We continue with the concept that when you have the opportunity to do a mitzvah, you should look at it as a gift from G-d, an opportunity that you need today. It’s exactly what the Doctor prescribed.
One of the sources for this concept comes from the parasha in Bereshit, when the angels go to Sedom to save Lot.
Lot went out, greeted them, bowed to them, and invited the angels to come inside to sleep, but they said no.
וַיִּפְצַר־בָּ֣ם מְאֹ֔ד
He had to beg and pressure and plead with them.
Lot had to beg them. However, when the angels visited Avraham Avinu, he didn’t have this same difficulty. He didn’t have to plead like Lot did. Why the change?
Simply speaking, Avraham Avinu was an Adam Gadol, the angels would not start up with him, like they did with Lot.
Ramban, however, has a different answer.
Why did the angels make it difficult for Lot?
Ramban says,
היה ללוט זכות בהפצירו בהם
It was a zechut/merit for Lot to plead and pressure them.
והיה לו חפץ טוב בהכנסת אורחים
He had good intentions when inviting them in,
והיו ממאנים כדי לזכותו
but they kept on refusing, in order to merit him.
Let’s analyze the story:
Lot was in Sedom. Sedom was going to be destroyed because they didn’t perform acts of kindness. Lot was saved because of the zechut of Avraham Avinu, his uncle. But that wasn’t enough. He needed more merit than that. He had to take in guests, like his uncle. In fact, his wife, who did not want to take the guests in, and even went so far as to snitch that Lot had taken them in, died and became a pillar of salt!
Lot needed the merit of taking in guests, but a casual invite wasn’t enough. So G-d made it harder for him, as the rule goes,
צערא אגרא לפום The more difficult the mitzvah, the greater the reward.
G-d made it more difficult for Lot, because he needed that much more merit.
This is a tremendous concept for life that I wish I knew long ago!
Sometimes, we try to do a good deed, whether it’s making a shidduch, helping someone out, or raising our children, but it becomes difficult. Why does this happen? Because that’s exactly what the Doctor prescribed. Why does the physical therapist pull your leg so hard? Because that’s what needs the pulling. The therapist gives you exactly what you need. That is what G-d does. G-d is our personal trainer. He sends us exactly what we need, in order to fix our weaknesses. Lot needed taking in guests, but he needed a certain amount of it, so it was stretched to the utmost to tailor-fit the zechut. It was personalized to suit him exactly.
Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon demonstrates this concept using one of my favorite stories from the Gemarah, that we’ve said before (favorites are worth repeating):
There was a certain pious man, called a Hassid, who gave money to a poor person on erev Rosh Hashanah, during a time of famine. The man had intended to use the money for food for his family, but when he saw the needy man, he gave it away. His wife got very upset with him when he told her what happened. Being that he had gotten upset at his wife on erev Rosh Hashanah, he took an extreme measure. He decided he needed some shock therapy to work on himself to get the anger out of his system, so he went to sleep at the cemetery.
While there, he overheard two spirits discussing that there would be an upcoming hailstorm, and that anyone who planted in the first season would lose everything. Having heard this, the man saved his grain for the second planting. He was the only one that had a successful crop and it brought him beracha.
Rabbi Salomon said the lesson of this story is two-pronged. Firstly, he gave charity during a famine, but the charity alone wasn’t enough. As we’ve said before, and we see from this story, no good deed goes unpunished. His wife got upset with him for giving the charity. It’s like coming home late because you stayed to help someone with a problem, and then having your wife (or husband) yell at you for being late! Why does that happen? The answer is, because you needed more zechut. Helping the person wasn’t enough. Giving the poor man wasn’t enough. The pious man’s wife had to get upset, so that he could earn the merit of overcoming. That’s exactly what was needed, exactly as prescribed.
Have a great day.