The Gemara (Kiddushiun 7a) says that it is possible for a woman to give a man a gift, and by doing so she is betrothed (mekudeshes) to him to be his wife, if he is a prominent man. Then, by agreeing to accept a gift from her she gives herself to him, and with that benefit that she received, she is betrothed to him. Similarly, anyone who takes on to be a teacher or mechanech to children knows that sometimes we give the child something to do in order to give the child a good feeling, although we do the same thing ourselves faster and better. However, we are prepared to forego our ease to give someone smaller than us the good feeling that he is benefitting us.
The Torah Tells us (6:20-25) 'כי ישאלך בנך: מה העדות והחוקים אשר ציוה ד' אלוקינו אתכם? ואמרת לבנך עבדים היינו לפרעה במצרים וכו' וכו' ואותנו הוציא משם.. ויצוונו לעשות את כל החוקים.. לטוב לנו כל הימים.. וצדקה תהיה לנו כי נשמור לעשות את כל המצוה הזאת' – ‘When your son will ask you: “What are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances that Hashem, our G-d, commanded you?” You shall say to your son, “We were slaves to Pharoah in Egypt... and He took us out of there... Hashem commanded us to perform all these statutes... for our good, all the days... and it will be a merit for us if we are careful to perform this entire commandment.”’ We have to understand what the posuk means by saying ‘and it will be a merit for us if we are careful to perform all the statutes’? We are familiar with the simple concept of tzedakah when we give of what is ours to others, but here the Torah brings a different concept of tzedakah.
When a person does a mitzvah, he feels like he is doing a favor for HaKadosh Baruch Hu, even if it is not really a favor, but he is doing His will. But here, the Torah reveals something new to us, HaKadosh Baruch Hu is doing tzedakah by allowing us ‘to perform all the statutes’, as the Tanna said (Makkos 23b, Avos 6:12), ‘HaKadosh Baruch Hu wanted to confer merit upon Israel, therefore He gave them Torah and mitzvos in abundance’. So is it brought down in the Zohar HaKadosh, that when HaKadosh Baruch Hu loves the person, He sends him gifts, and what are these gifts? A poor man who presents himself, and immediately the mitzvah registers before him a thread of kindness [chut shel chesed]. This must be our observation, with every one of our mitzvos and good deeds we must remember that we are not doing a favor to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, rather just the opposite, He is doing good and kindness to us, as the Chofetz Chaim was heard saying to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, “Ribono she olam, You gave me the Mishnah Berurah, Shmiras HaLashom, Ahavas Yisrael, and what do I give You?!”
-Tiv HaEmorim – The Three Weeks
