מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה
By doing something not for the right sake, one will come to do it for the right sake
וּשְׁמַרְׁתֶּם וַעֲשִׂיתֶּם כִׂי הִׂוא חָכְׁמַתְׁכֶּם וּבִׂינַתְׁכֶּם לְׁעֵינֵי הָעַמִׂים אֲשֶּר יִׂשְׁמְׁעוּן אֵת כָל הַחֻקִׂים הָאֵלֶּה וְׁאָמְׁרוּ רַק עַם חָכָם וְׁנָבוֹן הַגּוֹי הַגָּדוֹל הַזֶּה :(ד:ו )
You shall safeguard and perform them, for it is your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes and who will say, “Surely a wise and understanding people is this great nation!” (4:6)
Rashi explains: Through this you will be considered wise and understanding in the eyes of the nations.
Rashi’s words arouse a wonder. The reason we keep the laws of the Torah is because it is the will of our Creator and out obligation to fulfill His will, no other purpose, and if this is so, is the Torah teasing us to guard its commands for benefit and glory? We see another wonder in Rashi’s explanation, that the Torah considers the nations, and based on this view, the Jew is ‘honored’ that the nations admire him. This needs examination, for once Yisrael accepted the Torah, they received the promise from our Creator (Shemos 19:5) 'והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים' – ‘you will be a treasure to Me from among all the peoples’, and the nations in respect to Israel are like animals in respect to a person. If so, then what honor is this to Israel that the nations admire them, the main honor is relevant to how much the other party is cherished, and not to those who are not fit to be described as ‘people’ (see Yevamos 61a), and they are compared to horses, as it says (Yechezkel 23:20), 'וזרמת סוסים זרמתם' – ‘whose issue is the issue of horses’.
By way of musar we can say that the Torah refers to people of Israel whose intellect is very poor, and due to abundance of foolishness, they do not understand the quality of their stature, until it seems to them that the nations who have of all the goodness in this world are happy and respected, and because of the fervor of their appreciation for the affairs of this world, they are dislike the keeping of the Torah and studying it, until it is impossible to get through to them and bring them to the true understanding that this is the true happiness. The Torah reveals that in a situation like this, it is better to entice them and draw them close to Torah even if it is not for the right sake, for if not then they will deteriorate very much, and the Torah saw fit to teach how they can continue in Torah and reveals that even the smallest means should not be ruled out for this. We are permitted to tell him that he will earn to be honored but those who he respects, even though it seems like we agree with them that the goy is praised. We must make ourselves as if we say to them that the Torah needs to be learned not for its sake, everything is permitted and even necessary when it is not possible to enrich their intellect, so long as they begin to learn Torah. Once they have begun to learn Torah, then their intellect will broaden and over time they will fulfill the posuk (Tehillim 19:8) 'תורת ה' תמימה משיבת נפש עדות ה' נאמנה מחכימת פתי' – ‘The Torah of Hashem is perfect, it restores the soul, the testimony of Hashem is trustworthy, making the simple one wise.’ Even if they do not quickly earn Torah for its sake, their inquiries will already be less, and the more time they spend, their souls will be refined more and more, until they merit that the light of the Torah will bring them closer to Hashem Yisbarach, and they will also merit Torah for its sake.
It is appropriate to quote the Rambam (Hilchos Teshuva 10:1) where we find our words that those lacking intellect are different from those who do have it, and it is not possible to urge them to Torah except by doing so not for its sake. ‘A person should not say, “I will fulfill the mitzvos of the Torah and occupy myself in its wisdom in order to receive all the blessings which are contained within it or in order to merit the life of the world to come." "I will separate myself from all the sins which the Torah warned against so that I will be saved from all the curses contained in the Torah or so that [my soul] will not be cut off from the life of the world to come." It is not fitting to serve Hashem in this manner. A person whose service is motivated by these factors is considered one who serves out of fear. He is not on the level of the prophets or of the wise. The only ones who serve Hashem in this manner are common people, women, and minors. They are trained to serve Hashem out of fear until their knowledge increases and they serve out of love.’ You have from his words that even the broken hearted know that the avodah must be done for the sake of Heaven, we must not deny the temptation of the avodah not for its sake to those who are still smallminded, and it is difficult for them to accept the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven upon them and to serve Hashem just for the sake of Heaven.
I once used this stratagem to turn the heart of a young boy to Torah. This was a boy removed from Torah, and he asked me to warm his heart to torah once again. I did not go to older boys than him, and I did not open sifrei yirah v’musar which talk about the punishment for wasting time instead of Torah, for I got that the boy already knew of this obligation, yet he still was removed. It was a sign that he was not in control of his heart, and all the rebukes would not help. Therefore, I started a conversation, and I asked him not to be ashamed to tell me the truth of what he wanted in life, and how he thought he would be able to attain them. Hashem helped me and the boy willingly told me that he wanted ‘honor’ [kavod]! That was life request! I asked him, “Who do you think earns kavod?” He replied, “A rich man!” He then went on to describe his plan for becoming rich. He would begin by working several years amassing a certain amount of money, and then invest this money until he was rich, and he would be known throughout the land because he would donate much to tzedakah, and the heads of every institution would invite him to visit their institution and praise him to the students for his good work.
Listening to him I understood that I must exchange kavod for kavod, that is, instead of craving the kavod of wealth he should crave the kavod of Torah, though it struck me why he did not choose the kavod of Torah to begin with, for all those around him valued talmidei chachamim more than wealth. When I asked the boy this, he replied, that he saw that wealthy are valued more as he personally saw that all rabbanim in yeshiva honored the wealthy who visited the yeshiva more than those who learn. Now, I could only refute his argument, though at first, I thought that I could not as it is not possible to refute reality, and the boy said this is what he saw. But then Hashem Yisbarach planted an idea in my head, and I told him that even if it was true that they honored the wealthy more than learners, I promise you that in their hearts you and the others are dearer to them than the wealthy. All the honor they give them is because of the good they do for the boys who learn Torah. That is, that the boy who learns is the main thing to them, and since this so, they worry about the boys’ needs, and the rich are only secondary to them. Now, please tell me, what do you chose, the main or secondary? My words made an impression on the boy, he changed and returned to be in the depth of Torah.
