Reuven heard, and rescued him from their hands. (Bereishis 37:21)
R. Yitzchak said: Here the Torah taught you proper behavior. When a person does a mitzvah, he should do it with a happy heart. If Reuven had known that Hakadosh Baruch Hu would write about him, “Reuven heard, and rescued him from their hands,” he would have put Yosef on his shoulders and carried him to his father. If Boaz had known that Hakadosh Baruch Hu would write about him that “he handed Ruth roasted grain,” he would have fed her fattened calves. (Vayikra Rabbah 34:8)
We all do mitzvos. Who writes them down?
R. Kohen, and R. Yehoshua son of R. Simon in the name of R. Levi, said: In the past, a person would do a mitzvah and the Navi would write it down. Now, when a person does a mitzvah, who writes it down? Eliyahu Hanavi and Melech Hamashiach write it, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu signs on it, as it says:
“Then the fearers of Hashem spoke to one another, and Hashem listened, and it was written in the Book of Remembrance before Him, for the fearers of Hashem and those who think of His Name.”
It wasn’t just then. Also today, the mitzvos we do are remembered and recorded. Reuven and Boaz didn’t realize the full greatness and importance of their deeds. It seemed to Reuven like he was just helping his brother Yosef and getting him out of a tough spot.
But in truth, if Yosef had been killed, this would have cancelled the whole future Jewish people, and the purpose for which the world was created would have come to naught. Chazal say that the Jewish people can be built only from all the twelve Tribes together, none can be missing. And besides that, if not for Yosef, the human race would have perished during the seven years of famine that were destined to come.
On the other hand, if Reuven had put himself out more for the mitzvah of rescuing Yosef, if he would have carried Yosef on his shoulders back to his father, he would have thereby saved the Jewish people from the whole exile in Egypt.
As for Boaz and Rus, it was all about the future birth of David Hamelech and Mashiach, who were destined to descend from Rus. However, Boaz and Rus did not give the matter enough importance at the time. They did not know that their actions would become part of the Torah and determine the future of the Jewish people for ever and ever. In their minds, they were just acting as individuals, and didn’t think it had significance beyond that.
But the deeds of Reuven and of Boaz had supreme significance, far beyond what they thought at the time. And according to the above-quoted Midrash, the same is true of us. The Chumash is already a closed book. And no matter what we accomplish, it will not be added to the Tanach, either. But this shouldn’t make us think our mitzvos have no special significance, that they lack profound effect on the Jewish people and the future.
Every good deed of every Jew goes into building the future of the Jewish people. It is so significant that Eliyahu Hanavi and the Mashiach write it down themselves in a special book, because their mission depends on this mitzvah. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu comes and signs on it. That’s how important is every mitzvah we do.
Thus Chazal said:
Be as careful about a light mitzvah as about a severe mitzvah, because you don’t know what reward the mitzvos bear.
The “reward of the mitzvos” spoken of here is not just the sachar that awaits us in Gan Eden and Olam Haba. It is also telling us that we don't know what great, fateful matter depends on this seemingly little mitzvah we are about to do. This applies to the future of the person doing the mitzvah and to the fate of the Jewish people as a whole.
Even if the mitzvah in front of us doesn’t look very special to us, it looks like just another ordinary mitzvah, we should know that Eliyahu Hanavi and Mashiach are aware of its immense worth and value. They are just waiting and longing for this mitzvah to be done properly and fully in a spirit of joy – and Hakadosh Baruch Hu will sign on it, to build the future of the Jewish people and bring the Geulah Sheleimah very soon.
