Greatest Virtue
The Torah says, Tamim tih'yeh im HaShem Elokecha – "Trust HaShem your G-d with simple faith." The Midrash interprets the possuk as if it were to be read as follows: If you are tomim, you will be im ("with") HaShem Elokecha. That is to say: If you serve G-d with simple faith, your portion is with HaShem.
To this teaching the Mitteler Rebbe adds: "Through temimus you can connect with the temimus of HaShem – with the temimus of Atzmus, which is the simple and undefinable Essence of HaShem.”
(דברים יח, יג, ספרי שופטים קעג, סה"ש תש"ה ע' 101)
Temimus, the sincerity of simple faith, is a lofty virtue: no other virtue compares to it. Everyone should therefore do his share and serve HaShem with a heart filled with simple faith. For even if his actions seem small in his own eyes, they are valuable to HaShem.
(משנת חכמים למהר"מ חגיז סי' ריט)
In days of old everything was done with temimus, unquestioning sincerity, and this was apparent in the children, the parents and the teachers.
(סה"ש תש"ה ע' 101)
Desires the Heart
In a village near Tarnow in Galicia there lived a simple Yid called Reb Eliezer Lipa. He couldn't study Torah and didn’t even know the meaning of the davening or Tehillim, but he was a sincere person who always davened with a minyan, made a point of never missing an Amen, and he would follow Krias HaTorah from a Chumash. He never conversed about worldly matters in the shul, and he would honor talmidei chachomim and bnei Torah.
He managed to make a decent living as a water-carrier, since he had four well-to-do merchants who were steady customers and paid him well.
One day, the Baal Shem Tov arrived in Tarnow. At that time, before he had revealed himself to the world, he appeared to be an ordinary traveler. He would befriend the simple folk and tell them stories from the Aggada, and he would describe to them the great pleasure that HaShem derives from the sincere Tehillim of a simple Yid.
Reb Eliezer Lipa was once leading his wagon through the center of town, when he spotted his fellow water-carrier Reb Zalman Dov and other friends, listening to a poor traveler. Reb Eliezer Lipa went over to join them. The Baal Shem Tov was telling the following story from the Midrash.
“There was once a wealthy man who was taking a fattened ox to the Beis HaMikdash for a korbon. It was a massive beast, and when it decided, for reasons of its own, to stop still in its tracks, nobody could move it. A poor man was on his way home with a bunch of greens in his hand. Noticing the scene, he held out his greens for the animal to nibble, while he drew it to its destination. That night the owner of the ox had a dream in which he heard a voice saying, ‘The korbon of the poor man is greater than yours.’
The Baal Shem Tov explained, “What HaShem desires is a person's heart. The wealthy man was so joyful that he made a huge feast for his family and friends and he distributed gifts to the kohanim. He felt very proud of his great mitzva. The poor man, on the other hand, felt broken by his poverty. He thought: What worth is my bunch of greens in comparison to the fatted animal of the wealthy man?
“However,” concluded the Baal Shem Tov, “the One Above derives more pleasure from the poor man’s greens than from the rich man’s ox.”
The Baal Shem Tov went on to explain to his unsophisticated listeners that whatever mitzva a Yid does is measured by its intention. A small act done for HaShem’s sake, with joy and purity of heart, is very precious to the Creator. HaShem prides himself with it before the malochim and says, ‘Look at the good deed that my son or daughter has done!’ and showers the Yid with brachos.”
Reb Eliezer Lipa continued on, but his mind knew no rest. How he longed to be able to do a mitzva like the poor man in the story, with pure intention and a heart overflowing with joy. He shared with his wife what he had heard from the traveling guest, and told her how every mitzva they performed was like a korbon.
Weeks passed and still Reb Eliezer Lipa knew no peace. One day, as he delivered water to a wealthy customer, an idea fell into his head. He was excited. His four wealthy customers provided him with half of his livelihood, since they paid him far more than the going rate for a barrel of water. On the other hand, his friend Reb Zalman Dov supplied the town’s four shuls, which paid him half-price for their water. “I can exchange four of my customers for four of his,” thought Reb Eliezer Lipa. “Four wealthy homes for four shuls.” He shared the idea with his wife, and she immediately agreed.
Reb Zalman Dov accepted the offer, and the two switched without anyone noticing a difference. There were days when Reb Eliezer Lipa’s wife went to the river to participate in the mitzva of drawing the water for the shuls. As they hauled the water, they would concentrate on the mitzva of preparing water for their fellow townsmen to wash their hands with before davening.
They were blessed with two sons, who did not succeed in learning. The parents would often recite Tehillim together in tears, with Reb Eliezer Lipa reading word for word and his wife repeating each word after him. Every Friday she would distribute two challos to the poor, and light two candles so that their two sons should shine in Torah. At times they also fasted, and distributed the value of their meals to tzedaka in the merit of their sons.
A short time after they began supplying the water for the shul, word reached them that their sons began to succeed in their studies. Eventually they both grew up to be the great tzaddikim – Reb Elimelech of Lyzhensk and Reb Zusya of Anipoli.
(סה"מ תשי"א ע' 309, ויקרא רבה פ"ג, ה)
Consider
Why is sincerity so valuable?
Why are a poor man's greens more sincerely given than a rich man's animal?
