Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Feuer once visited a bar mitzvah with Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky. Rabbi Feuer had recently become the principal of a mesivta and lamented that the position came with added responsibilities such as attending every simcha, which left him little time to learn.
Rav Yaakov responded with a smile, “In America, there is an expression ‘The customer is always right.’ The lay people, the masses, are the customers, and we, the rabbis and teachers, are the salesmen. We are selling Hashem’s Torah and mitzvos, and we must do whatever it takes to make our customers happy. For that reason, we must participate in their simchos.
“But we must never forget that we are not really working for our customers. We are working for Hashem Himself, Whose Torah we teach. What a privilege, and what endless opportunities for kiddush Hashem!”
Rav Yaakov often commented that a person who creates a kiddush Hashem earns such merit that Hashem rewards him even when he had improper motives.
A man who was considering starting a kollel in Denmark consulted with Rav Yaakov—he was afraid to remove his children from the positive influence of Jerusalem. Rav Yaakov told him, “Haman’s descendants became talmidei chachamim as a reward for the kiddush Hashem he indirectly created. Certainly the children of a person who intends to create a kiddush Hashem can become Torah scholars!”
Reproduced from Living Kiddush Hashem by Rabbi Shraga Freedman with permission of the copyright holders, ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications, Ltd.
