By Rabbi Avrohom Asher Makovsky
Every day, Aharon makes the long commute from Lakewood to Brooklyn where he works. He listens to shiurim and music to keep his mind occupied, and difficult as the routine is, he enjoys the time to himself. It’s a little refuge between his busy household and his hectic office.
Then his neighbor calls him. He is the young father of a large family, and recently began teaching elementary school at a yeshivah in Brooklyn. His pay is barely adequate, and commuting costs take a big bite out of his tight budget. He asks, “Could I get a ride home with you on Mondays and Thursdays? I’d be happy to split the tolls.”
Aharon knows he has to say “yes.” There’s no real reason to say “no,” except that he doesn’t want company. He soon regrets his decision because this young man loves to talk. Furthermore, he doesn’t talk about anything that interests Aharon. Aharon feels as if his mind is taken captive for an hour and a half every time the young man gets into the car.
But he works on developing a different attitude. “I’m saving this family a lot of money by giving him a ride. Hashem gave me the chance to do a Jew a big favor, and I’m doing it. I might as well do it happily.”
What Aharon doesn’t know is that he is doing himself an even bigger favor. The Zohar in Parashas Vayeira teaches that if, chas v’shalom, a person is due some punishment for his sins, Hashem can send that person a “gift” in the form of a poor person in need of tzedakah or chessed. The gift is an expression of Hashem’s love for the person, reflecting His desire to help him save himself from pain.
If the person accepts the gift, his kind deed becomes “imprinted” on his body. When the prosecuting malach approaches the person and sees this imprint, he flees, and the person is saved. Imagine how we would react to that annoying individual who comes to us for a ride or a loan or some other favor, yet again, if we knew that he was a gift from Hashem. If we knew that a danger lay ahead for us, and by helping this person we are able to bypass the danger without ever knowing what awaited us, we would be seeking out difficult gemilus chassadim to take on.
We’d be calling up the lonely guest who dominates our Shabbos table with long, pointless commentaries and invite him for a seudah. We’d be offering a ride to the person who takes the opportunity to ask us a barrage of personal questions. We’d be volunteering to babysit for the neighbor’s child who needs non-stop attention. If we saw illness, accidents, disputes and other misfortunes looming in the distance, and they dissipated like clouds when we grasped these acts of chessed, how different our perspective would be!
Reprinted from the Parshas Noach 5785 email of At the ArtScroll Shabbos Table. Excerpted from the ArtScroll book – “Living Chesed.”
