Now, you have to know that it’s not easy to review the lesson a hundred times. A hundred times is very boring. But he wants to know the Torah, so he reviews it a hundred times! That’s heroism! He’s a shakdan and a mivakeish emes. He knows it already at the third time. But he persists; a fourth time, a fifth time, a tenth time. A fiftieth time. He’s dropping from exhaustion already. And finally, this hero after the hundredth time, he finally sighs and closes the Gemara to go home to a well earned rest. That’s some servant of Hashem!
101 Light Years Away
But sitting next to him was his friend; and he reviewed it one time more. He stayed an extra half hour and he persisted for a hundred and one times.
Now to us, it’s a very small difference, maybe one degree out of a hundred – it’s only one more time! So along come our sages and they tell us that ... That one time is eino domeh! Those are words you have to listen to. “There’s no comparison!” The one who studied a hundred and one times is called oived Elokim and compared to him, the other one, the one who reviewed a hundred times is called asher lo avado – he did not serve Hashem. ... eino domeh means there’s no comparison. There is no comparison between a hundred and a hundred and one times!
When a man makes progress in avodas Hashem, that puts him light years ahead. Not that a hundred and one is one more than a hundred. It’s an entirely different class and there’s no comparison. He’s so great that all the rest dim into the background. They’ll be rewarded but compared to him they’re insignificant.
Minor is Major
That’s how very great is the spiritual value of ruchniyus. When it comes to gashmiyus it may seem to us only a minor difference. You may not even see the difference. But when it comes to ruchniyus the difference is vast. That, the Torah teaches us, is the greatness of the one who steps out and does a little more. The difference is so great that it’s like the difference between a tzadik and a rasha. Of course, the rasha is on the other side, far, far away. But the oived Elokim, and the asher lo avado, however, are also very far away from each other! Extremely far away!
“But both of us were tzadikim gemurim,” you’ll say. No, that’s not enough. He is bigger than you and that little bit makes all the difference in the world. Because for every little bit you’re gaining more favor of Hashem, and when it comes to gaining Hashem’s favor even the most minute difference is more than you can ever imagine in this world.
