The Greatest Fortune in the World Is to Fulfill Torah and Mitzvos
The Querry of a Brokenhearted Yid
Recently, a Yid sent a letter in which he enumerates a litany of terrible tzaros that he suffers, R”l, and he asks, “People listen to the shiurim and they derive chizuk to thank Hashem and meditate upon the good. But how can I give thanks when I endure such terrible pain?”
Now, we certainly daven that no Yid should ever know of such pain. Yidden should only know of revealed good. But we must properly learn this sugya.
What Is True Good in This World?
This Yid writes searingly of the way he is already an older person, and he has never merited children. He will leave This World without anyone to say Kaddish for him, and “[he] will be thrown into [his] grave to be forever forgotten, R”l.”
But what is the reality? The truth is that the lifetime a person spends here on this earth is not the main event! The Ribbono shel Olam sent the neshamah down here for a little bit, all so that we should merit eternity in the Next World. Even if we have fulfilled one mitzvah, or overpowered the yetzer hara one time, it was all worthwhile—because it remains for eternity.
This World Is Nothing Compared with the Eternal Nature of Olam Haba
To us, it seems that a person who has a large family and lots of money is fortunate—and the one who sadly has no children or is unwell is a nebach. This may be the case in our narrow view of the world—but, rise a little higher and see that we’re talking about “seventy years” versus eternity! It’s not 70 years vs. a thousand years or ten thousand years... or even ten million years. It’s much more than that! Our lives here on Olam Hazeh are not even a tiny fraction of a percent compared to the great, eternal picture.
When a Yid merits to fulfill a mitzvah even once—not to mention many times—how much must he praise and thank Hashem Yisborach for this privilege, and for drawing him close to Him. The Ribbono shel Olam gave him the ability to receive eternal good that will remain forever.
It’s Worthwhile to Suffer 80 Years for One Tefillin
Once, people came to Rebbe Avraham of Kalisk and related that in their city of Teveria, there is an eighty-year-old Yid who’s already bedridden, and he cannot even put on tefillin for himself. The Yid himself felt so old and weak that he sent people to petition the Kalisker to daven for him to leave This World already, R”l.
The Rebbe went to visit the old man, and told him, “Believe me, it’s worthwhile suffering for eighty years on This World even to don tefillin only once! Even the way you’re putting them on.... It’s worth living and toiling for this for eighty years!”
Generally, people relate this story in order to underscore the greatness of our mitzvos (i.e., that one mitzvah is worth eighty years of life on earth). But there’s another lesson here: How to look at the picture properly. We must look beyond the immediate present, and instead look at the at the great gifts that we have—the Torah and mitzvos that remain ours for eternity, נצחים לְנצח.
