Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Shlomo Zargari
Shalom,
In the Talmud (Makot 23:) it is brought down that HaShem wanted the Nation of Yisrael to receive merits, hence he increased Torah and Misvot for them. The question was asked of Harav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach Zâ€L , “Normally if you want to do a favor for someone, you try to lessen his burden, not make it heavier! And here if HaShem wants to increase our merits and do us a favor, why is He making the burden heavier on us?â€
There are many answers to this question and he has another answer too. Every Misva presents a person an added portion in the world to come, which no pleasure in this world compares to. The reality is HaShem could have limited the misvot He gave us to just a few. Tefilin, Shabbat, Kashrut and family laws – to name a few – we had to have. But the Torah does not leave any action out; everything is covered. What shoe to put on first, what shoe to tie first, how to bathe and which hand to wash first. Why all this??? To reward us!
These aren’t extra acts required of us; these are things we do either way. It’s just that the Torah is telling us HOW to do them in order to bring all of our actions into the system of misvot and to add to our rewards.
In our Parasha we have a Misva of “Hak’hel†(31,12) “Gather the nation, the men and the women and the children.†Our Hachamim explain: Men come to learn and women come to hear. Why do children come? So that those who bring them will be rewarded.. ספר × ×—×œ×ª יעקב explains that if the men come to learn and women come to hear, you don’t need to tell me they have to bring the children. If the parents are coming, what are you going to do with the children?! The answer is already in the words of Hachamim, “To reward those who bring them,†so that an action that would be done regardless will count as a Misva and we’ll be rewarded for that too!!!
This is the best time to accumulate as many misvot as possible and the opportunities are plenty… and the biggest is to learn Torah for our own good and to add more merits for the whole Nation…. GEMAR HATIMA TOVA.