In the first pasuk of Parashat Vaetchanan, Moshe Rabbenu, in his prayer to get into Eretz Yisrael, says, וָאֶתְחַנַּ֖ן אֶל־ ה׳ בָּעֵ֥ת הַהִ֖וא לֵאמֹֽר׃
I pleaded with Hashem at that time saying:
Rashi tell us that the word Vaetchanan comes from the root chanun, which in any context, is always from the word chinam- for free.
In this case, Moshe Rabbenu is asking for a Matnat Chinam- a free gift. Even though Sadikim can ask based on their own deeds, they don’t. They ask only for Matnat Chinam from Hashem.
The Maharal explains this concept of Matnat Chinam free gift and the significance of it.
There is a Hazal, in Shemot Rabah, Perek מה that says when Hashem was revealing His ways of mercy to Moshe Rabbenu, it says
וחנותי את אשר אחן
I will have grace on those that I will have grace on. (Rashi actually quotes this pasuk to explain the root of the word Vaetchanan)
At that moment, when Hashem told this to Moshe, He showed Moshe treasure houses of reward. Moshe asked who one treasure house was for. Hashem explained that it was for people that do Mitzvot. Another treasure house, Hashem said, was for person that raised orphans. Moshe went from treasure house to treasure house, asking who they were for. Then he came to the largest of all the treasure house, and Hashem explained that it was for “the one that doesn’t have (mitzvot). The one that doesn’t have, I give for free.” That’s what the concept וחנותי means- “the one that doesn’t have, I give from that place.”
Obviously, this doesn’t mean that the person that doesn’t have mitzvot at all gets it all. That wouldn’t be fair. Can it be that people that do have mitzvot will get less than people that don’t have? What is this Matnat Chinam?
The Maharal explains that when a person does a Mitzvah, he gets a reward. His reward is limited, however, because he is limited. As limited as he and his deeds are, dictates the type of reward he will get. Everything we do has a limit. But the gifts of treasure house of G-d, are not coming in direct correlation to our deeds, rather, they’re direct gifts of G-d. Of course, everything is a gift of G-d, but there are certain gifts of G-d that are correlated to our deeds, which are limited. But the ones that are not correlated to our deeds are free, without a reason. Since they come to us without us being the cause, they are unlimited, because G-d is unlimited.
G-d has a different rulebook than we do. That doesn’t mean that a person who doesn’t do anything gets rewarded.
This is a good person, a person who recognizes that G-d is in charge, a person like Moshe Rabbenu. He understands that he’s best off appealing to G-d directly. G-d will give directly, when a person has the humility to realize that his own deeds can’t really cover what he needs. We aren’t talking about a Rasha, we are talking about a good person, but one who realizes that his deeds are limited.
The mashal that fits this so beautifully, that we’ve said in the past, is about a son watching his father give out charity. He notices that his father gives different people different amounts. The Rosh Yeshiva gets $18,000. Someone else, that has a different cause, gets $10,000. The son is watching and taking notes.
Then a man comes along selling pencils. He charges $10 a pencil. The father thinks it’s very overpriced, but being that it’s during his charity hour, he agrees to buy a dozen pencils, and pays the man $120.
Later on, the son looks through his notes and notices that the smallest donation was $200, but the pencil-seller only got $120. He asked his father why, and his father explained that everyone else came for charity, so they got charity. But that man was coming to do a business deal. He wanted to sell pencils, which were overpriced, and though the father didn’t really need them, he bought a dozen, so the man got $120. That’s the Mashal.
The Nimshal is that when we come to Hashem based on our deeds- whether we came to shul on time, or we helped an orphan, or we learned for an hour...it’s all very nice, but our deeds are limited. We don’t want to appeal to Hashem solely based on our good deeds, we want to appeal to G-d’s unlimited kindness. G-d’s level of giving is a whole different level. That’s the Otsar Gadol, the great treasure house, and that’s really what bitachon is about, as we’ve learned from the Hovot HaLevavot. We mentioned last week that people make a mistake in bitachon- they don’t realize G-d’s kindness. Therefore, of course, if you want to connect it to your deeds, what do you have to rely on? It might be nothing! So, we don’t rely on our deeds. We rely on Hashem’s unlimited kindness. That’s truly unlimited. Once you realize that you are not limited to your own finite ideas.
There’s a story about Mr. Isaac Shalom, a’h, a great pillar of the Syrian community. He once stood next to a man during Ne’ilah and overheard him praying by the Hechal, asking G-d for $1,000. Mr. Shalom asked him, “Why are you lowering the bar like that? Only $1,000? G-d has a whole different idea of what to give. He can give $10,000 or $100,000! Why only ask for $1,000? You have to go with G-d’s idea of giving, not your own.” We are limited. But there is an Otsar Gadol, a great, great treasure house, an unlimited treasure house.
There’s another, true story that beautifully illustrates this point, which we may have said before, but is worth repeating
(and I hope you will print this out to say at your Shabbat table)
A Jewish man lived in a fancy building in Paris. One day, he met a nice, Moroccan neighbor in the elevator. As they chatted, he discovered that this man was married to the mother of the king of Morocco. Her first husband, the father of the king, had passed away. She moved to Paris and eventually married this man. The Moroccan man told his neighbor that sometimes the king came to Paris to visit his mother. The Jewish man requested that if the king ever came, he’d like to meet him.
Sure enough, the next time the king came, the man asked if he’d mind meeting the neighbor. The Jewish neighbor came, and as the security team looked on, he asked if his son could come too. The king said yes, so his son came in. The king, a nice friendly fellow, chatted with the boy and asked him his age. The boy said he was 13. The king knew that 13 was a special age for the Jewish people and asked the boy more about it. The boy explained that they’d have a party, he’d read, and receive gifts.
The next day the King’s stepfather met the Jewish neighbor and told him that the king would like him, and his son, to come back for a visit.
So again, they visited the king, who gave the boy an envelope sealed with the Royal Seal of Morocco. The boy was very touched to receive such a special envelope. The king told him to open it, and inside was a check for $50,000! The father told the king this was not the standard level of gift for a bar mitzvah, that even $1,000 was considered a lot.
The king said, “I am a king! A king gives on a whole different level. I am not a layman. Kings gives differently.”
Eventually the man went to Eretz Yisrael and told the story to Rav Chaim Kanievsky. Rav Chaim said that he now had a new understanding of the Avinu Malkenu prayers.My father, My King. G-d is my Father, and G-d is a king.
Don’t ask from G-d on your level of understanding. You’re asking G-d for a gift.
What kind of gift? The King’s gift! Matnat Chinam from a king! That’s what we are supposed to be doing.
Have a Shabbat Shalom, and appreciate Parashat Vaetchanan.