The Ben Ish Chai
The Ben Ish Chai (Rav Yosef Chaim of Baghdad zy”a) related a moshol on this topic: A king wished to show gratitude to two of his loyal subjects, so he came up with an innovative way to reward them. He said that he would give each of them 365 gold coins over the course of a year – amounting to one coin for each day.
One of the men asked to be given it all in a lump sum, whereas the other asked to be given one coin every day. The first man asked the second, “Why did you want to get your coins this way? Wouldn’t it be easier to get all at once, rather than having to come to the palace every day to get one coin?”
The second man answered, “I won’t be coming just for the coin. The main thing I want is to see the king’s face in order to thank him for his kindness. If I can see him every day, of course I will do it. Especially because this means that I will get to further my relationship with him and get even closer to him.”
In this vein, Dovid Hamelech said (Tehillim 23:6): “Only good and kindness will I pursue all the day of my life. And I will dwell in the house of Hashem for the length of my days.” He was asking to receive Hashem’s kindness every day so that he should be able to be in His home every day and to thereby connect to Him and have the ability to speak directly to Him.
