Rav Yisroel Shimon Kastelonitz zt”l (Sefer M’Zekeinim Esbonen) writes: Shabbos Parshas Vayigash was the last Shabbos that I was in Chutz La’aretz together with the Bais Avrohom of Slonim zy”a. I remember that on that Shabbos, a large group of bochurim from a yeshiva known for its avodah and mussar came to his tish. They spoke with the Rebbe about the Parshah and discussed how Yosef could collect so much riches and bring it all to Pharaoh’s house.
The Rebbe answered that there are different kinds of riches. There are people who amass a large fortune in silver, gold expensive furniture and other items. This type of riches would be very hard to carry and would take up a lot of space. However, a person could also take all his money and purchase one very valuable diamond. Such a diamond could be worth millions, but it wouldn’t take up almost any room to store.
The same is true regarding avodas Hashem. Some people do a lot of mitzvos, but they make a big show out of every mitzvah they do. When they do a mitzvah, they make sure to do it publicly and make sure that everyone knows about it. Others do mitzvos in private, and hide what they do from the world. Only Hashem Yisborach is aware of all the mitzvos they do. And such people gain much more from their mitzvos.
