By Rabbi Shlomo Zargari
Shalom,
Here we are, Shabbat Shuva. The scale is shaking and so is our heart… the Talmud teaches us ( Rosh Hashana 16b)
“ בינוניים תלויים ועומדים”
The people who aren’t completely righteous nor completely evil are hanging…
We are given a break, a few days, to add to the positive side of the scale with our misvot, and to erase from the other side by repentance.
However the fear is still lingering, we didn’t become completely righteous overnight, we didn’t succeed in closing our mouths, we didn’t clear out our hearts. If anything we probably added to the other side and who knows where we stand now…
If someone were to approach us with a revelation,“there’s one Misva that weighs in like a hundred Misvot and there’s so much of it!” How happy and excited we would be, this is a great shortcut! I can tip the scale! But wait…. maybe it’s very difficult, maybe it takes much time or effort? The answer is not at all, it’s very simple and anyone can do it. What is the magic Misva?This Misva actually doesn’t weigh a hundred times but six hundred thirteen times! The Talmud Yerushalmi in פאה ח: says each word of Torah study is equal to all the Misvot of Torah! Imagine, there are 248 words in קריאת שמע multiply by 613 is more the 150,000 !!! How long does is take to say Shema?
More so Rabenu Yosef Hayim זצוק״ל the Ben Ish Hai (in parashat Shemot) writes one hour of learning Torah on Shabbat equals in the heavens to one thousand hours of learning in the weekdays. Imagine again for example one reading of Shema equals millions of Misvot. We aren’t even talking about minutes we are talking hours of learning, Torah, halachot, mussar and Gemara or mishnayot… this will surely tip the scale for us and our family!
If the learning is in the Bet Hamidrash it’s even greater (שיר השירים רבה ח,טז)
So we have our work cut out for us for these days and specially on Shabbat! Every second counts, at home or away, walking or sitting we can make these times count!!!