B"H

Tuesday, Mar-Cheshvan 16, 5781 / November 3, 2020

According to the Torah, it’s the effort that counts most. Judaism is not a competitive religion. Each one has their mission in life and each one can achieve and reach the highest spiritual levels. It’s not about who does more; who gives more; who knows more or who performs mitzvot more.  It’s all about effort. It’s about performing to the best of our ability, which is how our accomplishments are measured by G-d.

The following are two stories from the Midrash, which illustrate this point:

During the time of the Holy Temple, a wealthy man was leading his ox to be offered as a sacrifice in the Holy Temple.  Suddenly the ox refused to continue. The ox stubbornly stood there and refused to move. 

A poor man, holding a bundle of grass, saw all this and decided to help. He offered the ox his bundle of grass.  The ox ate the grass and this way he was led toward the Temple, where he was offered as a sacrifice. The wealthy man felt great about his offering.

That night, he had a dream.  In his dream he was told, “The bundle of grass which the poor man sacrificed was appreciated in heaven even more than your sacrifice.” The bundle of grass for the poor man was more of a sacrifice than the ox for the wealthy person.

Another story in the Midrash: The Talmudic sages, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Akiva went to a suburb of Antioch to collect for the support of the sages.  In that suburb there lived a man by the name of Abba Yuden, who used to give charity with much good will, but at that time he had lost everything and was poor.

When he saw the Rabbis and knowing that he had nothing to give, he felt terrible and came home.  His wife looked at him and asked if he was sick.  Abba Yuden told her that he saw the Rabbis and he feels awful because he has nothing to contribute.

His wife, who was even more pious than he (these are the words of the Midrash), said to him: “We have only one field left.  Sell half of it and give the money to the Rabbis.  He did so.  When he gave the money to them they said to him, “May G-d, make up to you what you are lacking.”

A while later, Abba Yuden went to plow the half-field he still owned. As he plowed, the ground opened up beneath him and his heifer fell into the hole and broke a leg.  When he went down to bring up the animal, he noticed a treasure under the heifer. Abba Yuden said, “It was for my benefit that my animal fell in the hole.”

Some time later, when the Rabbis came back, they inquired about Abba Yuden.  People told them, “Abba Yuden is very wealthy, he now possesses servants, goats, donkeys and oxen.”

When Abba Yuden heard that the Rabbis were there he came to see them. He told them, “Your prayers had produced fruits and these fruits have produced more fruits!”

The Rabbis said to him, “You should know that even though others gave more than you, we wrote down your contribution at the top of the list… WE appreciated your contribution more because of the effort you made!” There are many stories in the Midrash and Talmud which illustrates that effort is what counts most. 

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY