בס׳ד

"Where does it say that you have a contract with G-d to have an easy life?"

the Lubavitcher Rebbe



"Failure is not the enemy of success; it is its prerequisite."

Rabbi Nosson Scherman



2 Oct 2010

An extra effort

Just heard a dvar Torah this afternoon about making the extra effort in performing mitzvot. The rabbi spoke about people concerned with choosing the most beautiful etrog, the nicest lulav. And there are those who barely fulfill the requirements of a mitzvah.
There are those who hire workers to build their sukkahs and those who build them themselves.
There are those who bake challah for Shabbos and those who go to the bakery to buy challah.
Here the rabbi interjected that there are those who can't put in the effort, for various reasons such as physical health or marital harmony. But those who are able to do so, should make the extra effort.
The rabbi proceeded to give an example from this week's parsha.
After the flood, Noah became intoxicated and was uncovered. The Parsha relates that Shem and Yafet, two of Noah's sons took a garment and covered him.
Rashi states that "The verb 'took' is in the singular because Shem alone took the initiative in performing this meritorious deed, then Yafet came and joined him. Therefore, the descendants of Shem (i.e. the Jews) were rewarded with the precept of talit shel tzitzit, fringed garments (Num. 15:38); those of Yafet were rewarded with burial in Eretz Yisrael as it is written (Ez. 39:11): And it shall come to pass in that day that I will give unto Gog (a descendant of Yafet) a place fit for burial in Yisrael; and those of Ham, who degraded his father, were eventually 'led away by the King of Asshur...naked and barefoot (Isaiah 20:4) (Midrash and Rashi)"
http://www.kosherjudaism.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1062

The rabbi then asked why Shem merited a reward that has a connection to life while Yafet merited a reward that is connected to death. He answered that because Shem took the initiative and did it with zerizut, he merited talit shel tzitzit. Yafet, who just followed along after seeing what Shem was doing, merited a lesser reward.

May we do mitzvot with zerizut, with extra effort. May we impart our enthusiasm for mitzvot to our children.

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