A person can gain immensely in ruchniyus with any act
he does, while on the other hand he can cause damage too. If
a person intends to do something as a mitzvah he brings
nachas ruach to HaKodosh Boruch Hu and is
rewarded. Doing the same act with intention for its material
aspects does not bring him any reward at all. Everything
then, is dependent upon intent.
All the assembled here, with Divine help, present
shiurim in various places. You are able to gain much
from this, but you are also able to cause so much damage that
no spiritual gain will remain. Your intentions are probably
for Heaven's sake, not mainly for the material benefits
involved. Your aim is doubtless primarily for the spiritual
objective: to arouse others to Torah study and yiras
Shomayim.
You must, however, be fully conscious of the fact that the
people to whom you are delivering the shiurim are far
from Torah. They are people who have only lately come closer
to Torah and are, boruch Hashem, continuing to do so.
These people still lack much in spiritual wealth. To awaken
these people to Torah is not easy at all. Everyone knows how
difficult it is to strengthen oneself—to make all one's
acts for the sake of Heaven. Who is zocheh to do so?
May Hashem assist us to be zocheh to strengthen
ourselves. How much more difficult is it, then, to put the
spirit of Torah and love for Torah into the hearts of such
people as your students.
"Moshe told his father-in-law all that Hashem had done to
Pharaoh and Egypt for Yisroel's sake" (Shemos 18:8).
Rashi explains that Moshe's "telling" was his attempt to
bring Yisro nearer to Torah. Yisro had just arrived after a
trip from Midian, a faraway place, where he was an important
local figure, the Cohen of Midian. He forsook everything and
came to Klal Yisroel, who were in the Sinai desert.
Travelling in those days, especially great distances, was not
easy, and he doubtless underwent many ordeals before reaching
Moshe Rabbenu.
The Sifsei Chachomim explains that since the Torah
wrote before this that, "Yisro heard of all that Hashem had
done for Moshe and for Yisroel his people" (v. 1) Moshe's
"telling" was obviously not to tell him the news but rather
to bring him nearer to Torah. Although there is a mitzvah to
talk about the miracles of the Creator — "Talk of all
his wondrous deeds" (I Divrei Hayamim 16:9) — it
seems that Yisro had already heard enough as far as that
mitzvah was concerned. He had come to the desert to learn
from Moshe what he could, and what was left now was to bring
him closer to Hashem.
It seems that although Yisro knew of all the miracles done to
Yisroel, Moshe Rabbenu's repeating to Yisro the events that
he had already heard was considered bringing his father-in-
law nearer to Yiddishkeit. This needs to be explained.
What does it help for Moshe to tell his father-in-law the
same things that he knew anyway? The Torah does not tell us
that Moshe told those miracles to Yisro in a different way or
in a more elaborate fashion.
The answer is that Yisro gained by hearing the story from
someone who had personally experienced them. What he had
heard until now was secondhand information, from people who
had heard about the miracles and were somewhat excited by
them. In order for Yisro to be brought nearer to Hashem he
had to hear about the same miracles from someone who actually
lived through them.
Moshe Rabbenu and Klal Yisroel were then on an
elevated level. According to the opinion that Yisro came to
Moshe Rabbenu right before matan Torah, the Jewish
Nation were eagerly anticipating this great event. The forty-
nine days of Sefirah before matan Torah —
from Pesach until Shavuos — were days in which they
improved themselves in middos so that they would be
spiritually fitting to receive the Holy Torah. Or, according
to the opinion that Yisro came after matan Torah, the
whole nation and especially Moshe Rabbenu were very much
under its strong impression.
Yisro had heard from various people about the miracles in
Egypt and about krias Yam Suf, and was extremely moved
by the story. However, hearing it again from Moshe, who had
himself gone through it and for whom the Torah was his life,
was indeed a way of bringing Yisro nearer to Torah. Hearing
from other people, even though the stories were spectacular,
was definitely insufficient. Yisro was a prominent member of
his community, not at all a simple person. Only Moshe
Rabbenu, who had experienced the miracles, could influence
him.
"You shall love Hashem your Elokim" (Devorim 6:5). The
gemora (Yoma 86a) expounds from this posuk that
"Hashem should become beloved [by other people] through you."
It is not enough that you love HaKodosh Boruch Hu; you
have to cause others to love Him too. The gemora
explains how this can be done: by studying Torah and serving
talmidei chachomim and behaving agreeably with others.
"Then people say about him, `How fortunate is his father who
taught him Torah! How fortunate is his rov who taught him
Torah! It is a pity about people who did not study Torah.
Look at that person who studied Torah! How pleasantly he
behaves, how proper is his demeanor.' However, if someone
studies Torah . . . and does not behave properly with others
and does not speak cordially with others, people say about
him, `It is a pity for that person who studied Torah. It is a
pity for his father . . ..'"
When a person does a fitting act, does he think that by doing
so he is causing people to come nearer to the Torah? Usually
a person does not think about this at all. If he does think
about it then when doing a proper act he is doubly rewarded.
He is rewarded not only for the mitzvah but also for causing
people to come nearer to love Hashem. This is included in the
mitzvah of "And you shall love Hashem your Elokim" — to
make HaKodosh Boruch Hu beloved by others.
A person can act without even being aware of what he is
doing. This refers also to virtuous acts. If he does them
with his heart, after thinking, and knows what he is doing,
then he is building entire spiritual worlds. However, if he,
chas vesholom, is not aware of what he is doing, even
though it turns out to be a meritorious deed, his reward will
not be so extensive.
I once heard a story from a person who was close to the
Chofetz Chaim zt'l. He once travelled to the Chofetz
Chaim in a droshkeh wagon, a kind of wagon intended
for people without luggage. This was considered a
distinguished way of traveling and was used for travel within
a city. Another person went along with him, and when they
arrived at their destination the other Jew paid his share of
the fare for the voyage. The Chofetz Chaim zt'l went
over to him and asked: "Do you know what you have done?" The
person was astounded. What could the Chofetz Chaim want from
him? The Chofetz Chaim zt'l continued: "Do you know what you
have done? You have fulfilled the mitzvah of `in his day you
shall give him his wages' (Devorim 24:15), and you
have avoided committing the sin of `the wages of the hired
man shall not abide with you all night until the morning'"
(Vayikra 19:13). The Chofetz Chaim zt'l
continued to enumerate several more mitzvos that the man
had fulfilled, and again asked him: "Do you know what you
have done?"
If someone nowadays rides with a taxi and pays the driver at
the end of the ride, does he think about this? He knows that
he is paying the driver because he hired him. He thinks it is
only a financial act of paying a hired man. A person like the
Chofetz Chaim did not think like that. He thought about the
mitzvah involved: about every act that he did, he thought
about the mitzvah in it. When he performed a proper act he
was enthralled since he knew he was fulfilling the mitzvah
of, "And you shall love Hashem your Elokim" by causing others
to love HaKodosh Boruch Hu. He was making a nachas
ruach for Hashem and that delighted him.
You have been privileged to fulfill the mitzvah of "You shall
love Hashem your Elokim": to cause the Torah to be
loved, to cause people to gain yiras shomayim. "Torah"
does not only mean Torah study but Torah study and the
observance of the mitzvos. Hashem's Torah, His chukim
and mitzvos, must be made beloved by the masses. This is not
a simple thing to do. It depends upon each one of us, to what
degree he feels he can accomplish it. When he teaches, he
should not think only about how to teach the Torah; he should
think about trying to imbue those listening to him with
yiras Shomayim and love for the Torah. When he does
this he will be filling himself too with love for Torah.
He should think: "I am now doing the will of Hashem. I am now
doing the mission for which I was sent." If he thinks in that
way he will derive more benefit than ever. If he does not
think about these intentions he is still doing a mitzvah, but
there is no comparison.
When a person exerts himself more to think of the correct
intentions for his acts, he will study with a feeling of
responsibility, of love for Torah, with a feeling that he
wants HaKodosh Boruch Hu to be beloved by people. This
is an entirely different act.
In short, a person must think about what he is doing. Usually
a person does everything by habit: when he must say a
shiur he certainly says it, and when he must do
something else he does that too. We must all strengthen
ourselves, but the truth is if a person were to strain
himself to think when he is doing something commendable
everything would be different. When he was saying a
shiur he would be fulfilling the mitzvah of "And you
shall love Hashem your Elokim," which is the greatest
mitzvah. Who can be zocheh to reach the level of
loving Hashem?
At least a person should try to fulfill what he can of loving
Hashem. When he feels this he will derive an entirely
different kind of benefit from what he does. Each one of us,
by strengthening himself to have the proper intentions, will
give more benefit for others and to himself and will elevate
himself and feel closer to HaKodosh Boruch Hu.
May Hashem assist each one of you to be successful in imbuing
a spirit of Torah and yiras shomayim in all people,
and may you and all of us strengthen ourselves, with the aid
of Hashem Yisborach.
Delivered at a meeting of maggidei shiur for Toda'ah on
Motzei Shabbos, Parshas Yisro, 25 Shevat 5757 (Feb. 1,
1997)
