Now, a person lives entirely differently when Hashem’s business is his own business. Everything he does takes on a whole new meaning. Because if you’re doing someone else’s business, you might be somewhat lazy about it; you might think, “Well, I’m doing this not for me, so I’ll do it slipshod.” Nothing doing! You have to do it like it’s yours; you have to fight like you’re fighting your own battles, which means you go all out.
It's like the Gemara tells – it’s a random example you’re hearing now, but it applies to everything we do in fulfilling the Torah. The Gemara tells about a sage who used to come to weddings to fulfill the mitzvah of being mesameach chasan v‘kallah, to bring happiness to the chasan and the kallah. How did he do it? It says he used to take eight torches and juggle them in the air. Burning torches! And they were going all eight in a circle, a fire circle. They were like fireworks.
That's some feat, some sleight of hand. He caught one burning torch and threw up another, and as they were going through the circle, he was catching them up and throwing them back again. Something like that needs a tremendous amount of practice. You can’t just decide you’re going to throw eight torches and it happens. It has to be done just right; otherwise, the whole thing would be a fiasco.
Practice Makes Perfect
Where did this sage get this ability from? The answer is, where does anyone get the ability? He practiced it. He started in his backyard, in his barn, or in the field, and he was practicing with just one torch. He didn't light it at first. It was just a piece of wood; he practiced throwing a piece of wood and catching it. Then he did it with two pieces and then three. After many weeks and months of practice, when he could throw eight pieces of wood and keep them in the air, he started lighting them.
He was practicing with fire-torches, but it still took a long time. And there were accidents too. Maybe he was singed. Maybe he lost some of his hair. But he kept at it and finally he was able to do the mitzvah of being mesameach chasan v‘kallah perfectly.
Now, that’s surprising. A talmid chochom, a sage, should put so much effort into juggling? If somebody today would do it, we’d understand that it's a lot of honor for him. He’ll be the center of attention, people at the wedding will watch his show and clap for him. But these sages didn't waste their lives on such foolishness, on being exhibitionists. So why would he spend so many hours and days practicing in the barn?
The answer is because what he did for Hashem was like what anybody would do for a career. To become an acrobat in a circus, you'd have to spend a lot of time practicing. But you’ll make a living out of it, and what won’t you do for the business? So just like an acrobat does it for himself, so he did it for Hashem! It’s his business, his full-time job, serving Hashem.
