By Rabbi Avrohom Asher Makovsky
One Erev Rosh Hashanah, Rav Shlomo Heiman, the rosh yeshivah of Torah Vodaath, asked a few bachurim to please come to his house. The bachurim were in a state of high expectation. What mission, what words, would the rosh yeshivah have for them during this special moment right before the Yom HaDin? Much to their surprise, the mission could not have been more mundane.
“Could you please address these shanah tovah cards for me?” he requested. Immediately, Rav Shlomo noticed the disappointed looks on the boys’ faces. He realized that they expected to be asked to do something grander than addressing envelopes.
Rav Shlomo Heiman
“Am I doing the right thing to be busy right now, Erev Rosh Hashanah, addressing envelopes for shanah tovah cards?” he asked. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m not doing the right thing. But I want to tell you bachurim something important. For you, this is definitely the right thing, because you are doing the Torah mitzvah of gemillus chassadim. You are doing the greatest thing possible to earn a zechus before Rosh Hashanah.”
This is a remarkable perspective. Regardless of whether Rav Shlomo was doing the optimal thing, the moment he asked the boys to help him do it, they had a full, beautiful mitzvah d’Oraisa — no less than hearing the blowing of the shofar or putting on tefillin — and all the merit it brings. Someone needed help and they stepped up to provide that help. No other segulah they might have engaged in to bring them a favorable judgment on Rosh Hashanah could have been as powerful.
Let’s imagine that someone asks his friend to be sandek at a bris on Erev Rosh Hashanah. The sandek is bound to feel that this is a wonderful zechus that Hashem has dropped into his hand. However, the Pele Yoetz says that this great merit of being a sandek pales in comparison to giving someone change for a dollar. This is because providing change fulfills the mitzvah of v’ahavta l’rei’acha kamocha. If we needed change, we would want someone to give it to us. Therefore, when we give someone change, we are fulfilling the mitzvah of v’ahavta l’rei’acha kamocha.
Being a sandek, as important an honorific as that is, is not a mitzvas asei d’Oraisa of gemillus chassadim. Therefore, Rav Shlomo taught his students this lesson: Nothing could be greater on Erev Rosh Hashanah than performing the mundane task of helping someone address shanah tovah cards, because doing so changes that mundane task into the fulfillment of a Torah mitzvah. A segulah does not provide this merit.
Reading an Article About Segulos to Merit a Kesivah v’Chasima
The challenge is to internalize this idea and keep it in mind when opportunities to do chessed arise. Imagine someone sitting on chair, reading an article about segulos a person can do for 40 days to merit a kesivah v’chasimah tovah. Just then, a neighbor knocks on the door and asks to borrow a hammer. The person who was poring over the article is disturbed — he’s busy thinking about which segulos to try and now this neighbor comes along and he is compelled to go into his garage and hunt down a hammer.
No Greater Segulah than the Mitzvah of Gemilus Chassadim
If this person had internalized an understanding of what chessed is, he would excitedly drop the article and run to find the hammer. As the Chofetz Chaim explains in Ahavas Chessed, based on numerous sources, there is no greater segulah than the mitzvah of gemillus chassadim. We need to look for these opportunities, big and small — changing a dollar, giving a ride, helping someone fill out a form, loaning an item — and treasure each one as an easy, accessible opportunity to fulfill a Torah mitzvah.
Reprinted from the Rosh Hashanah 5784 edition of the At the ArtScroll Shabbos Table. Excerpted from the ArtScroll book - Living Chessed by Rabbi Avrohom Asher Makovsky.
