It is told about Rav Bengis zt”l, that he would complete the entire Shas many times, and each time he would make a meal in honor of the completion. And behold, one time, after he had already made a siyum of Shas, a short period passed and he again invited his acquaintances and students to a meal for the siyum of Shas. This time he made a greater and more splendid meal than before. Everyone wondered—after all, had he not just recently completed Shas? And even more so, why was he now making a larger and more splendid meal than ever?
At the siyum seudah, Rav Bengis gave a drasha, and this is what he said: “Baruch Hashem, I have my regular study schedules through which I complete the Shas, and that was the completion we celebrated a while ago. But I also have another study schedule of five minutes—whenever I am invited to events such as siddur kiddushin, a bris, and the like, when I have time that I need to wait, I immediately open the small Gemara that I carry with me. And behold, from those few short minutes, I have now completed the entire Shas once again, and that is the reason for the great joy.”
This Shabbos we read the section of “Vehayah,” the second section of Kriyas Shema, and regarding it Chazal expound Mechilta): “‘And it shall come to pass, if listening you shall listen’—if a person listens to one mitzvah, they announce to him many mitzvos, as it is said, ‘If listening you shall listen.’ The meaning is that when a person involves himself in one mitzvah, Heaven grants him merit for more and more, as we are familiar with the wording of the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos (4:2), ‘One mitzvah brings another mitzvah.’ And when Chazal said that the mitzvah ‘brings’ another mitzvah, they did not limit the ability of the mitzvah. For example, let us imagine a tiny car pulling a huge truck with several trailers—it is not possible. But with a mitzvah, it is possible: one ‘small’ mitzvah can pull a ‘truckload’ of mitzvos without any limit.
Did you arrive early to shul? Are there still a few minutes until davening? Do not go looking for another minyan! You have five minutes—use them for learning. Even if the yetzer hara will tell you that five minutes is nothing, it will tell you to wait for another time, and then you will sit and learn ‘properly’—but that is a lie! For if you will now sit to learn for five minutes (or even less), Heaven will already grant you merit to learn more and more.
- Tiv HaTorah - Eikev
