עליו חוט אחד של חסד
G-d wraps a ribbon of kindness around you. Which is a protection over you, and
שכשיבוא הדין לעולם, אותו המשחית יזהר בו
If Has V’Shalom a negative judgement comes in the world, the destructive force will be careful (with you).
We have seen this in history.
Yetziat Mitzrayim is one example.
The blood on the doorposts served as protection against the משחית , the negative forces. In another instance, Rahav HaZonah made a deal with the spies to protect her family, and she put a ribbon outside her home, to protect whomever was inside.
Similarly, although we don’t see it with our eyes, the Zohar says that when we take care of a poor person, G-d is giving us an opportunity to put a little ribbon on our forehead. When the negative force sees the ribbon, he leaves, and protects you.
As the Gemara(Megillah 13b) says, רפואה קדמה למכה
G-d always creates the cure before the disease.
G-d gives us these opportunities There are many stories about this. I’ve told the following story before, but it’s one of my favorites and worth repeating. It was first printed in one of Rabbi Pesach Krohn’s early books. There was a man who lived in Lakewood, whose wife was in the Catskills, with the children, at a bungalow colony, for the summer. One Thursday night on his drive from Lakewood to the mountains, the man stopped to eat at restaurant on the way. A poor vagrant Holocaust survivor, who had once been a great scholar, but had unfortunately lost his mind due to the atrocities, was there in the restaurant. Despite the fact that the survivor was less than clean or pleasant smelling, and not in his right mind, the man sat down next to him and asked him what he’d like to eat. The survivor requested baked apples and a cup of tea, which the man ordered for him. They ate dinner together, and then the man headed off to the Catskills. It was a dark, rainy night, and as he made his drive up the dark mountain roads toward the bungalow colony, his car skidded and flipped over an embankment. The man crawled out, lucky to be alive. Someone spotted him, brought him into to his home, and covered him with a blanket. The woman of the house then offered him something to eat, to warm him up, something she had just made for her husband-and she brought him a baked apple and a cup of tea! He took it as a sign that G-d had sent him an opportunity, that helping the poor man was G-d’s way of saving him, from whatever judgment might have been upon him.
Have a wonderful day.